From Parachutes to Partnerships: An “Integrated” Natural History Museum Expedition in the Philippines

The 2011 Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition was the largest ever launched by the California Academy of Sciences, and was also the largest and most diverse expedition to ever take place in the Philippines. Filipino collaboration and participation were vitally important from the outset. Scientists of both nations documented biodiversity in a variety of habitats and across multiple biological disciplines, identifying more than 500 species new to science. The expedition also modeled a new way of embedding substantial educational outreach and media coverage, and promoting conservation actions. More than 900 people attended educational events in the Philippines. Extensive television, radio, online, and print media coverage occurred both in the Philippines and in the U.S. during the expedition and after. A conference at the end shared preliminary results among scientists, educators, policy makers, and media, before the Academy team even left the country.     

The Importance of Early Vocabulary for Literacy Achievement in High-Poverty Schools

Although research documents a key contribution of print skills to early literacy, vocabulary and other language skills also provide an important foundation. Focusing on a sample of several hundred low-income children in 16 urban schools that were implementing literacy interventions, 1st-grade predictors of literacy development were traced over time. Beginning-of-1st-grade letter–word identification and word attack skills were the strongest predictors of reading comprehension at the end of 1st grade. However, vocabulary was the best predictor of reading comprehension at the end of 2nd and 3rd grades. The predictive power of early print-related and phonemic-awareness skills diminished over time, yet vocabulary scores remained an important predictor. Results support an early emphasis on developing meaning skills to prepare low-income children for success in literacy.     

Community-oriented medical education

Community-orientated medicine is a topical area for debate in the current discussions about medical education, but it can be agued that medical education has always been in the community because medical practice is located therein. It is widely accepted that community settings provide a wealth of learning opportunities for students and trainees and can help address some of the problems being experienced in the hospital settings in relation to the expansion of the sector. This paper seeks to offer a personal viewpoint on community and community-oriented medical education and then considers different models of community medical education and the resource implications for such approaches.     

SENIOR STUDENTS: HIGHER EDUCATION AFTER AGE 62

This paper reports on a survey of 424 persons aged 62 and over, who were interviewed in an area probability sample of Wichita, Kansas. Research on educational needs and interests was part of a multi‐disciplinary study of health care, transportation, nutrition, household help, and life satisfaction of aged people in a midwestern city. Findings about general interest in higher education, interest in specific courses, and stated reasons for present or anticipated nonparticipation are reviewed. A minority of interviewees expressed interest in pursuing higher education, particularly in a broad range of liberal arts courses. Those interested in higher education are contrasted with those who were not with respect to perceptions of (1) dollar costs, (2) availability of information, (3) feeling out of place in the classroom, and (4) time costs.     

Credits, curriculum, and control in higher education: Cross-national perspectives

Through an examination of the higher education systems in threecountries (Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Vietnam), the authors explore howthe use of academic credits for monitoring student progress has been andcontinues to be linked to policies and institutions associated withcapitalist, market-driven economic systems. The recent histories ofthese countries and their current social and political contexts areanalyzed in relation to three interrelated themes that have emerged fromthe analysis of the three cases. These themes are: (1) Linkages topolitical and economic systems: higher education as vocationaltraining, (2) Standardization, efficiency, andtechnocracy, and (3) Who controls the curriculum? Inconclusion, the authors suggest that the academic credit system,embedded within a network of other educational practices, hastransformed the university into an institution focused on relativelynarrow, utilitarian aims rather than a more universal pursuit ofknowledge.