Educational issues, school settings, and environmental psychology

This paper reviews selected research on classroom and school environments, using a framework that views schools from three perspectives—as places for learning, as places for socialization and as places for psychological development. Studies are included that deal with the impact of noise and classroom design on learning; the relationship between seating position, achievement and status; spatial cognition; the classroom environment and sex role stereotyping; privacy; and density. The need for classrooms to enhance children's feelings of competence, security and self-esteem is also stressed. The goal of the paper is to point out ways in which environmental psychologists can contribute to the improvement of the educational system and to the quality of life in schools.     

Michoacán centre for science and technology education a summary of the project

Summary This paper looks at the problems of science and technology education in Mexico, and proposes ways in which the quality of education at every level can be improved. It advocates an interdisciplinary approach, and from that approach to science education, the development of environmental education.Prof. Gutiérrez-Vázquez received his training in microbiology and biochemistry in the National Polytechnic Institute in his native Mexico City, receiving his degree in 1954. He went from instructor to assistant professor (1950–1960), becoming a full professor, deputy dean and then dean of the Faculty of Biology in the same Institute (1961–1969); he published two books and some 20 papers dealing with the physiology of tubercle bacillus and other mycobacteria, as well as with other topics on microbiology. More recently (1970 to date), he became a full professor in the Center for Advanced Studies of the same Institute, where he has been head of the Department of Educational Research (1972–1981) and carried out research and development projects on science education for children and adolescents. During this period he has published some 20 more books and 30 odd papers, and written more than 80 science programmes for commercial television.     

Route maps: A study of travellers' perceptions of a section of countryside

Two hundred and sixty-two travellers staying in caravan parks and who had completed a 340 km trip in North Queensland, Australia, were asked to draw a route map of their journey. The subjects' sex and age were recorded and they were asked for their state of origin, recency of the journey, previous travel over the route and their role as either a passenger or driver. The maps were scored for the number of landmarks, districts, paths, social comments, texture and three measures of orientation. Chi-square analyses revealed that drivers were better oriented than passengers, older subjects made more errors in labelling the landmarks but also produced more general comments (texture score) and subjects who had completed the trip more recently drew more paths. Travellers from the distant southern states also made more labelling errors and fewer general comments on the route. Travellers who had been over the route more often gained a significantly higher correct orientation score than first time or second time travellers. Overall, interaction effects among the main independent variables were not significant. No sex differences in orientation were apparent. It was argued that an understanding of the social, experiential side of leisure driving, using techniques such as the present study, is important for understanding this high energy consuming leisure activity.     

A role for technical environmental assessment in perceptions of environmental quality and well-being

There is growing interest in including measures of external reality in models of person-environment transactions. That step is necessary to avoid circularity in reasoning and to change environments in desired ways. This study tests the utility of technical assessments of environmental quality, derived independently of the judgements of respondents or observers. Nine components based on objective facts about the residential environment, nine components based on person charactertistics, plus age and sex were used to predict 13 criteria which reflect the residents' perceptions of various aspects of their environment and of its impact on their well-being. The technical environmental assessment indices made statistically significant independent contributions which cross-validated with all of the 13 criteria. The person components plus age and sex also made independent contributions which cross-validated with 12 of the 13 criteria. The results support the idea that technical environmental assessments can play a constructive role in clarifying person-environment transactions, and that they are complementary to rather than redundant with personal characteristics of respondents in affecting environmental perceptions.     

Classroom seating location and its effect on course achievement,participation, and attitudes

Research was reviewed on whether seating location in lecture-style classrooms influences college course grades. Empirical evidence suggests that it does not, or that the influence is so weak as to be of little general theoretical or practical importance. Empirical evidence also suggests, however, that seating location influences class participation and several self-report variables pertaining to attitudes about the course.     

