Is Educational Adequacy Adequate for Just Education?

In this article I raise three objections to Debra Satz's adequacy approach to education. I argue that her approach fails to see education as a positional good that opens the door to more inequalities. Second, I argue that her concept of adequacy for equal citizenship misses an essential part of students’ educational experience beyond their citizenship statues. Last, I argue that Staz's approach fails to answer crucial practical questions about how to distribute extra resources when the adequate level is already met. Finally, I provide an alternative view that is sensitive to the fact that education is a positional good, based on an active and more inclusive account of citizenship, and conditioned to limit inequalities to be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged.     

When the atmosphere warms it rains and ice melts: seventh grade students’ conceptions of a climate system

Although many environmental and science educators have explored students’ conceptual understandings, misconceptions, and knowledge of the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change, few have investigated the ways students conceptualize climate as a system or how components of the system influence climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to begin the process of understanding how US students conceptualize a climate system. A total of 42 seventh grade students (ages 12–13) from the Midwest completed an open-response task. From the inductive analysis of student written responses, 22 codes emerged that reflected students’ conceptions of the climate system. From these codes, three path diagrams were constructed that illustrate these students’ conceptions about how a climate system influences climate and how greenhouse gases and global warming impact the climate system. A generalized model of students’ conception of a climate system was generated. Students in this study conceptualized a climate system in a unidirectional, linear, cause and effect relationship that emphasized the atmospheric component of the climate system.     

Religion as a barrier to the use of student loans for higher education: A community-based participatory study with Somalis living in England

The unwillingness of the Somali community to finance higher education has largely gone unnoticed within the academic literature and government policy documents. This study explores the role of religion and the influence of Shari'ah scholars on the use of interest-bearing student loans within the Somali community. In the absence of any theoretical framework on this topic, we explore the multiple socioeconomic factors that may influence the attitude, perception of need, motivation and action of using student loans for higher education, by proposing the UK Somali Muslims Acceptance of Interest-bearing Student Loan Model. This is also a community-based participatory study that actively involved Somali community members in exploring and interpreting the results. This was achieved through regular consultations with the sampled Somali Muslim communities within the UK. Our results contribute to the broader debate on the effect of cultural, religious and social values of marginalised communities on inclusion and widening access policies for higher education. The findings reemphasise that people sharing the same location do not necessarily share the same level of opportunities for higher education because of the intersectionality of race, religion, gender and class. The results also show the complexity of the issue of exclusion and the atheoretical nature of student loans as a financial instrument for improving financial inclusion and widening access to higher education among Somali residents in England.     

Learning science content through socio-scientific issues-based instruction: a multi-level assessment study

Science educators have presented numerous conceptual and theoretical arguments in favor of teaching science through the exploration of socio-scientific issues (SSI). However, the empirical knowledge base regarding the extent to which SSI-based instruction supports student learning of science content is limited both in terms of the number of studies that have been conducted in this area and the quality of research. This research sought to answer two questions: (1) To what extent does SSI-based instruction support student learning of science content? and (2) How do assessments at variable distances from the curriculum reveal patterns of learning associated with SSI-based instruction? Sixty-nine secondary students taught by three teachers participated in the study. Three teachers implemented an SSI intervention focused on the use of biotechnology for identifying and treating sexually transmitted diseases. We found that students demonstrated statistically and practically significant gains in content knowledge as measured by both proximal and distal assessments. These findings support the claim that SSI-based teaching can foster content learning and improved performance on high-stakes tests.     

'Intentional repetition' and learning style: Increasing efficient and cohesive interaction in asynchronous online discussions

This study verified the efficacy of the intentional repetition technique in improving interaction in asynchronous online discussions by taking into account the learning styles of the participants. A conceptual framework served for the development of the technique, which conceptualises efficient and cohesive interaction on a continuum of process that move from social presence to production of an artefact. Sixty-one university students participated in the study. A quasi-experimental research design was used. The subjects, who were assigned randomly into two groups, were tested using Kolb's learning style inventory. The results showed that the experimental group exposed to the intentional repetition technique produced significantly better interaction than the control group, regardless of their learning styles, which had no significant effect on the interaction. Moreover, there was no interaction effect between the learning styles and the treatment. The implications arising from these results identify various suggestions for increasing the coherence and depth of the interaction amongst students in asynchronous online discussions.     

Review:Importance of ticks and their chemical and immunological control in livestock

INTRODUCTION Parasitic diseases is a global problem and con-sidered as a major obstacle in the health and productperformance of animals. These may be due toendo-parasites that live inside the body, orecto-parasites such as ticks, mites, flies, fleas, midges,etc., which attack the body surface. Amongecto-parasites, ticks are very important and harmfulblood sucking external parasites of mammals, birdsand reptiles throughout the world (Furman and Loo-mis, 1984). The medical and economic im…     

汉维语文化差异与汉语教学

学习汉语的过程是学习汉民族悠久深厚文化的过程,在教学中传授汉文化知识是汉语教学的不可忽视的一方面。本文简要分析了针对维吾尔族学生的汉语教学中,汉维语文化的差异在词汇、语法、语用等方面的表现及教学中应注意的问题。     

Counseling and guidance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is striving to develop a counseling and guidance program to serve its nation. This study focuses on the educational goals of Saudi Arabia in general and the goals and objectives of the counseling and guidance program specifically. The study examines the development of the counseling and guidance program, the philosophical assumptions of the program, the administration of the program, and the training of the school counselor.     

On the hunt for the gene of perspective taking: pitfalls in methodology

In this commentary, we evaluate the methodology of Udell, Dorey, and Wynne’s (Learning & Behavior, in press) experiment in controlling for environmental factors and argue that their conclusion is not supported. In particular, we emphasise that comparative studies on dogs and wolves need to ensure that both species enjoyed the same rearing history, are comparable in age, and have the same experience with the testing conditions. We also argue that the utilisation of shelter dogs does not control for genetic effects on social behaviour. Finally, we propose a synergetic model to account for both genetic and environmental effects on interspecific social behaviour in dogs and wolves.