The (co-)production of public uncertainty: UK scientific advice on mobile phone health risks

UK scientific advice on the possible health risks of mobile phones has embraced (or seems to be embracing) broader engagement with interested non-experts. This paper explains the context of lost credibility that made such a development necessary, and the implications of greater engagement for the construction (and expert control) of "public concern." I narrate how scientific advice matured from an approach based on compliance with guidelines to a style of "public science" in which issues such as trust and democracy were intertwined with scientific risk assessment. This paper develops existing conceptions of the "public understanding of science" with an explanation based around the co-production of scientific and social order. Using a narrative drawn from a series of in-depth interviews with scientists and policymakers, I explain how expert reformulation of the state of scientific uncertainty within a public controversy reveals constructions of "The Public," and the desired extent of their engagement. Constructions of the public changed at the same time as a construction of uncertainty as solely an expert concern was molded into a state of politically workable public uncertainty. This paper demonstrates how publics can be constructed as instruments of credible policymaking, and suggests the potential for public alienation if nonexperts feel they have not been fairly represented.     

Advocacy for gender minority students: recommendations for school counsellors

Abstract

Research shows that teachers’ and educators’ responses to gender diversity issues in schools either improves or limits the experiences of students. The school counsellor has an important role to play in this process by working closely with other stakeholders to advocate for transgender, intersex and genderqueer (TIG) students. Following a review of recent developments in the USA, recommendations are made and resources identified to assist school counsellors in validating TIG students, and improving school systems in pursuit of their academic, social and emotional success.     

Self-control in the monkeymacaca fascicularis

Two experiments tested two cynomolgus monkeys’ self-control—choice of a longer, more delayed reinforcer over a shorter, less delayed reinforcer. In Experiment 1, subjects exhibited significant selfcontrol in a procedure in which reinforcer amounts and delays were held constant throughout a condition. In Experiment 2, subjects exhibited significantly greater sensitivity to variation in reinforcer amount than to variation in reinforcer delay in a procedure in which the reinforcer delay associated with the self-control alternative was adjusted until each macaque was indifferent between the two alternatives. Both experiments indicated that, in laboratory paradigms in which humans show self-control and pigeons and rats show impulsiveness, macaques show self-control. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that species differences in self-control are a function of language ability or of specific types of prior training. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that species differences in self-control are related to the ratio of brain size to body weight (a possible indicator of general cognitive ability) or to shared phylogeny.     

Does the WISC-R measure verbal intelligence for nonenglish-speaking children?

Zarske, Moore, and Petersen's (1981) article that examined the factor structure of the WISC-R for “diagnosed learning disabled” children was critiqued. These authors concluded that the WISC-R “is an appropriate measure of general intellectual abilities” (p.407), but the present author suggests that this conclusion does not follow from their factor analytic data. The makeup of the sample also is questioned, and implications of their findings for the practitioner are discussed.     

Assessment of mentally retarded children with the Matrix Analogies Test-Short Form,Draw A Person: A quantitative scoring system,and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement

This study examined the utility of the MAT-SF and the DAP: A Quantitative Scoring System as screening instruments for mental retardation. In this study, 46 normals and 39 developmentally handicapped (DH) 4th- and 5th-grade students were group administered both screening tests and individually administered an achievement test, the KTEA. The results found the MAT-SF to correlate significantly with all areas of achievement for both groups, whereas the DAP did not correlate significantly with any areas of achievement for the normal group but correlated significantly with math, but not reading, for the developmentally handicapped students. The results support the use of the MAT-SF as a screening instrument for mental retardation, whereas the usefulness of the DAP is not as clear.     

Suggestions for the delivery of psychological services in secondary schools

The present paper describes the past, current, and suggested future practices in the delivery of school psychological services at the high school level. Because high schools differ from elementary and middle schools (i.e., organizational structure, student characteristics and needs, etc.), school psychologists need to use different approaches in the delivery of services at the secondary level. It is proposed that school psychologists must become integrated into the total social system of the high school to be most effective. Methods for accomplishing this objective, including collaboration with other school personnel and utilization of community resources, are discussed.     

Financing at the leading 100 research universities: A study of financial dependency,concentration, and related institutional characteristics

This paper presents results of a National Science Foundation sponsored study to examine the financing of the leading 100 research universities. The study examines the changing dependence of these institutions on the federal government for overall financial support, the shifts in the concentration of federal funding to and within higher education, and the various programmatic and resource characteristics of these leading research institutions. The study covers five fiscal periods, 1975 through 1979.Presented at the Twenty First Annual Forum of The Association for Institutional Research, Minneapolis, May 1981.     

EDUCATING COMMUNAL AGENTS: BUILDING ON THE PERSPECTIVISM OF G.H. MEAD

A bstract .  In their search for more communal forms of agency that might guide education, contemporary educational psychologists have mostly neglected the theorizing of George Herbert Mead. In this essay, Jack Martin aims to remedy such oversight by interpreting Mead's social-psychological and educational theorizing of selfhood and agency through the lenses of the perspectival realism Mead developed in the last decade of his life. This interpretation understands education as concerned with the cultivation and coordination of cultural, societal, interpersonal, and personal perspectives. Within this framework, communal agency is understood as a self-interpreting, self-determining capability of persons. This agentive capability derives from immersion and participation with others within sociocultural practices and perspectives, but also includes reactivity to those same practices and perspectives. The education of communal agents as envisioned here emphasizes the social nature of education, students' experience and development, and the critical role of the teacher as a mediator between student development and social process. Such an education is grounded in the immediate experiences and perspectives of learners, but increasingly assists learners to move beyond their own experiences through engaged interaction with others and with resources for acquiring broader, more organized perspectives on themselves, others, and the world.