Informal scientific communication in the agricultural sciences2

This analysis of informal scientific communication emphasizes the communication which occurs among public sector agricultural researchers. While the formal channels and the informal channels constitute the two mutually dependent elements of this communication, the importance of the informal channels is often ignored. The informal communication network is examined utilizing a survey of randomly sampled U.S. agricultural scientists listed in the Current Research Information System (N = 1431). Particular individuals in the informal communication network are viewed as important sources of influence for a variety of research decisions such as choice of problem, methods, key concepts and theoretical orientation. However, informal scientific communication appears to occur infrequently, and to be primarily limited to one's own discipline. Scientists report communication with scientists outside their department, clients and extension staff is limited to less than once a month. In addition, the nature and frequency of the informal scientific communication is highly related to the criteria utilized in establishing research agendas and the publication products. However, the use of and reliance on particular channels of communication may affect scientists and their research in different and sometimes contradictory ways. Consequently, it is important to view the informal scientific communication and the processes and products of science as inextricably bound together in a mutually interdependent social system.     

The warp and woof of curriculum development

Conclusions What conclusions can be reached on the basis of the kind of project I have described. First, there is an alternative to the large, expensive curriculum development models that were popular in the 1960s. A small, clinical model has many advantages. A project can begin with a general curriculum idea in several classrooms, or even one classroom, without becoming trapped in a web of quantitative data, logistical problems, and fund-raising, and work from that point towards a polished model for wider summative evaluation.Second, teachers and children need not be mere consumers of curricula developed by publishing houses or schools of education, nor even play the passive role of testing a formalized model developed outside classrooms. They can actively participate in elaboration of the conceptual content, the pedagogical strategies, and the specific lessons and materials of a new model.Third, there are university scholars who are willing and able to collaborate in bringing recently discovered knowledge to elementary school children; they do this by helping shape curricula and by making their departmental resources available to enterprising teachers or principals. Many scholars with youngsters themselves have a deep interest in communicating their knowledge to children. This group includes not only educational psychologists but scholars in traditional disciplines like biology and anthropology. David Pilbeam's research in human evolution, Goodall's research on primates, Cousteau's research on whales are a few examples of the rich variety of knowledge that can be shaped into pedagogical forms —experiments, audio-visual materials, readers, etc. — appropriate for children at varied levels of development.Fourth, children have a far broader range of intellectual interests than has generally been recognized. Bringing them into contact with fields of knowledge, methods of inquiry in these fields, and the processes of logical reasoning at a time when they have a natural receptivity can have a fundamental impact on their intellectual confidence, which will serve them well in later school years. The content of elementary education need not be trivial nor composed totally of tedious work on the traditional basic skills. There is room enough for children to exercise higher level cognitive abilities suggested by their own questions.Fifth, children are a primary source of ideas, theories, interests; feelings, and questions, which can be tapped systematically in the service of sensitive and accurate teaching. Interviews, discussions, and observations of children manipulating materials and ideas are relatively simple ways for teachers and curriculum developers to keep their ears to the ground, and to discover, keep alive, and cultivate the intellectual interests and capacities of children.Roger Landrum is a doctoral candidate at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, with a general interest in theoretical models of education based on human development theory and a research interest in measurable effects of classroom programs based on Piagetian theory. He has directed teacher education programs for the Peace Corps, The Teacher's Inc., and Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies.     

Science in the schoolhouse: an uninvited guest

Science and scientific thinking have not made a substantial impact on educational practice. In this discussion, we examine the relationship between science and education and delineate four reasons for characterizing science as an uninvited guest in schools: (a) Science is not highly regarded in society; (b) good science and bad science are often mistaken for one another; (c) the amount of current data is overwhelming; and (d) science is not easy for those who practice it (researchers), those who translate it (teacher educators), or those who consume it (teachers). We suggest several strategies to improve this relationship, including promoting standards of educational practice, emphasizing the role of teacher educators as translators of the research base into classroom practice, and linking student outcomes with the use of effective instructional practices.     

