‘Science disproves the biblical account of creation’: exploring the predictors of perceived conflict between science and religion among 13- to 15-year-old students in the UK

This study drew on data provided by 11,809 13- to 15-year-old students drawn from the four nations of the UK to explore the level of agreement with the view that science disproves the biblical account odf creation, and to explore the power of five sets of variables to predict individual differences in responses to that opinion. The five sets of variables were personal factors, psychological factors, religious factors, attitudinal factors (including ‘scientific fundamentalism’, understood as an exaggerated, uncritical, and unqualified belief in the inerrancy of science), and theological factors (distinguishing between differing implied theologies of religion). Blockwise multiple regression demonstrated that personal, psychological, religious, and theological factors all held significant power, but that the greatest variance was explained by the attitudinal variables. When the five sets of variables were assessed within the model, 25% of the variance was accounted for. Greater incompatibility between science and religion was associated with scientific fundamentalism (β = .37, p < .001), with anti-religious attitude (β = .16, p < .001), and with atheism (β = .07, p < .001). These findings suggest that young people who believe in science in an unqualified way are more distrustful of religion.     

Procuring a sustainable future: an action learning approach to the development and modelling of ethical and sustainable procurement practices

This paper contributes to an understanding of the processes by which organisational actors learn how to affect positive and sustainable social change in their local region through action learning, action research and appreciative inquiry. The paper is based on a critically reflective account of key findings from an ongoing action research project, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The project is an attempt to alleviate poverty in the Leeds City Region through the identification and spread of ‘good practice’ in large local organisations. The paper is based on insights into the tensions involved in accomplishing such modes of action research and action learning in this particular context, and how these findings can relate to similar research in other domains of inquiry, action and cross-organisational learning. Through this, the paper discusses the inherent challenges faced when attempting to use action research and action learning approaches to help large organisations to learn and develop as ethical and sustainable agents.     

Behaviour State Analysis in Rett Syndrome: Continuous data reliability measurement

Awareness of optimal behaviour states of children with profound intellectual disability has been reported in the literature as a potentially useful tool for planning intervention within this population. Some arguments have been raised, however, which question the reliability and validity of previously published work on behaviour state analysis. This article sheds light on the debate by presenting two stages of a study of behaviour state analysis for eight girls with Rett syndrome. The results support Mudford, Hogg, and Roberts' (1997 Mudford, OC, Hogg, J and Roberts, J. 1997. Interobserver agreement and disagreement in continuous recording exemplified by measurement of behavior state, American Journal on Mental Retardation, 102: 54–66.  [Google Scholar], 1999 Mudford, OC, Hogg, J and Roberts, J. 1999. Behavior states: Now you see them, now you don't, American Journal of Mental Retardation, 104: 385–391.  [Google Scholar]) concerns with the pooling of participant data. The results of Stage 2 also suggest, however, that most categories of behaviour state can be reliably distinguished once definitions of behaviours for each state are clearly defined.     

The assertive-aggressive distinction and the cross-cultural perspective

Are assertive and aggressive behaviors distinguishable from each other across different cultures? A limited amount of research, reviewed here, indicates that they are. It seems that, across cultures, assertive and aggresive behaviors are identifiable as different constructs and that they vary independently from each other. Other variables that mediate differences on assertiveness between cultures such as individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity are considered. Finally, recommendations regarding research methodology for the study of assertive behaviors across cultures are presented.     

The Narrative Approach in Art Education: A Case Study

This case study takes as its focus the work of the Fine Art graduate Dumile Johannes Ndita, who visually narrates his experience of life in contemporary South Africa. The artist graduated from Border Technikon, East London, an institution which teaches the narrative approach. It is the aim of the authors to illustrate how this method enables students to transfer lived experience into image. The three voices in this paper come from different backgrounds. The artist will explain the meaning of his drawings, the teacher will give background information on the community and culture in which he himself and the artist operate and outline teaching methods. Students taught by this method create work that has impact and meaning beyond the confines of the art school. To argue this point, the theoretician will add her voice and reflect on meta‐narratives presented in Dumile Johannes Ndita's drawings. Intricate inter‐textual patterns, shared and interconnecting institutional narratives tie our individual voices to those of the wider community and culture of present‐day South Africa and beyond.     

The Role of Content Knowledge in Ill-Structured Problem Solving for High School Physics Students

While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study explored the relationship between physics content knowledge and ill-structured problem solving for two groups of high school students with different levels of content knowledge. Both groups of students completed an ill-structured problem set, using a talk-aloud procedure to narrate their thought process as they worked. Analysis of the data focused on identifying students’ solution pathways, as well as the obstacles that prevented them from reaching “reasonable” solutions. Students with more content knowledge were more successful reaching reasonable solutions for each of the problems, experiencing fewer obstacles. These students also employed a greater variety of solution pathways than those with less content knowledge. Results suggest that a student’s solution pathway choice may depend on how she perceives the problem.     

Tangles and Glimmers: How African Immigrant Students in an Urban Charter School Describe Congruencies and Disconnections in Caring Between Home and School

The Urban Review - Misalignments in caring between home and school can often be a source of alienation for minoritized students. This study explores how African immigrant middle school students at...