A hedonic model of player wage determination from the Indian Premier League auction: Further evidence

A range of cross-sectional models are estimated with a view to establishing the factors that determine the valuation of professional athletes in a highly-specialised sport, with an application to cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL). We distinguish between personal characteristic and playing ability factors, and with respect to the former, between ability in different forms of the sport. We find a number of interpretable variables that have explanatory power over auction values, while decomposition according to batting and bowling specialisations produces very different results depending on the use of either Test or One-Day International (ODI) variables. There is also possible evidence of inefficient bidding, insomuch that overbidding was somewhat correlated with players with higher realised values.     

ABANDONING THEORETICAL FORTRESSES: POSSIBILITIES FOR INTERACTION

In this review essay, William Proefriedt argues that it may be possible to reformulate three apparently irreconcilable stances in a manner that would allow more interaction among the elements championed within each stance. The arguments addressed are (1) the argument for the efficacy of educational reform; (2) the argument that social and economic realities decisively undercut the efficacy of educational reform; and (3) the argument that the heritability of IQ is dramatically more determinative of individuals' school and economic success than any set of school policies and practices. Proefriedt seeks to examine these positions as they have been developed in Linda Darling‐Hammond et al.'s Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching for Understanding, Richard Rothstein's Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black‐White Achievement Gap, and Charles Murray's Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality. He concludes that the three analyses under consideration can be formulated so that each might serve to complement the strengths and correct the deficiencies of the others, thus yielding a broader explanatory scheme that could lead to wiser policies.     

A classwide peer‐modeling intervention package to increase on‐task behavior

Evidence‐based classwide interventions have the potential to help a large number of students by preventing problem behaviors before they become a significant problem in the classroom. Results of a study examining the effectiveness of a classwide peer‐modeling intervention package to improve students' on‐task behavior in the classroom are presented. The classwide intervention took place in three mixed‐grade classrooms (third/fourth, fourth/fifth, and fifth/sixth) with 14–20 students each. Fifteen‐minute intervention sessions occurred approximately two times a week for a total of six to eight sessions. During each intervention session, students watched a 4‐minute videotape segment depicting a peer model demonstrating near 100% on‐task behavior, which was accompanied by verbal coaching and small tangible rewards. Results demonstrated large treatment effects across all three classrooms, which remained large in two of the classrooms at follow‐up 4–8 weeks later. Corresponding positive social validity by participating students and teachers was also documented. Results are discussed in terms of implications, limitations, and future research directions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Faculty and student perceptions of outstanding university teachers in the USA and Russia

The majority of research that relates teacher characteristics to student learning in the university has come from Western universities. Using various methodologies, research continues to examine the characteristics of outstanding university teachers. Much of that research in the USA assesses faculty and student perspectives. However, there are nearly no cross‐cultural comparisons on this issue. We examined faculty and student perspectives about outstanding university teachers in the USA and in Russia. Faculty members and students at the University of Central Arkansas, Orel State University and Moscow City University rated the qualities of outstanding teachers on the Teacher Behaviors Checklist (TBC). Results showed significant positive correlations for the relative importance of teacher characteristics across the six participant groups. There did not appear to be any substantial differences between the American and Russian counterparts for 21 of the 28 specific teacher characteristics. The comparison of American and Russian faculty and students suggests more universality than cross‐cultural differences in the characteristics of outstanding university teachers.     

Charles Darwin and Evolution: Illustrating Human Aspects of Science

Recently, the nature of science (NOS) has become recognized as an important element within the K-12 science curriculum. Despite differences in the ultimate lists of recommended aspects, a consensus is emerging on what specific NOS elements should be the focus of science instruction and inform textbook writers and curriculum developers. In this article, we suggest a contextualized, explicit approach addressing one core NOS aspect: the human aspects of science that include the domains of creativity, social influences and subjectivity. To illustrate these ideas, we have focused on Charles Darwin, a scientist whose life, work and thought processes were particularly well recorded at the time and analyzed by scholars in the succeeding years. Historical facts are discussed and linked to core NOS ideas. Creativity is illustrated through the analogies between the struggle for existence in human societies and in nature, between artificial and natural selection, and between the division of labor in human societies and in nature. Social influences are represented by Darwin’s aversion of criticism of various kinds and by his response to the methodological requirements of the science of that time. Finally, subjectivity is discussed through Darwin’s development of a unique but incorrect source for the origin of variations within species.     

Male teacher shortage: black teachers’ perspectives

In this paper the authors draw on the perspectives of black teachers to provide a more nuanced analysis of male teacher shortage. Interviews with two Caribbean teachers in Toronto, Canada, are employed to illuminate the limits of an explanatory framework that foregrounds the singularity of gender as a basis for advocating male teachers as role models. The study concludes that educational policy attempting to address male teacher shortage would benefit from engaging with both analytic frameworks and empirical research that is capable of unravelling the politics of representation and intersectionality as they relate to addressing questions of male teacher shortage in elementary schools.