The American science pipeline: sustaining innovation in a time of economic crisis

Significant limitations have emerged in America's science training pipeline, including inaccessibility, inflexibility, financial limitations, and lack of diversity. We present three effective programs that collectively address these challenges. The programs are grounded in rigorous science and integrate through diverse disciplines across undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students, and resonate with the broader community. We discuss these models in the context of current economic constraints on higher education and the urgent need for our institutions to recruit and retain diverse student populations and sustain the successful American record in scientific education and innovation.     

Visual phonics: an English code buster?

Visual phonics is an instructional program to provide print awareness, alphabet knowledge, and sound-letter correspondence for children with hearing loss who experience difficulty developing a foundation of phonemic awareness skills. Its purpose is "to clarify the sound symbol relationship between spoken English and print" (Waddy-Smith & Wilson, 2003, p. 15). It is implemented in numerous school districts, particularly in California and Florida, and can be learned in a 2-day workshop. Administrators, teachers, and speech pathologists see potential benefit in using Visual Phonics to help students with hearing loss raise their achievement scores in reading and spelling. However, it is critical to note that Visual Phonics has virtually no research base. Researchers, teachers, and speech pathologists are called upon to collect their data and begin research on the effectiveness of Visual Phonics. This is a case in which the research-to-practice gap must be closed.     

Student perspectives on curricular change: lessons from an undergraduate lower-division biology core

Inquiry-based laboratories are acknowledged as the preferred method of instruction for development of research skills. Much has been written about changes in student performance associated with inquiry, but less is known about how students view the inquiry-based format or whether they perceive a benefit from this type of instruction. The Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey was used to evaluate and compare student reactions to the new, inquiry-based laboratories of a lower-division undergraduate curriculum, from implementation to the present (an interval of 3 yr). Initial student response to the format and value of the inquiry labs improved over time. The quality of the graduate teaching assistants and the clarity of the laboratory manual were important variables influencing student perception. A student's perception of his/her retention of lab-related skills was strongly associated with perceptions of gains in those skills. Student responses reflect their most current laboratory experience and not a cumulative effect of participation in the core series of courses. Student success in the inquiry format was not associated with gender or status as a transfer student. The majority of students believe that their experiences in the lower-division inquiry labs have prepared them for upper-division course work.     

Concurrent Validity of the Mayes Motor-Free Compilation (MMFC) for Assessing Mental Ability in Children with Physical Impairments

This study investigated the concurrent validity of the Mayes Motor-Free Compilation (MMFC) using the Mental Scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (BSID-II) as the criterion variable with 50 typically-developing preschool-aged children. The MMFC is an individually-administered instrument designed to assess the mental ability of young children with motor disabilities. The results indicated that the MMFC and BSID-II Mental Scale scores were significantly and positively correlated. In addition, 94% of the children's MMFC mental age scores fell within the confidence bands constructed around their BSID-II developmental age scores. These results lend preliminary support to the validity of the MMFC. The paper concludes with a discussion of interpretation issues as well as areas for future research.     

The Structuring of Invisibility Among the Hidden Homeless: The Politics of Space, Stigma, and Identity Construction

This ethnographic portrayal relies on participant observations at two supplemental support programs for youth without homes, narratives collected through in-depth interviews with educators and case managers, and focus group interviews with youth participants to explore the discursive (re)production of invisibility among youth without homes. Structuration theory is used to frame macro and micro forces coalescing to enable and constrain processes of invisibility among the hidden homeless. Analysis reveals how invisibility shapes (and is shaped by) processes of stigmatization, “street smarts” as enacted by youth, and “Mayberry” and “not in my backyard” community discourses, and how the disappearance of youth without homes simultaneously serves and undermines various stakeholders.     

Process gain and process loss: comparing interpersonal processes and performance of culturally diverse and non-diverse teams across time

Members of 82 student groups involved in a Team Learning instructional format were surveyed with the Group Style Instrument (GSI) to examine the possible dimensions of team oriented behaviors and individualistically oriented behaviors. Exploratory factor models and confirmatory factor models were compared to find the best factor structure fit. The GSI was found to have dimensions that were team and individualistically oriented. From a second sample data was collected across four months on the group process and group performance of culturally non-diverse and culturally diverse groups. Data were evaluated in two significant ways. First, the team orientation and individual orientation dimensions were used to define interpersonal processing. Second, the team process dimensions were used to define interpersonal processing. Second, the team process dimensions were examined further to evaluate their relation to group performance. Early on the diverse teams showed less team orientation and more individual orientation than non-diverse teams, but through frequent feedback on task and interpersonal processing, the diverse teams caught up by the third time period. By the end, diverse teams maintained high team orientation but also allowed a reasonable extent of individual orientation. The diverse teams were beginning to utilize diversity to their advantage. Team and Individualistic orientations showed significant relations to team performance across time. Suggestions are given for future research.     

Schooling for self-employment in Kenya: The acquisition of craft skills in and outside schools

Primary schooling will continue to be the terminal stage of education for most Kenyan children, and it will have to prepare them for employment that they will create for themselves. What this might imply for the teaching of craft skills is examined. Soapstone carving was selected as the subject of study because it is an important form of self-employment in western Kenya. The acquisition of craft skills in and outside schools was compared using observational and experimental methods. It is argued that school instruction provides little opportunity to develop competence in carrying out cognitive and psychomotor tasks important to expert performance in this and perhaps many other craft occupations.     

Contradictions of control: Lessons from exploring teachers' work in Botswana

Using the concept of teaching as a labour process, this paper explores the relationship between the work of teaching and the control of education by the state. Ethnographic data from Botswana is used to discuss emergent themes of teachers' certainties and uncertainties; staff divisions and cultures; accommodations and resistances to control; teachers as storekeepers of knowledge; and occupational rewards and addictions. The meaning and forms of ‘centralisation’ appear as important issues, and contradictions emerge in the exercise of control, with teachers able to recreate significant areas of professional and personal autonomy.