Urban early adolescents,crowding and the neighbourhood experience: A preliminary investigation

This interview study focused on urban early adolescents' conscious experiences of high density conditions. Thirty children residing in apartments in two boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan), participated in this study. Control variables included income level, age, family constellation, and length of residence. Sex, apartment density, building size and neighbourhood density served as classification variables. The interview lasted approximately forty minutes and addressed the following issues.Personal conceptualizations and definitions of crowding.Evaluation of the children's perceived neighbourhood.Peer relationships.Perceived social and physical opportunities and constraints.Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and content analyzed.The children's conceptualizations of crowding emphasized large numbers of people, spatial restriction and an aversive experience of the situation as relevant components of the crowding construct. The restriction of behavioural choice as it relates to goal postponement and the child's efforts to come to terms with larger organizational social structures, underlined the interpretation of crowding as a socio-physical stressor. While information overload was depicted as another relevant characteristic of crowding situations, its aversive experience was mediated by the presence of known others. Even though this diversity on social and physical levels was often experienced as stressful, it was also positively viewed in situations where interpersonal contact or a sense of familiarity were not overriden by other situation demands.Boys tended to spend more time in their neighbourhood engaged in a broader range of activities than girls. In this sample, boys also took less part in structured group activities and rated their neighbourhoods somewhat more positively than girls. Girls experienced less freedom and more social restrictions in exploring and actively interacting with their extended surroundings than boys.The issues of movement and situationally imposed behavioural restriction were central themes in children's conscious experiences of high density situations. Emphasis was placed on physiological arousal linked to the perception of aversive social qualities of high density situations. It appears that an increase in the need to act out is more a function of the child's awareness of having to conform to external norms, or experiencing a loss of perceived social control in situations where vigilance is required, than a clear cognisance of spatial restrictions.The investigation of the impact of high density conditions on the child's sociocognitive development and identity formation is viewed as potentially fruitful directions for future research.     

The role of the social and physical environment in privacy maintenance among the Iban of Borneo

Altman's (1977) theory of privacy as a cultural universal is examined by analyzing the privacy mechanisms of the Iban of Sarawak (Borneo). The Sarawak Dayaks live in communal longhouses which appear to offer little physical opportunity for individual privacy. However, the authors found that social mechanisms were utilized to obtain privacy. Thus, despite the communal physical environment of the Sarawak Iban, support is found for a system of privacy. The implications of these findings for other cultures and settings where the physical environment appears to limit control of privacy is discussed.     

China's offshore petroleum frontiers: Confrontation? Conflict? Cooperation?

Asia's offshore, from North Korea to Indonesia, is becoming an increasingly important petroleum frontier, one disputed by various littoral states. The People's Republic of China (PRC) intends to become a major petroleum producer, with the offshore playing a major role. The paper examines: (1) important jurisdictional disputes; (2) accommodations between disputants; and (3) third-party involvements, such as the USA. Recent progress towards dispute solution has occurred - establishment of a Japan-Korea Joint Development Zone and a PRC overture towards Japan for settlement of suzerainty in the Senkakus. PRC and Vietnamese disagreements seem less tractable. New US policies towards the two Chinas, along with the USSR's support for Vietnam, further complicate the region's offshore disputes.     

Scenes from a restaurant: Privacy regulation in stressful situations

Stress results when an individual has less control over an environment or a situation than is desired. One way of regaining control and reducing stress is to regulate privacy by screening the self from spatial, visual or acoustical invasion. This study examined the use of architectural features to regulate privacy under hypothetical situations that are likely to generate low, moderate and high stress, comparing the seating choices of males and females in a variety of dining scenarios in a restaurant. In more stressful circumstances such as those associated with a job interview, participants chose restaurant seating bounded by more architectural features than they did in more relaxed dining situations such as dining with friends. Males and females appeared to be different in their responses to moderate and high stress situations. These results have implications for designers of secondary settings where stressful interactions are likely to take place.     

The role of figural organization in city imageability: An information processing analysis

The purpose of this study was to apply experimental methods and theoretical formulations from the information processing metaphor in experimental psychology to explore some of the underlying theoretical premises in Lynch's conception of imageability. Specifically, the study attempted to separate and assess the effects of the salience and organization of schematic maps' path networks on the imageability of the maps. Findings support Lynch's contention that organization is critical to a highly imageable urban environment. At the same time, our results go beyond Lynch by suggesting that identifiability or visual emphasis alone, when unorganized, may detract from rather than aid city legibility. Results are interpreted in terms of limitations in cognitive processing capacity and the cognitive resources required by the map learning task.     

