Visiting Libraries in Central Asia: An Academic Librarian’s Research Experience

ABSTRACT

In May 2017, I had the opportunity to spend three weeks visiting several libraries in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan as part of my research project on international student services and information literacy. I visited these countries to conduct fieldwork research on American University of Central Asia’s information literacy program, library services for international and first year students, and more broadly to build exchanges and partnerships with Fresno State and these universities. In this travel report, I briefly cover my experiences conducting research and training at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan and my shorter trips to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.     

Race in biology and anthropology: A study of college texts and professors

Information about social issues is underemphasized in college science education. This article takes the race concept as an example of this neglect. We review the history of the race concept and report the current status of the concept in textbooks and among professors. Responses to surveys of faculty at Ph.D.-granting departments indicate that 67% of biologists accept the concept of biological races in the species Homo sapiens, while only 50% of physical anthropologists do so. Content analysis of college textbooks indicates a significant degree of change over time (1936–1984) in physical anthropology but a lesser degree in biology. We suggest several reasons for the dissimilarity in the two disciplines. We propose continued use of the concept for some infrahuman species, while abandoning its application to Homo sapiens. For those biologists and anthropologists who continue to use the concept, scientific accuracy can be achieved by the presentation in lecture and text of the following ideas: first, consensus among scientists on the race concept's utility and accuracy does not exist; second, there is more variation within than between so-called races; third, discordant gradations due to natural selection, drift, and interbreeding make consistent racial boundary lines impossible to identify; fourth, past use of the race concept has had harmful consequences; fifth, the most precise study of human hereditary variation maps one trait at a time; and sixth, racial labels are misleading, especially as most populations have a cultural designation.     

L'obstacle du dedoublement des objets mathematiques

Ayant proposé à des équipes d'élèves (12–13 ans) une tâche en rapport avec la notion d'infini, nous avons observé un obstacle sans lien avec cette notion. Chaque équipe a été confrontée successivement à l'argument de l'inclusion strict des carrés parfaits dans l'ensemble des naturels, puis à l'argument montrant la correspondance terme à terme entre les carrés parfaits et les entiers. Beaucoup d'élèves ont alors refusé systématiquement la possibilité d'une bijection: ils ne parviennent pas à dissocier deux propriétés attribuées à un même objet (ici le “nombre...”) pour reconnaître deux ensembles distincts. Cet obstacle n'est pas particulier à la comparaison du tout et de la partie pour un ensemble infini. La dernière partie de l'article rapporte des réactions analogues observées sur d'autres tâches. Le dédoublement d'un objet mathématique, avec la démarche inverse d'identification de deux dénominations, constitute un obstacle que beaucoup d'élèves retrouvent à chaque étape importante de l'apprentissage.     

How Reliable Are Our Assessment Data?: A Comparison of the Reliability of Data Produced in Graded and Un-Graded Conditions

Motivating students to perform well on assessment tests is difficult when students know the results have no academic consequence. The present study evaluates the influence of assessment context (graded vs. non-graded) on the reliability of an assessment measure. Results indicate the graded condition produces higher reliability (r= .71) than the non-graded condition (r = .29), which leads to unacceptably low reliability. Moreover, the graded condition produces significantly higher scores (M = 64%), than the non-graded condition (M = 43%). Only students in the graded condition (41%) obtained passing scores of 70% or above.     

The organization of independent basic research institutes symbiotic with universities

Summary The assumption that universities are the only natural home for basic research is questioned. The article examines the balance between teaching and research, considers the disadvantages of universities as places of research and suggests what is wanted in an institution devoted to research. The author proposes the creation of a new type of independent research institution which would have a special relationship with universities.     

Student use of narrative and paradigmatic forms of talk in elementary science conversations

The purpose of this work was to examine and characterize student use of narrative and paradigmatic expression in elementary science discourse. This interpretive study occurred over a 2‐year period in a professional development school with a largely international population. This analysis focused on the narrative and paradigmatic modes of expression used by combined first–second‐ and second‐grade students in a semistructured, fairly autonomous, whole‐class conversational format. Students demonstrated competence with both modes of talk at the beginning of the year. Over time, students moved toward more paradigmatic talk, but narrative examples continued to be key components of the science conversations. Topically, students used narrative more often for life sciences and paradigmatic talk for physical sciences. For gender there were no qualitative differences in narrative or paradigmatic expression. However, boys obtained more opportunities to practice their use of both discourse forms by either receiving more speaking turns or expressing more language features per turn. These conversations show that narrative and paradigmatic modes in science need not be in opposition but can, in fact, be used together in complementary ways that are mutually enhancing. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 793–818, 2002