Crossing cultural borders into science teaching: Early life experiences,racial and ethnic identities,and beliefs about diversity

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the development of belief systems as related to racial and ethnic identities of preservice teachers as they crossed cultural borders into science teaching. Data were collected throughout a yearlong teacher preparation program to learn how early life experiences and racial and ethnic identities of preservice teachers influenced both their beliefs about diversity in science classrooms and science teaching pedagogy. Case studies of three preservice teachers from diverse racial and ethnic background are presented: Asian American, African American, and Rural Appalachian. Using Bank's ethnicity typology, findings suggest that racial and ethnic identity, developed in early life experiences of preservice teachers, provided clarity on the rigidity of their beliefs about diversity and how they view science teaching. By learning about the border crossing experiences of preservice teachers in relation to their beliefs about diversity as related to racial and ethnic identities, the researchers hoped to provide insight on preparing preservice teachers for the challenges of working in diverse classrooms. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 119–141, 2004     

International Cross-Cultural Online Learning and Teaching: Effective Tools and Approaches

“Study abroad” college programs can transform domestic students into a kind of “global citizens” with international experience and cross-cultural competences demanded in the emerging global market. Can a full-time international online undergraduate class serve as a virtual alternative to study abroad experience? Two questions were asked of a virtual class on Social Control that was taught for more than ten years: (1) Can an international online class can be a virtual option to the study abroad and (2) Which selected pedagogical tools and approaches can stimulate creativity of students and contribute to achieving a sufficient level of student satisfaction in this class? Students from several countries were taught in a virtual classroom while being physically “at home.” The research was based on observations and analysis of student-led discussions that were required of students. The class improved students’ substantive knowledge and created a learning environment to develop their skills in cross-cultural open dialogue with virtual classmates. The teaching design allowed instructors to attain many educational goals, enhance students’ understanding of foreign countries and cultures, and learn from each other through online communication. The results confirmed the effectiveness of selected pedagogical approaches and asynchronous communication technology in an international online class. Their effectiveness was demonstrated through the students’ postclass feedback and evaluation of the class. Findings indicate that an international online class can indeed help the students learn cross-cultural communication firsthand and obtain knowledge beneficial for future jobs in a global market.

In higher education, online distance education is useful for teaching large classes distributed among different campuses and universities or for teaching students abroad. Web 2.0 tools are widely used in the United States with transnational partnership programs (Martins 2015; Starke-Meyerring and Wilson 2008c). The American Center for the Study of Distance Education helps newcomers in this field learn transactional distance theory and tap into the broad experience already assembled by U.S. universities and other centers (Open University in the United Kingdom, similar Centers in Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden).     

The Development of Gender Stereotype Components

Developmental research has been limited by a narrow concept of stereotypes. A more complex model is presented, and developmental changes in gender stereotypes were investigated using the new model. In 2 studies, children were told about several sex-unspecified children, each described as having 1 masculine or 1 feminine characteristic. The children then predicted the likelihood of each story child having other masculine and feminine characteristics. In Study 1, 56 children (4–6 years) were told about target children who liked either a masculine or feminine toy, and then children predicted the targets' interests in other toys. In Study 2, 76 older children (6, 8, 10 years) were told about target children with a masculine or feminine characteristic from 1 of 4 categories (appearance, personality, occupations, toys), and then they predicted the likelihood of targets having other masculine and feminine characteristics from the same and from different categories as the cue. 2 developmental trends emerged: ( a ) children appear first to learn associations among characteristics relevant to their own sex and, later, to learn them for the other sex, and ( b ) older children's stereotypic judgments are more extreme than those of younger children. The implications of these results for the development of stereotypes, assessing gender knowledge, and understanding social judgments are discussed.     

Letter processing in reading and spelling: Some dissociations

We describe the complex pattern of spared and impaired performance observed in a neurologically impaired subject on a number of letter processing tasks including: written letter naming, alphabetization, matching across typecase and font, oral and written spelling to dictation, and across-case letter priming. The observed dissociation in performance between the naming of written letters and the naming of letters in oral spelling as well as the dissociation between oral spelling and written spelling are shown to support a model of letter processing in which a distinction is drawn between visuo-spatial and abstract levels of letter representation. We also describe symmetrical deficits in the reading and writing of letters. These can be understood: in reading, as the result of an impairment to the processes which mediate the conversion of visuo-spatial letter representations to abstract representations, and in writing, as a deficit to the processes which negotiate the apparently reverse operation. This finding is interpreted within the context of the notions of neural and functional proximity and we raise the possibility that processes which perform distinct computations may, nonetheless, share certain computational resources.Requests for offprints should be addressed to Brenda Rapp or Alfonso Caramazza. The research reported in this paper was made possible through the support of NIH (NINCDS) NS22202 and the Seaver Institute. We would like to express our appreciation to J. E. for his participation in this study and we thank Roberta Ann Goodman-Schulman and Cristina Romani for their helpful comments and Paul Mullin for his generous programming assistance.     

