“My Heart Beats in Two Places”: Immigration Stories in Korean-American Picture Books

This article examines the impact of immigration on Korean children through a content and literary analysis of 14 children’s picture books. A majority of published children’s literature dealing with the subject of Korean Americans or Korean immigration contains culturally specific themes common to the Korean immigration experience. These include English acquisition difficulties, assimilation through name selection, language mediation, family separation and abandonment, and positive experiences post-immigration. While unassumingly couched in children’s fiction, these issues reflect real-life experiences and are analyzed here through a social and cultural context. I provide suggestions for applying the article’s findings in classrooms, schools, and districts in order to ease acculturation and transition procedures for Korean families. The article may appeal to readers interested in immigration issues, the interplay between home and school environments, language barriers for second language learners, and social studies issues found in children’s fiction.     

Metamotivational state and dominance: Links with EMG gradients during isokinetic leg extension and a test of the misfit effect

Although electromyographic (EMG) gradients have been observed in passive musculature during perceptual motor tasks, it is unclear whether this is related to metamotivational state or dominance. In addition, a misfit effect has been suggested whereby individuals report negative psychological responses when metamotivational state and dominance do not match. Research examining these phenomena within an exercise context is limited; therefore, this study used a reversal theory (Apter, 2001) framework to examine two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that an EMG gradient would be observed when individuals performed isokinetic leg extensions in a telic metamotivational state, regardless of telic or paratelic metamotivational dominance. Second, it was hypothesizsed that telic-dominant individuals and paratelic-dominant individuals would perform better on this task when in the telic and paratelic state, respectively. Altogether, 14 telic-dominant and 12 paratelic-dominant individuals performed 100 self-paced isokinetic leg extensions at a rate of 90°?·?s(-1) in both telic and paratelic state manipulated conditions. Regardless of state, an EMG gradient was observed in telic-dominant individuals but not in paratelic-dominant individuals. Paratelic-dominant individuals performed better in the paratelic than the telic state condition, whereas in the telic state condition, telic-dominant individuals performed better than paratelic-dominant individuals. Findings add to the debate concerning the role of telic metamotivational state and dominance in the production of EMG gradients. Performance data support the misfit effect that outcomes are more positive when metamotivational state and dominance are congruent. Suggestions for research developments in this area are offered, as are tentative implications for applied practice.     

The neo-liberal education policies of epimeleia heautou: caring for the self in school markets

The paper argues that neo-liberal education policy has capitalized on a historical concern to care for the self, or the Greek epimeleia heautou. We discuss epimeleia heautou in relation to education policies that emphasize greater choice in curriculum offerings, and in relation to school choice policies more generally. Thus, a premise of our argument is that school choice policies accommodate a much greater range of selves to be cared for. The analysis examines the neo-liberal subject, homo ?conomicus, in relation to education policy that produces choices of the self and choices for its care. We conclude by discussing conceptions of the self in relation to two aporias of neo-liberal educational equality produced through ethnic-specific schools.     

Using Online Surveys to Promote and Assess Learning

This article explores the use of online survey software to collect data from students during class to efficiently use class time. Several example activities for an introductory statistics classroom are considered. We also discuss utilization of online survey software for other purposes such as collecting assessment information and student preferences related to statistics projects.     

A Structural Analysis of the Language of School‐age Children

Westminster College is currently undertaking a research project into the language development of children of school age in conjunction with the Department of Linguistic Science, University of Reading. The collaboration represents an attempt to apply Linguistic Science to the work of classroom teachers within the mother‐tongue. The following papers indicate the nature of the project and its possible uses to the teaching profession and students of language acquisition.     

Engagement and Skill Development in Biology Students through Analysis of Art

An activity involving analysis of art in biology courses was designed with the goals of piquing undergraduates’ curiosity, broadening the ways in which college students meaningfully engage with course content and concepts, and developing aspects of students’ higher-level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To meet these learning outcomes, the activity had three key components: preparatory readings, firsthand visual analysis of art during a visit to an art museum, and communication of the analysis. Following a presentation on the methodology of visual analysis, students worked in small groups to examine through the disciplinary lens of biology a selection of approximately 12 original artworks related in some manner to love. The groups then developed and presented for class members a mini-exhibition of several pieces addressing one of two questions: 1) whether portrayals of love in art align with the growing understanding of the biology of love or 2) whether the bodily experience of love is universal or, alternatively, is culturally influenced, as is the experience of depression. Evaluation of quantitative and qualitative assessment data revealed that the assignment engaged students, supported development of higher-level thinking skills, and prompted meaningful engagement with course material.     

'Fellow travellers' and 'true believers': A case study of religion and politics in Alberta schools

The topic of religion within public schools has generated interest in several countries in recent years. In Canada, the United States, and England, educational policies favouring greater parental choice in education through grantmaintained schools, Charter schools and voucher plans have renewed parental interest in this area. Alternatively, one might argue that the lobbying by religious parents and others for choice has influenced educational policy. The dynamics of change are not always clear. This paper explores these dynamics through a two-part longitudinal case study in Alberta, Canada. My examination of events over a period of almost twenty years reveals both the micro-politics around religious programming in public schools and the macro-level changes in the policy context between the late 1970s and mid-1990s. This micro-macro approach provides a sense of the impact of local histories on education policies as well as parallels between sites.     

The long term educational needs of a high-technology society

This paper provides a synthesis of information from extant research and policy documentation on information technology (IT) workforce issues in the US and abroad. In particular, it addresses some of the issues that concerned the USA's 21st Century Workforce Commission, which was established to look at the IT labour market. It defines the IT market fairly broadly and is concerned with the overall IT workforce. The paper covers both supply and demand issues and looks to address a variety of questions concerning the longer-term nature of IT employment and any potential labour market imperfections that may arise through inappropriate educational strategies. It looks at the skills needed to obtain IT jobs, ways to increase the supply of IT workers, and describes and assesses a number of foreign programmes for training individuals for IT employment.     

The logic of equity practice in Queensland state education—2010

This paper reports on an interview‐based study which explored the implementation of a major policy initiative in Queensland, Australia, with particular attention to social justice issues. Interviews were conducted with key policy actors in three sections of the bureaucracy: strategic directions, performance and measurement; curriculum and assessment; workforce and professional development. We were interested in the ways in which the tensions between redistributive and recognitive approaches to social justice were being managed in the bureaucracy. We drew on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, logic of practice, political discourse, habitus, capital, and symbolic power struggles to theorize the politics of discourse associated with such policy implementation processes within bureaucracies. The interview data revealed differences in approach to equity issues and in the language used in the three sections of the bureaucracy. We argue that these differences, associated with the different priorities of the three sections and their differing roles in the implementation processes, reflect the different logics of practice operating within the different sections. The final section of the paper discusses the implications of the analysis for theorizing equity and difference in education policy in new times and considers the value of Bourdieu’s concepts for theorizing policy implementation processes.