Crafting policies about controversial values: How wording disputes manage a group dilemma

Over a six-month time period a school board and its community discussed their district's strategic plan goals about diversity. This article analyzes that discussion within the practical theory frame articulated by Craig. Meeting talk and documents were analyzed to determine how the group's policy deliberation became an argument over what words to have (or avoid) in the strategic plan document. Proposals about document language were framed as technical editing, as inadvertent changing of a policy, and as wordsmithing. In addition to each frame being used, each was also challenged as to its being used to advance some group members' interests at the expense of others. Moving back and forth between using and resisting wording proposal frames, we suggest, is a reasonable way for groups to manage a dilemma they face in crafting policies about controversial, abstract issues. The paper concludes by identifying implications for dilemma theorizing and future study of groups.     

The effects of developing English language and literacy on Spanish reading comprehension

In this longitudinal study, the cross-language transfer from second language (L2) to first language (L1) was examined among Spanish-speaking English-language learners in an English intervention (Grades 1–3) in the southwest United States. Path analysis revealed statistically significant transfers (ps < .05) for the treatment group from English reading comprehension to Spanish reading comprehension. English vocabulary and English grammar also had an indirect influence on Spanish reading comprehension through English reading comprehension. For the comparison group, no English to Spanish paths were statistically significant. We concluded that intervention activities in L2 influenced L1 reading even when L1 instructional time was reduced.     

Students positioned as global citizens in Australian and New Zealand universities: A discourse analysis

ABSTRACT

Higher education plays a critical role in producing society’s leaders by preparing graduates with the knowledge, capabilities and disposition to appreciate diversity and address social injustice. Many higher education institutions within and beyond Australia have aimed to internationalise their curricula to ensure students achieve capabilities that enable them to contribute to an evolving global knowledge economy. However, the inclusion of global citizenship as a graduate attribute embedded in internationalised curricula, and the processes to achieving this, are highly contested. Guided by a discourse analysis approach, this study explored how Australian and New Zealand universities position students as global citizens in public web pages. Publicly available policy and other text documents on university websites relating to internationalisation and/or global citizenship were collected and screened. Those that met inclusion criteria were analysed to identify discourses and to further understand how higher education institutions describe their plan to advance and achieve global citizenship agendas. Two key themes were generated: expressions of internationalisation policy and global citizenship as an obscured educational intention. These findings are further elaborated, providing an outline of the possible implications for higher education policy and practice relating to the internationalisation of curriculum for global citizenship and its potential impact on educators and students.     

The role of sentence recall in reading and language skills of children with learning difficulties

The present study explores the relationship between sentence recall and reading and language skills in a group of 7–11-year-old children with learning difficulties. While recent studies have found that performance on sentence recall tasks plays a role in learning, it is possible that this contribution is a reflection of shared resources with working memory. In order to investigate whether sentence recall was uniquely associated with reading and language skills, differences associated with IQ and working memory capacity were statistically controlled. A sample of 72 children was tested on measures of verbal complex memory, verbal short-term memory, sentence recall, expressive vocabulary, verbal and performance IQ, reading and language skills. Both sentence recall and verbal complex memory shared unique links with reading skill, and sentence recall was uniquely associated with language skills. This finding indicates that resources in long-term memory also play an important diagnostic role in reading and language abilities. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Self in context: autonomy and relatedness in Japanese and U.S. mother-preschooler dyads

Cultural differences and similarities in socialization during two contrasting laboratory tasks were examined in 30 Japanese mothers and their preschoolers, both temporarily residing in the United States, and 30 U.S. mothers and their preschoolers (age: M = 55.8 months, SD = 4.9). Mother and child actions, speech, emotion, and attention were coded from videotaped observations during a free play task and waiting task. Cross-cultural comparisons showed that U.S. mothers had more conversations that emphasized individual experiences, more often acted as playmates and used joint attention, maintained more physical distance, showed more positive emotions, and made more positive responses to child accomplishment. In contrast, Japanese mothers had more conversations that emphasized shared experiences, showed more divided attention, and maintained social role distinctions. Similar, but fewer cultural differences emerged for children. However, maternal and child characteristics also varied by task context. The results suggested an emphasis on autonomy in U.S. dyads and an emphasis on relatedness in Japanese dyads, but the interactions with task context revealed the coexistence of autonomy and relatedness.     

The emancipatory potential of transformative mixed methods designs: informing youth participatory action research and restorative practices within a district-wide school transformation project

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the emancipatory potential of incorporating youth participatory action research (YPAR) and restorative practices (RP) implementation into a transformative mixed methods study design as a means to create equitable and caring school systems for marginalized youth. The utilization of transformative mixed methods research offers a methodological orientation to legitimize, illuminate, and prioritize perspectives from marginalized youth that may be undervalued, decontextualized, and oversimplified in traditional quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Furthermore, the authors suggest that YPAR and RP align with Critical Theory and Quantitative Criticalism, which are theoretical and methodological frameworks consistent with the transformative paradigm. The integration of these various theoretical, methodological and applied frameworks provides researchers opportunities to flatten hierarchies and actively engage marginalized youth to address the structural and programmatic inequities they experience in schools. Informed by the authors’ multi-year university-school district action research partnership, this paper explores how the alignment of YPAR, RP, and transformative mixed methods may promote critical consciousness amongst students, families, staff, and administration in schools. Finally, we also demonstrate how social science researchers can blend YPAR, RP, and transformative mixed methods design to partner with school districts to address structural societal problems, such as racism and inequity.     

Factors Influencing Counselor Educators' Subjective Sense of Well‐Being

A national survey of 230 counselor educators was conducted to examine issues that encourage or discourage these educators to continue as faculty members. Three of the 5 factors (Organizational Control, Internal Control and Rewards, and Time and Effort Management) identified in a factor analysis of the 91‐item, author‐developed questionnaire (Pluses and Minuses of Being a Counselor Educator) were found to be correlated (p < .01) with the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (M. J. Stones & A. Kozma, 1994). The factors and their relationship to counselor educators' sense of well‐being are discussed in relation to potential actions for institutions and individuals.     

Coupled physical and digital cadaver dissection followed by a visual test protocol provides insights into the nature of anatomical knowledge and its evaluation

This research effort compared and contrasted two conceptually different methods for the exploration of human anatomy in the first‐year dissection laboratory by accomplished students: “physical” dissection using an embalmed cadaver and “digital” dissection using three‐dimensional volume modeling of whole‐body CT and MRI image sets acquired using the same cadaver. The goal was to understand the relative contributions each method makes toward student acquisition of intuitive sense of practical anatomical knowledge gained during “hands‐on” structural exploration tasks. The main instruments for measuring anatomical knowledge under this conceptual model were questions generated using a classification system designed to assess both visual presentation manner and the corresponding response information required. Students were randomly divided into groups based on exploration method (physical or digital dissection) and then anatomical region. The physical dissectors proceeded with their direct methods, whereas the digital dissectors generated and manipulated indirect 3D digital models. After 6 weeks, corresponding student anatomical assignment teams compared their results using photography and animated digital visualizations. Finally, to see whether each method provided unique advantages, a visual test protocol of new visualizations based on the classification schema was administered. Results indicated that all students, regardless of gender, dissection method, and anatomical region dissected performed significantly better on questions presented as rotating models requiring spatial ordering or viewpoint determination responses in contrast to requests for specific lexical feature identifications. Additional results provided evidence of trends showing significant differences in gender and dissection method scores. These trends will be explored with further trials with larger populations. Anat Sci Ed 1:27–40, 2008. © 2007 American Association of Anatomists.