Towards multidimensional approaches to early childhood science education

In this forum paper, I respond to issues raised by Kristina Andersson and Annica Gullberg in their article titled What is science in preschool and what do teachers have to know to empower children? (2012). I seek to continue the discussion begun with Andersson and Gullberg’s paper, by further exploring the questions they introduce to guide their paper: “What is science in preschool?” and “What do teachers have to know to empower children?” In particular, I elaborate on the value of drawing on multiple perspectives and different epistemological frameworks, and I argue for the need for a reconceptualized notion of science as a school discipline; one that acknowledges the multifaceted ways in which young children engage in science.     

Managing Patient-centered Communication across the Type 2 Diabetes Illness Trajectory: A Grounded Practical Theory of Interactional Sensitivity

This article uses the theoretical and methodological framework of Grounded Practical Theory (GPT) to provide a lens for analyzing and interpreting discourse as a situated form of social action in routine Type 2 diabetes visits. Drawing on a total data-set of 400 audio-recorded routine visits, we randomly selected 55 visits for qualitative analysis. In this article, we use Conversation Analysis to document communication techniques, which we in turn use as evidence to ground our claims within the GPT framework. We use two single cases of interaction to analyze communication techniques physicians use when recommending a change from oral medication to insulin. We argue treatment intensification is a key moment in health communication to reflect about patient centeredness because physicians can find themselves in an interactional dilemma: while insulin may effectively help control unstable disease, an insulin recommendation may simultaneously counter patient values and treatment preferences. Our analysis suggests that physicians use what we call interactional sensitivity to balance medical need and patient preferences when making medical decisions by tailoring their communication according to the local situation and the patient's larger illness trajectory. We propose that interactional sensitivity is a type of communication work and a quality of patient-centered communication characterized by the theoretical relationship between tailoring communication to the contingencies of the local interaction and the global illness trajectory. Overall, this article contributes to health communication scholarship by proposing a normative model for reflecting on how physicians negotiate challenging interactions with patients during routine chronic illness visits.     

从美国电子媒体势力演变过程看新老媒体竞争(上)

正在走向市场经济的中国媒介产业 ,报刊 ,广播 ,电视以及新兴的网络媒体 ,如何在日益激烈的广告和受众的竞争中占据有利地位 ,并在竞争中协调合作、共同发展 ,是一个紧迫的课题。美国在这方面起步早 ,经验和教训也多 ,日本中央大学综合政治系教授山口秀夫以一个亚洲研究人员看美国新老媒体竞争演化的视角 ,对之进行了详尽的分析 ,相信会给我们一些启发。     

Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept among American Indian adolescents

Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept were examined among American Indian adolescents. Personal self-concept (self-esteem) and collective self-concept (American Indian identity, Euro-American identity, community-mindedness) were assessed 6 times over 3 years in 4 cohorts of adolescents from 3 American Indian cultural groups (N=1,252). An accelerated longitudinal design was used to estimate developmental trajectories from 14 to 19 years; parallel-process and covariate models were used to examine variation in trajectories. Both personal and collective self-concepts were generally positive and showed small gains; they were moderately related to one another and differentially related to cultural group, gender, and perceived social support. The findings highlight the complexity of self-concept for American Indian youth and the significance of both personal and collective identity.     

Piecing together the puzzle: development of the Societal Attitudes towards Autism (SATA) scale

The rise in the prevalence of autism creates a need for a reliable and valid measure of attitudes towards autism. The current study describes the development of a brief 16‐ item measure of Societal Attitudes towards Autism (SATA) that exhibits sound psychometric properties and has a demonstrated ability to discriminate between expert and general college student samples. The final SATA was the result of pilot work on 75 items and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on a 45‐item version with 475 undergraduates. Knowledge and personal distance subscales yielded inconsistent reliability and validity outcomes. The SATA showed strong content and construct validity as evidenced by known groups discrimination, and predicted associations with an attitude towards disability measure, an autism preference item, and a measure of implicit attitudes towards disabilities.     

The effects of response cost and species-typical behaviors on a daily time–place learning task

Two theories that have been hypothesized to mediate acquisition in daily time–place learning (TPL) tasks were investigated in a free operant daily TPL task: the response cost hypothesis and the species-typical behavior hypothesis. One lever at the end of one of the choice arms of a T-maze provided food in the morning, and 6 h later, a lever in the other choice arm provided food. Four groups were used to assess the effect of two possible sources of response cost: physical effort of the task and costs associated with foraging ecology. One group was used to assess the effect of explicitly allowing for species-typical behaviors. If only first arm choice data were considered, there was little evidence of learning. However, both first press and percentage of presses on the correct lever prior to the first reinforcement revealed evidence of TPL in most rats tested. Unexpectedly, the high response cost groups for both of the proposed sources did not perform better than the low response cost groups. The groups that allowed animals to display species-typical behaviors performed the worst. Skip session probe trials confirmed that the majority of the rats that acquired the task were using a circadian timing strategy. The results from the present study suggest that learning in free operant daily TPL tasks might not be dependent on response cost.     

THE DISSEMINATION OF A UNIVERSITY FIELD PLACEMENT PROGRAM: IMPACT ON RECRUITMENT,SATISFACTION AND EFFECTIVENESS

Community college field placements often reflect a “vocational education” approach to outside‐the‐classroom learning, attempting to train students in specific skills and prerequisites for predetermined job slots. In the human services area, however, this may not be the most advantageous approach to producing innovative workers who will generate creative solutions to persistent and serious social problems. This study examined the impact of utilizing one popular university approach to field learning‐experiential learning coupled with social change agentry—with community college students. A criterion‐group field experiment was conducted, looking at paper‐and‐pencil measures, interviews, and archival data. It was found that the community college students were as willing to participate, were equally satisfied with the experience, and were as effective with their assigned cases as were the university students in this rigorous and demanding field placement. Community college administrators who are seeking to broaden their human service field settings should also consider successful university models of experiential learning as alternatives.