‘Slaughtering this beautiful math’: graduate women choosing and leaving mathematics

The quality of graduate students' relationships with faculty are crucial for students' success. Unfortunately, negative relationships with faculty are common for women in the sciences and mathematics. Six women doctoral students in one mathematics department in the US were interviewed to better understand the nature of their relationships with faculty members, and the effects of those relationships on their decisions to persist or to leave. These women described the limited or negative relationships they had with faculty. They spoke of ways in which they felt ignored, the lack of mentoring, advising, and other guidance, poor teaching, and a general lack of moral support. Each of them described ways in which they felt they did not ‘fit in’ in the department. These findings are interpreted through two lenses: the idea of participation in a community of practice and all that that entails, and Noddings' notions of caring. Implications for women in mathematics at all levels are discussed.     

School achievement differences among Chinese and Filipino American students: acculturation and the family

The general belief that Asian American adolescents are successful has led researchers to ignore variations in Asian adolescents’ academic success. Using samples of Chinese and Filipino adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined whether differences between these two groups in acculturation, parent–adolescent attachment, and parental school involvement could account for academic achievement differences. Results revealed that Chinese adolescents generally performed better in school than their Filipino counterparts. Factors that predicted academic achievement were ethnicity, acculturation, and parents’ academic involvement. An interaction was found between ethnicity and acculturation, indicating that acculturation is a predictor of academic performance among Filipino youth but not among Chinese youth. Cultural values in parent–adolescent attachment, acculturation, and parents’ school involvement are discussed.     

The impact of parenting on risk cognitions and risk behavior: a study of mediation and moderation in a panel of African American adolescents

Hypotheses concerning the extent to which adolescents' cognitions mediate the relation between parenting behaviors and adolescent substance use were examined in a panel of African American adolescents (N = 714, M age at Time 1 = 10.51 years) and their primary caregivers. A nested-model approach indicated that effective parenting (i.e., monitoring of the child's activities, communication about substances, and parental warmth) was related to adolescent substance use more than 5 years later. The parenting behaviors protected the adolescent from subsequent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use through associations with two cognitive elements from the prototype/willingness model: favorable risk images (prototypes) and behavioral willingness. Additional analyses indicated that these protective effects were strongest among families residing in high-risk neighborhoods.     

Extending Tobin’s mindfulness in education

Cultural Studies of Science Education - A special issue of Learning: Research and Practice dedicated to mindfulness is summarized with the assertion that the contributions illustrate a perspective...     

Personal Branding: Building Your Pathway to Professional Success

Personal branding is an introspective process by which you define yourself professionally, and it can serve as your pathway to professional success. There are six steps to building your personal brand: (1) taking an introspective look, (2) understanding the brand that may already exist, (3) developing your personal brand mantra, (4) crafting your physical footprint, (5) creating your digital footprint, and (6) communicating your message. Your personal brand is a promise of value and performance, and it is necessary to meet the expectations of your audience. Effective brand management is a key component to maintaining a positive brand reputation.     

The evaluation of physical learning environments: a critical review of the literature

This article critically reviews the methodologies and methods that have been used for the evaluation of physical learning environments. To contextualize discussion about the evaluation of learning spaces, we initially chart the development of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) for non-domestic buildings. We then discuss the recent evolution of POE into the broader evaluative framework of building performance evaluation. Subsequently, a selection of approaches used to evaluate higher education and school learning environments are compared and critically analyzed in view of contemporary approaches to teaching and learning. Gaps in these evaluative approaches are identified and an argument is put forward for the evaluation of physical learning environments from a more rigorous pedagogical perspective.     

Journalism

THE AMERICAN JOURNALIST: A PORTRAIT OF U.S. NEWS PEOPLE AND THEIR WORK by David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986—$25.00)

THE “UNCENSORED WAR:” THE MEDIA AND VIETNAM by Daniel C. Hallin (New York: Oxford, 1986—$22.50)

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SHOW: CAMPAIGN '84 AND BEYOND ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS by Keith Blume (Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 670 South Amherst Rd., South Hadley, MA 01075—$29.95/12.95)

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN AMERICA by Robert E. Denton, Jr. and Gary C. Woodward (New York: Praeger, 1985—$42.95/15.95)

NEWS MEDIA AND PUBLIC POLICY: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY edited by Joseph P. McKerns (New York: Garland, 1985—$39.00)

COMMITTED JOURNALISM: AN ETHIC FOR THE PROFESSION by Edmund B. Lambeth (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986—$25.00/8.95)

SUING THE PRESS: LIBEL, THE MEDIA & POWER by Rodney A. Smolla (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986—$18.95)

WORLDLY POWER: THE MAKING OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL by Edward E. Scharff (Beaufort Books, 9 East 40th St., New York 10016—$18.95)

THE ULTIMATE INSIDERS: U.S. SENATORS IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA by Stephen Hess (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1986—price not given, cloth and paper)

THE FLACKS OF WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND THE PUBLIC AGENDA by David Morgan (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1986—$29.95)

ISSUES MANAGEMENT: CORPORATE POLICYMAKING IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY by Robert L. Heath and Richard Alan Nelson (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1986—no price given)

BEHIND THE LINES: CASE STUDIES IN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING by Margaret Jones Patterson and Robert H. Russell (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986—$28.50)

GOVERNING THE PRESS: MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE U.S. AND GREAT BRITAIN by Deborah Holmes (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986—$16.50, paper)

THE UNTAPPED POWER OF THE PRESS: EXPLAINING GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE by Lewis W. Wolfson (New York: Praeger, 1985—$28.95/9/95)     

Trait self-esteem and claimed self-handicapping motives in sports situations

Abstract

We examined the relationship between physical self-esteem and claimed self-handicapping among athletes by taking motives into consideration. In Study 1, 99 athletes were asked to report their tendency to engage in claimed self-handicapping for self-protective and self-enhancement motives (trait measures). Low self-esteem athletes reported a higher tendency to engage in claimed self-handicapping for these two motives compared with high self-esteem athletes. Neither low nor high self-esteem athletes reported a preference for one motive over the other. In Study 2, 107 athletes participated in a test that was ostensibly designed to assess high physical abilities – and thus to encourage self-handicapping for self-enhancement motives (success-meaningful condition) – or to assess low physical abilities, and thus to encourage self-handicapping for self-protective motives (failure-meaningful condition). Before starting the test, athletes were given the opportunity to claim handicaps that could impair their performance. Low self-esteem athletes claimed more handicaps than high self-esteem athletes in both conditions. Findings suggest that low physical self-esteem athletes engage more in claimed handicapping regardless of motives, relative to high physical self-esteem athletes.