Toward a Theory of Liking

In the current essay, Kevin Burke and Adam Greteman challenge this thing called love by looking at how we might instead “like” in education. Within education, multiculturalism can be viewed as a way of loving, or learning to love, diversity and, as such, learning to love the self; this tendency is notably apparent in the recent rise of concern expressed about student self‐esteem. According to the authors, however, critical research on multiculturalism demonstrates how, in loving diversity, multicultural discourses limn the possibilities for subjects to come into being and be liked for their differences. Drawing on James Alison's On Being Liked, Burke and Greteman reframe the problem of relating in education instead through the language of liking. How does the shift from loving to liking — either our students, our teachers, or ourselves — create different social dynamics and ethical paradigms? In engaging this question, Burke and Greteman offer an alternative model of liking that is based on the practice of cruising.     

The effect of a structured story reading intervention,story retelling and higher order thinking for English language and literacy acquisition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of structured story reading intervention, Story reTelling and higher order thinking for English Language and Literacy Acquisition (STELLA), delivered to 38 Hispanic English language learners (ELL) placed in an enhanced transitional bilingual programme over 2 years from first to second grade as compared with 34 control students placed in a typical practice transitional bilingual programme during the same time period. Both treatment and comparison ELL students' retellings of two stories in Spanish and English were measured by five story elements. Findings were that (a) students receiving intervention outperformed their comparison peers in all five story elements in English and Spanish of both stories; (b) students showed stronger ability in their native language in four of five story elements; and (c) students performed at a higher level in the narrative‐informational story than a narrative story in both languages. Educational implications are discussed.     

SERVICE PROVIDERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT OLD AGE: COMPARISON OF THREE SERVICE NETWORKS

We report on knowledge about old age among social service providers from three service networks. Data are based on a survey of 245 respondents from Washington State's developmental disabilities, aging, and generic service networks. Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ; 1977, 1988) was used to measure the level of knowledge about old age. Key findings are as follows: (a) Overall, the respondents averaged 64% correct on the FAQ. (b) Developmental disabilities service providers scored lower than either aging service providers or generic service providers. (c) The content areas in which items were most often missed were the psychological aspects aging, the demographic trends of the aging population, and the socioeconomic status of the elderly. Implications of the results for training service providers are discussed.     

Early Journals and Their Influences on the Development of Gerontology

This examination of early gerontology journals identifies the multidisciplinary backgrounds of contributors, methods of investigation, nascent theory development, and formative themes and controversies. Through use of content, thematic, and critical analyses of second year issues of The Gerontologist, Educational Gerontology, Research on Aging, Journal of Applied Gerontology, and Canadian Journal on Aging, this study highlights the influence of these journals on the formation of the discipline of gerontology. The analyses indicate that education and awareness of ageism, policy planning to address changing demographic patterns, cultural diversity, and disciplinary development were key themes in these early publications. The study also reveals that researchers and scholars in the social sciences and health sciences established the foundations of the discipline. Controversies were evident in various debates about knowledge formation and dissemination. The early journals further included diverse perspectives, theories, research methods, directions, and critiques of issues of age, aging, and the aged.     

DARING TO GROW OLD: LESSONS IN HEALTHY AGING AND EMPOWERMENT

The capacity to achieve and retain control over one's own life—to make decisions about and exert power over one's situation—is strongly correlated with being healthy. For older persons, there is a real danger that professionals with good intentions will encroach on this control in the name of providing service. We examine the issues of power, control, decision making, and healthy aging from the perspective of educating health care providers. Particular attention is paid to how health care providers see their role in defining older adults as being at risk when they refuse service or take risks that providers define as unacceptable. We raise this issue of appropriate professional control and cite the literature on successful coping to argue for policies and practices that enhance personal autonomy and interdependence as effective vehicles for healthy aging. Lessons from primary health care are applied to healthy aging even in the face of diminished capacities.     