全民公决的若干问题

一些投票人在面对若干二元问题时,如果他们对这些二元问题结果的偏好是不可分割的,那么即使在众多可能的结果中存在着一个孔多塞(Condorcet)胜者,多数决原则可能最终并不会选择这个孔多塞胜者;相反,社会选择的结果可能是孔多塞失败者,或者是被其他某些结果帕雷托占优。我们还评估了一系列针对全民公决中投票人偏好不可分割这一问题的解决方案,包括对一个问题集合进行投票、贯序投票、以及投票交易等。贯序投票和投票交易可以防止最终选择孔多塞失败者和被其他所有可能的结果帕雷托占优出现。相对全民公决而言,立法机构更容易推动贯序投票和投票交易,因此全民公决虽然增加了民主决策中参与者的数量,但却降低了民主参与的质量。     

The Communicative Construction of Involuntary Membership

This study expands conceptions of organizational membership by examining individuals whose relationships with their organizations are traditionally characterized as involuntary in nature. Data from inmates and prison employees in four U.S. and Norwegian correctional institutions was examined using structuration theory as an emergent interpretive lens, and five primary ways in which involuntary membership is constructed in communication are identified: physical environment, mobility, relationships, engagement, and body. These facets are presented as the foundation of a continuum-based theoretical perspective on (in)voluntary membership and are discussed for their applicability to future research and theorizing across organizational communication studies.     

Model‐based reasoning about energy: A fourth‐grade case study

We report a case study of model‐based reasoning in which a small group of fourth‐grade students analyzes the energy flow when a solar panel is used to power an electric motor that spins a propeller. In developing their explanation of energy flow, the students draw on a general model of energy developed collectively by their class in the course of an experimental classroom curriculum led by a trained teacher. They also construct a model‐based representation of the specific system under study. Their investigation and reasoning process exhibit all the features of authentic scientific model‐based inquiry, including the revision of their models to incorporate new information. In the course of their work the students recruit and seamlessly integrate nearly all of the practices of science designated in the Next Generation Science Standards. This case study provides an example of what modeling‐based teaching and learning can look like in an elementary school classroom. It also suggests that the study of energy offers a particularly promising context for developing students' use of science practices, especially the practice of developing and using models.     

Why do teachers refer pupils for special education? An analysis of referral records

Abstract

We studied the referral for special education records of children and youth to identify the problems for which referrers said pupils needed help. Coders examined 382 forms used by two school systems and recorded demographic information and referrers' statements describing individual pupils' difficulties. We found that (a) 69% of the referrals were for boys, (b) regular classroom teachers alone initiated 74% of the referrals and contributed to another 5%, and (c) over two‐thirds of students referred were in earlier grade levels, particularly kindergarten (16%), first (26%), second (15%), or third grade (11%). Problems most likely to be described on referral forms were general academic problems (found on 35% of referrals), reading problems (31%), and attention problems (23%) other problems such as fearfulness (2%), visual‐perceptual difficulties (1%), and depression (1%) were rarely included. Factor analysis of the referral reasons revealed five common types of referrals, some of which interacted with gender and level of students. The factors described problems in written language, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, overactivity, and sensory problems. The results of this study should help focus preservice and inservice preparation of teachers in addressing problems that are likely to cause pupils to be referred. In addition, combined with other findings, the results indicate regular education teachers' level of tolerance for pupils' problems.     

An assessment model and methods for evaluating distance education programmes

This paper is adapted from a keynote address given to the AUA Annual Conference, held at Warwick 14–16 March 2005     

My best teacher

Answer Me That! Suzanne E. Dennis. Illustrated by Owen Wood. New York: The Bobbs‐Merrill Company, 1969. 29 pp. $4.50.

Educational and Psychological Measurement. David A. Payne and Robert F. McMorris. Waltham, Mass: Blais‐dell Publishing Company, 1967. X + 419 pp. $4.95.

The Exceptional Infant. Jerome Hellmuth, ed. Seattle, Washington: Special Child Publications, 1967. 568 pp. $12.50.

The Green Thumb Story. Jean Fiedler. Pictures by Wayne Blickenstaff. New York: Scholastic Book Services, 1964. 48 pp. 350.

School Is . . . by the people in Room 122, P. S. 52, Buffalo, New York and their teacher Theresa Lopata. Designed and illustrated by Tim Lewis. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1969. 61 pp. $1.95.

The Principal Works with the Visually Impaired. Geraldine T. Scholl. Washington, D. C.: The Council for Exceptional Children, 1968. 62 pp. $1.50.

The Human Reproductive System. Morris Krieger. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1969. 96pp. $4.94.

Elementary School Science and How to Teach It. Glenn O. Blough and Julius Schwartz. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1969. 810 pp. $11.95.

The Changing Classroom: The Role of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. Arnold B. Grobman. Garden City: Doubleday &; Company, Inc., 1969. 370 pp. $6.95.