“If You Show Who You are,Then They are Going to Try to Fix You”: The Capitals and Costs of Schooling for High-Achieving Latina Students

Schools are supposed to be places where students learn academic and technical skills while also expanding their social networks. Although much research exists that examines academic achievement from a variety of lenses, schools and educators continue to lack insight into the various strengths—or capital—students bring with them to school alongside the barriers—or costs—they face once there. To help bridge the gap between the extant research and what is practiced in schools, we provide insight into what educators can do to capitalize on students' strengths and minimize the barriers to achievement. This article draws from two theoretical frameworks, Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) and Racial Opportunity Cost (ROC), and two qualitative research projects that examined Latina high school students' academic achievement from a capitals and costs perspective. Although significant research has identified assets-based approaches to schooling, our results indicate that the interplay between the norms of the school and the norms the students embraced played a critical role in terms of creating conditions for a positive school experience. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations for educators to address the costs that students experience.     

Families Are Learning in Science Museums

This report is based on research findings of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded study conducted by the Philadelphia/Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative (PISEC), which consists of four institutions: The Franklin Institute Science Museum, the New Jersey State Aquarium, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. The first year's study addressed the question “How can we identify and measure family learning in science museums?” It documented a relationship between learning levels and observable behaviors. On the basis of coding family conversations and interview data for level of learning, we see that families do learn from exhibits and that the level of learning is related to specific observed behaviors. Grouping these behaviors as performance indicators provides a useful measure of exhibit learning.     

Enrollment in physical education is associated with overall physical activity in adolescent girls

Little is known about population-level contributions of school physical education to overall physical activity (PA) in youth. Because PA levels are lower in girls than boys, it is particularly important that the effects of PE programs in adolescent girls be understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the association of enrollment in physical education and overall physical activity participation in adolescent girls. A measurement protocol was administered to cross-sectional samples of 8th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade girls participating in a school-based PA intervention study (1998-2003). PA was assessed with the 3-Day Physical Activity Recall. Three-way analyses of variance were performed to compare groups formed on the basis of physical education enrollment. For each grade group of girls, those who were enrolled in physical education reported more moderate-to-vigorous PA and more vigorous PA than nonenrolled girls. When activity in physical education classes was deleted, 8th- and 9th-grade physical education enrollees were not more active than nonenrollees; however, 12th-grade physical education enrollees remained more active than nonenrollees. Girls who were enrolled in physical education were more physically active than nonenrolled girls in all three grade levels. These findings suggest that expanded enrollment in physical education may increase American adolescent girls' PA level.     

Perceived value of knowledge: the potential informer's perception

Achieving value from knowledge has been illusive to the organization despite recent attempts to capitalize on it. An individual's willingness to share his or her knowledge is an essential factor in the organization benefiting from the knowledge it collectively possesses. Yet little is understood regarding what knowledge people are willing to share. This paper describes the development of a new construct, perceived value of knowledge (PVK). PVK's relationship with intentions to share knowledge is illustrated (both qualitatively and quantitatively). The qualitative study illustrates that it may influence the enablers and the barriers to knowledge sharing. The quantitative study found that PVK is positively related to intentions to share knowledge, while Uniqueness of Knowledge (a related but separate construct) is negatively related to intentions to share knowledge. Implications of perceived value of knowledge is discussed.     

Supporting complex problems: an examination of Churchman's inquirers as a knowledge management foundation

This paper examines the current knowledge management (KM) research through the lens of Churchman's inquiring systems. These inquiring systems are ideal foundations from which to view KM and its associated research because knowledge creation and organizational learning are critical elements of KM. Churchman proposed that organizations should support knowledge creation and learning through emphasis on problem structure and appropriate inquiring strategies. This paper discusses the characteristics of Churchman's inquirers, the problem structure for which they are most appropriate, and presents examples of each. Then, examples of previous research that share characteristics of the most complex inquirers are discussed. Organizational benefits from the inquiring system approach and guidelines for future research are suggested.     

Stop the E-train! A plea for the thoughtful use of language in computer-conferenced contexts

In this paper, I take the position that the recently increased ‘e-talk’ permeating our language potentially compromises our field's professionalism by ‘one-minutizing’ learning that uses computer-mediated technologies. In so doing, I discuss historical aspects of adult education, the importance of language as a naming function, the evolution of the romance of cyberspace, and the need for adult and distance educators to maintain a clear sense of their practice as distinct from the amorphous clamouring of the burgeoning e-world.     

Multi-informant assessment of treatment integrity in the classroom

Assessing the degree to which interventions are implemented in school settings is critical to making decisions about student outcomes. School psychologists may not be available to regularly conduct observations of intervention implementation, however, their data may be used alongside other methods for multi-informant assessment. Teacher self-report is a commonly used and feasible assessment method. Students have been trained to implement interventions with their peers in instances where traditional adult interventionists were unavailable. This exploratory study investigated the accuracy with which classroom teachers and middle and high school students assessed implementation of the Good Behavior Game and the impact of performance feedback on their accuracy. Results indicated that most students and teachers were able to provide accurate assessments of treatment integrity compared to researcher direct observation; however, some required performance feedback to do so. These findings suggest that multi-informant assessment may be a feasible and accurate way for school psychologists to collect formative treatment-integrity data in the classroom. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Pedagogic affect and its politics: learning to affect and be affected in education

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the critical contribution that affects as bodily capacities to act, engage and connect can make to children’s learning in museums and schools. Drawing chiefly on empirical material collected over the course of visits by school children to Museums Victoria, Australia, and bringing a sociomaterial sensibility to bear, I trace the movements of these children through exhibition spaces and show pedagogic affect at work. I argue that children’s learning can usefully be understood in ways that go beyond social constructivism which underwrites museum learning and school education yet tends to neglect the role of affectivity and material agency in learning, as well as relations of power. As the empirical material shows, the politics of affective practice involve the co-constitution of bodies, spaces and objects in ways that actively intervene in established relations of power. I conclude by calling for a renewed engagement with the affective in education.