“Coming Out” in a Feminist Classroom

Ideological differences in a writing class evoke the passion of political sensitivities. A graduate student tells of “coming out” as a pro-life advocate in an essay before his feminist classmates and professor. The exchange created instant and irreconcilable enemies, but he also found some unexpected support from a hesitant voice within that classroom.

Promoting gains in reading fluency: a comparison of three approaches

On the ground that reading fluency entails appropriate phrasing or prosody as well as facile word recognition, we investigated the effectiveness of text-based and word-based repeated readings procedures for promoting fluency of reading aloud and comprehension in second-grade children. Repeated readings of text printed with spaces between phrases and ends of lines at clause boundaries (phrase-cued text), repeated readings of text printed with conventional layout (standard text), and repeated readings of lists of difficult words from text were compared. Computer-based, guided repeated reading training intervened between a pretest and post-test reading of text. Each training condition led to significant benefits on one or more of the experimental measures obtained from reading aloud. Repeated readings with text resulted in greater gains in fluency than repeated readings with word lists. Reading with natural prosody was most strongly facilitated by repeated readings of phrase-cued text, which provided visible support for sentence structure.

NARST: a lived history

In this Forum, we construct a history of the National Association for Research in Science Education (NARST) through the analysis of documents and through the personal perspectives of individuals. The history of NARST is inseparable from the biography of the individuals through whose lives it was produced and reproduced. The history of NARST is a living history that both shapes and was shaped by the biographies of its members.

A review of Wolff-Michael Roth’s “In search of meaning and coherence: A life in research”

Wolff-Michael Roth’s In Search of Meaning and Coherence: A Life in Research, presents a selection of his previously published key works layered with current commentary and analysis. In this book review, we explore themes that emerge through the text to trace Roth’s development as a theoretician and as a researcher. We recommend this book for all those who are interested in Wolff-Michael Roth and the trajectory of his career, in particular those who are just beginning their journey towards academic scholarship.

The historical context of science and education at the American Museum of Natural History

In this article I critically examine the historical context of science education in a natural history museum and its relevance to using museum resources to teach science today. I begin with a discussion of the historical display of race and its relevance to my practice of using the Museum’s resources to teach science. I continue with a critical review of the history of the education department in a natural history museum to demonstrate the historical constitution of current practices of the education department. Using sociocultural constructs around identity formation and transformation, I move to the present with a case study of a teacher who transforms the structure of science education in her classroom and school as a result of her identity transformation and association with a museum-based professional education program.

Generic attributes as espoused theory: the importance of context

There has been considerable interest in generic attributes in higher education for over a decade and yet while generic skills or attributes are an important aspect of policy, there is often a lack of consistency between beliefs about the importance of these skills and attributes and the degree to which exist in teaching practice. There has been an assumption that these attributes exist outside of the disciplinary context, yet the findings of this study suggest that they are strongly influenced by the disciplinary culture in which they are taught. The study reported in this paper examines the apparent gap between ideal notions of generic attributes and their enactment in teaching practice. This qualitative study examined the teaching of generic attributes in five disciplines (physics, history, economics, medicine and law) in two Australian universities. It found that the notion of generic attributes is highly complex and while attributes such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication are valued by teaching staff they are often implicit in teaching. This gap between what is valued and what is actually taught is a result of variation in interpretation of generic attributes, the difficulties of reducing complex attributes to definable learning outcomes and practical constraints on teaching caused by factors such as large classes. Furthermore, it can be explained by the finding that generic attributes are part of the epistemic culture of the disciplines and often remain tacit. The findings of this study have significant implications for scholarship, policy and pedagogy.

“Writing Will Keep You Free”: Allusions to and Recreations of the Fairy Tale Heroine in <Emphasis Type="Italic">The House on Mango Street</Emphasis>

This article explores how Sandra Cisneros alludes to and recasts popular fairy tales in The House on Mango Street to reveal their troubled legacy in the lives of many women in the novel. Drawing upon Latina feminist theory and Cisneros’s autobiographical writing, this article posits that the main character Esperanza’s alternative “happily ever after” comes through locating the vocation of writing as the fulcrum for self-definition and social change. It is suggested that feminist literary criticism can be enhanced through analysis of heroines from diverse cultural backgrounds and theoretical frameworks attuned to racial and ethnic diversity.

ASERA: brief histor(y/ies)

This collection of historical accounts provides diverse perspectives on the structure and culture of the community of researchers who participate in activities of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA). It describes the formation of the Association, and identifies major changes and challenges for the ever growing and internationalisation of its membership.

Co-sleeping and the Importation of Picture Books About Bedtime

In mainstream Western cultures where bedtime means isolation and separation from adults, picture books about bedtime are cultural artifacts created especially for this transitional process of separation. In a culture such as Taiwan where children often sleep with their parents, siblings, or other caregivers until elementary school, the need for picture books about bedtime is an imported concept. The large number of translated Western bedtime books found in Taiwan becomes a rich area in which to explore the impact of imported ideas of childhood on Taiwanese picture book creation. This article takes a close look at the books created by Taiwanese authors with a bedtime theme and notes their culturally hybrid qualities.

