Disrupting neoliberal discourse in critical sustainability education: a qualitative analysis of intentional language framing

While education for sustainability is a critical task that is gaining ground in a plethora of educational contexts, it is frequently rendered ineffective in the face of neoliberal practice and discourse. Here we examine the pervasive impacts of neoliberalism on education for sustainability, looking specifically at discursive formations that shape our understandings of humans in and as nature. Throughout ecological texts, root metaphors carry forward specific cultural histories that serve neoliberal agendas by positioning nature as commodity and humans as consumers. We sought to systematically understand how manipulating a root metaphor in the creation of instructional texts might disrupt neoliberal discourse and foster critical sustainability. Using a thought-listing technique to explore student response patterns qualitatively allowed for insights into the power of discourse in educational contexts. Data support the notion that intentional framing may be a powerful tool in education for sustainability. We argue that language and discourse are necessary and effective grounds for change if sustainability is to take root.     

Positioning in groups: a new development in systemic consultation

This article describes a new approach, employing a combination of Positioning Theory and Semantic Polarities, that educational psychologists can use to develop and facilitate change in organisations and groups. Resistance to change can be seen as reflecting a lack of the language that the members of an organisation need to participate effectively in the new discourses that are associated with change. Positioning Theory can be used to develop this new language of participation, which can then be used by all in the organisation or group to agree how development can happen and what their contribution to this would be.     

Neural ranking models for document retrieval

Information Retrieval Journal - Ranking models are the main components of information retrieval systems. Several approaches to ranking are based on traditional machine learning algorithms using a...     

Attuning to In-the-Red Frequencies with/in Readers Workshop

In this article, we ‘think with’ the theoretical concepts of flow, rupture, layering, and sampling to affectively attune to ‘in-the-red frequencies’ flowing across/with-in a New York City primary classroom—that is, alternative sonic frequencies that trouble and refuse hegemonic literacy practices. These hip-hop concepts theorise affect in relation to Black intellectual frameworks for moving, feeling, and sounding. Such frameworks honour philosophical practices emerging from Black people's lived experiences—practices that, historically, have been perceptually coded out of legibility by white supremacist institutions. Ultimately, we argue that thinking with flow↔rupture↔layering↔sampling enables more equitable practices that push literacies ‘into the red,’ namely, by respecting multiple perspectives, histories, and truths; accounting for power, privilege, positioning, and complicity; and highlighting ‘otherwise’ social worlds not predicated on hegemonic whiteness, anti-blackness, and socio-political violence.     

去美丽的加州旅行吧!

正说起美国加州,优胜美地(Yosemite)、棕榈泉(Palm Springs)、迪士尼乐园(Disneyland)也许是人们较为熟知的名字。本期,旅居中国的Jeff Gerdes将带领我们感受一个美国人眼中的加州:除了在好莱坞大片中经常出现的金门大桥(Golden     

The McNair Program as a Socializing Influence on Doctoral Degree Attainment

The quality of doctoral students’ academic and social experiences is a key element of their success in graduate school programs. These experiences support the completion of doctoral programs, especially for first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds. Framed by Weidman's (1989) undergraduate socialization model, the author interviewed 18 former participants in Ronald McNair Programs (McNair Program),who completed their doctoral studies in order to determine how such programs can serve as a socializing agent to facilitate the successful completion of graduate study. Several themes emerge from the interviews conducted that distinguish McNair Programs from other interventions to promote integration or preparation, including the presence of academic and social integration. Such integration had a positive influence on the participants’ doctoral experience and contributed to the development of their competence, self-confidence, social and academic connectedness, and academic identity. Participants derived the greatest benefits from academic program components and academic counseling. Moreover, social components such as mentoring, cultural activities, and personal encounters in summer research internships also contributed to a positive doctoral experience.     

Investigation of toppling ball flight in American football with a mechanical field-goal kicker

A mechanical field-goal kicking machine was used to investigate toppling ball flight in American football place-kicking, eliminating a number of uncontrollable impact variables present with a human kicker. Ball flight trajectories were recorded using a triangulation-based projectile tracking system to account for the football’s 3-dimensional position during flight as well as initial launch conditions. The football flights were described using kinematic equations relating to projectile motion including stagnant air drag and were compared to measured trajectories as well as projectile motion equations that exclude stagnant air drag. Measured football flight range deviations from the non-drag equations of projectile motion corresponded to deficits between 9 and 31%, which is described by a football toppling compound drag coefficient of 0.007 ± 0.003 kg/m. Independent variables including impact location and impact angle orientation resulted in 15 impact conditions. We found that an impact location of 5.5 cm from the bottom of the ball maximized trajectory height and distance. At the 5.5-cm impact location, alterations in impact angle produced minimal change in football trajectory, including launch angle (range = 1.96 deg), launch speed (range = 1.06 m/s), and range (range = 0.94 m).     

The Effect of Mobile Support Devices on the Anxiety and Self‐Efficacy of Hospital Float Staff

Floating is the act of staff moving from one unit to another based on the needs of the patients in a hospital. Many staff who float to different units express negative feelings, including anxiety and lack of self‐efficacy. However, floating is an economical and efficient method to use staff across the hospital, especially with current staffing shortages in the United States. This study investigated how the use of mobile performance support devices may help reduce anxiety and increase self‐efficacy for staff who float to different units. With access to multiple resources available on mobile devices, Bandura's social learning theory and self‐efficacy concept set the framework through modeling, observing, and imitating others in order to reproduce certain behaviors and tasks and believe in one's capability to perform. A quantitative study incorporating the retrospective pretest‐posttest design was conducted using the population of float staff, both nurses and respiratory therapists, from Children's Medical Center of Dallas. Both the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and General Self‐Efficacy Scale, along with a basic demographic tool, were used to explore anxiety and self‐efficacy in relation to the use of mobile performance support devices. Findings can be used to alleviate the negative feelings of staff toward the idea of floating.