Compliance through care and commitment: why young people do as adults ask

Although the behaviour of young people is often a focus for concern, most young people do as they are asked. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study across four educational settings that set out to explore reasons for this compliance. Forty-four young people (aged 12–21) participated in interactive focus groups and 21 practitioners were interviewed. A critical exploration of the authority relationships between the young people and the participating adults was undertaken. The research was designed to explore the relevance of the typology of authority relationships proposed by Dennis Wrong for educational settings. The findings confirmed the applicability of his work; however, the paper argues that an additional basis for authority relationships characterised by ‘care and commitment’ should be included. The results suggest the potential for long-term caring relationships, authenticity and professional competence as key factors in enhancing compliance in educational settings.     

Frank Parsons: Promoter of a progressive Era

Conclusion There is much that cannot be known about Parsons but his life remains both understandable and exemplary to today's students of career development. It is relevant to recall history and to seek explanations regarding the origins of career counseling by considering Parsons as a man in his time. He was a forward thinker and a promoter of the Progressive years. Many of the issues he was concerned with, such as the eight-hour day, profit sharing, the role of education in preparing the citizen for society, urban planning, and ownership of public utilities remain current concerns. His devotion to principle and total dedication to public betterment are qualities which, as Zytowski stated in 1985, remain needed in leaders for our times.     

I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum

Latecomers to science are students who take non-traditional routes into postsecondary science because they are initially missing prerequisites. Latecomers have a lower rate of persistence than traditional science students. This critical discourse analysis of an online forum thread uses Gee’s toolkit to explore how latecomers, who have histories of not being recognized as smart enough to do science, find new ways to identify with science. Applying a theoretical lens in which identity is viewed as a process of continual negotiation, which is constrained and afforded by the resources of the relevant figured worlds, it is shown how four latecomers shared reinterpreted histories of being recognized as not smart enough to do science and in doing so, formed solidarity. As part of this process they co-produced a new cultural model in which the ability or inability to ask questions led respectively to success (good grades) or failure (low grades) in science. Used in conjunction with their solidarity, they were not only able to successfully position themselves in the elite figured world of science, but also to reify the result in a form that could potentially support future identification with science. Aspects of the online forum that supported the co-production are explored, including its ability to help students draw on resources from outside of the science program. The importance of encouraging students to discuss their struggles with science and the accompanying construction of solidarity is also discussed. This research is of particular interest to practitioners and researchers interested in supporting non-traditional science students such as latecomers, especially those wishing to move away from deficit views of these students and towards a more complex and agentic understanding of persistence and identity in science.     

Social justice intents in policy: an analysis of capability for and through education

Primarily developed as an alternative to narrow measures of well-being such as utility and resources, Amartya Sen’s capability approach places strong emphasis on people’s substantive opportunities. As a broad normative framework, the capability approach has become a valuable tool for understanding and evaluating social arrangements (e.g. education policies and development programmes) in terms of individuals’ effective freedoms to achieve valuable beings and doings. This paper explores the recent emergence of ‘capability’ in Australian education policy, specifically in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper. We explore capability as a framing device and reveal how its various meanings are at odds with the scholarly literature, specifically Sen’s conception of capability and its implications for social justice in and through education. The analysis shows that the social justice intent of a capability approach appears to be overtaken in the White Paper by an emphasis on outcomes, performance and functionings that seek to serve the nation’s economic interests more than the interests of students, especially the disadvantaged.     

Size and shape based chromosome separation in the inertial focusing device

In this paper, we use a spiral channel inertial focusing device for isolation and purification of chromosomes, which are highly asymmetric. The method developed is proposed as a sample preparation process for transchromosomic research. The proposed microfluidics-based chromosome separation approach enables rapid, label-free isolation of bioactive chromosomes and is compatible with chromosome buffer. As part of this work, particle force analysis during the separation process is performed utilizing mathematic models to estimate the expected behavior of chromosomes in the channel and the model validated with experiments employing fluorescent beads. The chromosome sample is further divided into subtypes utilizing fluorescent activated cell sorting , including small condensed chromosomes, single chromosomes, and groups of two chromosomes (four sister chromatids). The separation of chromosome subtypes is realized based on their shape differences in the spiral channel device under high flow rate conditions. When chromosomes become aligned in the shear flow, the balance between the inertial focusing force and the Dean flow drag force is determined by the chromosome projection area and aspect ratio, or shape difference, leading to different focusing locations in the channel. The achieved results indicate a new separation regime in inertial microfluidics that can be used for the separation of non-spherical particles based on particle aspect ratios, which could potentially be applied in fields such as bacteria subtype separation and chromosome karyotyping.     

Role of Epistemic Beliefs and Scientific Argumentation in Science Learning

We hypothesized that instruction in the criteria of scientific arguments, in combination with constructivist epistemic beliefs, would produce greater learning about physics concepts. The study was a randomized experiment, where college undergraduates (n = 88) discussed, in pairs over the Web, several physics problems related to gravity and air resistance. Prior to their discussions, one‐half of the dyads received information on the nature of scientific arguments. All students were classified epistemologically as relativists, multiplists, or evaluativists. We found that students in the treatment group incorporated more scientific criteria into their discussion notes and accordingly developed better arguments on several dimensions. In addition, significantly more participants in the treatment group adopted the correct answer to one of the problems. Outcomes also differed in relation to students’ epistemic beliefs. Specifically, multiplists were less critical of inconsistencies and misconceptions, and interacted with their partners less than other belief groups, whereas evaluativists interacted more critically, bringing up different ideas from their partners. Evaluativists also solved one of the physics problems more accurately and tended to demonstrate a reduction in misconceptions. We discuss the results in light of instruction in scientific argumentation, conceptual development and change, and epistemic beliefs.