Coverage of Methamphetamine in GLBT Newspapers

Research demonstrates that methamphetamine is a serious problem in gay communities. This study examined the framing of methamphetamine in nine gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) newspapers. Results showed that methamphetamine was framed as a “gay problem,” that sexual health and solutions frames were prevalent, and that GLBT newspapers covered methamphetamine in a way that is similar to how they covered AIDS in the 1980s. Implications for health campaigns are discussed.     

Gender Differences in High‐school Students’ Views about Science

This study examined gender differences in 79 high‐school students’ attitudes towards their science classes, their perceptions of science and scientists, and their views about majoring in science. The study identified some of the subtleties underlying females’ low participation in, and interest in, science documented in previous research. Four themes emerged from responses on the rating scales and questionnaire. First, even when females planned to major in science, they were more interested than males in the people‐oriented aspects of their planned majors. Second, biology was the one exception to females’ low interest in science. Third, females often planned a science major mainly because they needed a science background in order to enter a health profession such as medicine or physical therapy. Fourth, females generally found science uninteresting and the scientific lifestyle (as perceived by them) unattractive. Implications for teaching science were discussed.     

Historical memory and the importance of the Bracero Project in the struggles of trabajadores migrantes today

The author undertook a field study at the Centro de los Trabajadores Agrvcolas Fronterizos (Center for Border Agricultural Workers, or CTAF) in El Paso, Texas, while she was a student on the Border Studies Program in the fall of 2000. This ethnography treats the theme of the connections between institutionalized racism and the suppression of historical memory, with specific reference to the Bracero Program. It also examines what roles ''outsiders'' can play in progressive political movements.     

A Learning-Based System to Categorize Teacher Behavior

As part of their quest to secure academic credibility, physical educators in Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States have increasingly privileged empirical–analytical forms of research. We argue that this strategy has resulted in a montage of professional values and practices that we term technocratic physical education (TPE). We contend that TPE is based on ideologies of professionalism, scientism, and instrumental rationality, which articulate one-dimensional definitions of excellence in teaching, the body, and sport and also marginalize issues related to political and moral ends. By drawing on the traditions of critical pedagogy and reflective teaching, we suggest some ways in which the limits of TPE can be transcended in pre- and inservice teacher education curricula.     

Book review section

FREE SPEECH: RESPONSIBLE COMMUNICATION UNDER LAW. By Robert M. O'Neil. Indianapolis, Indiana: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, Inc., 1966; pp. viii 123+$1.25.

THE MOYNIHAN REPORT AND THE POLITICS OF CONTROVERSY, by Lee Rainwater and William L. Yancey. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1967; pp. xvii+493. $3.95.

VOICES OF CRISIS: VITAL SPEECHES ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES, by Floyd W. Matson, New York: The Odyssey Press, Inc., 1967; pp. xi+304.

THE BLACK POWER REVOLT. Edited by Floyd B. Barbour. Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher, 1968; pp. 287. $5.95 cloth; $2.95 paper.

THE AGITATOR IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. By Charles W. Lomas. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice‐Hall, 1968; pp. viii+182.

BLACK POWER: THE POLITICS OF LIBERATION IN AMERICA. By Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton. New York: Vintage Books, 1967; pp. xii+ 198. Paper $1.95.

REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS. New York: Bantam Books, 1968; pp. xi+609. Paper $1.25.     

No Light at the End of Tunnel Vision: Steps for Improving Lesson Plans

The authors of this article believe that the current structure of lesson plans impede differentiation, individualization, and innovation and offer little in assessing the quality of teaching and learning. Concrete steps will be offered for planning to better respond to student diversity in meeting lesson objectives.     

A Community College Instructor’s Reflective Journey Toward Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science in a Non-majors Undergraduate Biology Course

Research supports an explicit-reflective approach to teaching about nature of science (NOS), but little is reported on teachers’ journeys as they attempt to integrate NOS into everyday lessons. This participatory action research paper reports the challenges and successes encountered by an in-service teacher, Sarah, implementing NOS for the first time throughout four units of a community college biology course (genetics, molecular biology, evolution, and ecology). Through the action research cycles of planning, implementing, and reflecting, Sarah identified areas of challenge and success. This paper reports emergent themes that assisted her in successfully embedding NOS within the science content. Data include weekly lesson plans and pre/post reflective journaling before and after each lesson of this lecture/lab combination class that met twice a week. This course was taught back to back semesters, and this study is based on the results of a year-long process. Developing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for NOS involves coming to understand the overlaps and connections between NOS, other science subject matter, pedagogical strategies, and student learning. Sarah found that through action research she was able to grow and assimilate her understanding of NOS within the biology content she was teaching. A shift in orientation toward teaching products of science to teaching science processes was a necessary shift for NOS pedagogical success. This process enabled Sarah’s development of PCK for NOS. As a practical example of putting research-based instructional recommendations into practice, this study may be very useful for other teachers who are learning to teach NOS.     

Support for student and staff wives in social transition in a university setting

This paper describes an university sponsored, professionally mediated self-help support program for wives of graduate students and staff members and discusses the rationale for its structure. First, we identify the kinds of problems these women have that make it difficult for them to adapt to their new surroundings. We then present the program as it now functions, together with reports on the wives' assessments of different features of the program. In the discussion that follows, we outline the problems of implementing and maintaining this kind of support program and suggest why self-help groups for this constituency need the active involvement of a professional familiar with the details of campus resources and social life. We also address the importance of locating that professional in a strategic place within the organization to be able to act on that knowledge.     

Without dependence on welfare for life: Black women in the community college

This paper extends my previous analysis of data gathered in a year-long ethnographic investigation of a community college (Weis, 1985). Here, gendered subjectivity is explored through three themes: (1) motivation for attending Urban College, (2) perceived behavior of women and men within the institution, and (3) academic outcomes. The paper closes by positing why black female culture takes the shape and form that it does, and why the community college fails to promote social mobility for black females.