Effective Counseling for Racial/Ethnic Minority Clients: Examining Changes Using a Practice Research Network

Studies have shown that counseling decreases students' academic distress. These findings, however, are based primarily on European American students. This study explored the impact of counseling on academic distress for treatment‐seeking racial/ethnic minority college students using the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms–34 ( Locke et al., 2012 ) Academic Distress subscale. Results indicated that there are significant differences in academic distress at intake based on race/ethnicity. Furthermore, findings revealed that change in academic distress over the course of treatment varies by race/ethnicity.     

The motivation activation measure and media use in Singapore: cross-cultural stability

The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it tests how the Motivation Activation Measure [MAM; Lang, A., Bradley, S. D., Sparks Jr, J. V., &; Lee, S. (2007). The motivation activation measure (MAM): How well does MAM predict individual differences in physiological indicators of appetitive and aversive activation? Communication Methods and Measures, 1(2), 113–136] applies in a non-American (i.e. Asian) context, in order to provide evidence for the universality asserted through its theoretical underpinnings as an indicator of biologically based motivation systems. It thus investigates cross-cultural variation in the MAM scores and the associations with established measures of theoretically related personality factors. Second, the paper examines how individual differences in motivational system responsiveness correlate with media use and interests in an Asian culture. Eight hundred sixty-five respondents completed MAM, personality measures and self-reported media preference in an online survey. Findings indicate that the MAM values recorded in the Asian sample associate with the measures of theoretically related human traits as expected, and had a similar pattern of scores with those found in American samples. Moreover, results suggest that audience interests in different types of media can be predicted through their variation in motivation systems activation.     

GOVERNING FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND WITH LOVE: PARENTS AND CHILDREN BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL

A bstract .  In this essay, Benjamin Baez and Susan Talburt analyze the U.S. Department of Education's Helping Your Child Series to consider how the government of children, families, and schools reflects a concern with two seemingly unrelated political objectives of neoliberal projects: creating responsible, self-reliant citizens and making schools more efficient. Where these two objectives converge is in their techniques: they both use the parent-child relationship and what appears to motivate it. Drawing on Michel Foucault's conceptualization of government as "the conduct of conduct," Baez and Talburt analyze two pamphlets with an eye to several themes: the "commonsensical" nature of its address to loving parents; the "responsibilization" of parents and children; the insidious entry of school goals and behavioral norms into homes; and the seeming empowerment of the parent as partner in his or her child's learning. Finally, the authors discuss how the logic of modern forms of governing families and schools might be contested.     

Students’ Emotive Reasoning Through Place-Based Environmental Socioscientific Issues

Research in Science Education - Engaging environmental socioscientific issues (SSI) requires navigating diverse positions regarding people and nature. This qualitative investigation determined how...     

The Right “Fit”: Exploring Science Teacher Candidates’ Approaches to Natural Selection Within a Clinical Simulation

Teachers and students struggle with the complexities surrounding the evolution of species and the process of natural selection. This article examines how science teacher candidates (STCs) engage in a clinical simulation that foregrounds two common challenges associated with natural selection—students’ understanding of “survival of the fittest” and the variation of species over time. We outline the medical education pedagogy of clinical simulations and its recent diffusion to teacher education. Then, we outline the study that situates each STC in a one-to-one interaction with a standardized student who is struggling to accurately interpret natural selection concepts. In simulation with the standardized student, each STC is challenged to recognize content misconceptions and respond with appropriate instructional strategies and accurate explanations. Findings and implications center on the STCs’ instructional practices in the simulation and the use of clinical learning environments to foster science teacher learning.     

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND ABSTRACT SYSTEMS IN EDUCATION

A bstract .  In this essay, Benjamin Endres examines how teaching is caught between the ideals of formal, systemic institutions, on the one hand, and the ideals of more intimate or personal relations, on the other. Endres uses Anthony Giddens's account of "abstract systems" and "pure" relations to suggest that the tension that teachers face is not only the result of opposing ideologies or philosophies of teaching, but it is the product of conflicting undercurrents in modern social and economic life. Although there is no simple solution to the ambiguous and contested status of teaching, Endres points to two examples of how the interpersonal dimensions of teaching may gain recognition and support by the institutional system of schooling: research on the effects of class size and legal guarantees for individualized educational plans in the area of special education. He concludes by emphasizing the particular challenge of cultivating interpersonal relations for the most disadvantaged students.