Changes in Parents' Work Status and Adolescents' Adjustment at School

The effects of change in parental work status on early adolescents' school adjustment before and after the transition to junior high school were examined in a 2-year longitudinal study. Data were gathered from 883 adolescents, their mothers, and teachers. Based on patterns of change or stability in parental work status during the 2 years of the study, 4 groups were compared: deprived, declining, recovery, and stable families. With parents' education controlled, teachers said that adolescents in deprived and declining families were less competent than their peers in stable or recovery families. In addition, adolescents whose parents experienced a decline in work status were the most disruptive in junior high school. While most students had difficulty adjusting to junior high school, the transition was particularly difficult for those students whose parents were simultaneously dealing with changes in work status.     

Personality similarity between teachers and their students influences teacher judgement of student achievement

This study examined personality similarity between teachers and their students and its impact on teacher judgement of student achievement in the domains of reading comprehension and mathematics. Personality similarity was quantified through intraclass correlations between personality characteristics of 409 dyads of German teachers and their students. This similarity index was combined with teachers’ global and task-specific judgements of student achievement. Personality similarity has a significant effect on global judgement in both domains under study. Students who are similar to their teacher are judged more positively than students who are dissimilar, even when students’ test performance is controlled. This effect could not be verified for task-specific judgements. Results indicate that impact of potential sympathy bias in social judgements differs between different types of judgement. That is, global judgements are more likely to be biased than more specific judgements. Theoretical and educational relevance of the findings are discussed.     

Book reviews

Educational technology research and development -     

Instructional development as a social movement: An illustration of analogical theorizing

Instructional development, a service activity in which a faculty member and an instructional designer work in close cooperation to redesign an existing course or to design a new one. represents the typically elusive subject of educational research: a human process. This article examines the application of naturalistic inquiry to such a research topic and suggests that such inquiry needs to be informed by research traditions in sociology and anthropology that have long used these methods. Drawing on social-movement theory, an example is presented of analogical theorizing, illustrating how socialmovement theory developed in other areas can be applied to the exploration of instructional development.     

‘Whoever does not write is written’: the role of ‘nature’ in post‐post approaches to environmental education research

While McKenzie mentions in passing her concern about anthropocentrism and human oppression of the natural world, she is mostly silent about the role of ‘nature’ in post‐post approaches to environmental education research. If one takes feminist poststructuralist ideas about voice and representation seriously, surely the place of ‘nature’ in environmental education research must be interrogated? Is there space for ‘nature’ in multivocal representations of research? How might our own polyvocality include our experiences of our animality? How might we assess the legitimacy of such representations? What are the limits and possibilities of post‐post approaches to environmental education research when ‘nature’ is taken into account?     

Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds

In today’s increasingly “flat” world of globalization (Friedman 2005), the need for a scientifically literate citizenry has grown more urgent. Yet, by some measures, we have done a poor job at fostering scientific habits of mind in schools. Recent research on informal games-based learning indicates that such technologies and the communities they evoke may be one viable alternative—not as a substitute for teachers and classrooms, but as an alternative to textbooks and science labs. This paper presents empirical evidence about the potential of games for fostering scientific habits of mind. In particular, we examine the scientific habits of mind and dispositions that characterize online discussion forums of the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft. Eighty-six percent of the forum discussions were posts engaged in “social knowledge construction” rather than social banter. Over half of the posts evidenced systems based reasoning, one in ten evidenced model-based reasoning, and 65% displayed an evaluative epistemology in which knowledge is treated as an open-ended process of evaluation and argument.     

Developing observational skills and knowledge of anatomical relationships in an art and anatomy workshop using plastinated specimens

One of the strong trends in medical education today is the integration of the humanities into the basic medical curriculum. The anatomy program is an obvious choice for using the humanities to develop professionalism and ethical values. They can also be used to develop close observational skills. Many medical schools have developed formal art observation training in conjunction with nearby art museums to enhance the visual diagnostic skills of their medical students. We report here on an art and anatomy workshop that paired medical and art students who did drawing exercises from plastinated anatomical specimens and the animated face to hone observational skills. Each member of the pair brought a different perspective and expertise to the work that allowed each to be a mentor to the other. The workshop had three sessions: the first involved drawings of plastinated specimens that allowed an intimate experience with authentic human material; the second involved drawings of the human face; and the third included examination of anatomical texts of important anatomist-artists, a lecture on contemporary artists whose work involves anatomy, and a film demonstrating the facial muscles. We propose workshops such as these will help students increase their ability to detect details. This will assist the medical student in developing diagnostic skills for identifying disease and the art student in using the human body as subject. We further propose that these programs will help students develop humanistic sensitivities and provide an outlet for expression of the emotional aspects of dealing with disease and mortality.     

Factitious disorder in school settings: A case example with implications for school psychologists

Factitious disorder is a condition that has received considerable attention in the medical literature yet is not fully recognized in the school setting. School psychologists can provide important data and observations that can facilitate early identification of this disorder. This article describes a case example of factitious disorder that was identified in the school setting. Symptoms of the disorder are presented, as are the differential diagnoses that must be considered. Specific recommendations for the school psychologist regarding identification, coordination with medical teams, interventions, and ethical and legal obligations are included. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.