Women's talk in the ivory tower

Inequities in higher education persist, as revealed both by statistical indicators and in continuing reports by women students and faculty that the academic environment itself is alienating. Our review of the research on academic settings, including classroom interaction and the patterns of interaction among and between females and males, leads us to identify the structure of classroom talk itself as one reason many women find the classroom inhospitable. The norms of classroom interaction are more closely aligned with typical male patterns of interaction than with typical female patterns. We suggest that both can exist in classrooms side‐by‐side, as important resources for females and males. We conclude with suggestions for teaching and research.     

Restructuring special programs to reflect the distinctions between children's and adults' experiences with giftedness

In this article we draw on longitudinal, retrospective, and cross-sectional studies to address the relationship between giftedness in childhood and adulthood. Evidence points to the fact that children who became eminent adults did not necessarily fit conceptions of giftedness driving programs that currently exist in our schools. These findings suggest that special kinds of educational experiences and social contexts, access to tacit knowledge from mentors and parents, grouping with true intellectual or talent peers, appropriate support networks, and select personality dispositions of talented individuals need to be incorporated into our understandings of the talent development process.     

Rhythm and Blues,No Dancing Here

Affirmative action (AA) is one of the most suitable mechanisms to promote equity and social justice in education in India. This essay deals with the impact of the different conceptualizations of AA in terms of its vision and the historic approaches to social inequalities in India. Primarily focusing on the various perspectives of affirmative efforts in India, the essay also examines the theoretical perspectives in the light of empirical realities.     

From their ‘own’ to ‘both’ interpretations: children’s understanding of ambiguity / De ‘su’ interpretación a ‘ambas’: la comprensión de la ambigüedad en los niños

Abstract

The present study aimed to analyse whether young children’s failure in succeeding ambiguity tasks is related to a bias in favour of maintaining their initial interpretation or one in favour of showing conformity to the interpretation of another person. Two experiments were conducted with ambiguous figures and ambiguous sentences. After giving their own interpretation of the stimulus, children of different ages (from 3–8 years of age) were confronted with the alternative interpretation. In general, the results of the two experiments found an accentuated ‘own’ bias, meaning that young children usually persisted in their own interpretation and did not show conformity to the ‘other’ interpretation. Only after the second grade were children able to understand that both interpretations (their own and the alternative) were equally valid for the same stimulus. The results also revealed that the ability to show informed reversal does not necessarily imply the ability to overcome the ‘own’ interpretation bias and, consequently, does not require the achievement of a real understanding of ambiguity. The present study showed an age-related development of ambiguity understanding, from an egocentric interpretation to the acceptance of two interpretations as equally valid.     

How schools use talent search scores for gifted adolescents

Two hundred fourteen school officials who had students participate in an academic talent search through the Center for Talent Development of Northwestern University responded to a survey regarding how they use off‐level test scores for students’ talent development in school. Data showed that generally talent search is perceived by schools as a means of providing access to outside‐of‐school academic opportunities such as summer and distance learning courses. Few schools use talent search scores to design school‐based educational programs or to determine eligibility for in‐school gifted programs. Other findings included that schools learned about talent search mainly through mailings from the talent search center, gifted coordinators primarily administered talent search in their schools and participation was encouraged via letters to families, students were selected for talent search participation based on achievement test scores at the 95th percentile or above and follow‐up on talent search scores typically consisted of passing out certificates at a special ceremony. Schools that were more active versus less active in talent search were not different in terms of how they conducted or used talent search off‐level test scores. More efforts are needed from local schools to recognize the important role that talent search scores can have in their local programming to enhance the impact of talent search on gifted students.     

Comparisons between talent search students qualifying via scores on standardized tests and via parent nomination

This study examined differences between students who qualified for talent search testing via scores on standardized tests and via parent nomination in their performances on the SAT or ACT and some demographic characteristics. Overall, the standardized testing group earned higher scores on the off‐level tests than the parent nominated group. Asian students used parent nomination more than standardized tests for talent search testing, and Hispanic/Latino students in the parent nominated group but not in the standardized testing group were among the top performers on the off‐level tests. Parent nomination as a feasible alternative to standardized achievement tests is suggested for talented students who are not native English speakers or would not be identified as gifted using traditional qualification methods.     

Narrative inquiry as a mediational space: examining emotional and cognitive dissonance in second‐language teachers' development

In the practice of teacher education, most would agree that critical reflection in and on the process of learning to teach and the activities of teaching play a central role in teachers' professional development. Using Vygotskian sociocultural theory, we examine how narrative inquiry functions as a culturally developed tool that mediates teachers' professional development. We analyzed narratives written by three teachers of English as a second/foreign language set in three different instructional contexts. Our analysis suggests an interwoven connection between emotion and cognition, which drove these teachers to search for mediational tools to help them externalize their experiences. The activity of engaging in narrative inquiry created a mediational space where teachers were able to draw upon various resources, such as private journals, peers and ‘expert’ or theoretical knowledge, that allow them to reconceptualize and reinternalize new understandings of themselves as teachers and their teaching activities. The intersection of experiential and ‘expert’ knowledge provided a discourse through which these teachers named experiences and constructed a basis upon which they grounded their transformed understandings of themselves as teachers and their teaching. Depending on where these teachers were in their professional development when they wrote their narratives, we uncovered evidence of idealized conceptions of teaching with commitment to action as well as the transformation of teachers' material activities. Implications for the role teachers' narrative inquiry may play in teacher education programs are provided.     

Towards sustainable well-being in SMEs through the web-based learning program of ergonomics

Promoting well-being at work in the context of sustainable development is a complex and dynamic issue. To enhance sustainable well-being at work, organizational learning (OL) is one requirement. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the characteristics of the learning program of the ergonomics ‘the Ergonetti’ that promote sustainable well-being at work implemented in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The data was gathered through individual thematic interviews of 14 students who participated in the study and carried out the learning tasks in 10 different SMEs. The data was analyzed using inductive content analysis in the frame of sustainable well-being at work and organizational learning. The characteristics of the learning program of ergonomics that promoted sustainable well-being at work related to the categories describing worker’s individual capabilities and competence, work organization and environment, and leadership. The results suggest that, in the light of promoting sustainable well-being at work the learning program of ergonomics may be considered an efficient and straightforward distance learning program accessible through the Internet. In addition, sustainable well-being at work through learning is rarely being in focus of occupational health research.     

Salamanca Statement and IDEA 2004: possibilities of practice for inclusive education

This article offers a comparative analysis of the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, within a critically discursive framework. The author creates the notion of possibilities of practice, and analyses each policy document as to how these are created, by means of interdiscursive, intertextual and recontextual analyses. In turn, the author demonstrates how each policy differs in the textual dimensions that represent themes of social representation/construction, such as: how pupils are constructed; how schooling is constructed; how inclusion/exclusion is constructed; how teacher preparation is constructed; and how resource allocation is constructed (or constricted). Finally, the author discusses the policy that best allows for possibilities of practice that promote the inclusion of ALL children.