Scientific Understanding and the Control of Nature

Modern science, for the most part, constrains the kind of theories that it entertains, and selects the kind of empirical data with which theories are related, to accord with materialist strategies. These strategies are adopted, I maintain, not because the objective of gaining understanding that manifests cognitive values highly always requires it, but because of an elective affinity (the elements of which I detail) between the materialist strategies and a certain outlook on the control of nature. A social value, thus, serves to ground the adoption of the materialist strategies. This, however, does not undermine the view that sound theory acceptance is based on impartial considerations, provided that the role of social values is kept properly distinct from that of cognitive values.     

The Sensitivity of Children and Adults as Tutors

In view of conflicting claims about children's sensitivity to the needs of other children in learning situations, the present study was designed to explore the sensitivity of child and adult tutors in one‐to‐one tutoring interactions. Sixteen adults and 31 11‐ and 9‐year‐olds tutored 47 9‐year‐old tutees on an animal classification task. Tutors were tested on their ability to apply the rules and knowledge they had obtained after training, and tutees were tested after being tutored. On all the verbal and nonverbal tutoring indices adult tutors showed greater sensitivity than child tutors: they were more likely to display behaviours which promoted efficient learning in their tutees. Results suggested that tutors operated on the basis of an implicit theory of teaching which involves three types of sensitivity: (1) sensitivity to the learner's need to have sufficient information for understanding the task, coupled with adequate checks on the learner's understanding; (2) sensitivity to the learner's need to participate actively in the learning process; and (3) sensitivity to differences in learning abilities among individual learners, and being able to accommodate to them.     

The use of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness to predict risk for reading disabilities in kindergarten children

This study examined the usefulness and predictive validity of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness in two samples of kindergarten children. In one sample (n = 90), the predictive validity of the dynamic assessment was compared to a static version of the same screening measure. In the second sample (n = 96), the dynamic screening measure was compared to a commonly used screening tool, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Initial Sound Fluency. Results showed that the dynamic screening measure uniquely predicted end-of-year reading achievement and outcomes in both samples. These results provide preliminary support for the usefulness of a dynamic screening measure of phonological awareness for kindergarten students.     

The author as star

The rise of the “star” author and the cult of celebrity overwhelms publishing in the same way that it has movies and professional sports. Television creates the star system, agents nurture it. Publishers must find ways of surviving it. The Internet provides a means for star authors to reach their public without the intermediation of their publisher, but it is not yet a medium in which stars are born. Address for correspondence     

Issues of validity in science attitude measurement

This article explores the work that Moore and Foy (1997) did in revising and field testing the Scientific Attitude Instrument (SAI). I begin by showing that the empirical work with the revised instrument, the SAI II, raises doubts about the instrument's validity, and I suggest that these doubts seem to coincide rather remarkably with ones raised in an extensive study of science attitude instruments published in the early 1980s. I then consider the field testing of the SAI II in light of alternative approaches to validating instruments, and I show that the revisions made to the SAI leave its validity in question. I end by considering how we might develop guidelines for validating the instruments we use in science education research. J Res Sci Teach 34: 337–341, 1997.     

Stable, biocompatible lipid vesicle generation by solvent extraction-based droplet microfluidics

In this paper, we present a microfluidic platform for the continuous generation of stable, monodisperse lipid vesicles 20–110 μm in diameter. Our approach utilizes a microfluidic flow-focusing droplet generation design to control the vesicle size by altering the system’s fluid flow rates to generate vesicles with narrow size distribution. Double emulsions are first produced in consecutive flow-focusing channel geometries and lipid membranes are then formed through a controlled solvent extraction process. Since no strong solvents are used in the process, our method allows for the safe encapsulation and manipulation of an assortment of biological entities, including cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. The vesicles generated by this method are stable and have a shelf life of at least 3 months. Here, we demonstrate the cell-free in vitro synthesis of proteins within lipid vesicles as an initial step towards the development of an artificial cell.