Has the Bayh-Dole act compromised basic research?

We examine three hypotheses regarding the effects of the Bayh-Dole Act on research effort of faculty. The first hypothesis we call the status quo hypothesis and it asserts that there has been no effect on research profiles. The second hypothesis, which we call the negative hypothesis, asserts that faculty have been diverted from their traditional role in basic research toward research with more commercial potential. Our final hypothesis is derived from prior theoretical work that suggests that both basic and applied research is greater when faculty can benefit from commercialization of their research effort; we refer to this as the positive hypothesis. The data we examine are the research and invention disclosure of faculty at 8 US universities over the period 1983–1999. Using a citation based measure of basic research publications we relate basic research effort to invention disclosures. Our findings are clear in that they do not show any support for the negative hypothesis and they show substantially greater support for the positive hypothesis than for the status quo hypothesis.     

What Paves the Way to Conventional Language? The Predictive Value of Babble,Pointing, and Socioeconomic Status

A child's first words mark the emergence of a uniquely human ability. Theories of the developmental steps that pave the way for word production have proposed that either vocal or gestural precursors are key. These accounts were tested by assessing the developmental synchrony in the onset of babbling, pointing, and word production for 46 infants observed monthly between the ages of 9 and 18 months. Babbling and pointing did not develop in tight synchrony and babble onset alone predicted first words. Pointing and maternal education emerged as predictors of lexical knowledge only in relation to a measure taken at 18 months. This suggests a far more important role for early phonological development in the creation of the lexicon than previously thought.     

Representational Tools in Computer-Supported Collaborative Argumentation-Based Learning: How Dyads Work With Constructed and Inspected Argumentative Diagrams

This article investigates the conditions under which diagrammatic representations support collaborative argumentation-based learning in a computer environment. Thirty dyads of 15- to 18-year-old students participated in a writing task consisting of 3 phases. Students prepared by constructing a representation (text or diagram) individually. Then they discussed the topic and wrote a text in dyads. They consolidated their knowledge by revising their individual representation. There were 3 conditions: Students could use either (a) the individual texts they wrote, (b) the individual diagrams they constructed, or (c) a diagram that was constructed for them based on the text they wrote. Results showed that students who constructed a diagram themselves explored the topic more than students in the other conditions. We also found differences in the way collaborating dyads used their representations. Dyads who engaged in deep discussion used their representations as a basis for knowledge construction. In contrast, dyads who engaged in only shallow discussion used their representations solely to copy information to their collaborative text. We conclude that diagrammatic representations can improve collaborative learning, but only when they are used in a co-constructive way.     

Jail Pedagogy: Liberatory Education Inside A California Juvenile Detention Facility

Approximately 2 million juveniles are arrested each year. Half are sentenced to serve terms of incarceration. Although many scholars have written about teaching in detention facilities, few directly address how prisoners are being taught. This research explores the experiences, teaching philosophy, and practices of correctional educators. To learn what is taking place within these classrooms, I interviewed and observed instructors in 3 male juvenile detention facilities in California over the course of 15 months. Semistructured qualitative interviews looked in depth at their teaching techniques, finding that these teachers adopted a humanistic and liberatory approach to teaching behind the walls of juvenile detention facilities.     

The World of Music

Musical Instruments of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (New York: Bantam Books, 1978—$9.95, paper)

Warren Craig's Sweet and Lowdown: America's Popular Song Writers (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978—$25.00)

Norm N. Nite's Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock 'n Roll– The Modern Years, 1964-Present (New York: Crowell, 1978—$14.95)

Jerry Osborne and Bruce Hamilton's Popular and Rock Records 1948-1978 (Phoenix, Arix.: O'Sullivan Woodside & Co., 1978—$7.95, paper)

Kenny Rogers and Len Epand's Making it with Music: Kenny Rogers' Guide to the Music Business (New York: Harper & Row, 1978—$12.95)

Anthony Fawcett's California Rock/California Sound: The Music of Los Angeles and Southern California (Los Angeles: Reed Books, 1978—$19.95/9.95)

Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums (New York: Quick Fox, 1978—$4.95, paper)

Alan Kinzler's Bob Dylan: The Illustrated Record (New York: Harmony Books/Crown, 1978—$15.00/8.95)

John Blair's The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music 1959-1965 (J. Bee Productions, P.O. Box 1584, Riverside, Calif. 92502—$4.00, paper)

Alan Lomax's Folk Song Style and Culture (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books (Rutgers), 1978—$6.95, paper)

Nat Hentoff's The Jazz Life (New York: DaCapo, 1978—$5.95, paper)

George Hoefer, Music on My Mind: The Memoirs of an American Pianist (New York: DaCapo, 1978—$6.95, paper)

Valerie Wilmer's As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (London: Allison & Busby, 1977—E6.50 or about $13.00)     

Conducting Evaluation and Research with and for 'Disaffected' Students: Practical and Methodological Issues

In the late 1990s, the Department for Education and Employment in England set out to motivate and engage teenage students who were said to be 'disaffected' with the traditional school curriculum. Jerry Wellington, Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, and Pam Cole, research fellow in the University of Sheffield School of Education, were asked to evaluate one of the 21 projects that were set up across the country. The pupils involved were partially disapplied from the National Curriculum in order to follow a work-related scheme set up by two schools, a Chamber of Commerce and a local Learning and Skills Council.
In this article, Jerry Wellington and Pam Cole explore some of the difficulties that accompany evaluation, and particularly a review of the impact of interventions involving so-called 'disaffected' pupils. They describe some of the practical and methodological difficulties faced in such an evaluation, as well as highlighting the positive aspects of the task. They reflect on a range of unforeseen and unpredictable dilemmas that faced them in this work, and note some of the interesting significant strengths that developed from the project. At the end of their article, Jerry Wellington and Pam Cole summarise what they have learned from the evolving methodology of this evaluation and present a case for increased levels of collaboration, between practitioners and researchers and between professionals and pupils, in future projects of this kind.