What good is a scientist in the classroom? Participant outcomes and program design features for a short-duration science outreach intervention in K-12 classrooms

Many short-duration science outreach interventions have important societal goals of raising science literacy and increasing the size and diversity of the science workforce. Yet, these long-term outcomes are inherently challenging to evaluate. We present findings from a qualitative research study of an inquiry-based, life science outreach program to K-12 classrooms that is typical in design and excellent in execution. By considering this program as a best case of a common outreach model, the "scientist in the classroom," the study examines what benefits may be realized for each participant group and how they are achieved. We find that K-12 students are engaged in authentic, hands-on activities that generate interest in science and new views of science and scientists. Teachers learn new science content and new ways to teach it, and value collegial support of their professional work. Graduate student scientists, who are the program presenters, gain teaching and other skills, greater understanding of education and diversity issues, confidence and intrinsic satisfaction, and career benefits. A few negative outcomes also are described. Program elements that lead to these benefits are identified both from the research findings and from insights of the program developer on program design and implementation choices.     

Resilience to adult psychopathology following childhood maltreatment: evidence from a community sample

OBJECTIVE: Child abuse is an important risk for adult psychiatric morbidity. However, not all maltreated children experience mental health problems as adults. The aims of the present study were to address the extent of resilience to adult psychopathology in a representative community sample, and to explore predictors of a good prognosis. METHODS: Data are drawn from a follow-up of the Isle of Wight study, an epidemiological sample assessed in adolescence and at midlife. Ratings of psychiatric disorder, peer relationships and family functioning were made in adolescence; adult assessments included a lifetime psychiatric history, personality and social functioning assessments, and retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse. RESULTS: Ten percent of individuals reported repeated or severe physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Prospective measures revealed increased rates of adolescent psychiatric disorders in this group. Rates of adult psychopathology were also high. A substantial minority of abused individuals reported no mental health problems in adult life. Resilience of this kind was related to perceived parental care, adolescent peer relationships, the quality of adult love relationships, and personality style. CONCLUSION: Good quality relationships across childhood, adolescence and adulthood appear especially important for adult psychological well being in the context of childhood abuse.     

Interventions supporting baccalaureate achievement of Latinx STEM students matriculating at 2-year institutions: A systematic review

Numerous national reports have identified the importance of significantly improving pathways that begin with Latinx students enrolling in 2-year institutions and ultimately completing baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields at 4-year institutions. Many programs using multiple interventions have been designed, implemented, and studied to achieve this goal. To synthesize what has been learned from studies of these programs, this article presents a systematic review of published studies of programs designed to support Latinx student success in 2-year institutions and successful transfer to 4-year institutions, particularly for STEM majors. A total of 49 quantitative, 9 qualitative, and 16 mixed-methods studies published as reports, articles, or dissertations since 1980 were identified that met the criteria for the review. Studies covered a wide range of interventions, including mentoring, counseling, advising, study groups, tutoring, scholarships, orientations, career services, undergraduate research, articulation agreements, and transfer programs. Individually, these studies report positive influences on student success outcomes, including 2- and 4-year graduation, transfer to a 4-year institution, retention, and success in individual courses. However, the number of qualifying studies was surprisingly small, considering the importance of improving success of Latinx students and the length of time during which the problem has been repeatedly emphasized. Few interventions have been undertaken from explicitly assets-based perspectives or theoretical frameworks. The lack of explicit frameworks underlying interventions—combined with a sole/primary focus on students—suggests many interventions were approached from a deficit-based perspective. Further, the study found no pattern of replication studies that might confirm effectiveness of potentially promising interventions. Based on our analysis of evaluations presented in the studies, it does not appear that the research community has developed agreed-upon methods to evaluate commonly agreed-upon outcomes. Finally, no intervention has been sufficiently supported that widespread implementation could be recommended.     

