This systematic literature review aims at understanding the influence of the university's environment and support system (ESS) in shaping the social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of post-secondary ...education students. Social entrepreneurs play an important role in the economic and social developments of the communities in which they operate, thus many post-secondary institutions are starting to encourage more students to engage in social entrepreneurial behaviour. Consequently, there is a need for systematic approaches to evaluate the impact of various motivational factors related to the university's entrepreneurial ecosystem that could affect the SEI of students. Based on a systematic literature review and narrative synthesis of the antecedents of the SEI of post-secondary education students, the authors proposed a customized SEI model that modifies and extend the one proposed by Hockerts (Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 2017) and Mair and Noboa (Social entrepreneurship, 2006). This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a methodology grounded in theory that can help universities to design their educational and other interventions aimed at encouraging more students to consider social entrepreneurship as a viable career choice after graduation
Today, approximately one in five United States adolescents age 12 to 19 years is obese and just over a third are either overweight or obese. This study examines how parents and peers influence diet ...and physical activity behaviors of older adolescents (14-18 years) with overweight or obesity to inform weight management interventions.
Adolescent participants included 14 to 18-year-olds with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than the 85th percentile for their age and sex who were receiving care in a large healthcare system in Northern California. Adolescents and their parents participated in separate focus groups and interviews (if not able to attend focus groups) that were held at the same time in the same location. We used qualitative thematic analysis to identify common themes discussed in the adolescent and parent focus groups as well as paired analysis of adolescent-parent dyads.
Participants included 26 adolescents and 27 parents. Adolescent participants were 14 to 18 years old. Half were female and the participants were almost evenly distributed across year in school. The majority self-identified as White (56%) and Asian (36%).Three themes were identified which included 1) parents overestimated how supportive they were compared to adolescents' perception 2) parents and adolescents had different views regarding parental influence on adolescent diet and physical activity behaviors 3) parents and adolescents held similar views on peers' influential role on lifestyle behaviors.
Parents' and adolescents' differing views suggest that alignment of parent and adolescent expectations and behaviors for supporting effective weight management could be incorporated into interventions.
Zoos serve as centers for both research and education. The challenge is to convey messages about their conservation projects while meeting visitor expectations, which often include recreation and ...entertainment. One way this can be achieved is through the design of immersive exhibits that draw visitors in and engage them with interactive educational elements. Regenstein African Journey (RAJ) opened at Lincoln Park Zoo in 2003 and was designed to take visitors on a simulated safari through Africa. Because visitor experience was a major design goal, we conducted a timing and tracking study to evaluate use of the building and educational components. For a 9-week period in 2003, we tracked 338 visitors to RAJ and recorded continuous data as they moved through the building. Data were collected on handheld computers that provided precise timing data. The median visit was 11.08 min, 41% of which was spent looking at animals and 9% of which was spent engaged with interpretive elements. We found significant differences in the way visitors used signage: those in groups without children spent more of their visit engaged with signage than those with children and visitors who spent more of their visit interacting socially spent less time engaged with signage. By understanding how visitors use the educational opportunities presented to them, we can better meet their expectations and more effectively achieve the goal of conservation education. Zoo Biol 28:462-472, 2009.
A number of investigators have argued that emotion plays an important role in free-choice learning in settings such as museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums, particularly given the ...relationship between emotion and cognition. Despite considerable research on the cognitive aspects of visits, empirical studies on emotion in such settings are virtually non-existent. This study investigated the role that emotion plays in facilitating and enhancing learning at a science center. Three major research questions were addressed: (a) Can emotion be measured using Russell's Affect Grid in a non-laboratory setting such as an interactive science center? (b) If so, do different types of science center experiences create measurably different levels of emotional arousal and/or valence in visitors? and (c) If so, was there evidence that elevated arousal and/or valence enhanced or retarded visitors' long-term cognitive science learning? The study provided evidence that emotion could be measured using a modified Affect Grid technique and that a particular traveling exhibition generated arousal levels above baseline levels as determined by a control group. Findings suggest a relationship between emotional arousal and positive changes in visitor long-term cognition, attitudes, and behaviors.
Many researchers have studied gender differences in the entrepreneurial intention of students by analyzing the influence of several intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the antecedents of ...entrepreneurial intention. Fewer researchers have analyzed the influence of the university’s environment and support system on the precursors of the entrepreneurial intention of students in general and of female students in particular. This study aims to fill that gap by analyzing the influence of the university’s environment and support system on the precursors of entrepreneurial intention of female students at a university in Atlantic Canada. Findings of this study confirm that two precursors of entrepreneurial intention—i.e., attitude toward behavior and perceived behavioral control—mediate the effects of the university’s environment and support system on the entrepreneurial intention of female students. They also confirm that the university’s environment and support system comprises three distinct but interrelated dimensions, namely entrepreneurship training, start-up support, and entrepreneurial milieu. Results of this study also suggest that the university’s environment and support system has a positive relation with the perceived behavioral control of female students. However, findings of this study also suggest that the university’s environment and support system has a positive but negligible influence on the attitude toward the behavior of the same students. The outcomes of this study will help the university assess the efficacy of its innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives in promoting entrepreneurial activities. By understanding its entrepreneurial efficacy, the institution will be better equipped to raise the perceptions of venture feasibility and desirability, thus increasing students’ perceptions of opportunity.
