Further Reflections on an Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

In response to Maccoby's and Hinde's thoughtful commentaries, we highlight points of concurrence and disagreement. In particular, we note that mating and reproduction are affected by many factors beyond those to which our theory draws immediate attention; that the data linking socialization experiences and social structural conditions with pubertal timing are not restricted to either correlational studies or investigations of contemporaneous associations; that there may be more reason to question the theory's applicability to males than to females; that the question of whether male behave and develop the way we propose and Maccoby doubts is an empirically testable one; and that the data on relations between antecedent socialization conditions and pubertal timing and on variation in parental investment in the case of females run counter to Maccoby's doubts about the theory's applicability to females. Attention is drawn to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously, and thus the need for child developmentalists to think both about the how and why of development.     

Developing a Research Agenda in Science Education

The Science Summit reinforced a question upon which many of us in science education are focused: How can we, the science education community of researchers, practitioners, and consumers, lead policy? We include a brief review of the No Child Left Behind Act and its implications for teachers, and elaborate about one ongoing and growing effort to answer the concerns about the paucity of research expressed at the Summit. We describe a unique and growing collaboration across professional science education and science organizations and societies that focuses on the development of a research agenda. The term ‘consilience’ refers to the “jumping together of knowledge” that leads to scientific advancements, progressive, creative, fluid scientific research and intellectual capacity to move a research community toward an enlightened research agenda. A coherent research agenda enables us to specify what we know, what we need to know, and how research can be employed for creating and implementing policy. The use of a dynamic organizer (such as Pasteur’s Quadrant) for a research matrix of topics provides a possible structure for organizing and cataloging research questions, designs, findings from past studies, needed areas for research, and policy implications. Through this unique collaboration, the science education community can better focus on needs and priorities and ensure that teachers, policy makers, scientists, and researchers in education at local through national levels have an important stake in research priorities and actions.     

Childhood Experience, Interpersonal Development, and Reproductive Strategy: An Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

The concept of "reproductive strategy" drawn from the field of behavioral ecology is applied to the study of childhood experience and interpersonal development in order to develop an evolutionary theory of socialization. The theory is presented in terms of 2 divergent development pathways considered to promote reproductive success in the contexts in which they have arisen. One is characterized, in childhood, by a stressful rearing environment and the development of insecure attachments to parents and subsequent behavior problems; in adolescence by early pubertal development and precocious sexuality; and, in adulthood, by unstable pair bonds and limited investment in child rearing, whereas the other is characterized by the opposite. The relation between this theory and prevailing theories of socialization, specifically, attachment, social-learning, and discrete-emotions theory, is considered and research consistent with our evolutionary theory is reviewed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.     

Restructuring: Imperatives and Opportunities for Academic Leaders

In an era when market imperatives have reached an unprecedented level of legitimacy within academic management, the spotlight is on campus leaders to respond strategically. For research universities, particularly public research universities, there are critical institutional legacies to consider in the process of weighing alternative academic futures. Campus leaders need support to reaffirm their broader institutional mandates so that vital educational and social justice values are not jeopardized in the service of short-term economic functions.of which she is a 1987 Ph.D. graduate. She serves concurrently as the director of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research and as executive director and principal investigator of the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement     

The Use of the Course Experience Questionnaire as a Monitoring Evaluation Tool in a Problem-based Medical Programme

This paper reports on the use of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) as an instrument to monitor the medical programme at the University of Sydney and in particular to measure improvements in teaching quality with the introduction of the new graduate-entry problem-based programme. In addition, it raises the more general issue of interpretation of CEQ results in courses designed around problembased learning (PBL). Students' perceptions of teaching quality were sought using a whole class questionnaire survey and small group interviews. Students in the new programme rated their course more highly than did students in the old programme with respect to good teaching, appropriate assessment, generic skills and overall satisfaction. These improvements did not hold with respect to the clarity of goals and standards, nor for perceptions of an appropriate workload. The results are interpreted in context and it is argued that particular items in the CEQ do not reflect the educational philosophy or the instructional processes of PBL programmes.     

Making connections: Using skill theory to recognize how students build and rebuild understanding

In this companion to Marc Schwartz and Kurt Fischer's article, Patricia King and JoNes VanHecke describe how student affairs educators can help students become sophisticated thinkers.