Self-estimates of sleep in african students in a dry tropical climate

Sleep behavior was examined in African medical students living in Niamey, Niger (latitude 13° 30' North), a sub-Saharan country in Western Africa. A 12-item questionnaire was used to obtain subjective estimates of sleep duration, structure and quality, and self-rating of the restorative quality of sleep (morale, mood, fatigue, working ability). The experiment was divided into two 7-day periods, January (‘cool-dry’ season, 88 subjects), and May (‘hot-dry’ season, 53 subjects). The questionnaire was completed after night sleep and/or naps. All subjects lived in student quarters, sleeping on their beds, with sheets and/or blankets. They slept an average of 7·5 h a day, most of them having afternoon naps. They experienced no major seasonal variation in their sleep behavior, but for an increased number of awakenings during the hot season. Restorative quality of sleep scored lower after a nap than after nocturnal sleep. Therefore, general sleep characteristics were not modified by seasonal temperature variations in African native students, perhaps because of the limited changes in daylight at the low latitude of Niamey.     

Australia's uranium

Australia's uranium comprises about 18% of the Western World's reasonably assured reserves. Mining, milling and export have been proceeding since the federal government's decision in August 1977. The timetable for development of several other projects involves matters such as environmental issues, approval by the aboriginal people and mining practice policies. The author discusses the background to present uranium mining in Australia and examines the industry's likely international significance.     

Attitudes to nuclear energy: Beliefs,values and false consensus

Attitudinal differences regarding the use of nuclear energy were investigated. Results obtained in a random sample drawn from the population of four communities in The Netherlands within 30 miles of a nuclear power plant showed a strong relationship between subjects' attitudes towards nuclear energy and their perceptions of the possible consequences of nuclear energy. ‘Pro’- and ‘con’-subjects showed marked differences in the importance attached to the different possible consequences and their endorsement of the salience of more general social issues. Results provide support for the view that individuals perceive a false consensus with respect to the relative prevalence of similar attitudes among other people. Finally, subjects' perceptions of others with similar or opposing attitudes towards the issue of nuclear energy showed marked differences in evaluation especially for the extreme attitude groups.     

Methodology for CO2 chain analysis

The paper presents a methodology for CO₂ chain analysis with particular focus on the impact of technology development on the total system economy. The methodology includes the whole CO₂ chain; CO₂ source, CO₂ capture, transport and storage in aquifers or in oil reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery. It aims at supporting the identification of feasible solutions and assisting the selection of the most cost-effective options for carbon capture and storage. To demonstrate the applicability of the methodology a case study has been carried out to illustrate the possible impact of technology improvements and market development. The case study confirms that the CO₂-quota price to a large extent influence the project economy and dominates over potential technology improvements. To be economic feasible, the studied chains injecting the CO₂ in oil reservoirs for increased oil production require a CO₂-quota price in the range of 20–27 €/tonne CO₂, depending on the technology breakthrough. For the chains based on CO₂ storage in saline aquifers, the corresponding CO₂-quota price varies up to about 40 €/tonne CO₂.     

The spatiotemporal sequencing of everyday activities in the large-scale environment

Choices of where to carry out everyday activities in large-scale environments were conceptualized as a process of forming ‘travel plans’, and, to test a model of how such plans are formed, three experimental simulations of a planning task were performed in the laboratory. In Experiment 1, subjects (high school students) were found to choose a shortest route to travel between a number of actual, familiar locations in a town by first choosing the order between the locations that minimized straight-line (Euclidean) distances, then choosing the shortest paths between the locations in the constrained order. The order choices were, in Experiment 2, found to be made by minimizing distance locally rather than globally, except in some cases when ‘spatial configurations’ of the locations were discovered. Both the results of this experiment and of Experiment 3 suggested that such discoveries were facilitated by a simultaneous representation of the locations which was possible when they were positions on a display, committed to short-term memory or available for perceptual inspection, but to a less extent when they were actual locations.     

