The relationship of teachers' conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching to instructional practice

Case studies were conducted to investigate the conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching held by three junior high school teachers. Examination of the relationship between conceptions and practice showed that the teachers' beliefs, views, and preferences about mathematics and its teaching played a significant, albeit subtle, role in shaping their instructional behavior. Differences among the teachers in their conceptions and practices are explained followed by a discussion of properties of their conceptual systems.This paper is based on the author's doctoral dissertation which was directed by Professor Thomas J. Cooney of the University of Georgia and was partly supported by a grant from San Diego State University. I wish to express my appreciation to the teachers who participated in the study and their administrators.     

What predicts injury from physical punishment? A test of the typologies of violence hypothesis

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the power of child, perpetrator, and socio-economic characteristics to predict injury in cases of reported child physical abuse. The study was designed to assess the validity of the assumption that physically injurious incidents of child physical abuse are qualitatively different from those that do not result in injury, that their generative factors are distinctive, and that the quality of caregiving in these two types of incidents is different. METHOD: A weighted, nationally representative sample of 8,164 substantiated punishment abuse cases in Canada was used. Various models were constructed and evaluated through logistic regression. RESULTS: Of six potential predictors - child age, perpetrator sex, child functioning, parent functioning, economic stress, and social stress - none predicted injury to the child. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that injurious and non-injurious physical abuse cannot be distinguished on the basis of the personal characteristics or circumstances of the child or perpetrator. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A common criterion for child welfare intervention into cases of suspected physical abuse is injury or risk of injury. This criterion assumes that injurious and non-injurious assaults are qualitatively different phenomena, predicted by different risk factors. In the present study an attempt was made to differentiate between injurious and non-injurious cases of punitive physical abuse on the basis of characteristics of the child, perpetrator, family, and social context. None of these factors explained the likelihood of injury, suggesting that the prediction of injury as an intervention criterion may be questionable.     

Reading Comprehension and Predictability Effects on Sentence Processing: An Event‐Related Potential Study

Electrophysiology studies have identified two event‐related potentials that are modulated by predictive processes during language comprehension: the N400 and a frontal positivity. The N400 is smaller when words are presented within highly restrictive sentences, indicating reduced lexical retrieval costs. Violations of strong predictions generate larger frontal positivities, possibly reflecting inhibitory processes. More skilled comprehenders may exhibit enhanced predictive processing, but this possibility has seldom been investigated with event‐related potentials (ERPs). We analyzed the association between predictability ERP modulations and reading comprehension abilities. Twenty‐four undergraduate students were exposed to strongly and weakly constraining sentences, ending with an expected or unexpected final word. Their comprehension skills were assessed with a cloze task. Better comprehenders showed smaller N400s for expected words, and larger posterior positivities for unexpected endings, in strongly constraining contexts. These effects correlated with reading comprehension scores. The results suggest that better comprehenders take more advantage of predictions to reduce retrieval costs, and allocate more resources to postlexical integration processes.     

The widening participation agenda: the marginal place of care

This paper is based upon two empirical studies, which identify care‐giving responsibilities as a key mediator of mature students’ – a target group within the widening participation strategy – experiences of higher education. Employing a feminist lens on care, we identify a disjuncture between how students experience the challenges of negotiating care and study, and the narrow and economistic way care is addressed within higher education policy. We point to the broader recognition of care emerging within New Labour’s policies on the reconciliation of paid work and family life and argue that in the context of increasing expectations that learning is for life, care needs to be recognised in a broader form at the interface of both education and employment. Drawing on the notion of a ‘political ethics of care’, we conclude by identifying elements that should be included in a higher‐education ‘care culture’.     

The Influence of Loneliness and Interpersonal Relations on Latina/o Middle School Students’ Wellbeing

This study examined associations of loneliness and relationships (e.g., teacher/student relationships, peer support, and family support) with wellbeing among Latina/o middle school students. A hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that age and loneliness predicted wellbeing; older students and students with high levels of loneliness reported higher wellbeing. The interaction effect between loneliness and peer support suggested that peer support was related with wellbeing only among students high in loneliness. Similarly, the interaction effect between loneliness and family support suggested that family support was associated with wellbeing only among students high in loneliness. Implications for addressing cultural determinants of wellbeing are provided.     

Bringing local voices into community revitalization: engaged communication research in Urban planning

The need to better engage low-income communities affected by revitalization of the built environment has been well documented in urban planning. Guided by communication infrastructure theory (CIT), this study presents a research project that made concerted efforts at engaging neighborhoods of Northeast Los Angeles that are experiencing rapid gentrification. The project was a partnership with a multi-sector collaborative working on the revitalization of the L.A. River and its surrounding communities. This paper specifically demonstrates how CIT's social ecological orientation was applied to seek input on L.A. River and community revitalization from storytelling networks made up of residents, small businesses, and local media. We also examine the impact of this engaged research on the organizational partners of the collaborative, and their views on community engagement in revitalization. Lastly, we discuss how the lessons learned broadly speak to future opportunities and challenges that aim for communicative planning approaches to urban revitalization.     

Physical modelling and scale effects of air-water flows on stepped spillways

INTRODUCTION The stepped channel design has been used fomore than 3500 years. Greek and Minoan engineerswere probably the first to design an overflow steppedweir and stepped storm waterways respectively(Chanson, 2001). Later, Roman, Moslem, Mughaand Spanish designers used a similar technique. Thesteps increase significantly the rate of energy dissipation taking place on the channel face, reducing thesize of the required downstream energy dissipationand the risks of scouring. Rec…