Language in Science Education as a Gatekeeper to Learning,Teaching, and Professional Development

In this study, I used a feminist poststructural perspective to explain how language is a gatekeeper in learning science, in achieving professional honors in teaching science, and in teaching science to English language learners. The various uses of language revealed interesting dynamics related to the culture of power of language and the culture of power of science along race–ethnicity, gender, and class dimensions for teachers. Teachers did not necessarily see language as having distinct purposes and uses. This further maintained the gatekeeping nature of language and discourse in science education. I discuss implications for looking at language in science education for teacher professional development and student learning.

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Backstepping design for controlling electrohydraulic servos

The backstepping technique is one of the tools which provides control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and, therefore, control laws for automatic systems. In this paper, the backstepping design for position and force nonlinear electrohydraulic servos is investigated. Three control laws ensuring the asymptotic stability of references tracking are obtained by constructing CLFs on the errors concerning the state variables and theirs desired values. The possibility of converting a position servo into a force servo, with only minimal hard modification, is proved. An approach based on partitioning the state system into two subsystems—a first one stable, and a second one taken as framework of control synthesis by backstepping technique—was developed and used. Using as reference point a flight controls hydromechanical servo, numerical simulations were reported from viewpoint of servo time constant performance. Certain conjectures, concerning the behaviour of systems mathematical models, in connection with mathematical methodologies of control synthesis operating on them, are finally stressed.     

An analysis of motivation strategies used within the small-group Accelerating Mathematics Performance through Practice Strategies (AMPPS-SG) program

More than half of students in the USA perform below a proficient level in math. Although evidence suggests that intervention in elementary school is critical to supporting struggling learners, and there are several research-supported instructional practices to support students with math difficulties, the existing research is limited with regard to the impact of motivational strategies designed to improve students’ math skills. This study examined the effectiveness of specific motivational strategies used in the small-group Accelerating Mathematics Performance through Practice Strategies (AMPPS-SG) intervention program. A multiple baseline design was used with three instructional groups of second grade students to compare the relative effectiveness of three different conditions on students’ math computation skills. Condition 1 included all of the AMPPS-SG instructional components. Condition 2 included all instructional procedures as well as goal-setting, performance feedback, and reinforcement for performance. Condition 3 included all components used in Condition 2, as well as a group-based reward contingency. Results showed that students’ performance during Condition 3 was significantly better than performance during Conditions 1 and 2.     

Measuring attitudes toward inclusive education

An easily administered 16-item scale was developed to measure attitudes toward inclusive education. Principal components analysis yielded four discrete dimensions of inclusive education with satisfactory internal consistency, including physical, academic, behavioral, and social dimensions. Cross-validation procedures provided further evidence of the factor structure and internal consistency of the scale.     

Architects, captains, and dreamers: Creating advisor roles that foster youth-adult partnerships

While research has documented the many ways in which student voice can enable educational change, the process of how adults can help to enable student voice is less clear. This article examines how adults new to working as advisors of student voice initiatives begin to develop partnerships with young people. Using a Youth-Adult Partnership continuum as a framework, three cases represent a range of beliefs of student leadership. Using the archetypes of Captain, Dreamer, and Architect, the cases indicate how the adults began their work with youth with adult-centered, a student-centered, and an equilibrium approach, respectively. While the article highlights that adults must learn how to scaffold youth participation to help them to develop the leadership skills necessary to share in the work of the partnership, little training and materials exist for adults to learn how to scaffold learning. Part of this training includes the willingness for adults to recognize that they themselves need to change as well in order to facilitate youth leadership.     

Gendered Expectations for “Agreeableness” in Response to Requests and Opinions

To address the need for more direct assessment of gendered expectations for communication behaviors, we devised a novel experimental approach that tests whether expectations for “agreeableness” are more salient when evaluating male or female speakers in their affirmative responses to a friend’s request or expression of opinion. Briefly, as lag times are introduced, it appears that females are expected to be more agreeable (or male delay is more tolerated), particularly when alignment with opinion is at stake or when a female is responding to another female. Findings are discussed in the context of Expectation Violations Theory.     

“Nothing is impossible”: characteristics of Hispanic females participating in an informal STEM setting

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Factors that influence the underrepresentation of females in STEM careers begin early in childhood when gender biases and stereotypes emerge. Stereotypes...