Hands-on mathematics: two cases from ancient Chinese mathematics

In modern mathematical teaching, it has become increasingly emphasized that mathematical knowledge should be taught by problem-solving, hands-on activities, and interactive learning experiences. Comparing the ideas of modern mathematical education with the development of ancient Chinese mathematics, we find that the history of mathematics in ancient China is an abundant resource for materials to demonstrate mathematics by hands-on manipulation. In this article I shall present two cases that embody this idea of a hands-on approach in ancient Chinese mathematics, at the same time offering an opportunity to show how to utilize materials from the history of Chinese math in modern mathematical education.

A Role for Experiment in Using the Law of Inertia to Explain the Nature of Science: A Comment on Lopes Celho

The whole mode of Galileo’s discovery of the Law of Inertia is an excellent exemplar of the Nature of Science. The law can, moreover be shown to be a direct consequence of the hypothesis that space is homogeneous and isotropic and time is homogeneous

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Critical physics agency: further unraveling the intersections of subject matter knowledge, learning, and taking action

In this rejoinder to Bryan Brown and John Reveles, we highlight the facts that (a) sociocultural theories of learning do not go far enough because they fail to address a number of issues and (b) we require concepts such as power and positionality to understand science learning.

Which components of working memory are important in the writing process?

This study investigated the relationship between components of working memory (WM) and the macrostructure (e.g., planning, writing, and revision) and microstructure (e.g., grammar, punctuation) of writing. A battery of WM and writing measures were administered to 160 high-school students. Overall, hierarchical regression analyses showed that the central executive component of WM significantly predicted planning, writing, and revision as well the majority of microstructure measures. The results further validate the importance of WM in the writing process, but indicate that writing process is more intricately tied to the controlled attention component of WM when compared to storage of information.

Listening and reflecting: an introduction to the special issue

The topic of listening has been broadly neglected in educational studies. This special issue presents studies on the connections between listening and reflecting in educational contexts.

Teachers’ Perspectives on a Professional Development Intervention to Improve Science Instruction Among English Language Learners

Our 5-year professional development intervention is designed to promote elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in teaching science, along with English language and mathematics for English Language Learning (ELL) students in urban schools. In this study, we used an end-of-year questionnaire as a primary data source to seek teachers’ perspectives on our intervention during the first year of implementation. Teachers believed that the intervention, including curriculum materials and teacher workshops, effectively promoted students’ science learning, along with English language development and mathematics learning. Teachers highlighted strengths and areas needing improvement in the intervention. Teachers’ perspectives have been incorporated into our on-going intervention efforts and offer insights into features of effective professional development initiatives in improving science achievement for all students.

Struggling to Recognize their Existence: Examining Student–Adult Relationships in the Urban High School Context

In today’s reform context, much attention is placed on policies and outcomes and far less emphasis on understanding the social and cultural processes in schools. Using case-study methodology, I examine relationships between low-income, urban high school students of color, and the school adults with whom they interact. Using grounded theory, students’ experiences are analyzed and interpreted through the lens of recognition. Recognition is used as both a theoretical and empirical concept to illuminate students’ experiences and voices, especially since the construct is largely absent in the U.S. education discourse. Students revealed that being known by adults, talking with adults, engaging with adults personally, and experiencing encouraging adults were all critical elements of recognition. I suggest that student–adult relationships, via the practice of recognition in urban schools, needs to be interrogated, deliberate, and political so that the transformative purpose of education can be realized.

Steering Legacies: Pedagogy,Literacy, and Social Justice in Schools

This article builds upon more than 6 years of critical research in urban schools in northern California to offer a particular perspective on teaching for social justice. Concerned with prevailing issues in adolescent literacy, this article examines instantiations of literacy instruction in the shadow of the late activist poet June Jordan and with the support of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. It focuses on culturally responsive pedagogy to understand not only their work but also the work of teachers and other educators. Central to the discussion are two kinds of pedagogical innovations, one based on a school-community partnership and the other a district-wide sponsored writing contest. Implications for classroom practice and key lessons useful for teachers interested in similar work are also discussed.

Three Kinds of Political Engagement for Philosophy of Science

In responding to critics and reviewers of my book, How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science, I attempt to identify some misleading conventional wisdom about the place of values in philosophy of science and then offer three distinct ways in which philosophers of science can engage their work with ongoing social and political currents.

Homicides in Higher Education: Some Reflections on the Moral Mission of the University

This essay on the ethical mission of the university explores extremes of anti-social behavior, visiting numerous crime scenes before concluding that contemporary higher education has lost the capacity—and even the language—for taking character development seriously. In his attempt to determine whether coincidently traditional-liberationist-diversiphilic-apathetic colleges can morally improve their charges, Peter Wood collects a wrenching compendium of violent academic mayhem.