Girls and science: A review of four themes in the science education literature

Despite valuable syntheses of the field of gender and science education, there has not been a systematic, comprehensive review of the literature on gender and science education in recent years. We examine the literature pertaining to girls' engagement in science and develop four themes (equity and access, curriculum and pedagogy, the nature and culture of science, and identity) that we believe provide a coherent picture of the different kinds of approaches happening currently, while at the same time allowing for discussion of how ideas in the field have progressed and changed over time. We present new questions and approaches for further research that arise when applying insights from these themes to ongoing work in gender and science education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 971–1002, 2008     

Introducing veteran critical theory

Research on student veterans is in an infant state. As veterans continue to enroll in institutions of higher education, researchers must explore new ways of knowing student veterans. It is not enough to only describe and model this growing demographic, researchers must also have a tool for criticism and question. The next in an important tradition of emancipatory paradigms, this article suggests a critical theory built on current critical conversations but adapted for the unique characteristics of the student veteran. The article defines the need for a critical theory (Veteran Critical Theory), explains 11 tenets for this new theory, and discusses how these tenets could be used by administrators, faculty, student affairs professionals, and students in the higher education community.     

Evaluating academic development in the higher education sector: academic developers’ reflections on using a toolkit resource

The professionalisation of teaching is of increasing importance in UK higher education due to converging processes including the proliferation of managerialism, increasing quality agendas and changes to student fee structures. These have brought into sharp relief the need for greater understanding of how quality teaching evolves in university settings. One key element of this involves academic development and its impacts on teaching and learning. Current literature suggests that a plethora of ideas, frameworks and instruments claiming best practice exist but that take-up of these is inconsistent. This prompted a UK national research project which produced an evidence-based toolkit for evaluating academic development. As part of the toolkit augmentation, academic development representatives from across the sector were asked to create, review and test uniquely tailored evaluation instruments. These instruments were then piloted on university teachers who had participated in teaching-related continuing professional development activities. This paper reports on these individuals’ reflections of using the toolkit. It suggests that academic developers are interested in evaluating the impact of their work on teachers, students and on the wider institutional culture but that confidence and expertise varies. Using the toolkit generated ‘traditional’ evaluation data including satisfaction with the development activity and changes to lecturers’ conceptions and behaviours. However, it also prompted critical discussions around current evaluation practice. This included the need for transformational reform of institutional culture to support links between evaluation and good standing; and making explicit the thorny issue of evidencing student learning. This paper will be of interest to those with an interest or responsibility for evaluating teaching in higher education. The paper offers an important contribution to the international literature at a time when global higher education is faced with questions about teaching, learning and quality. Evaluation, and how to do it well, is timely and important business.     

Double jeopardy: poorer social-emotional outcomes for children in the NICHD SECCYD experiencing home and child-care environments that confer risk

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD SECCYD), the authors examined whether interactions between home and child-care quality affect children's social-emotional adjustment at 24, 36, and 54 months (N = 771). Triadic splits on quality of home and child care were used to examine children in specific ecological niches, with a focus on those who experience the double jeopardy of poor quality home and child-care environments. Children in this niche exhibited the highest levels of mother-reported problem behavior and the lowest levels of prosocial behavior. However, there was evidence that children from lower quality home environments were able to benefit from the compensatory influence of high-quality child care. These results suggest policies aimed at the cross-context influences of protective and risky settings.     

āwhina: a programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary science graduate and postgraduate success

In New Zealand, Māori (indigenous New Zealanders) and Pacific students tend not to attain the same levels of educational success as Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent). Addressing this problem is a particular challenge in the sciences. The kaupapa (values-base) of Te Rōpū Āwhina (Āwhina) is to produce Māori and Pacific professionals to contribute to Māori and Pacific development and leadership through the creation of an inclusive off- and on-campus whānau (extended family) environment where high expectations, aspirations and achievement, collective success, and reciprocity are normalised. This paper reviews theories and practices of recruitment and retention relevant to Māori and Pacific students at tertiary level, presents the rationale for Āwhina in the Faculties of Science and Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington, and assesses the impact of the whānau. Based on analyses of quantitative measures of student achievement, and biennial surveys of student responses from the first 6 years of Āwhina, it is suggested that the results are consistent with improving Māori and Pacific graduate and postgraduate achievement and retention. Potential implications for efforts to reduce disparities in tertiary education in New Zealand and elsewhere are summarised.     

Biopower,disciplinary power,and the production of the 'good Latino/a teacher'

This inquiry explores who is the ‘good teacher of color’. Through Michel Foucault's notion of biopower and disciplinary power, the analysis attempts to problematize the subject-position of ‘teacher of color’ by exploring how a Latino intern and a Latina intern negotiated their subjectivity in a large diverse school district. Participants' construction of subjectivity was found to be located within the nexus of the school district, the university, and the Latino counter-discourse through which biopower and disciplinary power operated.     

Nutrition guidelines for strength sports: sprinting, weightlifting, throwing events, and bodybuilding

Strength and power athletes are primarily interested in enhancing power relative to body weight and thus almost all undertake some form of resistance training. While athletes may periodically attempt to promote skeletal muscle hypertrophy, key nutritional issues are broader than those pertinent to hypertrophy and include an appreciation of the sports supplement industry, the strategic timing of nutrient intake to maximize fuelling and recovery objectives, plus achievement of pre-competition body mass requirements. Total energy and macronutrient intakes of strength-power athletes are generally high but intakes tend to be unremarkable when expressed relative to body mass. Greater insight into optimization of dietary intake to achieve nutrition-related goals would be achieved from assessment of nutrient distribution over the day, especially intake before, during, and after exercise. This information is not readily available on strength-power athletes and research is warranted. There is a general void of scientific investigation relating specifically to this unique group of athletes. Until this is resolved, sports nutrition recommendations for strength-power athletes should be directed at the individual athlete, focusing on their specific nutrition-related goals, with an emphasis on the nutritional support of training.     

Job Demands and Resources Experienced by the Early Childhood Education Workforce Serving High-Need Populations

Early Childhood Education Journal - The early childhood education (ECE) workforce plays a key role in promoting early childhood development by their interactions with young children during...