Child peer sexual abuse: preliminary data on outcomes and disclosure experiences

OBJECTIVE: This study compared experiences of children sexually abused by peers to those of children abused by adolescents/adults. Variables examined included perceived negativity of the abuse, self-reported outcomes, overall psychological functioning, and disclosure. METHOD: An archival data set containing retrospective reports of childhood sexual experiences was culled for instances of sexual abuse by child peers and adolescents/adults. An equivalent nonabused comparison group was identified. The Self-Report Outcome Checklist (SROC; Gilbert, 1994b), the MMPI-Hugo Short Form (Hugo, 1971) and a disclosure survey were also retrieved from these data. RESULTS: Compared to abuse by peers, abuse perpetrated by adolescents/adults was more intrusive and intrafamilial. Both groups rated their experiences as equally negative, and reported equally pervasive outcomes. Those abused by adolescents/adults reported significantly higher scores on the Psychopathic Deviate, Psychasthenia, and Schizophrenia scales compared to nonabused controls; similar findings did not emerge for those abused by child peers. Less than a fourth in either abuse group reported disclosing their experience to a parent. Among those who did not disclose, participants abused by child peers anticipated less support from both parents and more anger from their mothers. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that child peer sexual abuse may be associated with adverse outcomes.     

Risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse: a review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: Since the late 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical focus on psychological and social influences of perpetration of child sexual abuse. This paper presents the results of a review and meta-analysis of studies examining risk factors for perpetration of child sexual abuse published since 1990. METHOD: Eighty-nine studies published between 1990 and April of 2003 were reviewed. Risk factors were classified into one of the following six broad categories: family factors, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social deficits, sexual problems, and attitudes/beliefs. Sex offenders against children (SOC) were compared to three comparison groups identified within the 89 studies: sex offenders who perpetrated against adults (SOA), non-sex offenders, and non-offenders with no history of criminal or sexual behavior problems. RESULTS: Results for the six major categories showed that SOC were not different from SOA (all d between -.02 and .14) other than showing lower externalizing behaviors (d=-.25). Sex offenders against children were somewhat different from non-sex offenders, especially with regard to sexual problems and attitudes (d=.83 and .51). Sex offenders against children showed substantial differences from non-offenders with medium sized effects in all six major categories (d's range from .39 to .58). CONCLUSION: Child sex offenders are different from non-sex offenders and non-offenders but not from sex offenders against adults. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study suggests that the presence of general risk factors may lead to a variety of negative behavioral outcomes, including the perpetration of child sexual offending. Family factors were strongly related to the perpetration of child sex offending (vs. non-sexual offending or non-offending) and may be valuable intervention points for interrupting the development of child sex offending, as well as other negative behaviors. Other potential points for intervention may focus on the development of appropriate social and emotional skills that contribute to sexual offending.     

Multigrade teaching: towards an international research and policy agenda

Despite its prevalence in many educational systems, multigrade teaching remains invisible. In the global effort to achieve education for all in the post-Dakar decade the needs of multigrade teachers, classes and schools must be addressed. The paper (i) explores the meaning of the term multigrade teaching in developing and industrialised countries and identifies a range of conditions under which it arises; (ii) synthesises knowledge of the practice of and research on multigrade teaching; and (iii) proposes an international agenda for future research on and dissemination of policy and practice. The agenda underlines the need for context-specific questions and comparisons, more awareness of the prevalence and challenges of multigrade teaching, more research on the practices and training needs of multigrade teaching and the exploration of synergies between teachers, curriculum, assessment and classroom organisation. It is suggested that knowledge of multigrade teaching strategies is needed by all teachers and not simply those in classes designated as ‘multigrade’.     

Multiple perceptions of children's aggression: Differences across neighborhood,age, gender,and perceiver

We investigated how overtly aggressive behavior was differentially perceived by two types of perceivers, teachers and peers, as a function of student neighborhood, gender, and grade level. Participants (N= 765) were predominantly African American students in grades 3‐5 recruited from two urban public schools in southern California. The neighborhoods surrounding the two schools differed in levels of identified violent crime and economic levels. Teachers in the community experiencing more violence perceived student behavior to be relatively less aggressive and more similar across genders than did teachers in the less violent community. Peers in the community experiencing more violent crime perceived both boys and girls to be somewhat aggressive, whereas in the less violent community, boys were perceived as aggressive more so than were girls. In general, agreement between teacher and peer perceptions was stronger for boys than for girls. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.