Reasoning about Social Conflicts in Different Cultures: Druze and Jewish Children in Israel

This study examined how children of different cultural backgrounds weigh competing considerations in complex social situations. 351 children from Druze and Jewish communities in Israel (mean ages 8-10, 10-9, 12-11, 14-11, and 16-8) were presented with conflicts between 2 concerns: ( a ) Justice-Authority, ( b ) Justice-Interpersonal, ( c ) Personal-Interpersonal, and ( d ) Personal-Authority. For each conflict, subjects selected the course of action to be followed and evaluated the desirability of each behavioral alternative. Both similarities and differences were found in the ways children from each group weigh social concerns and change their priorities with age. Furthermore, judgments in both groups were complex and heterogeneous. These findings demonstrated that the weighing of social concerns in conflict situations is not done solely according to an overriding cultural orientation.     

In the Margins of Journalism

Research on journalists and journalistic work has focused on journalists with permanent, full-time employment. Given the rapid decrease of such employment opportunities, we argue that journalism research needs to pay more attention to those who those who have had to leave their jobs and either stopped doing journalism entirely, or who have switched to a freelance career (sometimes combining journalism with other work). This category of people is at once becoming more marginalized and “the new normal” within the occupation: In this paper, we furthermore focus on local (Swedish) journalists and ex-journalists. Based on a set of semi-structured interviews (n?=?12) with ex-journalists who share the experience of having lost their permanent, full-time jobs, we use the concept of livelihood as an analytical tool. The concept of livelihood highlights the shift from journalism as a job practiced exclusive of other jobs to an activity conducted alongside other income-generating activities and makes it possible to analyse leaving the occupation from a context that incorporates the whole life situation of the respondents. This also contributes to the current wave of studies of journalism and job loss by adding qualitative data about individual experiences of job loss to the existing quantitative survey evidence.     

The Future of Journalism—Who to Believe?

This work collates the opinions of European professionals and internet users concerning the changing reality facing the world of journalism following the explosion of digital media. Our research shows the results of analytical surveys conducted between October 2013 and January 2014 among 54 professionals of renowned prestige, and 500 regular users of the digital media in the five most populated countries in the European Union: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, all states affected to a greater or lesser extent by the crisis of the printed press. The surveys cover a wide range of topics, from the impact of social networks, the quality of the digital media, the willingness of citizens to pay for content and the degree of interactivity in the digital media for the future of journalism. Professionals and users agree that the news in 2020 will be better and more interactive than now. With regard to other matters, there is more disagreement. Professionals are much more critical than users when it comes to evaluating the quality of the news. The professionals’ survey was more qualitative, and, in their opinion, overcoming the crisis in the written press implies, among other measures, promoting analysis, prioritising quality over quantity and offering “niche” specialisation.     

Bilingualism and morphological awareness: a study with children from general education and Spanish-English dual language programs

Existing research on the impact of bilingualism on metalinguistic development has concentrated on the development of phonological awareness. The present study extended the scope of existing research by focusing on morphological awareness, an aspect of metalinguistic awareness that becomes increasingly important beyond the initial phase of literacy development. Participants included three groups of fourth-grader children from the same school with comparable SES and non-verbal IQ: (a) monolingual English-speaking children from a general education programme, (b) Spanish-speaking children from a Spanish–English dual-language programme and (c) English-speaking children from the same Spanish–English dual-language programme. Researcher-developed measures of vocabulary and morphological awareness were administered. Results suggested that bilingual education can have a positive impact on the development of morphological awareness through cross-language transfer as well as increased sensitivity to structural language features. The findings contribute to a growing body of research on how bilingual experience may shape children’s metalinguistic development.     

The power of Colombian mathematics teachers’ conceptions of social/institutional factors of teaching

In this paper I shall discuss data from a study on Colombian mathematics teachers’ conceptions of their own teaching practices of beginning algebra, which led to the development of a theoretical model of teachers’ thought structures designed as a thinking tool at the initial stage of the study. With a focus on the perspectives of teachers, the study investigated the relationship between the teachers’ conceptions of beginning algebra and their conceptions of their own teaching practices, with a view to unravelling their conceptions of change in their practices. Significant findings which threw light on the aforementioned relationship have been presented in Agudelo-Valderrama, Clarke and Bishop (2007), highlighting a direct association between a teacher’s conceptions of the nature of beginning algebra, the crucial determinants of her/his teaching practice, and her/his attitude to change. After an overview of the study, this paper focuses on specific evidence which clearly shows that in contrast to the strong relationship between a teacher’s conceptions of mathematics and her/his teaching practice, assumed in the theoretical model of teachers’ thought structures, the teachers see a strong relationship between their conceptions of social/institutional factors of teaching and what they do in their teaching. Implications of the findings for teacher education in Colombia are identified.