Drawing Back the Lens on Play: A Frame Analysis of Young Children's Play in Puerto Rico

Research Findings: This study assessed public perceptions of child care and its providers in a Canadian province where government funding for child care includes subsidies and a voluntary accreditation process. In 2007–2008, 1,443 randomly selected adults in Alberta, Canada, completed a telephone survey. Individuals were eligible to participate if they had had interactions with a child younger than 14 years of age in the past 6 months. A total of 52% indicated that the government should cover about half of child care costs, and 72% indicated that child care providers at day care centers should have at least a college diploma. Between 80% and 90% indicated that child care providers were as central to children's development as elementary school teachers. One third of parents sought information on child development from child care providers. These parents were more likely to have children in care for more than 6 hr per week, have children younger than 6 years old, and be unmarried. Practice or Policy: The majority of Alberta adults were in favor of substantial public funding of child care. Adults who interacted with children valued the role of child care providers in supporting children's development, which may be encouraging news for providers. Because parents sought information about child development from child care providers, it is important to ensure that providers have both the training and the content expertise to provide parents with current information that will optimize development and support parents in their role. Policymakers, educators, and program planners may consider this information useful in allocating resources to promote child development.     

The Innovative Educational Thought of Jane Roland Martin: A Review Essay

D. G. Mulcahy highlights some of Jane Roland Martin's major contributions to the field of philosophy of education in this review essay. He focuses on several of Martin's better‐known works — including Reclaiming a Conversation, The Schoolhome, Changing the Educational Landscape, Coming of Age in Academe, Educational Metamorphoses, and School Was Our Life — tracing through them the development of her reconceptualization of the idea of a liberal education from the early1980s to the present day. Viewing Martin's contribution from the perspective of liberal education, he contends, underscores the optimistic spirit of her work as well as its originality and significance for the theory of education as a whole. Mulcahy gives particular attention to these elements of Martin's thought: the importance she attributes to educating the young for active participation in the world and not mere observation of it; her analysis of the range and complexity of our cultural wealth; her concept of a gender‐sensitive education; and her emphasis on the unique contribution of the experience of women to education. Martin's substantial body of work, Mulcahy concludes, stands as a compelling alternative to mainstream educational theorizing, one that offers hope for the potential of educational renewal.     

“I Just Love Black People!”: Love,Pleasure, and Critical Pedagogy in Urban Teacher Education

With concern to critical pedagogy, the concept of love is fairly frequently (ab)used, yet under-theorized. In this exploratory study, I ask: How does a critical pedagogy of love—or critical pedagogical love—look, sound, and feel? Regarding feeling, how does a critical pedagogue engage the sensations of pleasure attendant to love? Lastly, how does the pedagogue invite love and pleasure into the pain-filled field of urban teacher education? Using Black feminist theorizing of love as an analytic filter, I investigate a university-based urban teacher educator’s navigation of the nexus of love, pleasure, and critical (specifically, antiracist) pedagogy. Extrapolating from the resultant narrative portrait, I consider the affordances of a critical pedagogy of love that accesses embodied pleasure, emphasizing how such a pedagogy might present racially marginalized persons—particularly urban teacher educators of Color—with opportunities for reprieve from the suffering that characterizes many of our experiences with/in teacher education.

     

The Professionalization of Gerontology: A Canadian Perspective

Globally, the need for development of a competent workforce to serve the burgeoning older population is well documented. Persons with degrees in gerontology are prepared to fill positions in this labor market, yet they are not in demand. This research explores the path of professionalization of gerontologists in Canada as a means of increasing their contribution to the aging services workforce. A cross-sectional online survey of aging-service administrators (n = 66) was conducted in Ontario, Canada, to ascertain their perceptions of gerontologists as professionals in the service delivery to older persons. Aging-service administrators show low rates of hiring gerontologists and low knowledge of gerontological competencies. There was a significant (p < .05) relationship between the knowledge of gerontologist's competence and their rate of employment. The administrators expressed high interest in regulation and credentialing of gerontologists (63.6%). Credentialing of gerontologists is a means of professionalization that legitimizes the competence of this field as a profession. Education is needed—for governmental agencies and health and social service providers—on the role of gerontologists in meeting aging service workforce demands. Ultimately, regulatory policy considerations are needed.     