With receptors for red, blue, green, and ultraviolet-A light, birds have tetrachromatic vision. For birds, ultraviolet (UV) light is important for a number of their behaviors, including mate ...selection, foraging, and nesting. Many captive birds, however, are housed indoors without access to natural light and without UV-supplemented lighting; a practice which may negatively impact their welfare. Understanding how birds use UV light, and assessing its relative importance, is necessary to provide optimal care in captive settings. Accordingly, we tested the preference for UV light shown by 67 birds housed at Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA, and its impact on their behavior. We tested 18 species which represented three natural ecologies typified by different natural light levels: high light dwellers (e.g., birds that live in savannas or seashores), patchy light dwellers (e.g., birds that live in forested areas), and circumpolar dwellers (e.g., birds that live near the poles). Experiment 1 investigated the birds’ lighting preferences through simultaneous presentation of areas of their exhibit lit with supplemental ultraviolet light (UV+ zone) and with standard artificial light. Experiment 2 investigated the impact of supplemental UV light on these birds’ behavioral repertoire. Birds from high light and circumpolar environments showed a preference for the side of their enclosure to which UV light was added. High light birds were recorded in the UV+ zone during 64% trials and, similarly, circumpolar birds were observed in this UV+ zone for 61% of trials; a significant preference for UV+ zone, P<0.001 for both. Perhaps mimicking their natural habitat of part-sun and part-shade, in Experiment 1 birds from patchy light environments split their time evenly within their enclosure (they were recorded in the UV+ zone for 54% of trials). When in an environment with added UV light, birds from patchy light habitats were more sociable: the percentage of their observation trials spent in proximity and in contact with other birds increased from 5% to 11% (P=0.026). Although certain birds showed a preference for the added UV light, none showed changes in their behavioral repertoire beyond the sociability measure. We discuss this preference for UV-supplemented environments and the management implications for zoos and other captive facilities which house birds indoors.
Purpose The study aims to test the applicability of a variant of the model proposed by Hockerts (2017) for assessing the social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of male and female students. It extends ...the model by incorporating the university's environment and support system (ESS) as an additional more distal construct. The university's ESS, coupled with the experience with social, cultural and environmental issues can affect SEI by influencing the more proximal precursors of empathy towards others, perceived self-efficacy, perceived community support and social, cultural and environmental responsibility. Design/methodology/approach A structured non-disguised questionnaire was administered to students at a Canadian university. A sample of 485 usable responses was analysed by means of second-order structural equation modelling. Findings The results provide confirmation that the proposed model is a multi-group invariant and appropriate for analysing the SEI of male and female students. They also show that the university's ESS helps predict SEI indirectly through the complete mediation of the more proximal antecedents. Research limitations/implications The questionnaire is limited to universities with social innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives. Practical implications Outcomes of the study can help universities assess the efficacy of their social innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives for instilling a social entrepreneurial mind-set in students. Consequently, universities will be better equipped to raise the perceptions of venture feasibility and desirability, thus increasing students' perceptions of opportunity. Originality/value The study advances the social entrepreneurial knowledge of the university's effect on the precursors of SEI.
In order to design programs that are relevant to global audiences, it is essential for informal learning centers to work collaboratively and test programs in a variety of communities. In line with ...this, research was conducted on a recent collaborative educational effort between Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois and the National Museum of Niger in Niamey titled Community of Conservation. Students designed their own animal behavior research projects, collected data, and presented their results at a culminating event in their home country and to their peers via Skype. As part of the collaboration, education staff from both institutions participated in a cultural exchange. Mixed-method evaluation results indicated an increase in US and Nigerien student knowledge of the following: wildlife native to their own country, the wildlife and culture of their partner community, and the scientific process. Attitudinal (affective) changes in both staff and students were also evident with increased cultural understanding as an outcome. Together the results indicate that the pedagogical model as designed has relevance with a global audience and has the potential to foster ethology and research skills in students around the world. On a broader scale, these results indicate that by participating in collaborative, international projects, informal learning centers can develop educational programs that impact learners around the world.
This study explored how the physical context of a species enclosure might affect visitor exploration of the exhibit space. Tracking and timing studies were conducted in 2 different designs of an ...exhibition space focused on African apes to determine if the new, more naturally designed exhibit was explored in a manner different from the former, more traditionally designed space. Observations of 825 individuals demonstrated that visitors spent 59% more time within the more naturalistic setting and moved more slowly through the space compared with the more traditional structure. In addition, significantly fewer visitors engaged in inappropriate glass tapping within the new space. The naturalistic design seemed to affect certain groups more than others, as females tended to have longer visit durations and adults tended to observe the resident apes more than children. This research highlights the importance of physical context to the overall learning experience of visitors to zoos and assists in understanding the links between sensory experiences and science content.
Turning a ship requires small but steady and deliberate efforts over time. During the past 9 years, Wisconsin’s Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Program has begun to utilize the life-course ...perspective as its framework for guiding efforts around women’s health, early childhood systems, children and youth with special health care needs, chronic disease integration, and elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. In collaboration with many state and national partners, Wisconsin’s MCH Program has integrated the life-course perspective into efforts that include the following: increasing professional and public awareness of the framework; creating focus groups and social marketing campaigns in communities most affected by health disparities; expanding preconception and women’s health initiatives; integrating with traditionally “non-MCH” programs such as chronic disease programs; and shifting Title V resources from provision of individual services to assurance of effective early childhood systems. Wisconsin’s implementation of the life-course perspective has not been without challenges, but opportunities have also been identified along the journey. Initial efforts focused on training and supporting partners in their understanding and application of the life-course framework, and a train-the-trainer model was discovered to be key to achieving these goals. We took care to engage special populations and their advocates and to work closely with local communities. We hope that the lessons we have learned in this process will provide guidance for others as they work to incorporate life course into their MCH work. The life-course perspective has helped us to inform partners, policy makers, and funders of the need for a new approach in addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health.
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