Science and the diffusion of knowledge

Scientists, social scientists and politicians frequently credit basic science with stimulating technological innovation, and with it economic growth. Despite a substantial body of research investigating this general relationship, relatively little empirical attention has been given to understanding the mechanisms that might generate this linkage. This paper considers whether more rapid diffusion of knowledge, brought about by the norm of publication, might account for part of this effect. We identify the importance of publication by comparing the patterns of citations from future patents to three groups of focal patents: (i) those that reference scientific (peer-reviewed) publications, (ii) those that reference commercial (non-scientific) publications; and (iii) those that reference neither. Our analyses strongly implicate publication as an important mechanism for accelerating the rate of technological innovation: Patents that reference published material, whether peer-reviewed or not, receive more citations, primarily because their influence diffuses faster in time and space.     

Complexity, networks and knowledge flow

Because knowledge plays an important role in the creation of wealth, economic actors often wish to skew the flow of knowledge in their favor. We ask, when will an actor socially close to the source of some knowledge have the greatest advantage over distant actors in receiving and building on the knowledge? Marrying a social network perspective with a view of knowledge transfer as a search process, we argue that the value of social proximity to the knowledge source depends crucially on the nature of the knowledge at hand. Simple knowledge diffuses equally to close and distant actors because distant recipients with poor connections to the source of the knowledge can compensate for their limited access by means of unaided local search. Complex knowledge resists diffusion even within the social circles in which it originated. With knowledge of moderate complexity, however, high-fidelity transmission along social networks combined with local search allows socially proximate recipients to receive and extend knowledge generated elsewhere, while interdependencies stymie more distant recipients who rely heavily on unaided search. To test this hypothesis, we examine patent data and compare citation rates across proximate and distant actors on three dimensions: (1) the inventor collaboration network; (2) firm membership; and (3) geography. We find robust support for the proposition that socially proximate actors have the greatest advantage over distant actors for knowledge of moderate complexity. We discuss the implications of our findings for the distribution of intra-industry profits, the geographic agglomeration of industries, the design of social networks within firms, and the modularization of technologies.     

Students’ conceptions of biology

The argument in this paper has two parallel strands. One describes students’ conceptions of biology; the other uses Habermas’ epistemological framework as a way of suggesting alternative curricular questions. The two strands are brought together, since the research methodology is the situational‐interpretive curriculum orientation, and the findings are considered from this orientation. Thus, the data from the first strand is examined from the second strand, and consequently, new questions arise.

With traditional knowing, science education researchers “know” how students conceive of the science they are learning by having students react to statements of the researcher's conception of science. This way of knowing has been criticized because it depends upon the researcher's set of ways of looking at students’ conceptions. As such, it does not treat students’ knowledge as a first‐order phenomena; knowing is, rather, a second‐order phenomena since it is filtered through another person's conceptions. In this study the Habermasian framework is used as an alternative perspective of knowledge which allows students’ conceptions to be examined at the level at which the conceptions were constructed.

The study suggests that students conceptualize biology from three distinct philosophical positions; but when these positions are considered from the Habermasian framework, they all are examples of the empirical‐analytic tradition. As such, the students’ conceptions have not gone beyond explanatory knowledge, and this raises questions about the curriculum.     

Economic Adjustment,Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

The Early Development Index and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

The Early Development Index (EDI) is a teacher‐completed checklist, intended to be a population‐level tool to measure children's readiness for school and to alert communities to potential developmental problems in children. In response to the increasing popularity of the EDI, this paper provides a critical and timely evaluation and identifies the areas for improvement and modifications. The paper aims: (1) to identify the limitations of the EDI as a universal screening tool, particularly with regard to children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD); (2) to alert readers to the potential negative implications of the current EDI for communities and society, and (3) to recommend ways for improvement so that the EDI will become a valid and culturally appropriate screening tool for monitoring early development in CALD children. The ultimate aim is to help build an education system and a society that can respect cultural and individual differences.     

Economic Adjustment, Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

Corporate practices and ethical tensions: Researching social justice values and neoliberal paradoxes in a ‘no excuses’ charter school

In recent years, there has been growing debate over the corporatisation of schooling, specifically the managerial practices of expanding charter school networks in the USA, often referred to as charter management organisations (CMOs). By definition, CMOs are consistently high-performing, well-financed networks of small schools operating in urban spaces, which adhere to a very specific ‘no excuses’ (NE) model of education in serving primarily students of colour living in poverty. This article is an autoethnographic account of my work as a leader in a CMO, which I theorise as a neoliberal project. We know very little of how neoliberal policies and ideologies are enacted in daily school life. I consider how the ethical responsibility of an educator is positioned within the daily practices and lived experience of leaders and educators working in a CMO. In focusing on my own ethical tensions, the article captures how this corporatised model of schooling influenced my values as an educator, my conflicted sense of social justice and the emotional labour of enacting a model of schooling founded on surveillance and accountability.