An Eye-Tracking Study of Learning From Science Text With Concrete and Abstract Illustrations

This study investigated the online process of reading and the offline learning from an illustrated science text. The authors examined the effects of using a concrete or abstract picture to illustrate a text and adopted eye-tracking methodology to trace text and picture processing. They randomly assigned 59 eleventh-grade students to 3 reading conditions: (a) text only; (b) text with a concrete illustration; and (c) text with an abstract illustration in a pretest, immediate, and delayed posttest design. Results showed that the text illustrated by either the concrete or the abstract picture led to better learning than did the text alone. Eye-fixation data revealed that the abstract illustration promoted more efficient processing of the text. Analyses of the gaze shifts between the 2 types of external representation indicated that the readers of the text with the abstract illustration made a greater effort to integrate verbal and pictorial information. Furthermore, relations between online and offline measures emerged.     

Book reviews

Researchers have largely ignored students’ creative works as a source of insight into their everyday experiences. This study is a hermeneutic analysis of 23 works written by talented writers on the topic of academics. The findings include depictions of students as detached from their teachers and their curriculum. In these stories and poems, moments of intellectual engagement occur unexpectedly when students connect course content with personal introspection. Competition serves to heighten the conflict in the stories and develop resentment among capable students. Geekdom is depicted as both a strength and a social liability. Practical implications for teachers and school counselors are discussed.     

Book review section

POLITICS AND COMMUNICATION. By Richard R. Fagen. Boston: Little Brown, 1966. pp. x+162. Paper $2.50.

THE NEW POLITICS. By James M. Perry. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1968. pp. viii+230. $4.95.

THE LIFE OF POLITICS. By Henry Fairlie. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968; pp. 271. $5.95.

THE GREAT SOCIETY. By Glenn R. Capp, Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc., Belmont, California, 1967, pp. 195.

POLITICS AND POWER: THE UNITED STATES SENATE, 1869–1901. By David J. Rothman. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966. pp. 348. $6.95.

DIRTY POLITICS. By Bruce L. Felknor. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1966; pp. 295, $5.95.

QUOTEMANSHIP: THE USE AND ABUSE OF QUOTATIONS FOR POLEMICAL AND OTHER PURPOSES. By Paul F. Boiler, Jr. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1967; pp. xiii+454. $7.95.

LANGUAGE AND POLITICS. By Thomas P. Brockway, ed. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1965. pp. 97+ study aids. Paper $1.50.

THE WORD WAR. By Thomas C. Sorensen (Foreword by Robert F. Kennedy) New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1968; pp. xi+337.

BULLETIN FROM DALLAS: THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD. By John B. Mayo, Jr. New York: Exposition Press. 1967; pp. 157. $6.00.

POLITICAL TELEVISION. By Bernard Rubin. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. 1967; pp. 200. $4.50.

ETHICS OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION. By Thomas R. Nilsen. Indianapolis: Bobbs‐Merrill, 1966; pp. xii+98. Paper $1.25.

SENATOR FULBRIGHT: PORTRAIT OF A PUBLIC PHILOSOPHER. By Tristram Coffin. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1966; pp. 378. $6.95.

AN ANALYSIS OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AS PUBLIC SPEAKERS AND DEBATERS. By Lionel Crocker. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1968, pp. 550. $16.50.     

Bridging the Information Literacy Gap with Clickers

A Class Performance System (CPS) is applied as an assessment tool to assist in determining the level of information literacy knowledge already possessed by adult students enrolled in a graduate Educational Leadership and Technology program. The CPS data collected reveals that students possess varying degrees of technology expertise and information literacy skills. Study results suggest that clickers facilitate differentiated information literacy pedagogy and increase engagement for graduate students.     

Instructional Settings in Science for Students with Disabilities: Implications for Teacher Education

Finding appropriate instructional settings in science for students with disabilities is challenging, and the range of services or placements used is currently unknown. This study identifies administrative structures, instructional settings, and special/general education teacher roles in teaching science to students with disabilities. A phone survey was conducted with special education coordinators of fifth graders in 137 districts in Texas. Survey data indicated that while nearly all districts reported special education settings for the instruction of science for students with disabilities, some districts provided only general education settings. Theoretical and practical implications for teacher preparation are discussed.     

Where are We? Critical Race Theory in Education 20 Years Later

This article explores the territory that has been covered since the publication of Ladson-Billings and Tate's 1995 article, “Toward a Critical Race Theory in Education.” We organize our review of the CRT literature is organized around what we are calling CRT “boundaries.” We identify six boundaries for CRT and education: 1) CRT in education argues that racial inequity in education is the logical outcome of a system of achievement presided on competition; 2) CRT in education examines the role of education policy and educational practices in the construction of racial inequity and the perpetuation of normative whiteness; 3) CRT in education rejects the dominant narrative about the inherent inferiority of people of color and the normative superiority of white people; 4) CRT in education rejects ahistoricism and examines the historical linkages between contemporary educational inequity and historical patterns of racial oppression; 5) CRT in education engages in intersectional analyses that recognize the ways that race is mediated by and interacts with other identity markers (i.e., gender, class, sexuality, linguistic background, and citizenship status); 6) CRT in education agitates and advocates for meaningful outcomes that redress racial inequity. CRT does not merely document disparities. We suggest that these core ideas provide a framework for analyzing the work that has been done in education in the past and a way to determine what might be left to do.     

Faculty evaluation: A prickly pair

In this exploratory study reviewing an institution's faculty evaluation process, we found support for the judgmental aspects of appraisal, but a desire for greater focus upon development. The institutional culture supports a combined approach to the evaluations. Although this diminishes the focus of both forms of evaluation, it serves both the faculty and the institution.