Exploring educational and social inequality through the polyphonic voices of the poor: A habitus listening guide for the analysis of family-schooling relations

ABSTRACT

The aim of this methodological article is to contribute a new form of qualitative data analysis that is relevant for the comparative study of family cultures and schooling. We describe the development of our Habitus Listening Guide linking Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction to critical narrative theory. The interpretative tool outlines (a) social-structural (b) horizontal intergenerational (c) vertical gender and (d) mythic-ritual listenings which can be used to explore the engagement of youth and their families with schooling. Such listenings reveal the dispositional positioning of schooling in family values and the complex structural and human relational effects of schooling on family members’ livelihood and wellbeing. It offers the possibility of comparing families in terms of their gendered and generational relations and the ways in which religious and mythic-ritual discourses legitimate their aspirations in the context of changing communities. The Guide offers a way of accessing and comparing subjective micro level experiences of social inequality and the contribution that schooling plays, or is expected to play, in relation to individual and/or family social mobility.     

Investigation of science faculty with education specialties within the largest university system in the United States

Efforts to improve science education include university science departments hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), scientists who take on specialized roles in science education within their discipline. Although these positions have existed for decades and may be growing more common, few reports have investigated the SFES approach to improving science education. We present comprehensive data on the SFES in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest university system in the United States. We found that CSU SFES were engaged in three key arenas including K-12 science education, undergraduate science education, and discipline-based science education research. As such, CSU SFES appeared to be well-positioned to have an impact on science education from within science departments. However, there appeared to be a lack of clarity and agreement about the purpose of these SFES positions. In addition, formal training in science education among CSU SFES was limited. Although over 75% of CSU SFES were fulfilled by their teaching, scholarship, and service, our results revealed that almost 40% of CSU SFES were seriously considering leaving their positions. Our data suggest that science departments would likely benefit from explicit discussions about the role of SFES and strategies for supporting their professional activities.     

A conspicuous production theory of resource allocation in higher education

Despite well-founded predictions that the 1970's and 80's would be characterized by excess capacity in graduate education, new graduate programs have continued to appear and existing programs have expanded capacity. This paper proposes a utility maximization theory to explain the continuation of the growth process and describes the nature of the public policy which will be necessary to effect changes in resource allocation in higher education. The basic hypothesis of the theory presented in this paper is that utility maximization of decision makers in higher education is functionally related to minimization of the gap between desired and prevailing institutional status. In an operational sense, status depends on an institution's factor complement, i.e., the institution's instructional and research programs and the quality of faculty and other inputs used to operate these programs. This implies that factor complements provide utility to decision makers in addition to their actual contribution to the educational process. Recognition of this factor and the oligopolistically interdependent nature of the decision making process in higher education is essential for the formulation of effective public policy to induce necessary reallocation of resources to graduate programs.     

Pre-K-8 prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions: An extension of fractions schemes and operations research

In an effort to expand our knowledge base pertaining to pre-K-8 prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions, the present study was designed to extend the work on fractions schemes and operations to this population. One purpose of our study was to validate the fractions schemes and operations hierarchy with the pre-K-8 prospective teacher population to determine whether this population follows the same trajectory as upper elementary and middle school students. A second purpose of our study was to identify which of the fractions schemes and operations our sample of prospective teachers demonstrated evidence of having constructed along with what this tells us about prospective teachers’ understanding of fractions. We were able to validate the hierarchy for this population, meaning that each lower-level fraction scheme/operation appeared to be a prerequisite to the higher-level schemes/operations. We found that although most of the prospective teachers had constructed the lower-level schemes and operations, less than half had constructed the more sophisticated ones. An unexpected result related to the association between the coordination of three levels of units and the iterative fraction scheme is addressed. Prospective teachers’ reliance on procedural knowledge related to fractions also presented a challenge to assessing, in particular, their ability to coordinate three levels of units. We conclude with implications for research and practice in mathematics courses intended for pre-K-8 prospective teachers.     

Initial Experiences of Creating Multimedia Computer Simulations to Replace Pharmacology Practicals

The replacement of traditional practicals by CAL simulations was prompted by a combination of economic factors, a decreased level of technical support and the requirement for a large capital investment to replace old and broken equipment. In an economic climate which promised only further increases in the number of undergraduates and no assured commensurate increase in resources, CAL appeared to be a possible alternative (Brown et al , 1988). Our only previous attempt to produce our own CAL package had been written in Turbo Basic on a 286 PC. It had involved considerable time and effort and the results were not particularly realistic. The increase in computing power offered by the 486 series of PCs, availability of low cost sound and video capture expansion cards, and the emergence of authoring systems, such as Toolbook, Hypercard and Authorware , appeared to provide an opportunity to produce better simulations (Purcell, 1993; Hartley, 1993).     