The effects of labeling bias on prognostic outlook for children as a function of diagnostic label and profession

Labeling bias refers to expectations that others might have for a person given a particular label. This study investigated the effects of labeling bias on prognostic outlook for children as a function of diagnostic labels and professional group membership. School psychologists, regular and special education teachers, and introductory psychology students read a vignette that described an elementary-school-aged boy with behavior problems. The vignette was held constant for all participants, but one of four labels (conduct disordered, socially maladjusted, serious emotionally disturbed, no exceptionality) was varied at the end of the vignette. Respondents then estimated the child's likelihood of future success in interpersonal relationships, the likelihood of further behavioral difficulties, and overall adjustment of the child. There was a significant effect noted for diagnostic label across all professionals on the interpersonal relations variable; the serious emotionally disturbed label resulted in judgments of significantly poorer outlook than any other diagnostic label except socially maladjusted. There were no other significant labeling bias effects for the other dependent measures, but a main effect for diagnostic label on judgment of overall adjustment did approach significance. There were no significant effects noted for professional group membership. Professionals should consider the use of a label other than SED to minimize labeling bias effects on judgment of interpersonal adjustment in children with behavioral difficulties. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A season-long team-building intervention: examining the effect of team goal setting on cohesion

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the implementation of a season-long team-building intervention program using team goal setting increased perceptions of cohesion. The participants were 86 female high school basketball players from 8 teams. The teams were randomly assigned to either an experimental team goal-setting or control condition. Each participant completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron, Brawley, & Widmeyer, 2002; Carron, Widmeyer, & Brawley, 1985), which assessed cohesion at both the beginning and end of the season. Overall, the results revealed a significant multivariate effect, Pillai's trace F(12, 438) = 2.68, p = .002. Post hoc analyses showed that at the beginning of the season, athletes from both conditions did not differ in their perceptions of cohesion. However, at the end of the season, athletes in the team goal-setting condition held higher perceptions of cohesion than athletes in the control condition. Overall, the results indicated that team goal setting was an effective team-building tool for influencing cohesiveness in sport teams.     

Animals,Governance and Ecology: Managing the Menace of Venomous Snakes in Colonial India

During the nineteenth century, the British Raj launched a campaign to reduce the number of people killed annually by venomous snakes on the Indian subcontinent. Unlike its successful effort to cull large mammals, the colonial government was forced to abolish its bounty scheme in 1890 and instead seek to use sanitation to reduce interactions between humans and snakes. This article will assess this transition in policy as a means to understand how attitudes towards the governance of animals were shaped by cultural and ecological factors. It will be shown that during its inception, discourses of scientific governance statistically augmented perceptions of the threat posed by snakes, presenting them as a direct yet manageable danger within an anthropocentric cultural model. However, financial and practical limitations forced the government to recognise that the behaviour, seasonal patterns and territorial movements of snakes influenced the rate of mortality, and thus adjust its policy to acknowledge the experience of cohabitation in India’s diverse ecological contexts.     

New media environments’ comparative effects upon intercultural sensitivity: A five-dimensional analysis

An experimental 2 (channel) × 2 (gender) × 3 (time) mixed factorial design (N = 159) was applied to test and compare how individual dimensions of intercultural sensitivity might be affected by two channels: a virtual environment (i.e., Second Life^®) versus a Web environment. Using a modified version of Chen and Starosta's Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS), the study sought to identify which of the five ISS dimensions played the most influential role in intercultural sensitivity outcomes: interaction enjoyment, interaction engagement, interaction confidence, interaction attentiveness, or respect for cultural differences. Results showed that one's willingness and effort toward understanding an intercultural interaction – interaction attentiveness – played the greatest and most statistically significant role in intercultural sensitivity outcomes, and that this effect was greatest within the virtual environment channel. Gender effects were also found, in which men experienced greater enjoyment but women expressed more attentiveness.     

Constructivism: Does your practice match your conceptual framework?

Abstract

Though constructivism has been an epistemology espoused by early childhood educators since the field's inception; defining, understanding, and implementing a constructivist philosophy is challenging. This article includes an overview of constructivism, including the role of the learner and the teacher and the conditions that enhance learning. Also discussed will be distinct challenges that exist in the implementation of constructivism in a higher education setting. Practical strategies that universities have found to overcome these challenges are included.     

Pedagogies of critical race theory: Experimentations with white preservice teachers

We have taken to heart the call of critical race theorists and critical Whiteness scholars to open up a White discourse on White racism. As White, female, teacher educators, we endeavored to openly address Whiteness and White racism with our White students to help them become more aware of the advantages and biases inherent in their positionality as White teachers. As we did this, we were critically aware of both the negative and positive possible outcomes of our endeavors. Throughout our work with our students and our subsequent reflections on the results, we were able to establish ways of speaking about Whiteness that moved our students, and ourselves, to a more critical, more empowered understanding of race and Whiteness.