Moving Beyond the Ableist Roots of Educational Psychology: Audit of the Field and a Path Forward

Educational Psychology Review - In the current literature review, we studied the articles published between 2010 and July 2020 in six prominent educational psychology journals to determine the...     

The FCC: Its powers,functions and personnel

Broadcasting figured prominently in the key senatorial race of 1956 which determined the control of the United State Senate. This became the subject of investigation by Professor Tucker for his doctoral dissertation. The following article was based upon his research findings, especially edited for the Journal.     

Designer Thinking: How Novices and Experts Think About Instructional Design

Instructional design can be characterized as a complex problem-solving task, yet little is known about what cognitive processes it requires. This research sought to identify differences in the thinking of expert and novice instructional designers given the same design task. A talk-aloud procedure was used to capture their problem-solving procedures and representations while designing instruction for a computer simulation. A coding scheme based on design principles, strategies, and subtasks was applied to the verbal protocols. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that expert and novice instructional designers do appear to use divergent design paths. These design paths were further analyzed using design trees.     

Associations Between Father Absence and Age of First Sexual Intercourse

Children raised without a biological father in the household have earlier average ages of first sexual intercourse than children raised in father-present households. Competing theoretical perspectives have attributed this either to effects of father absence on socialization and physical maturation or to nonrandom selection of children predisposed for early sexual intercourse into father-absent households. Genetically informative analyses of the children of sister dyads ( N  = 1,382, aged 14–21 years) support the selection hypothesis: This association seems attributable to confounded risks, most likely genetic in origin, which correlated both with likelihood of father absence and early sexual behavior. This holds implications for environmental theories of maturation and suggests that previous research may have inadvertently overestimated the role of family structure in reproductive maturation.     

Autonomy to Accountability: Changing Hegemonies in Australian Arts Education

This paper examines the changing role of Australian art teachers in the period 1966 to 1997. Four transition periods of change are identified beginning with 1966 to 1978 when, in the absence of any written state or national level curriculum documents, art teachers were autonomous professionals responsible for their own curriculum planning and classroom methodology. The second period 1978–1989 saw the writing of many state and national level documents which attempted to articulate clear goals and directions for art education, however due to lack of funding each of these had little far reaching impact. In the third period, 1989 to the present day, art teachers seem to see themselves as being totally accountable to ‘the system’. The increase in accountability measures relating to externally imposed learning outcomes for students, more systematic assessment procedures and changes to employment terms and conditions has meant that many teachers seem demoralised and disempowered rather than autonomous and empowered. The author adopts Michael Fullan’s view that the (art) teacher of the future must become a change agent with four particular skills: personal vision-building skills; a critical sense of inquiry; mastery of skills; and the ability to engage in collaboration.