Index for Fall 1977—Summer 1979 Volumes 8 and 9

In 1990, Congress passed the National Environmental Education Act, thereby charging the United States Environmental Protection Agency with providing national leadership to increase environmental literacy. Since the first appropriation in 1992, almost $100M has been spent to increase the public's awareness of environmental issues; nevertheless, the author believes that the Act is outdated and was not written to provide for systemic change. With the recently increased attention to global warming and climate change, many in the environmental education field believe that environmental education is a critical tool for engaging the public and that opportunities exist to increase resources. The author suggests that now may be the time to consider new environmental education legislation that is more systemic in nature and that provides substantive increases in funding for national-level grants, educator training, and research initiatives. The author also suggests broadening the scope of strategic-level conversations to include sectors beyond the education community.     

Fatal child neglect: Characteristics,causation, and strategies for prevention

Research in child fatalities because of abuse and neglect has continued to increase, yet the mechanisms of the death incident and risk factors for these deaths remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine the types of neglect that resulted in children's deaths as determined by child welfare and a child death review board. This case review study reviewed 22 years of data (n = 372) of child fatalities attributed solely to neglect taken from a larger sample (N = 754) of abuse and neglect death cases spanning the years 1987–2008. The file information reviewed was provided by the Oklahoma Child Death Review Board (CDRB) and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Children and Family Services. Variables of interest were child age, ethnicity, and birth order; parental age and ethnicity; cause of death as determined by child protective services (CPS); and involvement with DHS at the time of the fatal event. Three categories of fatal neglect – supervisory neglect, deprivation of needs, and medical neglect – were identified and analyzed. Results found an overwhelming presence of supervisory neglect in child neglect fatalities and indicated no significant differences between children living in rural and urban settings. Young children and male children comprised the majority of fatalities, and African American and Native American children were over-represented in the sample when compared to the state population. This study underscores the critical need for prevention and educational programming related to appropriate adult supervision and adequate safety measures to prevent a child's death because of neglect.     

‘People are suspicious of us’: a critical examination of father primary carers and English early childhood services

Positive father involvement and investment in the early years is of importance for children's later emotional, cognitive and social well‐being. This article critically examines the multiple motivations and barriers experienced by the growing number of father primary carers. The small‐scale research study presented suggests that for a ‘positive culture shift’ towards fathers in the UK to occur, early childhood services need to question the extent to which they are ‘father friendly’. Research suggests that policy initiatives such as a ‘Daddy month’ (found in Canada and most Nordic countries) may encourage much needed attitudinal shifts towards fathers by legitimising their caring activities. Other initiatives that encourage father primary carers in their role may include the recruitment of professional male early childhood workers.     

Investigation of chemistry graduate teaching assistants' teacher knowledge and teacher identity

Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic responsibilities. Although GTAs have substantial instructional facetime with large numbers of undergraduate students, little is known about their conceptions of teaching or their identities as teachers. To investigate the knowledge that GTAs have regarding teaching in this unique context, their teaching identities, and how these developed, we conducted 22 interviews with graduate students from several universities at various levels in their graduate school career using a modified Teacher Beliefs Interview. Interviews were analyzed for two overarching teacher learning constructs: teacher knowledge and teacher identity. We characterized chemistry GTAs' teacher knowledge and identity and determined major influencing factors. We found that chemistry GTAs often identified as a tutor or lab manager, which hindered their self-investment in developing as teachers. The results presented herein contribute to an understanding of GTAs' teacher knowledge, teacher identity, and their teaching context, from which training can be designed to best support GTA development.     

Open access and predatory publishing: a survey of the publishing practices of academic pharmacists and nurses in the United States

Objective:Academics are under great pressure to publish their research, the rewards for which are well known (tenure, promotion, grant funding, professional prestige). As open access publishing gains acceptance as a publishing option, researchers may choose a “predatory publisher.” The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivations and rationale of pharmacy and nursing academics in the United States to publish in open access journals that may be considered “predatory.”Methods:A 26-item questionnaire was programmed in Qualtrics and distributed electronically to approximately 4,500 academic pharmacists and nurses, 347 of whom completed questionnaires (~8%). Pairwise correlations were performed followed by a logistic regression to evaluate statistical associations between participant characteristics and whether participants had ever paid an article processing fee (APF).Results:Participants who had published more articles, were more familiar with predatory publishing, and who were more concerned about research metrics and tenure were more likely to have published in open access journals. Moderate to high institutional research intensity has an impact on the likelihood of publishing open access. The majority of participants who acknowledged they had published in a predatory journal took no action after realizing the journal was predatory and reported no negative impact on their career for having done so.ConclusionThe results of this study provide data and insight into publication decisions made by pharmacy and nursing academics. Gaining a better understanding of who publishes in predatory journals and why can help address the problems associated with predatory publishing at the root.     

An Integrated Analysis of School Students’ Aspirations for STEM Careers: Which Student and School Factors Are Most Predictive?

Declining enrolments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and a lack of interest in STEM careers are concerning at a time when society is becoming more reliant on complex technologies. We examine student aspirations for STEM careers by drawing on surveys conducted annually from 2012 to 2015. School students in years 3 to 12 (n?=?6492) were asked to indicate their occupational choices. A logistic regression analysis showed that being in the older cohorts, possessing high cultural capital, being male, having a parent in a STEM occupation and high prior achievement in reading and numeracy, were significant. This analysis provides a strong empirical basis for school-based initiatives to improve STEM participation. In particular, strategies should target the following: the persistent lack of interest by females in some careers, improving student academic achievement in both literacy and numeracy and expanding knowledge of STEM careers, especially for students without familial STEM connections.