PBL from the teachers' perspective

The background of the project Problem Based Learning in Environmental Sciences' was a dissatisfaction with the lack of inspiring connections between current research and undergraduate education. The PBL approach was adopted in order to raise the level of activity in undergraduate learning. Another reason was the emphasis on problem orientation in PBL which includes an important proportion of interdisciplinarity in finding appropriate solutions to environmental problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of PBL in environmental education from the teachers' perspective. Seven teachers were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and subject to a qualitative analysis. The teachers were in general positive to continue to work with the PBL program. They appreciated the closer contact with the students. Difficulties experienced comprise a lack of consensus amongst the teachers and lack of time for discussion and planning during the project. The teachers conceived of the essence of PBL either from a learning perspective or a teaching perspective. Characteristic of the learning perspective is a focus on the students' learning process, while in the teaching perspective focus is on the methodological teaching aspects of PBL. There were also two different perspectives on the teacher's role as a tutor in PBL, that are categorised either as a supportive role or a directive role. Characteristic of the supportive role is an integrated view of the tutors' role. The students' activity, responsibility and influence on the education was emphasised. The supportive tutor's role was mainly focusing the group process. The directive tutor's role were characterised by a restricted view or uncertainty of the teacher's role in PBL. The different ways of conceiving PBL may explain some of the experienced difficulties amongst the teachers.     

Interocular transfer in pigeons of color discrimination but not motor response training

Adult pigeons with one eye covered were trained to peck a response key using grain as a reinforcer. In subsequent tests, with the trained eye covered and the control eye open, the birds failed to peck the key. The subjects were then divided into two groups for a second experiment. The first group was trained on a single-key, peck/no-peck color discrimination task with the original control eye covered. When tested for interocular transfer of discrimination performance, these birds failed to respond at all. They were then trained to peck a blank response key with the training eye covered and the control eye open. Control-eye tests after this motor response training resulted in excellent transfer of color discrimination performance. The second group of subjects was trained to peck a blank key with first one eye covered and then the other, before monocular discrimination training was begun. These birds showed excellent transfer of discrimination performance during control-eye tests. These results show that, at least in the operant paradigm, motor response training does not transfer interocularly and this lack of transfer may interfere with transfer of discrimination performance.     

Making the Difference to Sociology of Education: Reflections on family-school and gender relations

In the context of the 1970s, the focus of critical theorists was on education and cultural and social reproduction. Emphasis had shifted from a family-education link to a school-economy link, placing the family as a subsidiary institution in the framing of social inequality. Published in the early 1980s, Making the Difference (Connell et al ., 1982) was a timely and much needed intervention in bringing back into focus the realities of the lived experience of young people, and providing sophisticated theorizing around class and gender relations within and between the family and the school. Social class and gender relations, Connell et al . argued, could be found within the dynamics of family, school, and industrial life simultaneously. Twenty years later, we are reaping the benefits of their analysis in terms of understanding the hegemonizing influences of the school--the many subtle and indirect ways that schools produce (rather than reproduce) class and gendered identities, at the same time recognising the increasing dissonance of gender values within class formations.     

Understanding pedagogical design capacity through teachers’ narratives

Teachers need to develop the ability to adapt curriculum materials. Two elementary teachers, Maggie and Catie, were asked to write narratives about their use of and changes to particular reform-oriented science lesson plans. Maggie drew on her knowledge of and experiences with students, as well as other knowledge, experiences, and resources, to make productive changes to account for her students’ prior knowledge and abilities. Catie based her curricular adaptations on her learning goals—but these were not aligned with the learning goals of the curriculum materials. The paper discusses implications for teacher education, professional development, and educative curriculum materials.     

A cross-cultural comparison of cognitive and affective mediators in the relationship between media use and body image disturbance: focusing on US and Korean women

This study examined whether the relationship between cumulative thin-ideal media and body image disturbance is mediated by (1) cognitive variables, including beliefs about normative thinness and thinness prevalence and (2) affective variables, including dejection and agitation. Also, this study tested whether mediating effects would be different across cultures. Results revealed that perception about normative thinness mediated the relationship between thin–ideal media use and body image disturbance among both US and Korean participants and the effect was stronger for Korean participants. Thinness prevalence estimation did not mediate thin-ideal media use and body image disturbance in either Korean or US participants. Dejection was a statistically significant mediator for the relationship between thin-ideal media use and body image disturbance for both Korean and US participants, but no cultural differences were found. Agitation was also a statistically significant mediator for thin-ideal media use and body image disturbance, but only for Korean participants. Cultural differences in mediating effects were explained based on individualism and collectivism.