Rethinking science literacy: Enhancing communication and participation in school science through affirmational dialogue journal writing

For many students the study of science can be very disaffirming. This may lead to passivity in class and a lifelong disaffection with science, outcomes which defeat the long‐term purpose of trying to achieve scientific literacy for all students. This article represents a new way of framing scientific literacy with a “science for all” goal, based on a nexus of psychological, sociological, and critical literacy theory. A science education researcher and a science teacher collaborated in trialing the use of affirmational dialogue journal writing with early adolescents in a high school situated in a low socioeconomic status area. The intervention was found to be successful on a number of fronts. An approach which affirms students' experience can lead to a deeper approach to learning for adolescent science students. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 699–717, 1999     

Deviating glucose results in an international dual-center study. A root cause investigation

During a dual-center study on obese and normal weight children and adolescents, focusing on glucose metabolism, we observed a marked difference in glucose results (N = 16,840) between the two sites, Salzburg, Austria and Uppsala, Sweden (P < 0.001). After excluding differences in patient characteristics between the two populations as cause of this finding, we investigated other preanalytic influences. Finally, only the tubes used for blood collection at the two sites were left to evaluate. While the Vacuette FC-Mix tube (Greiner Bio-One, Kremsmünster, Austria) was used in Uppsala, in Salzburg blood collections were performed with a lithium heparin tube (LH-Monovette, Sarstedt, Germany). To prove our hypothesis, we collected two blood samples in either of these tubes from 51 children (Salzburg N = 27, Uppsala N = 24) and compared the measured glucose results. Indeed, we found the suspected bias and calculated a correction formula, which significantly diminished the differences of glucose results between the two sites (P = 0.023). Our finding is in line with those of other studies and although this issue should be widely known, we feel that it is widely neglected, especially when comparing glucose concentrations across Europe, using large databases without any information on preanalytic sample handling.     

Coaching Sales Performance: A Case Study

Century 21 International, like so many sales organizations, suffered lower productivity and higher attrition from new sales associates than they judged to be acceptable. The answer, Century 21 executives believed, was to develop a twenty-one module, multimedia training program. An external consultant urged them to study the situation prior to committing to any one solution. The results were clear. While new sales people certainly needed to have their field skills “buffed” after going through pre-licensing training and entering the office, that was not their most critical need. Far more important was an in-office support system, someone to tell them how to think through inevitable rejections, how to approach recurring challenges, how to maintain confidence even when sales do not occur, how to prospect portions of the community and how to integrate into the real estate community. The data revealed the need for a solution system comprised of training, incentives, performance support materials, the introduction of a new position, a coach, into each office, and a selection method for that coach. This article describes the front end study, the program, and some of its results in real estate offices across the United States.     

On reading: Some thoughts on the old and the new

Conclusion I have presented some of the problems on which the Orton Society has labored during the past three decades and some of the issues needing battle in the next three. Much has happened in the past 30 years. Many of the dreams of Orton and of the Society have been realized. But I do not think anyone will wish to rest for long, for the victories have brought new problems. And so, to borrow a few words from Dr. Samuel Torrey Orton: if we continue to be “sufficiently keen” and prove ourselves “clever enough,” it would seem that the labors of our next 30 years may be as fruitful, and even more so, than those of our first thirty.     

Waterworks: Activities for 1 through 6 year olds

We wrote these activities because water play provides both fun and valuable learning opportunities for young children. Water play can provide calming activities for any child. Water play activities can reinforce the principles of scientific experimentation and mathematical reasoning. They integrate cognitive, fine motor, and gross motor skills. We encourage all teachers and caregivers to provide water play opportunities for the young children in their care. Excerpted from Waterworks,by Jeanne C. James and Randy F. Granovetter. ©1987 Kaplan Press, 1320 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Lewisville, NC 27023.     

Knowledge and Skills of the Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator: Results of a Job Task Analysis

Content validity of certification examinations is demonstrated over time with comprehensive job analyses conducted and analyzed by experts, with data gathered from stakeholders. In November 2011, the Lamaze International Certification Council conducted a job analysis update of the 2002 job analysis survey. This article presents the background, methodology, and findings of the job analysis. Changes in the test blueprint based on these findings are presented.