Reflections on the Community Idea in Jewish Education

It was Edward Dahlberg, Kansas City's great gift to American letters, who observed that, as between a friend or an enemy, he always chose an enemy. An enemy is more reliable. Sometimes we need protection from the friends of Jewish education the well-meaning, well-intentioned passionate proponents of day school education who seem to believe that mobilizing support for day schools requires them to “bad-mouth” the supplementary school.     

Electroplating for high aspect ratio vias in PCB manufacturing： enhancement capabilities of acoustic streaming

This paper considers the copper electrodeposit ion processes in microvias and investigates whether the quality of the electroplating process can be improved by acoustic streaming using megasonic transducers placed into a plating cell. The theoretical results show that acoustic streaming does not take place within the micro-via （either through or blind-via＇ s）, however it does help improve cupric ion transport in the area close to the mouth of a via. This replenishment of cupric ions at the mouth of micro-via leads to better quality filling of the micro-via through diffusion compared to basic conditions. Experiments showing the improved quality of the filling of vias are also presented.     

A mathematical model for estimating the effectiveness of bigram coding

This paper discusses bigram coding as a technique for compacting data. A mathematical model is developed that estimates the effectiveness of such a code as a function of the fraction of bigram tokens that are encodeable: this model accounts for the degree of overlap of encodeable tokens by assuming that bigram token occurrences have a Markov property. The model requires that a single parameter be fit to the data. The results of an experiment testing this model on a file of catalog data in a library is given, and excellent agreement is found. This model provides substantial improvement over an earlier model in which bigrams are assumed to occur independently of each other.     

The occurrence of assimilation and accommodation in learning high school physics

The Piagetian model of intelligence consists of the elements of content, mental structures and mental functioning. While the first two elements are said to be variants, the third element is described as invariant. Mental functioning begins with a process called assimilation which promotes disequilibrium and, in reestablishing equilibrium, the learner accommodates to what was assimilated. The assimilation-disequilibrium-accommodation process has been labeled adaptation which Piaget described as the accord of thought with things. The newly-acquired ideas (or concepts) are next organized with other knowledge; Piaget described that organization process as the accord of thought with thought. While the Piagetian mental functioning model has been available for some time, empirical evidence that the model actually did or did not function was not found. Teaching and curriculum development procedures were extracted from the mental functioning model and a twelfth-grade physics course was so organized and taught. Naturalistic data collected from individual student interviews and in-class discussions were used to evaluate the hypothesis that mental functioning and the factors which compose it are integral parts of the learning process.     

Correction to: Biology Undergraduate Students’ Graphing Practice in Digital Versus Pen and Paper Graphing Environments

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of “Susan Maruca” is now corrected in the author group.     

Back to the future on gender and anti‐school boys: a response to Jeffrey Smith

This article examines recent claims by Jeffrey Smith that: (1) ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is an expression of working class counter‐school culture; (2) some teachers are ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing ‘hegemonic masculinities’ of anti‐school working class boys, thereby contributing to their underachievement; and (3) these ‘cultural accomplices’ are an emerging response to recent moral panics and neo‐liberal managerialism concerned with ‘failing boys’ at school. It is suggested that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is not necessarily associated with anti‐school values in working class culture. Many working class boys might subscribe to ‘hegemonic masculinity’ without rejecting learning. Contrary to Smith’s emphasis on how working class culture generates anti‐school ‘hegemonic masculinity’, there is the possibility that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is fused with anti‐school values produced by organisational differentiation. The continuing commonalities between working class anti‐school boys and the ‘gender regime’ of some secondary schools for over 20 years implies something more enduring at work than recent moral panics.