The teacher leadership process: Attempting change within embedded systems

This embedded case study examines the leadership practices of eleven teacher leaders in three urban schools to identify how these teacher leaders attempt to change the teaching practice of their colleagues while working as professional learning community leaders and as mentors for new teachers. Using a theoretical framework integrating complex systems theory with Kotter’s (Leading change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996) eight steps for leading organizational change, we analyze the work and perspectives of individual teacher leaders, and we examine how teams of teacher leaders and principals function collectively in their efforts to lead instructional change. Our findings have implications for schools seeking to utilize teacher leadership as a reform strategy for authentic instructional improvement.     

A cross-case analysis of three Native Science Field Centers

Native Science Field Centers (NSFCs) were created to engage youth and adults in environmental science activities through the integration of traditional Native ways of knowing (understanding about the natural world based on centuries of observation including philosophy, worldview, cosmology, and belief systems of Indigenous peoples), Native languages, and Western science concepts. This paper focuses on the Blackfeet Native Science Field Center, the Lakota Native Science Field Center, and the Wind River Native Science Field Center. One of the long-term, overarching goals of these NSFCs was to stimulate the interest of Native American students in ways that encouraged them to pursue academic and career paths in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. A great deal can be learned from the experiences of the NSFCs in terms of effective educational strategies, as well as advantages and challenges in blending Native ways of knowing and Western scientific knowledge in an informal science education setting. Hopa Mountain—a Bozeman, Montana-based nonprofit—partnered with the Blackfeet Community College on the Blackfeet Reservation, Fremont County School District #21 on the Wind River Reservation, and Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation to cooperatively establish the Native Science Field Centers. This paper presents a profile of each NSFC and highlights their program components and accomplishments.     

Google Scholar’s Coverage of the Engineering Literature: An Empirical Study

Google Scholar’s coverage of the engineering literature is analyzed by comparing its contents with those of Compendex, the premier engineering database. Records retrieved from Compendex were searched in Google Scholar, and a decade by decade comparison was done from the 1950s through 2007. The results show that the percentage of records appearing in Google Scholar increased over time, approaching a 90 percent matching rate for materials published after 1990.     

The contribution of science‐rich resources to public science interest

This preliminary study examined the effect that five major sources of public science education—schools, science centers, broadcast media, print media, and the Internet—had on adults' science interest values and cognitive predispositions. Over 3,000 adults were sampled in three U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To minimize potential sampling bias, the results were weighted by current U.S. Census data to be comparable to demographics from each of the three jurisdictions. Participants were asked to self‐report their current and early adolescent usage of these five science‐related resources, the quality of their experiences with each, and their current abilities, values, and cognitive predispositions relative to science. Data showed that overall, a broad cross‐section of adults living in these cities engaged in a wide array of science‐related activities and that large majorities did so frequently. Nearly two‐thirds of all respondents self‐reported currently participating in some kind of science‐related activity every week and nearly half doing so daily. Results suggested that having frequent; positive science‐related experiences in‐ and out‐of‐school, both early and later in life, correlated with having a strong interest in and positive perception of science as an adult. Although a diversity of positive science‐related experiences correlated with current adult science interest values and cognitive predispositions, only five factors uniquely and significantly predicted adult science interest, values, and cognitive predispositions in the multivariate models: (a) early adolescent experiences visiting a science center, (b) early adolescent experiences watching science‐related television, (c) adult visits to a science center, (d) adults reading books and magazines about science, and (e) adults using the internet to learn more about science. Discussed are issues of self‐selection, quality of experiences, and the complex and synergistic nature of the science learning ecosystem.     

Functional differences between two shock-induced aggressive behaviors of mice

Five groups of male mice were given either isolation or grouped housing conditions or fight training as manipulations of social backgrounds prior to 5 days of shock-induced aggression under conditions resembling the rat paradigm for shock aggression. Three groups were given similar fight training but different levels of shock intensity during the shock trials. Shocks moderate in intensity as compared to very low intensity shocks produced more biting attacks and upright postures and maintained aggressiveness. Raising the shock intensity further produced fewer biting attacks, more upright postures, and a decline in aggressiveness. Biting attacks proved to be a more discriminating measure of differences created by different social backgrounds than the upright postures.     

The Office was asking for it: “that’s what she said” as a joke cycle that perpetuates rape culture

In this essay, we argue that the popular joke, “that’s what she said” is a symbolic representation of rape that contributes to and insulates rape culture. Drawing on Joseph Boskin’s notion of the “joke cycle” and extant literature on rape culture and misogynistic humor, we critique several instances of the joke on the popular television series The Office. From there, we extend our critique of the joke cycle, noting the conspicuous absence of concern over the joke and its implications in other scholarly treatments of the program. Our primary contention is that the joke cycle, which may be the most prominent cycle in recent decades, reinscribes rape culture by normalizing discourses that dismiss and silence rape victims, justify violence against women, and even blame victims for having been assaulted. “That’s what she said” avoids the critical eye because it disguises itself as a joke like any other.     

Amateurism and the Nature of Sport

The question of the relationship between amateurism and the essential nature of sport has long been the focus of significant debate within the sports studies literature. This commentary paper reflects critically upon the contributions to be found within four scholarly studies concerned with this issue—one historical, one largely journalistic, and two philosophical. Particular attention is paid to differentiations between those who participate in sports activities largely for the love of the game or other internal reasons and those who engage predominantly for external rewards. Following an extended analysis of points of both agreement and discord among the various authors, an exposition is presented of some important questions remaining to be addressed before the issue can be said to be resolved.     

Zweiwegintegration durch zweisprachige Bildung? Ergebnisse aus der Staatlichen Europa-Schule Berlin

Es gibt kein Rezept, wie mit der an Schulen in Europa h?ufig vorkommenden Sprachenvielfalt umgegangen werden sollte. Dieser Artikel pr?sentiert eine vielversprechende Alternative zum einsprachigen Unterricht. Die Staatliche Europa-Schule Berlin (SESB) ist ein Modell der Zweiwegimmersion (ZWI), das Kinder mit deutscher Muttersprache und Kinder mit einer anderen vor Ort gesprochenen Muttersprache in der gleichen Schulklasse vereint, und sie in zwei Sprachen gemeinsam unterrichtet. In diesem Modell, das in Berlin an 17 Grundschulen und 13 weiterführenden Schulen angeboten wird, lernen Kinder und Jugendliche in zwei Sprachen voneinander und miteinander. Auf der Grundlage einer haupts?chlich quantitativen, quasi-experimentellen Studie mit 603 Jugendlichen wird bewiesen, dass es eine Anzahl von friedenslinguistischen Vorteilen gibt, die neben pers?nlicher und gesellschaftlicher Mehrsprachigkeit soziale Zweiwegintegration f?rdern k?nnen. Dies führt zu dem Schluss, dass ZWI-Erziehung, so wie sie in Berlin praktiziert wird, als Bildungsmodell für andere mehrsprachige Regionen Europas dienen k?nnte.