Searching for a crack to let environment light in: ecological biopolitics and education for sustainable development discourses

This article traces the shifts in environmental education discourses from the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, to the 2012 UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, and beyond through a biopolitical lens. Each of the earlier shifts is reflected in environmental, sustainability and science education policies and curricula—but what of the most recent shifts at Rio+20 and in UNESCO’s (2014) Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development? The article examines how the ecological version of politics emerged and then became integrated into technocentric biopolitics and how this shift affected the shaping of environmental, sustainability and science education policies and curricula. In particular, the article analyzes the shifting biopolitical interfaces that have occurred between “natural environment” and “society”—from a goal of preserving the natural foundations of life to a focus on exploiting these foundations, modifying and transforming the environment through scientific and technological means—and the manifestations of this in Australian curriculum documents.     

The preparation of school psychologists for crisis intervention

School psychologists (N = 276, 81% return rate) were surveyed regarding the following aspects of crisis intervention: (a) university preparation, (b) continuing professional development, and (c) current involvement with school crisis plans and crisis teams. Of those receiving university training, 58% believed they were minimally prepared or not at all prepared to deal with school crises. Only 2% reported being well prepared or very well prepared. Data analyses indicated increased university training in recent years, particularly with practicum/internship experiences related to crisis intervention. Approximately 81% of school psychologists participated in local training for crisis intervention as part of continuing professional development. Although 91% of school psychologists worked in districts with crisis plans in place, only 53% participated on crisis teams. Suicide, violence, and school district crisis plans were recommended as high priority topics for future academic training. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Rebuilding: Organizing and Operating Under New Management

In 2014, the highly experienced Head of Electronic Resources and Serials Services at Auburn University Libraries retired. Parallel changes in workflows, staffing, and organizational structure were also taking place, resulting in an intense period of transition that included merging two units. This presentation describes the transition process from the perspective of the new Head of Technical Services and one paraprofessional staff in the merged units. The presentation focuses on the processes of change, guiding philosophies, and lessons learned.     

One Model or Two? Sentence Verification in Children and Adults

We employed the sentence‐picture verification paradigm to ask whether children are more likely than adults to construct unitary representations of ambiguous sentences. Six kinds of sentence were presented with the two kinds of inherently ambiguous sentences being: “There are crosses either above or below the line” and “There are crosses above [below] the line”. These sentences are inherently ambiguous because they afford both ‘inclusive’ and ‘exclusive’ readings, the readings being determined by whether subjects judge a picture with crosses both above and below a line to be true of the sentences. In Experiment 1, which had a sentence‐picture order, and in Experiment 2, which had a picture‐sentence order, the verification reaction‐time and the true/false judgement data together suggested that the younger subjects were more likely to construct unitary representations for the ambiguous sentences. Our strongest evidence for this claim was that children are heavily biased towards an inclusive reading of disjunction. Analysis of the sentence reading times in Experiments 1 and 3 suggested that children, unlike adults, may be deferring the construction of a mental model of the disjunctive sentence until the picture arrives.     

Analysis and treatment of child abuse: A set of behavioral propositions

Five propositions are presented to suggest the potential of a behavioral approach to the understanding and treatment of child abuse. Each proposition deals with an important source of child abuse: (a) ineffective child management techniques; (b) deliberately punitive child rearing practices; (c) impulsive acts by the parent triggered by the child; (d) high levels of stress; and (e) negative attitude toward the child. For each proposition we discuss supportive findings from both child abuse and general psychological research as well as the additional information that would be needed in order to obtain a better functional analysis of clinical cases. Based on this discussion, behavioral therapy strategies are proposed with special attention being given to the various measures needed to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment programs.     

Digital Explanation as Assessment in University Science

Research in Science Education - Assessments in tertiary science subjects typically assess content knowledge, and there is current need to both develop and assess different forms of knowledge and...     

The Role of Values in Preservice Teachers' Decision to Teach

The current study explored the values preservice teachers use as motivation for pursuing a teaching career. Preservice teachers (N = 97) from a large Northeastern urban university were chosen to complete a survey measuring personal utility value, social utility value, and epistemic value. Data analysis was conducted using exploratory factor analysis, correlations, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results indicated moderate and significant correlations among subscales; a two-group MANOVA demonstrated that females were rated higher on the subscale desire to work with children/adolescents and Secondary Education participants rated highest on social contribution; and a MANCOVA using sex as the covariate demonstrated that participants pursuing Early Childhood Education were rated higher on the personal utility value main scale and the time for family and job transferability subscales.     

Erratum to: Urban High School Student Engagement through CincySTEM iTEST Projects

Journal of Science Education and Technology -