The Development of Reasoning about Causal and Noncausal Influences on Levers

2 studies examined 5–12-year-olds' judgments regarding the behavior of balance scales and other levers whose arms varied in a causal (the number of equally weighted objects or their distances from the fulcrum) or a noncausal (the color, position, or orientation of objects) variable. There were age-related increases in correct judgments for each causal and noncausal variable, with children tending to make correct judgments about the influence of physical features of objects (their number and color) at an earlier age than they did about spatial relations between objects (their distance, orientation, and position). Children's patterns of errors judging the influence of causal (particularly distance) and noncausal (particularly position and orientation) variables were different, and there was no relation between children's correct judgments regarding causal and noncausal variables The results suggest that there are separate processes underlying children's ability to identify causal and dismiss noncausal influences on levers which are dependent on the kinds of features (physical or both physical and spatial) which children conceive of as potentially influencing the behavior of levers.     

Eco‐Webbing: A Teaching Strategy to Facilitate Critical Consciousness and Agency

Eco‐webbing is a teaching strategy that can be used to help counselor educators integrate a social justice focus into their courses. Preliminary data indicated increased critical consciousness and social justice agency as a result of using eco‐webbing with counseling students (N = 17). The authors provide implications for counselor educators and future research.     

The inclusion of students with BESD in mainstream schools: teachers' experiences of and recommendations for creating a successful inclusive environment

Since the election of the Labour government in 1997, England has seen policy changes leading to increased rights for students with special educational needs (SEN), including those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD), to be educated in mainstream schools. The present paper reports on the findings of a small-scale study conducted with a sample of mainstream secondary school teachers across the UK. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate their experiences and approaches to including students with BESD in mainstream education. Teachers spoke of the challenges to effective inclusion centring on lack of resources and level of expertise. Despite identifying a variety of strategies for working with students with BESD, the issues raised by teachers bear striking resemblance to those acknowledged in policy over 20 years ago suggesting that regardless of Labour's changes, longstanding obstacles to inclusion have yet to be addressed.     

应用烃类流体包裹体GOI和成分研究凝析气藏成藏过程：以准噶尔盆地莫索湾地区为例

The Grains containing Oil Inclusions （GOI） data in currently gas/condensate-beating Jurassic and Cretaceous reservoir sandstones of Well Pen 5 （the Mosuowan area of central Junggar Basin, NW China） are generally greater than the empirical threshold line of 5%. This is consistent with the gas-condensate section originally containing a palaeo-oil column. In order to assess the origin of the oil trapped in the oil inclusion and its relationship to the free oil/gas-condensate, a detailed molecular geochemical study was carried out for correlation between the free and inclusion oils. The paleo oil is most likely sourced from the Lower Permian Fengcheng Formation, which generated hydrocarbons primarily during Late Triassic and the oils were later secondarily altered and dysmigrated along faults likely during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. In contrast, the current reservoired oil/gas-condensate mainly derived from the Middle Permian Lower Wuerhe Formation, whose peak generation time last from Late Cretaceous even to the present. This paper showed that integrated oil-bearing fluid inclusion analyses have likely allowed a complex multi-phase charge history to be recognized and resolved with a high degree of confidence.     

A Qualitative Examination of the Impact of Culturally Responsive Educational Practices on the Psychological Well-Being of Students of Color

Scholars have shown that educational experiences within the classroom may marginalize students of color which may result in psychological distress. However, the utilization of culturally responsive educational practices (CRE) can create environments in which marginalized students can thrive not only academically, but psychologically. The authors provide a qualitative case study examining the culturally responsive practices of one teacher through a relational cultural theory (RCT) lens. The findings suggest that CRE practices may serve as psychological interventions that are associated with decreased psychological distress and increased psychological well-being amongst students of color. Specifically, students demonstrated behaviors depicting a number of RCT’s five good things, including zest, empowerment, connection, clarity, and self-worth, that improve psychological well-being according to RCT.     

Medical Library Association Diversity and Inclusion Task Force Report

The Medical Library Association (MLA) appointed a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force (DITF) in 2017. Sandra G. Franklin, AHIP, FMLA, chaired the task force and guided initiatives. From 2017 to 2020, the task force completed a review of MLA defining documents—including the mission, vision, values, and code of ethics—resulting in language updates to these documents. As MLA transitioned through the communities process, the DITF contributed to the transition. Other recommended essential changes to MLA profiles to promote awareness included updating pronouns to promote gender inclusivity and suggestions for the Annual Meeting Innovation Task Force. DITF members actively brought diversity and inclusion programming and engagement to MLA members at annual meetings. The task force held a fish bowl conversation, an open forum, and a Diversity Dialogues roundtable discussion; provided interactive discussion boards; and designed an MLA diversity button. Beyond MLA annual meetings, the task force hosted two critical librarianship meetings and a Twitter chat to engage MLA members with diversity and inclusion topics. Task force members promoted diversity and inclusion beyond their task force appointments with presentations at chapter meetings and other non-DITF MLA annual meeting programming. A notable task force accomplishment included completing a survey of MLA members to gather baseline demographic characteristics, including never before collected data about disability, socioeconomics, and caregiver status. This report provides an overview of DITF activities from 2017 to 2020.     

What is the nature of the achievement gap,why does it persist and are government goals sufficient to create social justice in the education system?

The ‘achievement gap’ – the term typically used to refer to differences in pupil attainment associated with social class, ethnicity and gender – remains an enduring obstacle to government goals of creating a socially just society. This article explores the nature of the achievement gap and some of the mechanisms that serve to perpetuate disadvantage in education systems providing a context in which to consider the appropriateness of government policies aimed at addressing the gap. Accessing predominantly English research but also consulting studies conducted in other education systems including the US and elsewhere in the UK, we argue that in contrast to its noble rhetoric, government approaches to addressing the achievement gap are preoccupied with standardised assessment and accountability (such as the latest attempt at raising pupil standards in England, the introduction of Academies) while paying little more than lip service to the persistent, underlying roots of inequality.     

The effect of incentives and other instructor-driven strategies to increase online student evaluation response rates

Course evaluations (often termed student evaluations of teaching or SETs) are pervasive in higher education. As SETs increasingly shift from pencil-and-paper to online, concerns grow over the lower response rates that typically accompany online SETs. This study of online SET response rates examined data from 678 faculty respondents and student response rates from an entire semester. The analysis focused on those tactics that faculty employ to raise response rates for their courses, and explored instructor and course characteristics as contributing factors. A comprehensive regression model was evaluated to determine the most effective tactics and characteristics. Using incentives had the most impact on response rates. Other effective tactics that increase response rates include reminding students to take the evaluation, explaining how the evaluations would be used to improve instruction, sending personal emails and posting reminders on Blackboard^®. Incentives are not widely used; however, findings suggest that non-point incentives work as well as point-based ones, as do simple-to-administer minimum class-wide response rate expectations (compared to individual completion).