Critical intercultural conversations: using activity systems analysis as a tool for educational ethnography

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the tensions that exist between the recognition of the importance of ethnicity and culture for individual and group identities without essentilisation, by reframing conceptualisations of multi- and interculturalism. Drawing from our ongoing ethnography conducted with a research community of Alaska Native PhD candidates involved in participatory action research, we examine how situated and multiple positionalities enacted through participation in Engeström’s concept of an ‘activity system’ can: (a) contribute to the ‘doing’ of ethnography and provide an analytic framework for ethnographic research; and, (b) contribute to understandings of multi- and intercultural education that promote the questioning of hierarchical power structures through dialogue aimed toward equity and social justice.     

Assessment activities at large,research universities

Assessment and outcomes measurement is receiving considerable attention in higher education nationwide. But what are colleges and universities doing and calling assessment? To answer these and other questions, a telephone survey was conducted with a sample of large, research universities. Responses to the survey are presented and discussed in this paper. Results indicated limited university involvement in activities commonly associated with the current assessment “movement,” i.e., measures of added value or student progress and growth. Instead, much of the reported activities are “traditional” testing and evaluation activities such as placement testing and student evaluation of instruction. In sum, assessmentis evaluation at large, research universities.     

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.     

Flavor- vs. tone-cued shock avoidance

In a direct comparison, flavor-cued rats learned to avoid shock in a two-way shuttlebox as well as, or better than, tone-cued rats. These results stand in contrast to the prevalent view that rats encounter difficulty in forming flavor-shock, but not tone-shock, associations. In attempting to account for this contrast, we note that experiments revealing cue-modality specificity employ an aversion paradigm and record ingestive behavior. It is argued that both the paradigm and the dependent variable are inappropriate for assessing shock-avoidance learning, and that cue-modality specificity in such a setting reflects paradigm and response choice rather than a general characteristic of rats.     

Agreement on mission and institutional responses to decline

This study of 56 small- to medium-sized institutions of higher education examines the causal paths between agreement on mission and severity of decline as they predict two types of responses to decline. The mediating effects of causal attributions are also examined. The results suggest that agreement on mission is the better predictor of responses; organizations with a high agreement on mission select fewer operating and strategic responses. An interpretation for these findings is that organizations with a high internal agreement on mission more selectively pursue responses to decline. Decline severity is shown to be of limited value in directly predicting responses to decline for this sample.     

Moving Image Media and Future Literacies: The Role of Cineliteracy in Curriculum Development

The Education Projects section of the British Film Institute (bfi) is engaged in a range of activities which explore the ways in which moving image media might redefine the current curriculum. In the long term our aim is for this work to effect change at policy level by raising awareness of the educative potential of moving image media both as a means of contextualising other subject areas and as an area of study in its own right. This paper describes the rationale behind one pilot project based in a number of Education Action Zones (EAZs). The aim of the project — called ‘Story Shorts’— is to use films as a resource to develop both print literacy and cineliteracy. After an overview of current research in the area of media and literacy, this paper moves on to describe the ‘Story Shorts’ pilot in some detail. It then focuses on some of the theoretical arguments which suggest this kind of scheme may be a way forward for new curriculum design.     

Temperament, Emotion, and Cognition at Fourteen Months: The MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study

200 pairs of twins were assessed at 14 months of age in the laboratory and home. Measures were obtained of temperament, emotion, and cognition/language. Comparisons between identical and fraternal twin correlations suggest that individual differences are due in part to heritable influences. For temperament, genetic influence was significant for behavioral observations of inhibition to the unfamiliar, tester ratings of activity, and parental ratings of temperament. For emotion, significant genetic influence was found for empathy and parental ratings of negative emotion. The estimate of heritability for parental report of expression of negative emotions was relatively high, whereas that for expression of positive emotions was low, a finding consistent with previous research. For cognition and language, genetic influence was significant for behavioral indices of spatial memory, categorization, and word comprehension. Shared rearing environment appears influential for parental reports of language and for positive emotions, but not for other measures of emotion or for temperament.