Organizational change in Australian higher education: Process and outcome

Change and social order, along with the related concepts of homogenization vis-a-vis differentiation of organizational types, have long caught the interest of social scientists. Theories of change and organizational differentiation abound. However, there appears to be a need for more research on how change threatens fundamental social classifications and how actors manipulate classifications and social taxonomies to protect their interests and restore order. The recent restructuring of Australian higher education provides an ideal case for exploring the effects of classificatory variation for the process has challenged cherished ideas about the essential characteristics of higher education. The extent to which the challenge has been met and repulsed by those threatened is the subject of this paper.     

Keeping the Peace and Controlling Crime: What School Resource Officers want School Personnel to Know

School Resource Officer (SRO) programs have gained widespread popularity across the nation in response to concerns regarding safe schools. While much of the research concerning the program examines students' and school administrators' perceptions regarding the program, current research lacks an examination of the officer's assessment of the daily operations and inner workings of the program. Those perceptions of the program are useful in any evaluations of crime and safety in the schools and surrounding community. This examination of the social process of the police-school partnership is important in illuminating the approaches and methods that impact the SRO program's operation and ultimate success.     

Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity

This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants’ home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.     

Learning about environmental print through picture books

Children construct knowledge about print from what they see in the environment. They also develop early literacy from good children's literature. There are now many books which incorporate environmental print, combining both ecological text and the printed page.     

A framework for conceptualizing research in natural history museums and science centers

Natural History Museums, Science Centers, Zoos, and Aquaria contribute considerably to out-of-school science experiences for visitors of all ages and characteristics. With birth rates and school age populations declining, it is likely that people will be looking to these settings for rest, recreation, stimulation, and learning. Science educators can play a leadership role in research, development, and in utilization of these settings to achieve learning and motivational objectives which support, supplement, and extend school science learning. But what is the current “state of the art” in this area? This article reviews relevant past studies, proposes a taxonomy of exhibits in museum settings, and focuses attention on factors which should be considered when studying learning in these settings. In addition, it presents some potentially productive methods of conceptualizing research, and suggests possible future lines of research for the science educator.     

The role of intentionality and iconicity in children's developing comprehension and production of cartographic symbols

The contribution of intentionality understanding to symbolic development was examined. Actors added colored dots to a map, displaying either symbolic or aesthetic intentions. In Study 1, most children (5–6 years) understood actors' intentions, but when asked which graphic would help find hidden objects, most selected the incorrect (aesthetic) one whose dot color matched referent color. On a similar task in Study 2, 5- and 6-year-olds systematically picked incorrectly, 9- and 10-year-olds picked correctly, and 7- and 8-year-olds showed mixed performance. When referent color matched neither symbolic nor aesthetic dot colors, children performed better overall, but only the oldest children universally selected the correct graphic and justified choices with intentionality. Results bear on theory of mind, symbolic understanding, and map understanding.     

School attributes,household characteristics,and demand for schooling: A case study of rural Peru

Educational expansion, long a goal of many LDCs, has become a difficult policy to pursue. Growing populations, shrinking national incomes and higher marginal costs of schooling as schooling reaches more rural dwellers have caused policy makers to take a hard look at factors which influence educational demand and expansion. This paper examines the case of Peru where rural areas have yet to attain the nearly universal enrollment of urban areas. The study examines 2500 rural households to explore reasons why children do not attend school, drop out of school, and begin school at later ages. The study finds that the monetary costs of schools (fees and other costs) have a substantial influence on parental decisions regarding school attendance and continuation. Sensitivity analysis reveals that mother's education has a bearing on their children's educational participation, particularly in low-income households. Sensitivity analysis also reveals that school attendance of low income and female children are most strongly affected by simulated changes in school fees.