Faculty as Mentors in Undergraduate Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work: Motivating and Inhibiting Factors

In this study, we sought to contribute to research about the high-impact practice of undergraduate research from the understudied faculty perspective. We relied on focus group data from faculty members (N = 41) across five institutions to better understand the supporting and inhibiting factors that contribute to faculty members’ engagement in mentoring undergraduate research. We offer implications for research and practice.     

Towards a ‘critical cultural political economy’ account of the globalising of education

This paper outlines the basis of an alternative theoretical approach to the study of the globalisation of ‘education’ – a Critical, Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE) approach. Our purpose here is to bring this body of concepts – critical, cultural, political, economy – into our interrogation of globalising projects and processes within what we will refer to as the ‘education ensemble’ as the topic of enquiry, whose authoritative, allocative, ideational and feeling structures, properties and practices, emerge from and play into global economic, political and cultural processes In the first half of the paper we introduce and develop the concepts that will underpin our approach. In the second half of the paper we explore the explanatory potential and epistemic gain of a CCPEE approach by examining the different manifestations of the relationship between globalisation as a political, cultural and economic project and an education ensemble. We conclude by reflecting on the possibilities this perspective offers.     

Assessing the impact of learning environments on students' approaches to learning: comparing conventional and action learning designs

This study investigated whether students' approaches to learning were influenced by the design of university courses. Pre‐ and post‐evaluations of the approaches to learning of the same group of students concurrently enrolled in a conventional course (lectures and tutorials) and an action learning‐based course (project work, learning groups) were conducted. Students who reported themselves as more ‘typically deep’ in their approach to learning were consistent in their approaches across the different environments. However, students who reported themselves as more ‘typically surface’ were influenced to adopt deeper processing strategies in the action learning design. Students explained this ‘deep shift’ in terms of the greater expectations of learner activity and responsibility in the action learning design.     

Science and its 'Other': Looking underneath 'woman' and 'science' for new directions in research on gender and science education

In this article, the author argues that, despite recent increases in the participation and achievement of girls in school science programmes, the problem of gender and science education has not been solved, but is simply re-emerging at other sites. The author argues that much of the published research on gender and science education reproduces, rather than solves, the problem, through the way in which it assumes, rather than examines, the two central terms of the problem. The author argues that, if the problem of gender and science education is produced via certain of the assumptions which underlie its two central terms - that is, 'gender' and 'science' - then its solution must involve the deconstruction of those terms. Part of the article begins this deconstruction. This is followed by an account of how this material might be used to design school science programmes which are capable of allowing young women to participate in science as women, rather than as 'substitute' men.     

Students' experiences of learning in a research environment

Research into the research–teaching ‘nexus’ has undergone significant changes in focus and methodology. From an initial quantitative concern with correlating measurements of research productivity and teaching effectiveness, the empirical emphasis has shifted in favour of exploring the experiences of participants (academics and students). This paper reports the findings of interviews carried out in a New Zealand university with 34 students studying across a range of levels in physics, geography and English. In particular, it focuses on students’ understandings of the purpose of a university education and on students’ experiences of research—how ‘visible’ it is for them, where it is located and who engages in it. Analysis reveals that students’ relationship with research varies across the disciplines in both a spatial and temporal dimension according to the ways in which knowledge is conceived of and explored. Accordingly, some students have an early sense of proximity to and/or participation in a research community, while for others, research remains, through their undergraduate years, a remote phenomenon.     

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children''s Sex-typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

Our goal was to explore how children's understanding of gender as a social category relates to their acquisition of sex-typed knowledge and preferences. Children's gender concepts, sex-typed preferences, and stereotyped knowledge were measured in 61 boys and girls (3-5 years). Gender concept measures included ability to identify and to discriminate the sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender, and gender consistency over situational changes. Children improved with age on most of the measures except gender consistency. With the exception of consistency, measures of gender concept understanding were found to be related to children's stereotyped toy and clothing knowledge and/or to their sex-typed toy preferences (with age controlled). It was shown that only rudimentary gender understanding is needed prior to children learning about sex stereotypes and prior to showing strong sex-typed preferences for peers or toys. The roles of gender identity, stability, consistency, and group membership in the sex-typing process are discussed.     

Decreasing Child Defiance: Is Inquiry Indispensable?

Teachers report that teaching young children who exhibit defiant and challenging behavior is the most difficult component of their work. This article explores four decades of textbook and research literature recommendations and 4 years of teacher reflections. Common themes of control, power, and anger were identified. A significant finding was that systematic teacher inquiry fostered teacher development of ability to decrease child defiance while fostering children’s emotional self-regulation.