Globalisation and the politics of international tests: the case of Israel

Comparative international tests of students' achievements have become increasingly popular over the past decade. An outcome of this widespread practice is the tendency of various countries to evaluate their national status according to their pupils' international ranking in such achievement tests, partly due to the common belief that high ranking is an indication of the nation's future ability to compete in the global market. Using PISA 2000 and PISA 2006 data, the present study aims to show that the low achievements of Israeli pupils were to be expected, and that their average scores are a reflection of the economic and demographic characteristics of their country. Our findings suggest that the public debate in Israel on school achievements has been magnified out of all proportion. We also discuss the educational policy which derives proposals for educational reform from a conception of globalisation of education. This policy focuses on the setting of standards for educational achievements aimed at improving pupils' place on the international scale. Finally, we claim that the focus on the international grading of educational achievements deflects public attention from an understanding of the significance of inequalities within the country.     

Agent‐Based Modeling of Growth Processes

Growth processes abound in nature, and are frequently the target of modeling exercises in the sciences. In this article we illustrate an agent‐based approach to modeling, in the case of a single example from the social sciences: bullying.     

Increasing label-free stem cell sorting capacity to reach transplantation-scale throughput

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has proven an invaluable tool for the enrichment of populations of stem and progenitor cells owing to its ability to sort cells in a label-free manner and its biological safety. However, DEP separation devices have suffered from a low throughput preventing researchers from undertaking studies requiring large numbers of cells, such as needed for cell transplantation. We developed a microfluidic device designed for the enrichment of stem and progenitor cell populations that sorts cells at a rate of 150,000 cells/h, corresponding to an improvement in the throughput achieved with our previous device designs by over an order of magnitude. This advancement, coupled with data showing the DEP-sorted cells retain their enrichment and differentiation capacity when expanded in culture for periods of up to 2 weeks, provides sufficient throughput and cell numbers to enable a wider variety of experiments with enriched stem and progenitor cell populations. Furthermore, the sorting devices presented here provide ease of setup and operation, a simple fabrication process, and a low associated cost to use that makes them more amenable for use in common biological research laboratories. To our knowledge, this work represents the first to enrich stem cells and expand them in culture to generate transplantation-scale numbers of differentiation-competent cells using DEP.     

VIOLENCE DIRECTED AGAINST TEACHERS: RESULTS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY

Teachers in U.S. schools report high rates of victimization, yet previous studies focus on select types of victimization and student perpetrators, which may underestimate the extent of the problem. This national study was based on work conducted by the American Psychological Association Classroom Violence Directed Against Teachers Task Force and is one of the few national studies to examine violence directed at teachers. Participants included 2,998 kindergarten through 12^th‐grade (K‐12) teachers from 48 states who completed an anonymous web‐based survey assessing their experiences with victimization. Results revealed that 80% of teachers reported at least one victimization, and of these teachers, 94% reported being victimized by students. Nearly three‐fourths of all teachers experienced at least one harassment offense, more than half experienced property offenses, and 44% reported physical attacks. Findings suggest that specific teacher and community characteristics are associated with a higher likelihood of victimization, namely, male gender and urban settings; whereas, African American teachers were less likely to report victimization. Implications for teacher training, school interventions, public policy, and future research are discussed.     

The Genetic Drift Inventory: A Tool for Measuring What Advanced Undergraduates Have Mastered about Genetic Drift

Understanding genetic drift is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of biology, yet it is difficult to learn because it combines the conceptual challenges of both evolution and randomness. To help assess strategies for teaching genetic drift, we have developed and evaluated the Genetic Drift Inventory (GeDI), a concept inventory that measures upper-division students’ understanding of this concept. We used an iterative approach that included extensive interviews and field tests involving 1723 students across five different undergraduate campuses. The GeDI consists of 22 agree–disagree statements that assess four key concepts and six misconceptions. Student scores ranged from 4/22 to 22/22. Statements ranged in mean difficulty from 0.29 to 0.80 and in discrimination from 0.09 to 0.46. The internal consistency, as measured with Cronbach''s alpha, ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 across five iterations. Test–retest analysis resulted in a coefficient of stability of 0.82. The true–false format means that the GeDI can test how well students grasp key concepts central to understanding genetic drift, while simultaneously testing for the presence of misconceptions that indicate an incomplete understanding of genetic drift. The insights gained from this testing will, over time, allow us to improve instruction about this key component of evolution.     

GERONTOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF STUDENTS OF RELIGION

Stereotypes about aging and the old, both negative and positive, have significant influence upon older people themselves. Often unknowingly, older people incorporate these stereotypes into their own thinking and self-perceptions. A literature search revealed four primary hypotheses about the manner in which these self-stereotypes impact older people: stereotype threat, comparison, externalization, and internalization. Anecdotal examples of the four hypotheses are drawn from an unrelated research study that the authors are currently undertaking. Among these hypotheses, four basic characteristics of self-stereotypes are identified: (a) stereotypes can be negative or positive; (b) stereotypes have significant power, particularly if they are self-relevant; (c) stereotypes can be operative without awareness and influence physical and cognitive outcomes; and (d) negative stereotypes can be countered by positive priming. Due to their ability to significantly influence the cognitive and functional well-being of older people, further research is essential to better understand how these self-stereotypes function.     

Resilience in Families of Husbands with Prostate Cancer

This study identifies qualities associated with the successful adaptation of families with a husband diagnosed with prostate cancer. Both qualitative and quantitative measures were used in this cross-sectional survey research design. Twenty-one husbands and their spouses independently completed six questionnaires and a biographical questionnaire, and they answered an open-ended question. The qualitative findings revealed the importance of intrafamilial support, spiritual/religious beliefs, and professional support and knowledge, while the quantitative results indicated that family adaptation was fostered by the family's internal strengths and durability, affirmative communication, and the experience of social support. The findings could be used to develop interventions that promote family resilience and affirm the reparative potential of families.     

Differentiating between and synthesizing quantitative,qualitative, and longitudinal research on polarized school cultures: a comment on Van Houtte (2006)

Van Houtte provides a valuable large‐sample quantitative analysis of differentiation and polarization processes between and within school cultures in Belgium. Such research across 34 secondary schools provides greater confidence that the findings in the ethnographic tradition for the differentiation–polarization theory are not due to idiosyncracies of the individual schools chosen. However, it is unhelpful to contrast her large‐sample approach with the ethnographic tradition by characterizing the former as quantitative and the latter as qualitative. Many ethnographic studies of secondary schools have employed quantitative methods. It is better to characterize her research as multi‐site and the ethnographic tradition as case‐study. This illuminates how the two methodologies can be more constructively synthesized. Within large sample multi‐site approaches some selection of in‐depth case studies, together with longitudinal data analysis, are needed to disentangle socio‐economic class effects from differentiation effects in order to determine causality.