Thinking about technology: Applying a cognitive lens to technical change

We apply a cognitive lens to understanding technology trajectories across the life cycle by developing a co-evolutionary model of technological frames and technology. Applying that model to each stage of the technology life cycle, we identify conditions under which a cognitive lens might change the expected technological outcome predicted by purely economic or organizational models. We also show that interactions of producers, users and institutions shape the development of collective frames around the meaning of new technologies. We thus deepen our understanding of sources of variation in the era of ferment, conditions under which a dominant design may be achieved, the underlying architecture of the era of incremental change and the dynamics associated with discontinuities.     

Epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations: Relations between constructs versus personal profiles

Research has found students' epistemic beliefs to predict their achievement goal orientations. Much of this research emerged from the dimensional approach of epistemic beliefs, which hypothesized a relationship between particular independent dimensions of epistemic beliefs with different achievement goals. Research in this approach has primarily applied a variable-centered approach to investigating these relations. The authors adopt an alternative conceptualization of epistemic beliefs, which considers epistemic beliefs and achievement goals as orthogonal to each other, and which favors a profile-centered approach to researching their relations. They hypothesized that while a variable-centered analysis would identify relations between epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations, a profile-centered analysis would demonstrate the independence of these psychological constructs. In three studies with high school students (ns = 256, 149, 250) the authors demonstrate that epistemic beliefs and achievement goals form different personal profiles that are differentially related to learning strategies.     

A longitudinal study of mathematical competencies in children with specific mathematics difficulties versus children with comorbid mathematics and reading difficulties

Mathematical competencies of 180 children were examined at 4 points between 2nd and 3rd grades (age range between 7 and 9 years). Children were initially classified into one of 4 groups: math difficulties but normal reading (MD only), math and reading difficulties (MD-RD), reading difficulties but normal math (RD only), and normal achievement in math and reading (NA). The groups did not differ significantly in rate of development. However, at the end of 3rd grade the MD only group performed better than the MD-RD group in problem solving but not in calculation. The NA and RD only groups performed better than the MD-RD group in most areas. Deficiencies in fact mastery and calculation fluency, in particular, are defining features of MD, with or without RD.     

Mary Monroe Atwater: A transformative force in science education

This article highlights the transformative contributions of Mary Monroe Atwater to the field of science education. Influenced by worldviews shaped by a segregated macro-society and the privileges of a micro-society, Mary stood against oppression in the early years of her academic career by desegregating academic settings and being the first and only African American in varied arenas for many years. As an aspiring academic, Mary challenged dominant paradigms and as an activist academic, she changed the landscape of science education. She broadened the knowledge base through scholarship and praxis and diversified the science education community through personal and professional efforts that were pioneering in nature.

Gender-fair psychotherapy in the United States: A possible dream?

Since Freud's era, women have been counseling and psychotherapy's largest consumers. White Freud talked and wrote almost exclusively about men, his patients were primarily women. This practice of treating women as patients, while perceiving men as the prevailing standard for percept and practice has resulted in the largely androcentric or mate-determined psychology of human behavior which we have today (Denmark, 1980; Hare-Mustin, 1983).A number of studies commencing with the Broverman's work in the 1970(s) has demonstrated that psychotherapists, for the most part, share the same sex role biases toward women as the rest of society (Broverman et al., 1970; Fabrikant, 1973, 1974; Nickerson, 1978; Orlinsky & Howard, 1980). Most disconcerting, however, is a recent extensive replication of the Brovermans' study (O'Malley & Richardson, 1985), using 249 counselors, which found that they still described males and females in stereotypic ways, though they did attribute some female designated traits to healthy adults.The evidence regarding the measured effects of therapists' attitudes, whether reportedly biased or gender-fair, however, is mixed in nature and replete with methodological problems (Maffeo, 1979; Marachek & Johnson, 1980; Orlinsky & Howard, 1980; Smith, 1980; Whiteley, 1979); as is the evidence for effectiveness of therapy generally (Garfield, 1981). Some have argued that a counselor's values and expectations do not matter, as long as she or he is aware and does not impose them (Smith, 1980; Whiteley, 1979). It would seem equally probable, based on other evidence that choice of therapeutic goals and processes can be influenced by the therapist's expectations (Brovermans et al., 1970; Nickerson, 1978; O'Malley & Richardson, 1985).The crucial point is that in a sexist society (Such as the United States), it is improbable that anyone without special non-sexist, gender-fair training can adequately aid women in exercising their independence and selecting their goals. Hence, a format is presented for insuring the dream of gender-fair counseling through the inclusion of appropriate training experiences and materials.     

Teaching PubMed in Cyberspace: The Development of a Self-Learning Package

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the development of a series of online modules for learning the PubMed version of MEDLINE. Funded by a National Library of Medicine grant and targeted initially to physician assistants practicing in New Hampshire, the project is approved for CE credit nationally by the American Association of Physician Assistants. The development of the project is described, the tutorial modules are reviewed, and issues encountered with technology and human factors are discussed and evaluated.