Camp Invention®: A Creative,Inquiry‐Based Summer Enrichment Program for Elementary Students

Camp Invention® is a hands‐on creativity and science day camp run in partnership with more than 400 schools nationwide. The curriculum integrates science, history, mathematics, the arts, and fun — promoting creative learning and teamwork through interactive activities. In 2001, the Center for Creative Learning conducted an extensive nationwide evaluation of the camp's effectiveness and impact, surveying 17,526 participants, including campers, parents, and staff. The results strongly supported the positive impact of Camp Invention, for both girls and boys in urban and suburban settings, on attitudes towards creativity, active learning, and exploration. Camp Invention's innovative curriculum blends many important aspects of science and invention with the challenge of stimulating children's creativity and imagination.     

COMMUNICATION FEAR: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF TRAIT GENERALITY

Recent theoretical analyses of communication fear have employed the analogy of state and trait anxiety. Communication apprehension is considered to be representative of general trait anxiety which is a function of disordered personality processes. Public speaking fear represents state anxiety and is a function of normal social evaluation anxiety. Two studies are reported which correlate state-trait measures of anxiety with communication apprehension and public speaking fear. The data support the hypothesis that communication apprehension is associated with trait anxiety but, contrary to the theoretical analysis, public speaking anxiety is associated with both state anxiety and trait anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of the theoretical analysis of communication fear. The implications for future research on assessment and amelioration of communication fear are considered.     

REVISITING MET EXPECTATIONS AS A REASON WHY REALISTIC JOB PREVIEWS WORK

This study reanalyzed data from an examination by Hom, Griffeth, Palich, and Bracker (1998) of the mechanisms by which posthire realistic job previews reduce turnover. Irving and Meyer (1999) argued that Hom et al. overstated support for their mediation theory by calculating residual difference scores (errors derived from predicting experienced attainment of job outcomes from initial expectations of outcomes) to operationalize met expectations. Rather, Irving and Meyer showed that methodological weaknesses associated with difference scores also plague residual difference scores. Prompted by their demonstration, this research applied partial correlations (partialing out experienced outcomes from residual differences) and Edwards' (1994) polynomial regression approach to verify whether met expectations underlie realistic previews' effectiveness. These reanalyses disputed met expectations. As a result, this inquiry revised the formulation advocated by Hom et al. (1998), positing that coping strategies and perceptions of employer concern account for how posthire previews work.     

Early Occupational Restriction: An Examination of Elementary School Children's Expression of Vocational Preferences

A total of 387 boys and girls in Grades 1 through 5 were questioned on occupational preferences. The results demonstrated that the thinking of young children is generally sexist oriented.