Telling the truth about stories

This paper opens with two stories—about the “joking relationship” discovered by anthropologist Radcliffe-Brown Structure and function in primitive society. New York: The Free Press (1965), and an incident in the life of Rousseau—which illustrate that sometimes a story needs to be true, and that the opinion of an outsider can be preferable to that of the insider whose story it is. Recent papers by Carter and Polkinghorne Educational Researcher, 22(1), 5–12 (1993) and International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23 (1995) are analysed; it is argued that a clear and enticing plot is no indicator of a story's truth, furthermore the need to be true can hold both of “analysis of narratives” and “narrative analysis”.     

GIRLFRIEND THEOLOGY: GOD‐TALK ACROSS RELIGIOUS BORDERS

Abstract

Girlfriend Theology is a method of religious education by which women who have found power, voice, and authority might nurture resilience in adolescent girls within faith communities. This essay relates one portion of a larger project involving ethnographic research with fifteen females. These females gathered in small groups and followed a four‐part method that began with one person telling a story from her life. This paper shares one of these ninety‐minute story sessions in which a religiously diverse group engages in God‐talk. From four such Girlfriend Theology sessions arose seven theological assertions—statements about God, humanity, and communities of faith—that sometimes affirmed and sometimes challenged traditional interpretations. These assertions reflect emancipatory theological motifs when analyzed through the lens of womanist, mujerista, and Asian‐feminist theology. This essay draws connections between the story session reported and two of the seven theological assertions of Girlfriend Theology.

What would it mean for a girl—against the stories read, chanted, or murmured to her—to choose to tell the truth of her life aloud to another person at the very point at when she is invited into the larger cultural story of womanhood—that is, at . . . adolescence?

—Lyn Mikel Brown, Telling a Girl's Life     

Research Scientist Beyond and Within the Classroom: An Interview With Ecotoxicologist–Teacher Sven Strnad

How to read and understand poetry Edgar Allan Poe American story poems Pleasantville, New York: Educational Audio‐Visual, Inc.

The Cousteau oceanography series: “The Water Planet, Sets I and II” Burbank, California: Walt Disney Educational Media Company

Amazing world of Dinosaurs multimedia kit

Burbank, California: Walt Disney Educational Media Company     

Textual Authority in Bram Stoker's Dracula; or,What's Really at Stake in Action Research?

In a previous issue of Educational Action Research, Jean‐Claude Couture revisited his involvement in a university action research project with particular reference to his complicity in – and, eventually, resistance to – working for the interests of the university. In his essay, entitled ‘Dracula as action researcher’. Couture uses the 1992 movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula, as a source of metaphors and analogies for rewriting the story of his involvement in the project. In this response to Couture. I suggest that the movie offers fewer textual resources for the deconstruction he attempts than does Bram Stoker's original novel and, more importantly, that Couture may have thus overlooked important resources for resisting his positioning as an accomplice of the university. I also suggest that juxtaposing Couture's story of action research with Bram Stoker's version of the Dracula legend highlights crucial questions about the mobilisation of textual authority in educational action research.     

Table of Contents

• High‐achieving black collegians
  • by Sharon Fries‐Britt
  • How well do we understand the experiences of high‐achieving black students? The author says we have a lot to learn about their important roles in both our institutions and society at large.
• The search for a college commons
  • by Thomas Klein
  • How can we restructure our campuses to encourage the new kinds of learning we all know as so vital for the future of higher education? The author looks to the past for the answer.
• Listening to students: Richard J. Light talks to Charles C. Schroeder
  • What we can learn by simply giving students the chance to tell their stories and reflect on their experiences.

• DEPARTMENTS
• In practice—rainbow visibility: How one catholic university responded to intolerance
  • by Cheryl Getz and Evelyn A. Kirkley
  • When respect for the individual's dignity is threatened, education is often the best medicine.
• Campus commons—bulking up
  • by Lee Burdette Williams
  • How one university “mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.”
• Bottom line—imitate me
  • by William H. Willimon
  • Like it or not, example is the most potent instructor.

     

THE STEALTH GERONTOLOGYTM PROGRAM: TRAINING TEACHERS TO INFUSE AGING AND AGE-RELATED CONTENT INTO PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASSROOMS

Preparing youngsters for an aging society requires teachers who keep pace with health science research. The Stealth Gerontology^TM program educates teachers regarding aging-related issues. The design and assessment of the program are reported in this paper. Teachers attended sessions including direct instruction and hands-on participation (e.g., laboratories). Sound educational methods were modeled through interactions with university researchers and lessons from the Positively Aging^® curriculum, while highlighting aging topics matched to educational standards. Participants showed significant improvement (p ≤ 0.05) in eight of nine topics in multiple-choice pre- and posttests. Evaluations indicate a high degree of success.     

