Consequences of media information uptake and deliberation: focus groups' symbolic coping with synthetic biology

Whenever a new, potentially controversial technology enters public awareness, stakeholders suggest that education and public engagement are needed to ensure public support. Both theoretical and empirical analyses suggest, however, that more information and more deliberation per se will not make people more supportive. Rather, taking into account the functions of public sense-making processes, attitude polarisation is to be expected. In a real-world experiment, this study on synthetic biology investigated the effect of information uptake and deliberation on opinion certainty and opinion valence in natural groups. The results suggest (a) that biotechnology represents an important anchor for sense-making processes of synthetic biology, (b) that real-world information uptake and deliberation make people feel more certain about their opinions, and (c) that group attitudes are likely to polarise over the course of deliberation if the issue is important to the groups.     

Transitions to post-secondary and tertiary education in the Netherlands: a trend analysis of unconditional and conditional socio-economic background effects

In the tracked educational system of the Netherlands, students at the end of secondary education have to decide whether they want to enter subsequent post-secondary or tertiary education. Depending on the previous qualification, they have the choice between up to four different options, including not entering further education. We propose, in line with prevalent theoretical approaches, that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to make decisions that do not fully capitalize on their previously obtained qualifications. By means of multinomial logistic regression models we tested the unconditional and conditional effects of family background for entering the different tracks of post-secondary education. In the unconditional analyses we found effects for parental education on making a transition to all types of post-secondary and tertiary education, but the occupational status of the father seems to be only relevant for the transition to lower tier tertiary education. The conditional effects of parental education for making the transition to senior vocational education and university are strong, while the transition to lower tertiary education is not influenced by parental background characteristics. This shows that even with eligibility for the most prestigious tracks, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to make less ambitious educational decisions. We also examined to what extent this inequality changed across time for the cohorts that terminated secondary education between 1932 and 1995. Decreasing effects of parental education indicate that the expansion of secondary education had the positive effect of leading more children from lower social backgrounds into favourable secondary education tracks, especially the intermediate general track. This equalization is carried forward through the entire sequence of educational transitions. The students from advantaged backgrounds nevertheless still profit from the parental resources in access to the most prestigious tertiary education institutions given secondary qualifications. Their head start into the academic track has not been reduced across cohorts.     

Success and failure in secondary education: socio‐economic background effects on secondary school outcome in the Netherlands, 1927–1998

In the Netherlands, educational attainment is the result of a sequence of separate educational transitions. Because of the tracked nature of the Dutch educational system, students do not make binary stay‐or‐leave‐decisions at each transition. After having entered one track of secondary education, students can change tracks during the entire secondary course. The initial track and the secondary school outcome therefore are incongruent for a significant proportion of the Dutch students. As social background partly predicts initial track placement, track changes and successful termination of the course, we suggest distinguishing conditional and unconditional effects of family background in the transition to secondary school outcome. This paper complements findings of previous research by taking into account the tracked structure of the Dutch educational system and the entire sequence of transitions in secondary education. For the empirical analysis, repeated cross‐sections from the Family Survey Dutch Population (1992, 1998, 2000 and 2003) are used. Multinomial logistic regressions reveal that inequality in the outcome of secondary education is partly explained by the fact that initial track placement is socially selective and because this initial inequality is even enhanced by track changes during secondary education. The remaining ‘conditional’ effect of parental education, however, indicates that parental education works on top of this selection to prevent drop out. Inequality in secondary school outcome thus is a cumulative result of social background effects in a sequence of educational transitions throughout secondary education. Decreasing inequality over time is entirely explained by decreasing inequality in the transition from primary to secondary education.     

Counselor Trainees’ Experiences in Triadic Supervision: A Qualitative Exploration of Transcendent Themes

Triadic supervision has been considered a credible and effective form of clinical supervision within counselor education programs since being included in the 2001 standards for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). A phenomenological study was conducted to examine the experiences of masters-level counselor trainees in practicum with triadic supervision. Several transcendent themes emerged, namely: Initial Apprehensions, Shared Developmental Process, Vicarious Learning, Multiple Perspectives, and Safety through Trust and Relationship. The results of this study are discussed as they impact the field of counselor education and supervision.     

