Emergence, Supervenience, and Introductory Chemical Education

In learning chemistry at the entry level, many learners labor under misconceptions about the subject matter that are so fundamental that they are typically never addressed. A fundamental misconception in chemistry appears to arise from an adding of existing phenomenal concepts to newly-acquired chemical concepts, so that beginning learners think of chemical entities as themselves having the very same ‘macro’ properties that we observe through the senses. Those who teach or practice chemistry never acquire these misconceptions because they were able to naturally pick up the nature of the subject to begin with. But as a result, they remain unaware of the foundational assumptions and understanding that they operate with and that many beginning learners persistently lack. Thus, a systematic picture of the workings of chemical theory as they relate to observable phenomena needs to be elucidated so that the attention of chemical educators is drawn to the fundamental understanding of the subject that they already possess and that beginning learners of chemistry lack, so that beginning learners can be given the opportunity to gain an understanding of how chemical explanations are in general related to observable phenomena. The ‘layered’ way in which chemical and physical entities are related to each other within chemical theory can also be clarified in this way. To afford this picture, the philosophical concepts of supervenience and emergence are explained and applied to chemistry, as philosophers of chemistry have already done. The result provides a model for teaching chemistry that, if consistently applied, has the potential to greatly enhance fundamental understanding of the subject matter.     

Children's conceptions of the earth,sun and moon

Understanding of the Earth/Sun/Moon system represents a major cultural nexus in the history of ideas as well as being an important conceptual area in junior science teaching. The situation is one in which the objects in question can be observed but do not lend themselves to hands‐on experience in the case of the Sun and Moon or to obvious meaningful experience of the system in the case of the Earth.

Children from 9 to 12 years of age were questioned using a clinical interview technique and stimulus materials, about the shape, size and motion of the Earth, Sun and Moon. A number of alternative views appear to be held. The use of a similar procedure with a group of children would seem to offer a powerful teaching methodology in which both teacher and students gain from the dialectic learning situation that is developed by this technique ‐ apart from providing insights concerning children's understanding.     

Changers and the Changed: Moral Aspects of Coming Out in Physical Education

In this paper we draw from interviews with four lesbian sportswomen and physical educators whose personal journeys inform us about the difficulties and rewards of challenging homophobia and heterosexism. Our co-participants discussed their life stories in terms of the interrelationships among sport, moral, and lesbian identities and their coming out process. Analyses of these narrations revealed three major themes associated with coming out in sport and physical education settings: integrity, compassion, and community. Each of these themes is discussed in terms of our co-participants' experiences and interpretations of moving from fear and isolation to a sense of community and empowerment.     

Exploring the views of parents of high ability children living in relative poverty

Background: This study is located in the general context of recent research on family life in England, ‘gifted and talented’ education policy and the significance of parental engagement. There is strong evidence that parental involvement has a significant and positive effect on children’s development and achievement. Although a great deal of work has been done on identifying general patterns of good practice, there is a gap in the literature regarding the support needs of parents of gifted and talented children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Purpose: The aim of this UK-based study was to explore what support such parents had received and what support they felt they needed to better promote their children’s development and achievement.

Sample: An opportunity sample of 21 parents with youngsters aged 14–16 identified as ‘gifted and talented’ by their schools, as part of UK government policy, took part in the study. The students attended a university-based intervention programme, which was designed to raise the students’ aspirations and achievement. The students were from schools within areas of relative social deprivation and, most qualified for free school meals.

Design and Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out to capture the authentic voice of the parents. Data was analysed using both pre-determined and emerging codes.

Results: Sixteen of 21 of the parents had good, supportive relationships with their children and 15 of 21 had high aspirations for them. However, 18 of 21 of the parents felt unable to engage with their child’s learning in the home. They also felt inadequate in their knowledge and experience to help their children with subject choices and advise on matters relating to Higher Education. Parents did not perceive their wider family or the wider community as supportive, nor did they expect them to be. Peer groups were seen as threats to their children’s well-being and advancement. Schools were highly rated for relationships but offered no specific support to these parents.

