Contemporary high-profile scientists and their interactions with the community

This article presents a case study of 10 high-profile Australian research scientists. These scientists are highly committed to engaging with the public. They interact with a wide range of groups in the community, including the traditional media. They are aware that they are seen as representatives of science at a time when the authority of science and scientists is threatened in Australia by controversy around issues such as climate change and vaccination. Through their experiences of interacting with non-scientists, they have developed views about qualities, characteristics and knowledge that contribute to, or inhibit, positive interactions between scientists and non-scientists. Their experiences and insights highlight aspects of contemporary science that are not generally acknowledged in science curricula.     

Self‐recording as a Means of Improving Classroom Behaviour in the Secondary School

Two experiments are reported in which children's study behaviour was manipulated systematically within a behavioural paradigm. Both studies were carried out in the remedial department of a large, modern Secondary school in England by a woman teacher. The first involved an individual, a boy whose study behaviour was controlled using self‐recording in a reversal design. On‐task behaviour increased whilst maladaptive responses were reduced and there was a pronounced improvement in the boy's attitude to school work. The second study was a group intervention employing self‐recording which was again successful in improving the on‐task behaviour rate. At the same time it proved possible to gain measures which show clear evidence of improvement in both the quality and quantity of written work produced by the group. In both studies there was some evidence of generalisation of effects.     

Escape-from-fear performance as affected by handling method and an additional CS-shock treatment

Experiment 1 demonstrated that hurdle-jumping, escape-from-fear (EFF) performance was affected deleteriously when the handling of the rats was by the tail rather than the body and was facilitated by the administration, just prior to EFF training, of one additional CS-shock pairing along with the opportunity to jump the hurdle. Additional experiments elucidated the basis for the effect of these two variables. Experiment 2 indicated that tail handling degraded performance by decreasing reinforcement. In Experiment 3, the facilitatory effect of the extra CS-shock treatment was found to result from the occurrence of a response at the termination of the pairing and not from the CS-shock pairing per se.     

Learning To Read Each Other: Black Female Graduate Students Share Their Experiences at a White Research I Institution

This paper uses Black Feminist Thought to explain the lived experiences of three Black female graduate students at a White Research I institution. Through mentoring from Black female professors, the students received instrumental and psychosocial support that helped them to navigate through their graduate level work. Common themes of identity, community service missions, and empowerment provides a thread that ties the student’s narratives together. We close by offering some suggestions for further research on the Black graduate experience and mentoring Black graduate students. Meca R. Williams, Denise N. Brewley, R. Judith Reed and Dorothy Y. White are affiliated with University of Georgia. Rachel T. Davis-Haley is affiliated with University of New Orleans.     

Problem-solving skills of high school chemistry students

What strategies do high school students use when solving chemistry problems? The purpose for conducting this study was to determine the general problem-solving skills that students use in solving problems involving moles, stoichiometry, the gas laws, and molarity. The strategies were examined for success in problem solving for 266 students of varying proportional reasoning ability, using interviews incorporating the think-aloud technique. Data were coded using a scheme based on Polya's heuristics. Results indicated that successful students and those with high proportional reasoning ability tended to use algorithmic reasoning strategies more frequently than nonsuccessful and low proportional reasoning students. However, the majority of all students solved the chemistry problems using only algorithmic methods, and did not understand the chemical concepts on which the problems were based.     

Educating students with FASD: linking policy,research and practice

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD ) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disability with significant implications for learning and behaviour. International research suggests that the prevalence of FASD in school‐aged children is 2.3–6.3%. In this paper, we address the questions: (1) what is FASD ; (2) what is the prevalence of FASD in schools; (3) what is the impact of FASD ; and (4) why develop special FASD education strategies and programmes? We summarise the 18‐year history of W innipeg S chool D ivision's development of its FASD P rogramme of services, describe the specialised FASD classrooms and then present the results from a consensus‐generating workshop comprised of 36 FASD education professionals, with over 209 years of collective FASD education programme experience, who were asked to identify and reach consensus on best strategies and lessons learned in FASD education programmes. We then suggest that effectively educating children with FASD is critical to get right if positive educational outcomes are to be realised.     

Empowering teacher leadership: a cross-country study

ABSTRACT

The contextual, purpose-driven challenges facing schools and school systems across the world call for creative and innovative responses to revitalize school practices. The process of revitalization will require new thinking, new mindsets within an adaptive school culture and new leadership roles (formal and informal). Often the perception of leadership held within a school is that it is the province of the principal; however, if we move from a top-down model of leadership we can ulitize the capacity of others within to lead the learning. To enable this to happen, teacher leaders need to work with agency and principals need to nurture and grow their formal and informal leadership roles within the school. For many teachers, the question is how they can establish and commit to leadership roles and responsibilities within the school community while remaining in a teaching position. This case study examined the practices of teachers as they experienced leadership across three cross-cultural contexts: Colombia, Canada and Australia. It presents exemplars of teacher leadership in action and provides images of teacher leadership as enacted in addition to an understanding of the factors that were important in supporting their leadership actions.