Intelligent design: student perceptions of teaching and learning in large social work classes

Research into the effects of large classes demonstrates that students are disadvantaged in terms of higher order learning because interactions between teachers and students occur at lower cognitive levels. This has significance for social work education, with its emphasis on the development of critical thinking and problem solving, both higher order cognitive skills. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative research that explored social work students’ perceptions of different teaching and learning strategies in a large mental health course designed with reference to principles of student‐centred learning and constructive alignment. Findings revealed that well‐integrated design, relevance to the real world and teacher enthusiasm were seen as most useful by students, rather than particular learning strategies per se. Higher satisfaction ratings and grades were also associated with this student‐centred course compared with an earlier traditional lecture‐style course. The paper concludes that design based on the interplay between diverse learning activities, including lecture input, strengthened the student‐centred orientation of learning and recommends further research that compares learning outcomes associated with these contrasting approaches to professional education.     

“Concreteness fading” promotes transfer of mathematical knowledge

Recent studies have suggested that educators should avoid concrete instantiations when the goal is to promote transfer. However, concrete instantiations may benefit transfer in the long run, particularly if they are “faded” into more abstract instantiations. Undergraduates were randomly assigned to learn a mathematical concept in one of three conditions: generic, in which the concept was instantiated using abstract symbols, concrete in which it was instantiated using meaningful images, or fading, in which it was instantiated using meaningful images that were “faded” into abstract symbols. After learning, undergraduates completed a transfer test immediately, one week later, and three weeks later. Undergraduates in the fading condition exhibited the best transfer performance. Additionally, undergraduates in the generic condition exhibited somewhat better transfer than those in the concrete condition, but this advantage was not robust. Results suggest that concrete instantiations should be included in the educator's toolbox.     

Opening the Regulatory Black Box of Clinical Cancer Research: Transnational Expertise Networks and “Disruptive” Technologies

Building on previous work on “regulatory objectivity,” the paper examines recent translational research and cancer genomics to explore the bundle of scientific and regulatory activities that generate and manage the platforms at the core of clinical trials, the “gold standard” of clinical research and evidence-based medicine. In particular, the paper explores the activities of a chain of mediators within a seamless regulatory web characterized by the interaction of endogenous and hybrid regulatory activities that are neither hierarchical nor linear. We contend that a full understanding of the dynamics of regulation in the biomedical domain ought to consider this chain of mediations; that their analysis necessitates understanding the content of the practices they regulate; and that in addition to examining the interactions between different regulatory modalities, we need to pay attention to their development insofar as regulation, far from being mere routine, leads to the emergence of novelty by coproducing the entities it regulates. These activities include not only setting out the conditions that must be respected in order to produce reliable test results, but also the conditions that define the relations (within a clinical context) between the different components of diagnosis as well as the consequences of such relations on clinical judgment. This is why we cannot treat organizational practices as distinct from the content of bio-clinical activities.     

Studies of Physical Education in the United States Using SOFIT: A Review

Purpose: An objective database for physical education (PE) is important for policy and practice decisions, and the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) has been identified as an appropriate surveillance tool for PE across the nation. The purpose of this review was to assess peer-reviewed studies using SOFIT to study K–12 PE in U.S. schools. Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses informed the review, and 10 databases were searched for English-language articles published through 2016. A total of 704 records identifying SOFIT were located, and 137 full texts were read. Two authors reviewed full-text articles, and a data extraction tool was developed to select studies and main topics for synthesis. Results: Twenty-nine studies that included direct observations of 12,256 PE lessons met inclusion criteria; 17 were conducted in elementary schools, 9 in secondary schools, and 3 in combined-level schools. Inconsistent reporting among studies was evident, including not all identifying the number of classes and teachers involved. All studies reported student physical activity, but fewer reported observer reliabilities (88%), lesson context (76%), teacher behavior (38%), and PE dosage (34%). The most frequently analyzed independent variables were teacher preparation (48%), lesson location (38%), and student gender (31%). Conclusions: SOFIT can be used reliably in diverse settings. Inconsistent reporting about study procedures and variables analyzed, however, limited comparisons among studies. Adherence to an established protocol and more consistent reporting would more fully enable the development of a viable database for PE in U.S. schools.     

Relationality as a response to challenges of participatory action research in indigenous contexts: reflections from the field

ABSTRACT

Three researchers share their reflections on the challenges and goodness of fit of using participatory action research (PAR) in studies with indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada. Three central challenges of participatory methodologies are identified: (1) defining what constitutes participation; (2) the extended time required for a PAR study; and (3) researcher positionality. The authors discuss tensions inherent in the western academy when shifting final decision-making authority over research processes away from the academic institution to the indigenous community. A model situating the principles of PAR alongside perspectives and values congruent with the indigenous concept of relationality is presented as a means of mitigating these challenges. This approach aligns PAR principles within culturally-congruent definitions of relationship and encourages researchers to re-imagine participation as a form of relationship, allowing them to engage more deeply and genuinely with indigenous participants.