Does students’ heritage matter in their performance on and perceptions of historical reasoning tasks?

This mixed methods study explores how high school students (N = 35) enrolled in a US charter school with a high Latino/a population perform on and perceive (in terms of interest and relevance) document-based type historical reasoning tasks: one about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the other about the experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1920s. Students wrote essay responses and completed perception inventories about the tasks. We also interviewed 10 focal students to delve more deeply into students’ thinking regarding the tasks and their interest levels in the two topics. We scored students’ responses along the criteria of historical claims, substantiation of claims, use of evidence from documents, sourcing of documents and contextualization. Our hypotheses were that students would perform better on, and be more interested in, tasks that were culturally relevant to them. We found that although students did not perform differently on the two tasks overall, students’ perceptions of the tasks differed, with a significantly greater interest in the task about Mexicans and Mexican Americans. We address the complexity of these findings and discuss implications for curriculum and practise.     

Carbohydrate-induced stimulation of saccharin intake: Yoked controls

Dilute, intragastric infusions of carbohydrate stimulate saccharin intake. To determine whether this effect is due to an associative process, a yoked control was employed. One group of rats was trained in the conventional fashion: they received carbohydrate (maltodextrin) infusions whenever they drank saccharin. Whenever these rats were infused with carbohydrate, yoked rats were infused with the same amount of carbohydrate. In an experiment in which saccharin was available continuously, carbohydrate infusions stimulated saccharin intake in conventionally trained rats but not in yoked rats. In a subsequent experiment, in which rats were offered saccharin for only 2.5 h/day, carbohydrate infusions stimulated intake in conventionally trained and in yoked rats. However, when these rats were switched to continuous saccharin availability, saccharin intake declined in yoked rats but remained elevated in conventionally trained rats. Thus, carbohydrate infusions stimulate saccharin intake via an associative process.     

Beyond internationalisation and isomorphism – the construction of a global higher education regime

ABSTRACT

National higher education systems are undergoing profound changes, discussed in many but unrelated studies as outcomes of internationalisation dynamics and institutional isomorphism pressures. We propose to link these studies by emphasising the influence of both internationalisation and isomorphism on the formation of a global educational regime. Through a broad range of indicators, we describe the growth of the discursive, normative, and regulatory dimensions of such a global higher education regime. We find evidence of the following developments: (1) a rapidly growing network of international organisations focused on conferences, initiatives, and programmes supporting a global higher education agenda; (2) a striking increase in the number of international and national accreditation agencies, their mutual cross-national recognition as well as the number of universities that are nationally and internationally accredited; and lastly, (3) parallel increases in regional qualification frameworks and in the implementation of national qualification frameworks. These developments create integration pressures manifest in the mutual recognition of higher education degrees, for which a new generation of regional conventions has emerged worldwide in the past two decades. We discuss these processes and their implications for understanding ‘national’ higher education as well as the threats and limits to the burgeoning higher education regime.     

“You don't look like your profile picture”: the ethical implications of researching online identities in higher education

Social media sites and other contemporary technologies open the possibility for the construction of online identities that are loosely connected to physical bodies; this construction allows individuals to edit their identities constantly, in a continuous process of self-recreation. In parallel, universities utilise printed and electronic media to present themselves in the best light possible through the process of branding, which – it is argued here – constitutes an instance of hyper-real identity assemblage. This article explores the ethical implications of researching brand construction in university advertisements. The authors reflect upon the ethical implications of conducting educational research on university identities when such identities rely on the representations of racially minoritised students. Online identity construction through technology invites a discussion of postmodern notions of self and reality; this article presents an exploration of a postmodern ethics for educational research.     

Kindergarten and First-Grade Students’ Understandings and Representations of Arithmetic Properties

Early Childhood Education Journal - We present a study that explores Kindergarten and first-grade students’ understandings and representations of arithmetic properties. The 16 students...     

In pursuit of excellence? Discursive patterns in European higher education research

European higher education is awash with educational reform initiatives that purport to transform universities into better-managed higher quality organizations that more directly contribute to national development. This exploratory study examines patterns of research discourse in higher education in Europe. We argue that these patterns are changing in the direction of greater isomorphism with globally favored models of the university. First, we show some global trends that reveal the rise of “world class universities” and “higher education and development” discourse. Next, we analyze discursive shifts in European higher education research publications in the period between 1990 and 2009. Our initial analysis of these publications shows changes in the expected direction: we find a growing emphasis on management, organization, and quality and less emphasis on student access to higher education, an earlier equity concern. We propose further research to see whether higher education has become a more consolidated research field over time, perhaps suggesting an erosion of the historical legacies that often informed higher education systems and universities in Europe. Lastly, we briefly reflect on the implications of influential world models on comparative studies of higher education.     

Identification of Core Competencies for an Undergraduate Food Safety Curriculum Using a Modified Delphi Approach

Identification of core competencies for undergraduates in food safety is critical to assure courses and curricula are appropriate in maintaining a well‐qualified food safety workforce. The purpose of this study was to identify and refine core competencies relevant to postsecondary food safety education using a modified Delphi method. Twenty‐nine experts representing food safety professionals in academia, government, and industry were given 2 rounds of questionnaires that specified initial food safety competencies, core domains, and subdomains. Competencies were defined as a set of skills, knowledge, and abilities that correlate to success of a trainee. The framework for which competencies were classified consisted of (1) core domains, defined as broad food safety subjects; and (2) subdomains, or more specific food safety subjects. The expert panel used a 5‐point Likert scale with an acceptance criterion, or consensus, of 75%, with a rating of “4” or greater. After 2 rounds of questionnaires and revisions from the expert panel, 5 core domains were established: (1) Food Production, Manufacturing, Retail, and Consumer; (2) Foodborne Hazards; (3) Public Health; (4) Legislation and Policy; and (5) Communication and Education. Specific responses from the experts highlighted areas in which further curriculum revision would be beneficial. This study provides a framework for the development of a vetted, standardized undergraduate food safety curriculum. The Delphi method, with its inclusion of professionals representing various sectors of food safety, provided relevant perspectives for curriculum design, and also allowed participants the opportunity to contribute to the education of future food safety professionals.     

Organizational Learning: A Perspective from the Choice and Pattern of Sequential Modes of Foreign Market Entry

This study examines the choice, pattern, and timing of sequential modes of entry among multinational corporations investing in China. Specifically, we examine how earlier choices of entry modes influence decisions ahout subsequent modes of entry in a targeted host country. Six hypotheses are developed and tested using a longitudinal sample of 228 Fortune Global 500 firms that have had multiple entries in China between 1979 and 1996. The results provide supportive evidence of our hypotheses. Specifically, firms employed entry modes reflecting low commitment in early stages that were gradually escalated to higher commitment in subsequent decisions. This is consistent with the “incremental in vestment” approach that underlies traditional and contemporary theories and research in market entry decisions. An analysis of entry mode choices over time reveals different learning patterns: the logic of incremental investments (i.e., the escalation of low to high resource commitments); the logic of the “catch‐up” follower (i.e., relatively heavy commitment at later stages); and the logic of stable, consistent investments (i.e., the continuation of the same entry mode throughout the time period. There is moderate but inconclusive support for country of origin as a moderating factor. The implications of this study for theory and practice are discussed, as well as its limitations.     

Correction to: Kindergarten and First-Grade Students’ Understandings and Representations of Arithmetic Properties

Early Childhood Education Journal - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a typo in co-author name.