The Undecidable Grounds of Scientific Expertise: Science Education and the Limits of Intellectual Independence

Motivated by the work of Hardwig (1985, 1991) on epistemic dependence and trust in expertise, we enquire into the nature and extent of the critical assessment that non-scientists can make—and that they should be taught to make—with regard to science. Our thesis is that critical assessment of science is possible for non-experts because at the basis of science is a set of norms, beliefs and values that are contestable by non-scientists. These norms, beliefs and values are of critical importance to science education and valuable to explore from a pedagogical perspective.     

Validating the Hornik & Woolf approach to choosing media campaign themes: Do promising beliefs predict behavior change in a longitudinal study?

Hornik and Woolf (1999) proposed using cross-sectional survey data to prioritize beliefs to address with communication campaign messages. The empirical component of the approach combines evidence of (1) association of beliefs with intentions and (2) current level of beliefs to calculate a “percentage to gain” as the potential promise of a belief. However, the method relies on cross-sectional data; its conclusions are open to challenge. Here, a panel study assesses whether the calculated promise of a belief actually predicts future behavior change. A nationally representative sample of 3,204 U.S. youth and young adults were interviewed twice, six months apart. Sixteen beliefs about the benefits and costs of smoking cigarettes are compared with regard to their percentage to gain (calculated from cross-sectional data) and their ability to account for subsequent cigarette use. A belief’s cross-sectional percentage to gain is substantially associated with its ability to predict subsequent behavior change (r = .53, p < .05).     

Plowden's concern for standards

The Action on Principled Pedagogy and Learning Evaluation (APPLE) project is a cross cultural study of teaching in primary/elementary schools in England and North Carolina. The study is focused on variance in teaching, how teaching differs from the best, or most effective, that it might be, and on the relationship between professional knowledge for teaching and teachers' roles and actions. The major products of this study were: (a) a set of 16 dimensions of teaching and a model for analysis of the degree to which each dimension is an asset or barrier to learning in any given instruction and (b) a new typology of teaching, based on variance from the best that could be rather than in comparison to others. In this article we describe, briefly, the APPLE project, present the dimensions and the new typology and discuss their implications for the professionalisation of teaching. In particular, the finding that even amongst the best teachers, the ability to articulate practice in a clear, technical language is rare, is, it is argued, a major barrier to the definition of teaching as a professional activity.     

Establishing Cross-Cultural Measurement Equivalence of Scales Associated with Face-Negotiation Theory: A Critical Issue in Cross-Cultural Comparisons

To extend face-negotiation theory (FNT) to romantic relationship contexts, we examined the patterns of responses to six survey instruments among five countries. We intend this initial paper to serve as a tutorial of testing measurement invariance—specifically by elaborating on: (a) how to establish measurement equivalence and (b) how to test measurement invariance using multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results highlight the importance of establishing equivalency and routinely testing invariance in cross- and intercultural research. This is especially important given the often-extreme equivalency challenges faced when collecting data in non-Western cultures using scales developed in Western countries.     

Cascaded spiral microfluidic device for deterministic and high purity continuous separation of circulating tumor cells

Inertial microfluidics is an emerging class of technologies developed to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs). However, defining design parameters and flow conditions for optimal operation remains nondeterministic due to incomplete understanding of the mechanics, which has led to challenges in designing efficient systems. Here, we perform a parametric study of the inertial focusing effects observed in low aspect ratio curvilinear microchannels and utilize the results to demonstrate the isolation of CTCs with high purity. First, we systematically vary parameters including the channel height, width, and radius of curvature over a wide range of flow velocities to analyze its effect on size dependent differential focusing and migration behaviors of binary (10 μm and 20 μm) particles. Second, we use these results to identify optimal flow regimes to achieve maximum separation in various channel configurations and establish design guidelines to readily provide information for developing spiral channels tailored to potentially arbitrary flow conditions that yield a desired equilibrium position for optimal size based CTC separation. Finally, we describe a fully integrated, sheath-less cascaded spiral microfluidic device to continuously isolate CTCs. Human breast cancer epithelial cells were successfully extracted from leukocytes, achieving 86.76% recovery, 97.91% depletion rate, and sustaining high viability upon collection to demonstrate the versatility of the device. Importantly, this device was designed without the cumbersome trail-and-error optimization process that has hindered the development of designing such inertial microfluidic systems.     

Perception of what works for teachers of students with EBD in mainstream and special schools in Hong Kong

This study focuses on teachers' perception of what works for them in managing students with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD). The main purpose is to compare the current findings in mainstream schools with the study that was conducted in special schools in 2006–2007 to see if there are any discrepancies of approaches implemented by teachers. This recent study was carried out in 11 mainstream schools involving 102 teachers. It is compared to the seven special schools with 89 teachers. Focus group interviews with the same open-ended questions were adopted for both studies. Findings indicated that the majority of the strategies perceived by both groups of teachers as helpful were very similar, and they can be classified under eight major categories. In collating all the approaches deemed supportive in working with EBD students, a holistic conceptual framework is delineated to address the complexities of managing emotional and behavioral disturbances.     

The logic of Hong Kong teachers: An exploratory study of their teaching culturally diverse students

This study aims to report how Hong Kong teachers handle a seemingly conventional, orderly schooling phenomenon—the teaching of the newly arrived children (NAC) migrated from mainland China. Semi‐structured interviews with ten teachers from nine primary schools were conducted. The principal findings are that the teachers are not prepared for the challenges of teaching NAC, that the traditional approaches adopted by many teachers are ineffective, that subtle transformation of the pupil population due to the everlasting influx of NAC has yet to be appreciated by the teachers, and that teachers' logic—their worldview, mindset and conceptualisation of forces at work in Hong Kong schooling—remains unchanged. This paper highlights the various issues of monoculturalisation. Implications are discussed.