Supporting Inclusion Through Case‐Based Vignette Conversations

The trend toward the inclusion of students with special needs in classrooms in which there is ambitious instruction places complex and multiple demands on teachers. These challenges suggest the need for research investigating powerful ways of supporting teachers to critically reflect upon and revise their instructional practices. Using interactional ethnography, we report on the process and outcomes of engaging in conversations with teachers when the purpose of the conversation is to interpret and respond to vignettes characterizing the participation and learning of students with special needs. Specifically, we focus on how teachers' thinking about the use of small‐group work changed over the course of the conversations and led to modifications in teachers' practices relative to constituting and employing small‐group work in their classrooms.     

The Knowledge Gap Hypothesis in Singapore: The Roles of Socioeconomic Status,Mass Media,and Interpersonal Discussion on Public Knowledge of the H1N1 Flu Pandemic

This study applies the knowledge gap hypothesis to examine the direct and interactive influence of socioeconomic status, mass media, and interpersonal discussion on public knowledge of the H1N1 flu pandemic in Singapore. Using a nationally representative random digit-dialing telephone survey of 1,055 adult Singaporeans, results show that attention to newspapers was not associated with a widened knowledge gap about the H1N1 pandemic between the high and low socioeconomic status individuals. Conversely, attention to television news and interpersonal discussion were associated with a narrowed knowledge disparity between the high and low socioeconomic status individuals. Findings suggest that the knowledge gap hypothesis was not supported in this study. Instead, results suggest that attention to television news and interpersonal discussions were associated with a reduced knowledge gap. Household income and risk perceptions were also found to be positively associated with public knowledge about the H1N1 flu pandemic. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed.     

Learning to argue: A study of four schools and their attempt to develop the use of argumentation as a common instructional practice and its impact on students

This article reports the outcomes of a project in which teachers' sought to develop their ability to use instructional practices associated with argumentation in the teaching of science—in particular, the use of more dialogic approach based on small group work and the consideration of ideas, evidence, and argument. The project worked with four secondary school science departments over 2 years with the aim of developing a more dialogic approach to the teaching of science as a common instructional practice within the school. To achieve this goal, two lead teachers in each school worked to improve the use of argumentation as an instructional practice by embedding activities in the school science curriculum and to develop their colleague's expertise across the curriculum for 11‐ to 16‐year‐old students. This research sought to identify: (a) whether such an approach using minimal support and professional development could lead to measurable difference in student outcomes, and (b) what changes in teachers' practice were achieved (reported elsewhere). To assess the effects on student learning and engagement, data were collected of students' conceptual understanding, reasoning, and attitudes toward science from both the experimental schools and a comparison sample using a set of standard instruments. Results show that few significant changes were found in students compared to the comparison sample. In this article, we report the findings and discuss what we argue are salient implications for teacher professional development and teacher learning. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:315–347, 2013     

TECHNOLOGY AND GREASE: A FORMULA FOR EDUTAINMENT AND EFFICIENCY

Joint planning by Richard Daley College with a high school, the National Center for Education and the Economy, and the Associated Equipment Distributers Foundation produced a technology-based partnership that has motivated students, avoided additional construction, and resulted in an 84% graduation rate, including 32 graduates with 1 year of college and 6 students among the top 100 Hispanic graduates in the nation. The model is under consideration for adoption in Lubbock, Texas, and in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. The program won an Excellence in Learning-Centered Instruction Award from the Illinois Community College Board in 2000 and the Bellwether Award for Governance, Planning, and Finance at the 2001 Community College Futures Assembly.     

Academics' Strategies and Obstacles in Achieving Collaboration between Universities and SMEs

There is an ongoing debate both in the United States and Europe about the need to develop a broader view of scholarship and the different activities connected with it, including ‘service to the community’. This empirical study reveals that researchers who are engaged in collaboration with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) encounter many hindrances within the academic structure and obstacles due cultural differences that needs to be overcome. But it is also evident that they are creative and learn different strategies in accomplishing their goals and they also bring back useful experiences and knowledge from their cooperation into their research and teaching within the academic organization. We suggest that attention should be paid to the broader and more elaborate view of collaborative knowledge production that we present in the article if university structures are to provide better support for their academic staff to interact profitably with the community, and thereby create a ‘win–win situation’ for everyone involved.     

The development of compromising as an alternative to persuasion

Children's responses to situations in which their interests conflicted with those of the other interactant were investigated to determine whether children would attempt to persuade the other or to initiate compromise. One hundred twenty‐seven third, fourth, and sixth graders constructed messages in such situations. There was a tendency for more of the older children than young ones to spontaneously initiate compromise. Results were interpreted in terms of development and communicative skills reflecting the pursual of multiple goals. In this case, older children were concerned not only with their own primary interests, but with those of the other interactant.     

One world, One dream? Intergroup consequences of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Despite deliberate efforts to promote the ideal of “One world, One dream,” the 2008 Beijing Olympics appears to have exaggerated Mainland Chinese’ perception of Chinese and Western cultural differences and increased low ingroup identifiers’ ingroup favoring emotions and perceptions. In Study 1, we measured Beijing Chinese's perceptions of Chinese and Western values before and after the Olympics. The results showed that, after the Olympics, encountering the Beijing Olympic icon increased perceived value differences between Western and Chinese cultures. Study 2 showed that in Mainland China, individuals who identified strongly with Chinese culture favored Chinese (vs. American) commercial brands more both at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics. Moreover, although individuals with low levels of Chinese cultural identification did not display significant ingroup favoritism at the beginning of the Olympics, they did so toward the end of the Games. Together, the results suggest that the Olympics had widened the cultural divide between China and the Western world.     

A review of twenty-first century higher education

This article is predominantly concerned with the global challenges associated with managing an academic workforce in an era characterised by increased demand for higher education. In scrutinising global trends in higher education and academic workforce management, the article will address two research questions. First, what are the global trends that most affect education in the twenty-first century? Second, what are the transformations that have taken place in the academic workforce amid these trends? Last, the article calls for a need for researchers to profoundly explore the management of the academic workforce cross-nationally between developed and developing economies, with a particular focus on Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.     

Neuropsychological Bases of Motor Learning

This paper argues that examining the symbolic dimensions or meanings of spectator sport is a useful approach to understanding its powerful appeal. Spectator sport is analyzed through six categories of symbolicity: recurring life issues, transcendence of human limitations, rebellion against industrialized society, aesthetic unity and completion, religious overtones, and political dimensions. Beyond demonstrating the usefulness of these categories, this theoretical introduction should inspire researchers to look for other meanings which spectator sport carries.