Deconstructing Meritocracy in the College Classroom

The purpose of this article is to discuss meritocracy as it impacts our undergraduate college teaching. As college educators, we have come to realize how little students have been challenged to critically examine the notion of meritocracy. Seeking to understand why this is so and what we can do to engender a more nuanced understanding of how social class is structured and perpetuated across generations, we present an assessment of why the majority of students believe we live in a meritocratic society and how college educators can use specific activities to complicate this view. As we do this we include evidence of how social class and social mobility are structured and why an adherence to meritocracy is, we believe, an anathema to teaching for social justice.     

Where excludability matters: Material versus intellectual property in academic biomedical research

On the basis of survey responses from 507 academic biomedical researchers, we examine the impact of patents on access to the knowledge and material inputs that are used in subsequent research. We observe that access to knowledge inputs is largely unaffected by patents. Accessing other researchers’ materials and/or data, such as cell lines, reagents, or unpublished information is, however, more problematic. The main factors associated with restricted access to materials and/or data include scientific competition, the cost of providing materials, a history of commercial activity on the part of the prospective supplier, and whether the material in question is itself a drug.     

Can high stakes national testing improve instruction: reexamining conventional wisdom

In this paper, the authors draw on recent international experience to assess the success of five propositions for how high stakes national testing can improve classroom instruction and, ultimately, raise student achievement. Findings indicate that testing can be an effective mechanism for improving instructional practice, but its success is not ensured. It has failed as often as it has succeeded, usually because those implementing the strategy failed to understand the intermediate conditions that had to be met for changes in test content, format, or use to have the desired impact on teachers' classroom practice.     

A longitudinal study of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-revised over a six-year period

The study investigated the stability of the WISC-R IQ scores of 32 exceptional students (24 males, 8 females) over a six-year interval. The sample was composed of 20 learning disabled and 12 mentally handicapped students who ranged in age from 6–5 to 16–11. Analyses of variance for repeated measures and product-moment correlations were used to analyze the data. Test-retest findings indicated that the rs ranged from .53 to .87, with a median value of .74, with four of the nine values below .70. Implications for clinicians in terms of the importance of reevaluation of exceptional students are discussed.     

How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as a basis to understand and arrive at better approaches to research designs?

Cultural Studies of Science Education - In this paper we introduce the concept of contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as an analytical tool for interrogating the contextual landscapes that situate...     

Gender differences in positive social–emotional functioning

We investigated gender differences of children and adolescents on positive social and emotional competencies using a new strength‐based measure of positive social–emotional attributes and resilience—the Social–Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales (SEARS) cross‐informant system. Caregivers, teachers, and students in grades kindergarten through 12 from schools across several U.S. states completed SEARS rating scales and self‐report forms. Females were consistently rated as having significantly higher total scores on all versions of the SEARS assessment system (p < .01), indicating consistent perceptions of females' higher levels of social–emotional competencies by all raters. These differences were not impacted by the grade students were in or the gender of the parent or teacher rater. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring the Stability and Variability of Impact Factors and Associated Rankings in Criminology and Criminal Justice Journals, 1998–2007

This study sought to explore the impact factors and associated rankings of criminology and criminal justice journals that have been ranked in the top 20 over the past 10 years (1998–2007). The results from this study suggested a considerable degree of similarity in the rankings of criminology and criminal justice journals compared to other known methods insofar as the rankings of the top journals such as CRIM and JRCD. However, further analyses revealed a noticeable amount of stability and variability in the journals that make the top 20 list over time and stability and variability in the rankings of specific journals themselves over time. Study limitations and suggestions for future research ranking criminology and criminal justice journals are also discussed.     

Promoting connectedness with nature through environmental education

It has been suggested that a positive human–nature relationship is essential for countering today’s environmental problems. Prior environmental education research has focused largely on knowledge or attitudinal outcomes, and few studies have examined the ability of environmental education programmes to promote connectedness with nature. Therefore, our goal was to (1) examine differences in connectedness with nature among a sample of children with differing ages and academic tracks, and (2) investigate whether environmental education can help promote and sustain connectedness with nature. With a pre-, post- and retention test design, we assessed a comprehensive four-day environmental education programme on water at a school field centre, using the inclusion of nature in self (INS) scale to identify the change in connectedness of 9–10-year-old pupils and 11–13-year-old pupils. We found that younger children and university-track pupils had higher INS scores than older children and general-education-track pupils, respectively. Participating in environmental education resulted in a robust short-term increase in connectedness with nature in both age groups. However, only the younger pupils’ connectedness remained sustained four weeks following the treatment. Environmental educators should keep in mind that strengthening connectedness to nature is more sustainable before the age of 11.     

A discrepancy theory of the relationship between communication and job satisfaction

This study found moderate differences in correlations between communication and job satisfaction using a discrepancy framework when high, as opposed to low, valence rewards are communicated and significant differences in job satisfaction when high valence rewards are communicated versus when high valence rewards are not communicated.