Teaching About Adaptation: Why Evolutionary History Matters

Adaptation is one of the central concepts in evolutionary theory, which nonetheless has been given different definitions. Some scholars support a historical definition of adaptation, considering it as a trait that is the outcome of natural selection, whereas others support an ahistorical definition, considering it as a trait that contributes to the survival and reproduction of its possessors. Finally, adaptation has been defined as a process, as well. Consequently, two questions arise: the first is a philosophical one and focuses on what adaptation actually is; the second is a pedagogical one and focuses on what science teachers and educators should teach about it. In this article, the various definitions of adaptation are discussed and their uses in some textbooks are presented. It is suggested that, given elementary students’ intuitions about purpose and design in nature and secondary students’ teleological explanations for the origin of adaptations, any definition of adaptation as a trait should include some information about its evolutionary history.     

Why Teaching Faculty Diversity (Still) Matters

Students in schools, colleges, and universities are rapidly becoming more diverse while the teaching workforce has failed to keep pace. The underrepresentation of minority teachers on school faculties persists despite efforts by successful national teacher recruitment programs, such as the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, to redress this persistent gap. Several factors influencing this gap, including retention, job satisfaction, and working conditions of teachers of color, are briefly summarized. However, the current economic conditions and academic job market retrenchment as well as the dramatic and ever-rising costs of graduate education in the United States threatens to affect the enrollment and aspirations of students of color interested in careers in education, despite the long-standing efforts and successes of these programs.     

Witnessing Deconstruction in Education: Why Quasi-Transcendentalism Matters

Deconstruction is often depicted as a method of critical analysis aimed at exposing unquestioned metaphysical assumptions and internal contradictions in philosophical and literary language. Starting from Derrida's contention that deconstruction is not a method and cannot be transformed into one, I make a case for a different attitude towards deconstruction, to which I refer as 'witnessing'. I argue that what needs to be witnessed is the occurrence of deconstruction and, more specifically, the occurrence of metaphysics-in-deconstruction. The point of witnessing metaphysics-in-deconstruction is affirmative: it is an affirmation of what cannot be conceived in terms of the system and yet makes this system possible. To the extent to which education is concerned with the 'coming into presence' of new beginners and new beginnings, it shares an interest with deconstruction. Through a discussion of the role of communication in education I indicate how we might witness the occurrence of deconstruction in education. Through this we may be able to identify openings that can become potential entrances for the coming into presence of new beginnings and new beginners. Such an engagement with Derrida's work is more than the application of 'his' philosophy to the 'field' of education and therefore also has implications for how we think of the very idea of philosophy of education.     

Why Faculty-Student Interaction Matters in the First Year Experience

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper presents a model for assessing the impact of interaction with faculty on student outcomes. Based on analyses of 1,500 freshman responses to Your First...     

Treatment Fidelity: What It Is and Why It Matters

Treatment fidelity refers to the extent to which an intervention is implemented as planned. If researchers do not assess and report treatment fidelity, or if treatment fidelity is shown to be low, findings from intervention studies are difficult to interpret, because the intervention may not have been implemented as planned. In this article, our aim is to inform research consumers by discussing treatment fidelity and its primary dimensions, providing guidelines for interpreting treatment fidelity, considering implications of treatment fidelity for research and practice, and illustrating how fidelity is reported in two recent studies. Our take‐home message is that when one is interpreting intervention studies, it is important to consider whether the interventions were applied as planned, or with fidelity.     

Why the Difference Between Explanation and Argument Matters to Science Education

Contributing to the recent debate on whether or not explanations ought to be differentiated from arguments, this article argues that the distinction matters to science education. I articulate the distinction in terms of explanations and arguments having to meet different standards of adequacy. Standards of explanatory adequacy are important because they correspond to what counts as a good explanation in a science classroom, whereas a focus on evidence-based argumentation can obscure such standards of what makes an explanation explanatory. I provide further reasons for the relevance of not conflating explanations with arguments (and having standards of explanatory adequacy in view). First, what guides the adoption of the particular standards of explanatory adequacy that are relevant in a scientific case is the explanatory aim pursued in this context. Apart from explanatory aims being an important aspect of the nature of science, including explanatory aims in classroom instruction also promotes students seeing explanations as more than facts, and engages them in developing explanations as responses to interesting explanatory problems. Second, it is of relevance to science curricula that science aims at intervening in natural processes, not only for technological applications, but also as part of experimental discovery. Not any argument enables intervention in nature, as successful intervention specifically presupposes causal explanations. Students can fruitfully explore in the classroom how an explanatory account suggests different options for intervention.     

Creativity Counts: Why Study Abroad Matters to Technical and Professional Communication

Technical communication programs preparing students to perform as symbolic analytic workers can improve a student's creative problem-solving abilities by offering study-abroad opportunities. Newer research from the field of psychology is used as a conceptual framework for discussing the author's development of curriculum for a study-abroad offering within a professional writing program. Details on the study-abroad curriculum proposal such as course assignments, readings, credit hours, and program destination and logistics are included.     

Why Diversity Matters in Rural America: Women Faculty of Color Challenging Whiteness

Using critical race theory as an analytical framework to examine White privilege and institutional racism, two teacher educators, in a rural predominantly White university tell counterstories about teaching for social justice in literacy and mathematics education courses. In sharing our counterstories in this paper, we, women faculty of color, challenge Whiteness and institutional racism with the hopes of: (1) promoting social justice teaching in order to globally prepare (pre-and-in-service) teachers and educational leaders to motivate and empower ALL students to learn; (2) dismantling racism to promote better wellbeing for women faculty of color; and (3) moving educational communities at large closer toward equitable education, which is a fundamental civil right. After analyzing the counterstories, we suggest that university leaders establish policies and practices to support (recruit, retain, and promote) faculty/leaders of color, not just mainstream academics. Working toward equity and justice, we strive to form alliances between Whites and Others.     

Going Beyond Convergence in Bayesian Estimation: Why Precision Matters Too and How to Assess It

Most of the software that is available to implement Bayesian approaches uses Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. It is our impression that many researchers are primarily concerned with convergence as assessed by the Potential Scale Reduction (PSR) and that other aspects of MCMC are largely ignored. In this article, we argue that the precision with which the Bayesian estimates are approximated by summary statistics for the MCMC chain is essential to ensure good statistical properties. We discuss the Effective Sample Size (ESS), which indicates how well an estimate is approximated, and present evidence from two simulation studies and an example from organizational research to support our claim that researchers should be concerned not only with convergence but also with precision, particularly when a multilevel model is estimated. In addition, we demonstrate how Mplus can be modified so that users can control the ESS, and we conclude with recommendations.     

On Primary Matters,Because Primary Matters

The list of achievements of NSEAD is significant, but this paper suggests that the lack of primary membership, standing at 4% at the time of writing, is a loss to both the Society, and the primary sector. In order to meets its objects as written in the constitution, the Society needs to represent art, craft and design education in all sectors. The paper underlines the value of education in art and design in the primary sector, and suggests that misunderstandings that exist about the nature of and importance on the activity of young children, particularly in relation to play, are indeed misunderstandings and need to be addressed.