Are Scientists Right and Non-Scientists Wrong? Reflections on Discussions of GM

The aim of this article is to further our understanding of the “GM is unnatural” view, and of the critical response to it. While many people have been reported to hold the view that GM is unnatural, many policy-makers and their advisors have suggested that the view must be ignored or rejected, and that there are scientific reasons for doing so. Three “typical” examples of ways in which the “GM is unnatural” view has been treated by UK policy-makers and their advisors are explored. These are the Government’s position (DEFRA Report), the account of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and the position of Nigel Halford, a scientist with an advisory role to the Government. I show that their accounts fail to mount a convincing critique. Then, I draw on an empirical research project held during  2003–2004 at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north east of England. Scientists met with non-scientists in a range of facilitated one-to-one conversations (“exchanges”) on various environmental issues, one of which was on GM. Our findings show that some scientists who rejected the “GM is unnatural” view struggled to do so consistently. Their struggle is interpreted in terms of a conflict between a so-called “scientific” worldview, and a different worldview that underlies the concerns of those who held the “GM is unnatural” view. This worldview is explored further by an examination of their concerns. What distinguishes this worldview from the “scientific” worldview is that the instrumentalization of the nonhuman world is questioned to a larger extent. I conclude that, because the underlying concerns of those who held the “GM is unnatural” view were not with GM as such, yet with a worldview that was considered to be problematic, and of which many GM applications were held to be expressions, policy-makers and their advisors should reflect on the critical worldview of those who claim that GM is unnatural if they want to engage seriously with their concerns.     

Policy quandary: the Canadian nickel industry in recession

The world nickel industry has been in an almost continuous state of recession since 1975. Major Canadian nickel producers have reported losses in recent years, although these have largely been due to losses from lateritic operations and other ventures, and detrimental pricing policies that have been adopted in recent years. Despite this slump, however, Canada's rich sources of nickel put the country in a good position to profit from an upturn in the nickel industry. With certain safeguards a nickel study group is seen as a useful approach to the difficult situation faced by policymakers.     

USA tackles critical materials

The USA is heavily dependent on foreign sources for supplies of key materials essential to the nation's defence and to the operation of its vital industries. For example, it depends on foreign sources for 22 of the 27 metals considered vital to the country's economy. A public workshop on Conservation and Substitution Technology for Critical Materials was held from 15–17 June 1981 at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennesse, to examine national policies towards resolving the supply problems associated with chromium, cobalt, tantalum and titanium.     

Long-term adequacy of metal resources

Although the earth's crust contains vast quantities of metals, extraction technologies and associated costs are inextricably bound to three fundamental geological factors — the amount of metal available in the earth's crust in each range of grades, the mineralogical form and chemical state of the metal, and the spatial distribution of the metal. The energy required to recover a given amount of metal increases substantially as grade declines. Most metal is produced from sulphide or oxide minerals, whereas most metal in the crust may be locked in the structures of the more refractory silicates. Recovery from silicate minerals could require orders of magnitude more energy than that used at present as also could exploitation of small, widely scattered or thin, deeply buried deposits. Although specific information on the fundamental factors is not available, each factor must in turn tend to further restrict exploitation. Independence of average grade and tonnage for many deposit types further reduces the availability of rock as a source of metal. In the long term, effects of these factors will be large increases in price for many metals.     

Aircraft and road traffic noise exposure and children's mental health

There have been few studies examining noise and psychological disorders in children and the results are equivocal. The objective of this study was to examine exposure–effect relationships between aircraft and road traffic noise exposure and children's mental health. We conducted a cross-national, cross-sectional study assessing 2844 pupils, aged 9–10, from 89 schools around three major airports in the Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom matched within country for socio-economic position. We selected children on the basis of exposure to external aircraft and road traffic noise exposure. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) assessed child mental health, including emotional problems, conduct disorder, hyperactivity, peer problems and prosocial behaviour. Aircraft noise exposure was significantly associated with an increased score on the hyperactivity subscale (pooled B estimate 0.013 CI 0.007–0.019) after full adjustment. Road traffic noise was significantly associated with lower scores on the conduct problems subscale maintained after full adjustment (pooled B estimate 0.010 95%CI −0.020 to −0.001). There was no association between either aircraft or road traffic noise exposure and the SDQ total score. The hyperactivity results have been found in a previous UK study and may indicate that high aircraft noise exposure exacerbates hyperactivity symptoms in children although this finding requires further replication.