Conclusions: We conclude that although parental involvement is acknowledged in defining children’s life chances, parents in our sample, nonetheless, seemed to be being forced to ‘go it alone’. Within the limitations imposed by our small sample, we raise questions about the implications of the study.     

Citizenship Education: An empirical study of policy,practices and outcomes

This article reports on a comparative study of civic education in six countries-Britain, the USA, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. Differing policies and practices with respect to citizenship education among the six Western democracies were found to be associated with different patterns of adolescent student political attitudes and perceptions. In those contexts in which civic education includes political content and opportunities for students to explore and express opinions on public policy issues, and to engage in decision-making, young people (ages 15-19) appear to be more interested in the political arena than in those contexts in which they do not have such experiences.     

Knowledge translation and research careers: Mode I and Mode II activity among health researchers

Defining knowledge translation activities using Gibbons and Nowotny's Mode I and II forms of knowledge production, health researcher (N = 240) characteristics are compared with their knowledge translation activities. Applied researchers (n = 168) engaged in more Mode II activity (p < .001), perceived their work as having more impact (p < .001), and reported higher levels of relational capital (p < .001) when compared to basic researchers (n = 72). Those from medical schools (n = 128) had more publications (p = .004) as did applied researchers in medical school compared to applied researchers from other faculties (p = .001). These findings provide early empirical insights into emerging tensions in environments where Mode I and Mode II activities co-exist; tensions that may extract unintended costs from researchers. Such costs may be paid in the currency not only of tenure and promotion, but also of successful grant and career scientist award acquisition.     

Binomial index of model fit: An elaboration

This article is an elaboration on the use of the binomial test of model fit value, which in this article will be referred to as the binomial index of model fit value, to gauge the degree that the data fit a path analytic or structural equation model. In addition, this article responds to the criticisms and comments made by Hsu (this issue), Drezner and Drezner (this issue), and Raykov and Penev (this issue) regarding the use of this approach to measuring the degree of model fit. We appreciate the comments provided by these authors. Their comments have assisted us in clarifying our reason for developing the binomial index of model fit procedure as well as our perception of its use.     

A DEMOCRATIC FRAMEWORK FOR EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS

Educational theorists frequently invoke rights claims to express their views about educational justice and authority. But the unyielding nature of rights claims presents a significant quandary in democratic contexts, given the tension between rights claims and majoritarian democracy. Educational theorists have given limited attention to this tension, while political theorists tend to sideline education in their analyses. In this essay Anne Newman addresses this gap by advancing a democratic rationale for educational rights. Newman's purpose is to provide a framework for advancing educational rights that protects these rights from the whims of majoritarian politics. Her central argument is that the importance of educational rights warrants giving democratic bodies far less deference than they are typically accorded. Yet the assertion of a right to a quality education, Newman emphasizes, should not be viewed as an undue constraint on democratic authority but rather is consistent with and required by the values that underlie democracy.     

Sites for Power and Knowledge? Towards a critique of the virtual university

Traditional discourses emanated from sites where agents of knowledge received their professional formation. Postmodernists suggest that the principle that the acquisition of knowledge is indissociable from personal formation is becoming obsolete and that the nature of knowledge cannot survive the information technology revolution unchanged. We examine these propositions with reference to a qualitative study of university staff who were developing and using World Wide Web (WWW) courses. The interview material supports the view that the WWW exemplifies a weakening of the framing of knowledge, has an elective affinity with the individual indulgence of postmodernism and is not effectively controlled through the community of science. Yet the WWW is parasitic on the project of modernism. Its user-friendly surface conceals extreme underlying complexity. The project of reducing professional training to the telematic transmission of an organised stock of knowledge is shown to be ultimately incoherent because it ignores the crucial need for implicit understanding and skill.