Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Development of Teaching Scientific Writing

Educators have argued the need for greater attention on how teachers learn to teach writing in science (Kelly and Bazerman in Appl Linguist 24(1):28–55, 2003; Martin in Writing science: literacy and discursive power. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 166–202, 1993). This article summarizes the findings of a qualitative study of five science preservice teachers as they experienced a unit of study, an inquiry-based instructional framework for the teaching of writing. Results found initially the science preservice teachers did not have knowledge of specific instructional approaches to teach writing. The science preservice teachers engaged in critical and analytical reading and writing, which enhanced their knowledge of writing and how to teach writing. The unit of study approach to writing may offer teacher educators a way to engage science preservice teachers in a method to teach scientific writing.     

Clinical and research searching on the wild side: exploring the veterinary literature

Zoological medicine furthers the health and well-being of captive and free-ranging wild animals. Effective information retrieval of the zoological medicine literature demands searching multiple databases, conference proceedings, and organization websites using a wide variety of keywords and controlled vocabulary. Veterinarians, residents, students, and the librarians who serve them must have patience for multiple search iterations to capture the majority of the available knowledge. The complexities of thorough literature searches are more difficult for nondomestic animal clinical cases and research reviews as demonstrated by three search requests involving poisonous snakes, a gorilla, and spiders. Expanding and better disseminating the knowledgebase of zoological medicine will make veterinary searching easier.     

Parental Autonomy Support in Two Cultures: The Moderating Effects of Adolescents’ Self-Construals

Parental autonomy support has been related to positive adolescent outcomes, however, its relation to outcomes in collectivist cultural groups is unclear. This study examined relations of specific autonomy supportive behaviors and outcomes among 401 adolescents (M_age = 12.87) from the United States (N = 245) and collectivist-oriented Ghana (N = 156). It also examined whether adolescents’ self-construals moderated the relations of specific types of autonomy support with outcomes. Factor analyses indicated two types of autonomy support: perspective taking/open exchange and allowance of decision making/choice. In both countries, perspective taking/open exchange predicted positive outcomes, but decision making/choice only did so in the United States. With regard to moderation, the more independent adolescents’ self-construals, the stronger the relations of decision making/choice to parental controllingness and school engagement.     

Missed Opportunities: The Subordination of Children in Philip Pullman’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">His Dark Materials</Emphasis>

In the His Dark Materials trilogy, Pullman reworks the fall of humanity into an ascent and suggests that ascent into adulthood through sexual experience is the desired goal for children. Although this ascent is accompanied by a radical reconceptualization of life and death, Pullman fails to offer any genuinely new ideas of the world with respect to adult–child relationships and the roles that children play in our society. Situated as it is at the crossroads of childrens literature and fantasy, His Dark Materials fails to take advantage of the freedom these two genres provide and reinforces current conceptions of children and their role in society.     

Designing for learning in the Yellow House: a comparison of instructional and learning design origins and practices

ABSTRACT

For the past two decades, there has been persistent debate around whether there is a difference between the fields of instructional design (ID) and learning design (LD). While differences in the two approaches are certainly apparent, there are cross-over points that can provide ID and LD researchers and practitioners with opportunities for dialogue about the purposes and remit of research-based practices for optimal design. Though potentially disruptive, initiating dialogues among learning and instructional designers could lead to more thorough and critical analyses of both ID and LD repertoires. Should boundary crossings occur, there is a potential for a third space for the contemplation, research, and practice of design. A goal of this article is to use the notion of Van Gogh’s Yellow House as an anchoring metaphor for the third space – a location for shared discourse, inspiration, collaboration, and challenge for a community of designers of/for learning. Using the impressionist and expressionist terminology to help elucidate the ways of thinking of designers of both traditions, this article examines the history, underlying philosophical approaches, methodologies, and design goals of ID and LD. We conclude that the emergence of a third space for design can help us move beyond the LD and ID dichotomies. We suggest that a socio-materialist perspective alleviates issues of incommensurability by acknowledging ontological multiplicity.     

Incorporating Informational Texts in the Primary Grades: A Research-Based Rationale,Practical Strategies,and Two Teachers’ Experiences

This article highlights the literacy practices of two second grade teachers—one in an affluent suburb of a major metropolitan area and the other in a large urban school district. The article describes how these teachers use informational texts to engage their students, to provide children with opportunities to learn about the world around them, and to immerse them in literacy learning. The article also shares the teachers′ insights into the value of informational texts in primary classrooms.     

The role of allocentrism on perceptions and reactions to congruity

We investigated how allocentrism, or the tendency to emphasize in-group attributes was related to the amount and the kind (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) of congruity perceived between own and in-group goals. School teachers (N=114) rated the importance of own and coworkers’ intrinsic and extrinsic goals and completed measures of allocentrism and coworker satisfaction. As predicted, allocentrism was positively correlated with extrinsic goal congruity. In general, increasing congruity on intrinsic goals was related to higher coworker satisfaction. However, there were individual differences in reactions to congruity: high allocentrics who perceived congruity on both, intrinsic and extrinsic goals were more satisfied than those who perceived high congruity only on extrinsic goals.