Understanding Differences in Moral Judgments: The Role of Informational Assumptions

This study examined differences in moral judgments as they relate to informational assumptions. It was hypothesized that (1) differences in moral judgments are related to differences in informational assumptions, (2) moral judgments change if the information believed to be true changes, and (3) the relation between informational assumptions and moral judgments is not affected by age. 72 subjects (aged 11-9, 15-10, and 21-3) evaluated events concerning welfare, justice, and rights and reevaluated them in light of the opposite information. A significant relation was found between the evaluations and the informational assumptions, and 80% of the evaluations changed in response to informational changes. The relation between evaluations and informational assumptions was significant within each age group. These findings demonstrated that informational assumptions are a source of variation in moral judgments and underscored the need to distinguish between the 2 types of judgments when studying differences in moral reasoning.     

A comparison of multiple methods for the identification of children with reading disabilities

There has been considerable discussion of the methods used for the identification of children with reading disabilities. This study examined three different methods that could be used in the identification of children with reading disabilities and their consistency with teacher ratings of behaviors believed to be associated with reading disabilities. Standardized, norm-referenced measures of achievement, phonological processing measures, and curriculum-based measures of reading fluency were used with 40 children in Grades 1 and 2. Comparisons were made to determine which measures, if any, differentiated between children referred for reading disabilities (n = 20) and children who were progressing typically in reading in their general education classroom settings (n = 20). The results indicated significant between-group differences on standardized, norm-referenced measures of reading recognition, word attack, and comprehension; phonological measures of blending nonwords and elision; and reading fluency. Teacher ratings on the Dyslexia Screening Instrument were consistent with teacher beliefs regarding children's progress in reading. All measures were found to correlate significantly with each other. However, correlations were generally in the moderate range, suggesting that the measures used did not measure the same reading skills or, in the case of phonological processing, the underlying abilities believed to be necessary for reading. Given the differences in tasks and the moderate correlations, it is likely that the choice of measures may affect the conclusions reached regarding a student's reading ability.     

The journey of two Latino educators: our collective resilience

This article represents a journey into education undertaken by two Latino educators from diverse generations. Through the content of the narratives, we emphasize that success was achieved within the presence of oppression. The narratives reveal significant constructs that shaped our journey. For the first author, Pablo, role models, pivotal moments, and resistance had a powerful influence in his journey. Family lessons and self-sacrifice were key to the success of the second author, Yolanda. These constructs contributed to both of our resilience and success. We suggest that the aforementioned constructs have significant implications for Latino youth in the educational system.     

Stepwise reductions in US density and intensity: Maintenance and extinction of conditioned suppression

Information was sought on how the strength of fear, acquired and extinguished in a classical conditioning paradigm, might be affected by certain of the circumstances that normally are associated with the course of avoidance learning. Following preconditioning exposures to the conditioned stimulus, one group of rats (Group PRF) was given continuous conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) acquisition trials followed by stepwise reductions in US probability (given the CS) over three phases to about 11% for the final phase. Another group, Group US(lo), was given continuous CS-US pairings throughout, but, following acquisition, received stepwise reductions in US intensity (to permit evaluation of a progressively changing feature of the US over a wide range without having to employ excessive shock) over the same phases. A third group, Group US(hi), received unchanging (from acquisition) CS-US pairings over these phases, and an explicitly unpaired control group (Group RU) was included. Although outcomes differed somewhat depending upon whether suppression ratios or absolute measures of responding were considered, the major findings were that suppression to the CS was complete by the end of acquisition and persisted thereafter throughout the three phases for all but control subjects. In contrast to Group US(lo), which showed relatively little resistance to extinction of suppression to subsequent CS-only exposures, Groups US(hi) and PRF displayed marked resistance over two separate, extended sets of extinction sessions. Suppression to context cues was pronounced only for Groups US(hi) and RU, and varied as a function of US parameters and not whether the shocks were or were not signaled. Theoretical reconciliation of these findings was most difficult for Groun PRF.     

Survivors guide to graduate research

Conclusion As you conduct your research, you will undoubtedly suffer from the perennial condition of all graduate students—constant, paralyzing guilt. When you are not working on your research, you are agonizing because you should be. Unfortunately, guilt also keeps you from doing many other things, like cleaning house or simply relaxing. The good news is that guilt usually disappears within a year after you take that final walk across the stage and shake the dean’s hand. The cure is painful, but worth it. We have presented some ideas that worked for us, in hopes that they will work for you. Perhaps these ideas will cause you to consider a factor that you may not have considered before. Perhaps some small suggestion will provide you with a solution to a nagging problem, or simply remind you that some of your frustrations are a natural part of the dissertation or thesis process. For additional information on this topic seeHow to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertaion, by David Stemberg. The chapters on “The Unfolding Dissertation: Diplomatic Relations with your Committee” and “Down in the Dissertation Dumps: How to Get Out” may be especially useful.