A New Way of Thinking about Social Location in Science

The Durkheimian concept of the density of social relationships may prove more fruitful than the historical materialist notion of a social hierarchy for thinking about the social location of epistemic agents in science. To define a scientist’s social location in terms of the density of her professional relationships with other scientists permits us to give a more precise characterization of marginalization and thus to formulate more testable hypotheses about marginalized groups in science. The notion of social density helps to explain not only how some individual scientists are more likely than others to get a hearing for their ideas, but also how scientific inquiry flourishes more in some societies than in others.

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A Cultural Perspective on Professional Beliefs of Childcare Teachers

Preschool is an institution for cultural preservation, which responds to social change. Guided by this assumption, this study used a recent video of Chinese preschool in conjunction with the questionnaire from Preschool in Three Cultures, a study by Joseph Tobin and his colleagues in the 1980s, to examine the cultural and professional beliefs of three groups of U.S. early childhood educators (preservice, inservice non-Head Start, and inservice Head Start). We examined participants’ cultural beliefs, critical comments on the preschool, and group differences in their comments. Results show that participants’ beliefs about necessary qualities for a teacher remained stable from the 1980s in the U.S. But a shift occurred in beliefs about why society needs preschools. More education and longer employment were linked significantly to more critical comments of Chinese practice. There was a marked difference in professional and cultural beliefs by educators’ group affiliations.

Geotechnical research on Jiangnan Tu-Dun tomb historical remains in China

Geotechnical research on historical remains can provide new data and distinctive viewpoint for research on soil mechanics. Two Jiangnan Tu-Dun tombs historical remains were investigated by means of in situ and laboratory geotechnical tests. In the present paper the geotechnical properties of these man-made earthworks, especially ageing effect on consolidation and direct shear, and compaction properties of earth fill are discussed.     

Effects of within-class ability grouping on social interaction,achievement, and motivation

This study examined how grouping arrangements affect students achievement, social interaction, and motivation. Students of high, average and low ability were randomly assigned to homogeneous or heterogeneous ability groups. All groups attended the same plant biology course. The main results indicate that low-ability students achieve more and are more motivated to learn in heterogeneous groups. Average-ability students perform better in homogeneous groups whereas high-ability students show equally strong learning outcomes in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. Results on social interaction indicate that heterogeneous groups produce higher proportions of individual elaborations, whereas homogeneous groups use relatively more collaborative elaborations. In the discussion, these differences in social interaction are used to explain the differential effects of grouping arrangements on achievement scores. Practical implications are discussed and topics for further research are advanced.     

Investigating profiles of lexical quality in preschool and their contribution to first grade reading

This longitudinal study investigated profiles of lexical quality domains in preschool children and the extent to which profile membership predicted reading comprehension in first grade. A latent profile analysis was conducted to classify 420 preschool children on lexical quality domains, including orthography, phonology, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Regression analysis was used to determine whether profile membership was associated with first grade outcomes across reading comprehension and its components (i.e., listening comprehension and word recognition). Results revealed five profiles of lexical quality which were predictive of all three outcomes in first grade. Children in low lexical quality profiles performed more poorly on the outcome measures than children in the higher lexical quality profiles. Additionally, profile membership did differentially predict later reading outcomes. These results suggest that lexical quality profiles are associated with reading and therefore may offer a means of early identification of children who are susceptible to future reading difficulties.     

Visual Chunking Skills of Hong Kong Children

This study investigated the development of visual chunking skills in the processing of Chinese characters among Hong Kong pupils. One-hundred-seventy-nine primary school students from first, second and fourth grades were administered a character copying task. Children as young as 6 years of age were aware of character units and were able to apply visual chunking strategies when processing characters. Children in higher grades performed better than those in lower grades on every character type, and the types of errors they made revealed that their chunking level was higher than that of younger children. Differences between ability groups emerged in second grade and vanished in fourth grade, suggesting that children with a lower reading ability are slower to develop advanced chunking skills.     

Using Photography To Explore Hidden Realities and Raise Cross-Cultural Sensitivity in Future Teachers

This study explored the influence of residency status (outsider) and prior cross-cultural experiences on how the neighborhoods of students are perceived by future teachers. The study participants consisted of 18 graduate teacher education mentors and their 18 high school mentees. The data sources included 820 black and white photographs and 82 photo captions generated by the study participants, mentee/mentor group discussions, and the graduate students’ weekly reflective journals, bi-weekly facilitated discussions and peer debriefings. The study found that subconscious realities based on prior cross-cultural experiences (or the lack thereof) are more significant factors than residency status when making value judgment about the neighborhoods of “others.” Elinor L. Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Kentucky, 311 Dickey Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0017