Going Solo: the spectre of the 1999ers and Hope Solo as the ‘conscious pariah’

Abstract

Although US goalkeeper, Hope Solo, had guided the women’s national soccer team to the semi-finals of the 2007 Women’s World Cup, head coach Greg Ryan benched Solo in favour of 1999 World Cup winning goalkeeper, Briana Scurry. The US lost, 4 – 0, the worst loss ever in World Cup play. The loss did not capture news headlines; rather, Hope Solo’s post-game comments about Ryan’s decision to bench her went viral. I contend that Solo’s outburst interrupted the historical narrative of the US women’s national soccer team. Solo’s action revealed an oppressive team culture of female containment. In a 30-second sound bite, Solo disrupted the discourse of power on the team and in the media, temporarily producing a space for various conceptions of the female athlete to be recognized.     

Prescribed active learning increases performance in introductory biology

We tested five course designs that varied in the structure of daily and weekly active-learning exercises in an attempt to lower the traditionally high failure rate in a gateway course for biology majors. Students were given daily multiple-choice questions and answered with electronic response devices (clickers) or cards. Card responses were ungraded; clicker responses were graded for right/wrong answers or participation. Weekly practice exams were done as an individual or as part of a study group. Compared with previous versions of the same course taught by the same instructor, students in the new course designs performed better: There were significantly lower failure rates, higher total exam points, and higher scores on an identical midterm. Attendance was higher in the clicker versus cards section; attendance and course grade were positively correlated. Students did better on clicker questions if they were graded for right/wrong answers versus participation, although this improvement did not translate into increased scores on exams. In this course, achievement increases when students get regular practice via prescribed (graded) active-learning exercises.     

Writing a thesis differently

In this paper we explore the contributions that Deleuze and Guattari have made to thinking/writing language and how these ideas can be put to work in producing a doctoral thesis. We contribute to the field of work within what Patti Lather and Elizabeth St Pierre have called the “post-qualitative” movement, where researchers attempt to “imagine and accomplish an inquiry that might produce different knowledge and produce knowledge differently”. We attempt to rethink the thesis text, using a language where language always falls apart, a way of talking/writing/reading about presentation of research within a doctoral thesis that will provide the writermachine a space to “pass”. The paper will provide some ideas and ways forward for writers who are attempting to deterritorialize research, who are attempting to experiment with new representational forms.     

Migrant Philippine teachers in Indonesia: the nexus between precarious skilled work,illegal mobility and the cosmopolitan

This article examines the nexus between the illegal migration of Filipino teachers as a form of precarious skilled employment in conjunction with the mobility of choice and hope found in the adoption of cosmopolitan outlooks. Catering to the aspirations of Indonesia’s rising middle class, privately managed “international” schools actively recruit trained teachers from the Philippines. Many of these teachers are migrants negotiating journeys of financial independence. These migrant teachers often find themselves arriving in Indonesia being required to work in the absence of work visas that were initially promised by their employers. Migrant Philippine teachers working in Indonesia compensate for these “shocks” encountered during their employment by cultivating a sense of cosmopolitan sociability as they aspire to utilize their professional and cultural experiences in Indonesia for better employment opportunities beyond Indonesia.     

Mother-child bookreading in low-income families: correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life

About half of 2,581 low-income mothers reported reading daily to their children. At 14 months, the odds of reading daily increased by the child being firstborn or female. At 24 and 36 months, these odds increased by maternal verbal ability or education and by the child being firstborn or of Early Head Start status. White mothers read more than did Hispanic or African American mothers. For English-speaking children, concurrent reading was associated with vocabulary and comprehension at 14 months, and with vocabulary and cognitive development at 24 months. A pattern of daily reading over the 3 data points for English-speaking children and daily reading at any 1 data point for Spanish-speaking children predicted children's language and cognition at 36 months. Path analyses suggest reciprocal and snowballing relations between maternal bookreading and children's vocabulary.     

Adding scents to symbols: using food fragrances with deafblind young people making choices at mealtimes

This article is written by Heather Murdoch, research consultant for the Seashell Trust, Anne Gough, deputy headteacher at Royal School Manchester/Seashell Trust, Eileen Boothroyd, consultant for the Seashell Trust, and Kate Williams, a creative perfumer for Seven (PZ Cussons). It describes the use of food fragrances with deafblind students who are making lunchtime meal choices. The fragrances were added to picture symbols or objects of reference used to represent different menu options. A multiple case study, mixed methods design was used to evaluate three students' choice‐making before and after the introduction of the fragrances. Case study was chosen because of the complex and diverse needs created by deafblindness and because the project was an exploratory study of a new approach. The methods included semi‐structured interviews with students' 1:1 keyworkers and other staff, direct and videotaped observations of students' choice‐making, and written diary records of students' food choices and responses. The findings are necessarily tentative but support the use of food fragrances to assist students' understanding of mealtime choice‐making and their engagement with the process. The practicalities of using olfaction to support other sensory inputs are discussed, together with priorities for future research and practice in this area.     

Images of a new sub-culture in the Australian university: Perceptions of non-nurse academics of the discipline of nursing

It is crucial to the development and credibility of the nursing profession that its knowledge base be recognised as legitimate scholarly endeavour by established members of academia. For that reason, this report concerns examination of the attitudes and values of a group of non-nurse academics employed in universities in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and the degree to which they view nursing as an epistemic entity. Perceptions are considered within the dual contexts of recent major changes in nursing education and in academia. Naturalistic Inquiry, informed by a hermeneutic attitude, is employed as a heuristic to examine the sub-culture of nursing within the broad culture of academia. Analysis of extensive interview data provided by the contemplation of study participants provides emergent themes. Several metaphors are chosen to explicate the findings that nursing is largely perceived to be nebulous, atheoretical, and subservient to the medical profession. Implications are discussed and recommendations are made with the view to encourage modernisation of the university through improving internal communication and challenging traditional models of operations within the tertiary sector.     

Diversity Knowledge in Science Teacher Education-Translating Concept to Instruction: An Example Specific to African Americans

Science education reforms promote access to quality science education for all students. Outcome disparities in various measures indicate that such access remains elusive for African Americans. Cultural incongruence is one among many explanations for this previously described inaccessibility. The intent of this article is not to report additional research findings, but to translate the information provided in the literature into an instructional form that science teacher educators can employ in the preparation of prospective science teachers or the further development of practicing ones. Pivoting around a role play, the authors discuss communication within African American communities, its incongruence with the discourse patterns typically valued and reinforced in school science, and the importance of such knowledge for science teacher educators. Lieutenant Colonel Stephanie Foster is now product manager in the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command.

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Making meaningful decisions about time,workload and pedagogy in the digital age: the Course Resource Appraisal Model

This article reports on a design-based research project to create a modelling tool to analyse the costs and learning benefits involved in different modes of study. The Course Resource Appraisal Model (CRAM) provides accurate cost-benefit information so that institutions are able to make more meaningful decisions about which kind of courses—online, blended or traditional face-to-face—make sense for them to provide. The tool calculates the difference between expenses and income over three iterations of the course and presents a pedagogical analysis of the learning experience provided. The article draws on a CRAM analysis of the costs and learning benefits of a massive open online course to show how the tool can illuminate the pedagogical and financial viability of a course of this kind.