Peer relations and the understanding of faux pas: longitudinal evidence for bidirectional associations

Research connecting children's understanding of mental states to their peer relations at school remains scarce. Previous work by the authors demonstrated that children's understanding of mental states in the context of a faux pas--a social blunder involving unintentional insult--is associated with concurrent peer rejection. The present report describes a longitudinal follow-up investigation of 210 children from the original sample, aged 5-6 or 8-9 years at Time 1. The results support a bidirectional model suggesting that peer rejection may impair the acquisition of faux pas understanding, and also that, among older children, difficulties in understanding faux pas predict increased peer rejection. These findings highlight the important and complex associations between social understanding and peer relations during childhood.     

The girl with the garden gloves: researching the affordances of sensual materialities in the school garden

ABSTRACT

This article uses vignettes and photographs taken from ethnographic research to reframe the methodological assumptions within school garden research. New theoretical perspectives are applied to previous empirical school garden research that provides deeper understandings of both the teaching and the learning of ecoliteracy in such material contexts. Actor Network Theory and Social Semiotics further highlight the affordance of school garden spaces. We make public the conversations of a small research group about a perceived ethnographic turn towards materiality, aesthetics and agency.     

An Integrative Cultural Model to better situate marginalized science students in postsecondary science education

In this paper we reflect on the article “I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum”, by Phoebe Jackson and Gale Seiler (Cult Stud Sci Educ.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9818-0). In their article, the authors did a significant amount of qualitative analysis of a discussion on an online forum by four latecomer students with past negative experiences in science education. The students used this online forum as an out-of-class resource to develop a cultural model based on their ability to ask questions together with solidarity as a new optimistic way to position themselves in science. In this forum, we continue by discussing the identity of marginalized science students in relation to resources available in postsecondary science classes. Recent findings on a successful case of a persistent marginalized science student in spite of prior struggles and failures are introduced. Building on their model and our results, we proposed a new cultural model, emphasizing interaction between inside and outside classroom resources which can further our understanding of the identity of marginalized science students. Exploring this cultural model could better explain drop-outs or engagement of marginalized science students to their study. We, then, used this model to reflect on both current traditional and effective teaching and learning practices truncating or re-enforcing relationships of marginalized students with the learning environment. In this way, we aim to further the discussion initiated by Jackson and Seiler and offer possible frameworks for future research on the interactions between marginalized students with past low achievements and other high and mid achieving students, as well as other interactions between resources inside and outside science postsecondary classrooms.     

Skater girlhood and emphasized femininity: ‘you can't land an ollie properly in heels’

This study draws from interviews with 20 girls in British Columbia, Canada who participated to varying degrees in skateboarding culture. We found that skater girls saw themselves as participating in an ‘alternative’ girlhood. Becoming skater girls involved the work and play of producing themselves in relation to alternative images found among peers at school, at skate parks, online and in music videos. The alternative authority of skater girl discourse gave the girls room to manoeuvre within and against the culturally valued discourse of emphasized femininity. A subgroup of middle class skater girls, the ‘in‐betweeners’, used skater girl discourse as a way of distancing themselves from the sexism evident in skater culture as well as emphasized femininity. They used one discourse against another and took advantage of contradictions within skater discourse to forge a positive identity for themselves.     

Changes in Academy/Industry/State Relations in Canada: The Creation and Development of the Networks of Centres of Excellence

The Networks of Centres of Excellence programme is perhaps Canada's most dramatic science policy innovation since theFirst World War. This article traces its development, using documentary analysis and interviews with the policy actors responsible for conceiving and implementing the programme.Established in 1989, the networks were explicitly designed to change the norms of science. The intention was to instil an approach to long-term fundamental research that considered possibilities of use from the start. Of equal importance was the idea that management was essential to produce knowledgein a network structure.     

Together yet Apart: perceptions of communication in the cross‐cultural context of a Papua New Guinean tertiary institution

A genuine debate on the Melanesian Way ... is a debate that requires a systematic, reflective and intellectual rigour. It is a task which Melanesian scholars must live with .... The vital contribution that is yet to be made toward rational discussion of Melanesian world‐view in all its aspects, is being delayed by the almost non‐existence of the rigour of an academic forum which would conceptualise Melanesian values. (Olea in Narokobi, 1988, p. 185)     

“Keeping Some Wildness Always Alive”: Posthumanism and the Animality of Children’s Literature and Play

This article explores posthumanism as a philosophy that emphasizes human relationships with the natural world by examining representations of animality, both in children’s literature (e.g. titles such as Where the Wild Things Are, Wild, Virginia Wolf, and No Fits, Nilson!) and in children’s play in order to better understand the significance of philosophy in children’s literature and lives. By fostering a feeling of “necessary wilderness,” or connection to nature (Almond, 2011, p. 110), and by practicing a sense of being in nature, “keeping some wildness always alive” (Lerman, 2012, p. 311) through literary engagement and animal play, the authors suggest that children and adults can maintain an interconnectedness with the natural world, even when they cannot be in it themselves. Through a mixed methods approach that combines educational theory, ecocriticism, and qualitative research, we discuss links between children’s stories and bodies, identifying how becoming animals through narrative engagement and play reflects posthumanist theory in practice, and encourages a child’s embodied knowledge of nature. The authors also speak to the ways that embodied education approaches that encourage animal play and “expressive literary engagement” [Sipe, 2002, pp. 476–483]) can support a shifting and necessary worldview informed by posthumanism, suggesting that philosophical change is necessary if humanity aims to survive the ecological and technological changes to come.     

A Library Compliance Strategy for Regional Accreditation Standards: Using ACRL Higher Education Standards with NEASC Standards

The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) standards places less emphasis on quantifiable and arbitrary inputs and more emphasis on institutional effectiveness and assessment of student learning. NEASC includes the library throughout the standards and also has a long section specifically for the library. The authors advocate use of the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Standards for Libraries in Higher Education alongside the NEASC standards to ensure a focus on outcomes and assessment of libraries in the context of other areas of the institution. An effective strategy for streamlining the assessment of library resources and services is provided.     

Navigating pitfalls of web-based survey development and administration

With multiple low-cost Web-based delivery methods increasingly available, the number of surveys being distributed to gather data on library users and potential users is dramatically increasing. This paper provides an overview of survey administration including history, guidelines on decision-making in survey development, and best practices for survey research when delivered via the Web. Questions on survey development issues such as probability and non-probability sampling and privacy concerns are clarified.