Distance Learning for GED® Students in Rural Pennsylvania

Abstract

Although many adult basic education programs offer distance learning (DL) for GED (General Educational Development) and English as a Second Language learners, this topic has received little scholarly attention. This article examines the availability, usage, and effectiveness of DL for rural GED candidates in Pennsylvania; students' demographic and educational characteristics and participation patterns; and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of DL for students and education providers. Data sources included records of 24,143 rural GED students in state-funded programs; GED test takers' demographic survey data; interviews with DL educators and students; and a survey of non-state-funded DL providers. The results show that 4% of rural GED students—primarily young, White, low-income women—participated in DL. Rural DL students were as likely to pass the GED Tests as face-to-face learners. Key advantages and disadvantages of DL for rural GED students are discussed. The study signals great potential and need for expanding DL in rural regions.     

Case‐Based Teaching: Four Experiences in Educational Software Design

Abstract

Good teaching is good story telling. Case‐based teaching exploits the basic capacity for students to learn from stories and the basic desire of teachers to tell stories that are indicative of their experiences. The premise of software that used case‐based teaching would be to place a student in a situation that the student found interesting and where the telling of a story would be appreciated. First, case‐based teachers teach the student what he or she needs to know at precisely the point of becoming interested in knowing the information. This information should be presented in the form of stories. Law schools and business schools have been teaching this way for years. They teach cases rather than rules because, by and large, they don't have rules to teach. The second critical part of learning in a case‐based environment is teaching a student to abstract from what the student has been told, and adapting it to situations for which the student was not specifically trained.

At the Institute, we have, to date, built four examples of case‐based teaching software. The programs are:

VICTOR — a voice and image courtesy tutor — built for Ameritech

DUSTIN — a language experience — built for Andersen Consulting

CREANIMATE — a biology experience‐built for schools and supported by IBM

TAXOPS — a tax opportunity advisor and cross seller — built for the Tax division of Arthur Andersen     

Learning to teach: enhancing pre‐service teachers’ awareness of the complexity of teaching–learning processes

Abstract

Interest in story in teaching has been linked to teacher research (Carter, 1993; Elbaz, 1991), to teacher education (Connelly &; Clandinin, 1994), to curriculum (Britz‐man, 1989; Gudmundsdottir, 1991c), and to school change (Giltin, 1990). I wish to argue here for a link between story and one form of teacher reflection, for portfolio construction, unlike more conventional forms of teacher development, encourages teachers to tell the story of their classrooms and to frame that story in particular ways. I wish to argue here for a view that constructing a portfolio shifts the ownership of learning to the portfolio‐maker and that in this constructing, we can trace a teacher's developing understanding of pedagogy. Specifically, my aim is to illustrate the narrative dimensions of a self‐generated portfolio question — its interpretations, the reflections upon its meaning, and its transformations of pedagogical understanding — as this text becomes pedagogy and pedagogy becomes text. This interpretive process is illustrated through a case study of Ellen Nicol, a secondary English as a Second Language teacher, in her graduate teacher education year and her first 2 years of classroom teaching. Ellen's pedagogical text, her question, is reinterpreted with major changes each time she comes to understand more completely the richness and complexity of her classroom. Each new transformation and reinterpretation serve as guide for selection of materials, for selection of pedagogy, and for assessment of success. Each new collection of pedagogical information serves as impetus for possible reframing and transformation of the text.     

教育爱——一个被忽略了的教育学核心范畴

“教育爱”在教育实践过程中具有相当的重要性,也理应是教育学中的一个核心性范畴,但在当今的教育学理论中却鲜少对此的直接探讨。“教育爱”是教师在教育过程中对学生所施予的一种爱,因其明确的教育性意向而具有相对独特的内涵。结合一些经典的爱的理论论述,可以使我们进一步明确爱的实质内涵及“教育爱”的独特特征。