Trade books and the social studies curriculum

Historical fiction, fiction about contemporary people of other cultures, and nonfiction trade books can increase children's interest in social studies and enhance their knowledge. Dianne Monson and Kathleen Howe discuss the ways that these books appeal to young readers and lead them to seek further understanding of historical events, foreign cultures, and Americans from different cultural backgrounds. They offer numerous examples of books that serve this purpose for several social studies topics. Kathleen Howe completed her doctorate at the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation dealt with the use of children's literature trade books in the elementary social studies curriculum. Dianne Monson is a past president of the U.S. Board on Books for Young People and has written and lectured on children's literature throughout the curriculum.     

Physical activities and sedentary pursuits in African American and Caucasian girls

The purposes of this study were to describe and compare the specific physical activity choices and sedentary pursuits of African American and Caucasian American girls. Participants were 1,124 African American and 1,068 Caucasian American eighth-grade students from 31 middle schools. The 3-Day Physical Activity Recall (3DPAR) was used to measure participation in physical activities and sedentary pursuits. The most frequently reported physical activities were walking, basketball, jogging or running, bicycling, and social dancing. Differences between groups were found in 11 physical activities and 3 sedentary pursuits. Participation rates were higher in African American girls (p < or = .001) for social dancing, basketball, watching television, and church attendance but lower in calisthenics, ballet and other dance, jogging or running, rollerblading, soccer, softball or baseball, using an exercise machine, swimming, and homework. Cultural differences of groups should be considered when planning interventions to promote physical activity.     

Understanding the impact of commercialization on public support for scientific research: is it about the funding source or the organization conducting the research

This research examines the influence of commercialization on support for scientific research. It compares the effects of the funding source with the type of organization on public support for stem cell research. Using a national Australian telephone survey (n = 1000), the results reveal that support drops significantly when scientific research is funded by private rather than public interests, and even more so when it is conducted in a private company rather than a public university. Respondents' preference for university research was enhanced if they trusted universities, distrusted major companies and believed that the research would be beneficial. A preference for public funding was also associated with lower trust in companies and a belief that the research would benefit people. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to the challenge of maintaining public support in an increasingly commercialized research environment.     

THE 'OTHER' AS THE VULNERABLE VOTER: A STUDY OF THE THIRD-PERSON EFFECT IN THE 1988 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

The tendency for individuals to perceive a greater impact ofmedia messages on others than on the self, Davison (1983) argues,has led to a number of policy decisions in which éliteshave exercised control of mass media messages in order to ‘protect’vulnerable others. The third-person effect has been well-documentedin experimental research with little attention to its theoreticalunderpinnings, or its antecedents or consequences. This articleargues that the third-person effect can be understood throughattribution theory, especially through the concepts of self-servingbias and effectance motivation. Second, it demonstrates thatthe third-person effect is influenced by certain social structuralfactors, media use patterns, and perceived harm of content.Finally, while perceptions of harm are related to perceptionsof influence, influence does not play a role in predicting supportfor external control of media content, while perceived harmhas a significant impact.     

Living Memories of Womanlishness/Womanish and Womanism: Finding Voice on the Heels of Thinkers and Do-ers

When I received an e-mail from Roland (Sintos Coloma) about participating in the 50th celebration of the American Educational Studies Association (AESA), I did not hesitate to agree to do so. What I did not envision, at the time, is how difficult and complex this process of writing an article for the special issue of Educational Studies is. I have several titles and introductions filed under the proverbial t because nothing felt fiery, engaging, or like me. I knew that living memories is a must, in light of 2017's conference theme: “Memory, Remembering & Forgetting: (Re)Envisioning Educational Worlds.” However, my spirit and soul were hungry for (what?); but I couldn't name the missing ingredient(s).     

A framework for implementing and teaching the social and ethical impact of computing

This article describes the work of Project ImpactCS, which was initiated to define the core content and pedagogical objectives for integrating social impact and ethics into the computer science (CS) curriculum. Over a three year period the project will address three major problems that hamper the implementation of across-the-board curriculum change: the lack of a well-specified definition of what the core content and learning objectives should include, the lack of a strategy for adapting and adopting existing materials that address the core topics into the existing CS curriculum, and the lack of awareness and expertise on the part of most CS faculties regarding the need and methodology for presenting such material in their courses. This report provides the conceptual frame-work and describes the learning objectives, called knowledge units, for defining a new content area in the computer science curriculum. It also discusses strategies and innovative pedagogical techniques for implementing the knowledge units into the curriculum.     

Development and evaluation of the conceptual inventory of natural selection

Natural selection as a mechanism of evolution is a central concept in biology; yet, most nonbiology‐majors do not thoroughly understand the theory even after instruction. Many alternative conceptions on this topic have been identified, indicating that the job of the instructor is a difficult one. This article presents a new diagnostic test to assess students' understanding of natural selection. The test items are based on actual scientific studies of natural selection, whereas previous tests have employed hypothetical situations that were often misleading or oversimplified. The Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) is a 20‐item multiple choice test that employs common alternative conceptions as distractors. An original 12‐item version of the test was field‐tested with 170 nonmajors in 6 classes and 43 biology majors in 1 class at 3 community colleges. The test scores of one subset of nonmajors (n = 7) were compared with the students' performances in semistructured interviews. There was a positive correlation between the test scores and the interview scores. The current 20‐item version of the CINS was field‐tested with 206 students in a nonmajors' general biology course. The face validity, internal validity, reliability, and readability of the CINS are discussed. Results indicate that the CINS will be a valuable tool for instructors. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 952–978, 2002     

Effects of Nature (Greenspace) on Cognitive Functioning in School Children and Adolescents: a Systematic Review

Educational Psychology Review - There is growing interest in understanding the extent to which natural environments can influence learning particularly in school contexts. Nature has the potential...