Deconstructing Cumulative Risk: Poverty and Aspects of Instability Relate Uniquely to Young Children’s Basal Cortisol

This study deconstructs cumulative risk to probe unique relations to basal cortisol for family income and four distinct aspects of poverty-related instability. Participants were 288 children aged 3–5 years who attended Head Start preschool. Parents reported on poverty risks. Children provided samples of salivary cortisol at four times of day on 6 days. Results of hierarchical linear modeling with piecewise latent growth curves representing basal cortisol indicated unique relations for family income, household chaos, neighborhood risk, attachment-disruptive residential changes, and non-attachment changes. The findings support an equifinality implied by cumulative risk models in demonstrating that multiple risks relate to cortisol dysregulation yet also suggest the utility of considering unique effects of different risks for neurophysiological stress response functioning.     

Factors that Promote High School Graduation: a Review of the Literature

A high school education prepares young people to participate positively in the economy and in civic life, among other positive life outcomes. However, nearly one in five American high school students does not graduate from high school on time, if ever. Progress has been made on understanding why students fail to complete high school and on raising graduation rates. Previous reviews and syntheses of this literature have focused on identifying factors that put students at risk for dropping out of school. Less is understood regarding what assets can promote high school graduation. Therefore, we reviewed research from the past 25 years on high school graduation, focusing on longitudinal, US-based studies of malleable factors that predict graduation. Through this systematic search, we identified 12 assets in individual, family, school, peer, and community contexts, which predict high school graduation, as well as identified assets for which more research is needed. Implications for policy and practice and directions for future research are discussed.     

Studies of information processing rates in science learning and related cognitive variables. II: A first approximation to estimating a relationship between science reasoning skills and information acquisition

Performance in science reasoning tasks is a significant objective in modem science instruction and increasing emphasis is being placed on the development of higher cognitive processes in science education. An empirical analysis of the relationship between science reasoning skills and the amount of information acquired during science learning as predicted by a neuromathematical model of information processing is presented. As the neuromathematical model includes a variable representing verbal ability, it is to be expected that a direct relationship exists between the amount of knowledge gained as predicted by the model and reasoning ability. The purpose of this research is to derive a formal quantitative statement for the relationship between knowledge acquisition predicted by the neuromathematical equation and scientific reasoning skills. A linear regression equation is obtained relating performance on a science reasoning task to the amount of information acquired as predicted by the neuromathematical model. This research provides a first approximation to providing a theoretical and empirical link between information processing and higher cognitive thought processes in science education.     

Expanding educational opportunities: Conceptualization and measurement

This paper re-examines data on inequality of opportunity for higher education in the light of the debate aroused in Sweden by the U68 report. Earlier data for four countries (U.S.A., Sweden, Spain and Germany) are used to portray diverse status profiles of students: neither level of national income nor level of university enrolment appreciably affects selectivity of attendance. Changes in rates of attendance for three status categories in Sweden from 1950 to 1970 are measured in three ways. Convergence between the status categories in rates of enrolment is demonstrated.     

“I have to be three steps ahead”: Academically Gifted African American Male Students in an Urban High School on the Tension between an Ethnic and Academic Identity

This case study investigation of three Academically Gifted African American male high school seniors in a predominantly African American urban high school examines the interplay between their ethnic and academic identity. Using an embedded micro-ethnographic approach, we explore the extent to which these students value educational attainment, the extent to which they connect with their ethnicity, and those “significant others” who inhibit or dissuade the development of their ethnic and/or academic identity. Consistent with the conclusions of more recent educational literature, findings indicate participants in this investigation value the purpose and intent of schooling and the mobility associated with it, express “Blackness” is an essential component of their academic achievement and overall self concept, and credit people within their immediate social network for opening their eyes to social injustices within the world at an early age. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Exploring the mathematical and interpretative strategies of Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism

James Clerk Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism forms one of the major scientific texts of the 19th century, describing the phenomena of electricity and magnetism and the interaction between them. The sources Maxwell acknowledged as the inspiration for his own approach were the Englishman Michael Faraday and his fellow Scotsman William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). In the Treatise Maxwell presents an approach he maintains was equivalent mathematically to the well established Continental electromagnetism but focused on an action via a medium approach to electromagnetism and located within a British experimental tradition. Exploring these features reveals the Treatise to be in accord with other deep themes in Maxwell's writings, which ground him intellectually and personally in the world of 19th century British Natural Philosophy.     

Intentional Online Discussions in Teacher Education

The goal of a creating civil discourse in teacher education deeply intersects with the ways that students interact in online discussions. However, as discussion shifts to online formats, digital misinformation is becoming widespread and threatens critical and civil communication as cognitive biases emerge in dialogue. The purpose of this case study research was to explore the participants' perceptions of growth and pitfalls while using the six essential elements of an online discussion typology developed as a pedagogical intervention to increase critical thinking and civility in discourse. The findings suggested that participants' responses in online discussions implied some cognitive biases and those participants engaged most often in discussions that were safe, comfortable, and familiar. Nevertheless, in their metacognitive reflections on the typology, participants demonstrated awareness of how these tendencies toward cognitive comfort shortchanged discussions and potential opportunities to develop new perspectives.     

Structured creative processes in learning playwriting: invoking imaginative pedagogies

The concept of the ‘creative’ in creative writing has a vexed history. This article explores the myths surrounding creativity and how they have influenced the way teachers have approached playwriting pedagogy. It reports on research into the teaching and learning experiences of students and teachers in secondary schools, focusing on the participants’ understanding of creativity and the impact this had on the pedagogical process. The research found that a counterproductive idealist view of creativity persists in classrooms: the teachers and students were operating on a conception of creativity and creative practice that reflected a belief in a mystical and unknowable creative process. This article explores the experiences of creativity through systems theory and argues that this approach can inform teaching and learning for creative processes and products. The article concludes that the teaching and learning practices were unnecessarily tentative and that knowledge of creativity theory would improve the students’ development of both playwriting proficiency as well as creativity-relevant skills. It suggests that demystifying the creative process should result in greater student proficiency and improved teaching and learning experiences for teachers and students.     

Organizational Capacity and Political Activities of Canadian University Faculty Associations

In this study we examine the organizational capacity and political activities of Canadian university faculty associations in the development of higher education policy. We attempt to describe, from the perspective of the faculty associations, their political role both internal and extenral to the university and the extent to which faculty associations perceive themselves as being able to influence issues of policy. We report the findings of a national survey of university faculty associations including data on organizational structure, finance, perceived influence on institutional and provincial government, policy, services and programs, and other factors related to their role as political pressure groups.