Intercultural competence and student engagement of U.S. community college Students: a mixed method study

In a culturally diverse society, United States community colleges are ideally positioned to develop intercultural competence in students. This mixed method study focused on the relationship between student engagement, as measured by the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) (2005), and intercultural competence, as assessed by the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) (Bennett & Hammer, 1998). Student scores from the IDI were correlated with five benchmark measures of the CCSSE. Four of the five CCSSE benchmarks were significantly correlated with IDI scores. Then, students scoring in the highest and lowest quartiles on the IDI participated in focus groups to explore their perceptions of intercultural competence. Analysis revealed implications for community college leaders that include the value of using instruments like the CSSE and IDI to assess students’ intercultural competence. Practical implications also included the importance of collaborative classroom activities and exposure to racially and ethnically diverse faculty and students, as well as college-sponsored community service, cultural events, and study-abroad opportunities     

Investigating teachers’ explanations for aggressive classroom discipline strategies in China and Australia

Student misbehaviour can provoke aggressive teacher management (e.g. yelling in anger), adversely effecting students’ learning and attitudes toward school. To investigate this phenomenon, data were obtained from 75 Chinese (typically Eastern) and 192 Victorian (typically Western) secondary teachers who self-reported aggressive management. Results: 49% of Chinese and 59% of Australian teachers adopt aggressive behaviours rarely to sometimes; and, 9% of Chinese and 13% of Australian teachers sometimes or more frequently. The teachers were assessed for levels of support for Attribution, Attachment or Efficacy theory as explanations. The only significant differences were found for Attachment theory with Chinese teachers reporting significantly more support. National setting explained 29% of the variance independent of gender, levels of aggression and years of experience.     

Automatically Batch Loading Metadata from MARC into a Work-Based Metadata Model for Music

This article describes work done at Indiana University to “batch load” data from MARC bibliographic and authority records into the Work-based and FRBR-like Variations system. A series of experiments to iteratively refine our batch loading algorithm is described, along with details of how the algorithm identifies Works, creates relationships between entities, and maps a large amount of data from MARC into Variations records. The article closes with a discussion of the potential impact of this work on Variations project workflow and community FRBRization activities.     

Philosophical perspectives on school effectiveness and school improvement

This article discusses critically the implementation of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). The following issues are addressed: the importance of literacy in advanced societies; increasing public concern about literacy standards in English and Welsh primary schools; the perceived need for a large-scale intervention into the teaching of literacy from the standpoint of international comparisons and school inspection evidence. The literacy process, its complexities and controversies, are considered and critiqued, along with the extent to which the NLS is able to accommodate the implications of research findings. In conclusion, the evaluation reports on the impact of the NLS are discussed.     

SPIRITUAL FORMATION AS SOCIAL: TOWARD A VYGOTSKYAN DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Spiritual formation is a critical concern for any Christian religious educator. While Scripture provides a depiction of spiritual growth, we have often turned to the developmental theorists to better understand the ecology of spiritual formation. One neglected voice in this instance is the late Russian developmentalist Lev S. Vygotsky. His unique perspective on human cognitive development provides an alternative to traditional developmentalism, and additional insight into the ecology of spiritual formation. This article will endeavor to explain the role of developmental theories in understanding spiritual formation, the developmental theory of Vygotsky, and its implications for our understanding of spiritual formation and Christian religious education as a means of advancing it.     

The role of injection cues in the production of the morphine preexposure effect in taste aversion learning

The attenuation of an LiCl-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) by LiCl preexposure is mediated primarily by associative blocking via injection-related cues. Given that preexposure to morphine attenuates morphine-induced CTAs, it was of interest to determine whether injection cues also mediate this effect. Certain morphine-induced behaviors such as analgesic tolerance are controlled associatively, via injection-related cues. Accordingly, animals in the present experiments were preexposed to morphine (or vehicle) every other day for five total exposures, followed by an extinction phase, in which the subjects were given saline injections (or no treatment) for 8 (Experiment 1) or 16 (Experiment 2) consecutive days. All of the animals then received five CTA trials with morphine (or vehicle). The morphine-preexposed animals in Experiment 1 displayed an attenuation of the morphine CTA that was unaffected by extinction saline injections, suggesting that blocking by injection cues during morphine preexposure does not mediate this effect. All of the morphine-preexposed subjects in Experiment 2 displayed a weakened preexposure effect, an effect inconsistent with a selective extinction of drug-associated stimuli. The attenuating effects of morphine preexposure in aversion learning are most likely controlled by nonassociative mechanisms, like drug tolerance.     

The effects of conditioned taste aversions on the acquisition and maintenance of schedule-induced polydipsia

Conditioned taste aversions produced a moderate, but transient, suppression of schedule-induced polydipsia. This suppression was greater and longer lasting when rats were offered a choice between water and the previously poisoned solution on the polydipsia baseline. A final experiment demonstrated that taste aversions were more effective in suppressing schedule-induced consumption when superimposed on a developing schedule-induced drinking baseline as opposed to a stable pattern of schedule-induced drinking. It was suggested that schedule-induced polydipsia is insensitive to conditioned taste aversions. This conclusion was discussed in terms of schedule-induced alcohol consumption and its potential as an animal model of alcoholism.     

Schedule-induced polydipsia: Interactions with wheel running

The effect of wheel running on the level and temporal distribution of schedule-induced polydipsia was examined in 12 food-deprived rats given one food pellet per minute for 1 h. For all rats, wheel running decreased the level of Polydipsie intake. It also decreased licking in all six of the 10-sec postpellet intervals except the first. The degree of reduction in licking was a U-shaped function of the 10-sec postpellet intervals and was generally inversely related to the temporal distribution of running. The temporal distribution data are partially consistent with a temporal competition view of the interactions between schedule-induced polydipsia and wheel running     

Developing holistic practice through reflection,action and theorising

This article outlines how I, as a primary teacher engaging with a self-study action research process, have come to a deeper understanding of my practice. It explains how I have also come to an understanding of why I work in the way I do; of how this understanding influences my work, and the significance of this new understanding. My work as a teacher frequently includes doing collaborative digital projects with my class. As I engaged in research on my practice, I initially experienced difficulties problematising this work. I struggled to achieve clarity not only with engaging in critical thinking but also with articulating my educational values. I found Mellor’s idea about ‘the struggle’ helpful as he explains how ‘the struggle’ is at the heart of the research process. My new understanding around these collaborative projects emerged in terms of holistic practice; clarifying my ontological values and learning to think critically. I am now generating an educational theory from my practice as I see my work as a process for developing spiritual and holistic approaches to learning and teaching. I conclude by outlining what I perceive to be the significance of my work and its potential implications for education.