The competence to act: Chicana teacher role identity in life and career narratives

Relationships between teachers' biographical experiences and their beliefs and practices have become central concerns in the area of teacher life history and teacher socialization research. Unfortunately, few teachers from cultural minority backgrounds have been included in this research. In the present study, the life and career narratives of two Chicana teachers are examined in order to identify the influences of biographical experiences on how they define their teacher role identity. In recognition of and building from the narrative form of the written and interview data from which the life and career narratives are constructed, teacher role identity is defined as a narratively constructed self-image that presents an identity-in-action in which teachers' competence to act is demonstrated through their actions across various occupational challenges and demands. The competence to act is the product of teachers' biographical experiences and is based on the appropriation of family values through which the case study teachers make connections between their family socialization and their current professional educator role.     

ICT-aided engineering courses: a multi-campus course management

Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) is a multi-campus institution with identical syllabi for courses in every campus. Moreover, learning at JCT requires at the same time synchronous and asynchronous learning and teaching. For some introductory courses in Mathematics for Engineering students, websites have been built and now upgraded in order to fit the requirements due to multiple campuses. The original triple function model ‘homepage-tutorial-mailing list’ had to be modified in various directions, in order to fit the students' needs and the central role of the course coordinator. We discuss here the structure and management of the websites and the contribution of these supplementary materials towards teaching efficiency and towards students' better learning skills.     

Analysis of macroethics teaching practices and perceptions in engineering: a cultural comparison

ABSTRACT

Students must be taught to understand the ethical issues associated with engineering and technology, which includes microethics and macroethics. This research examined the influence of cultural environment by comparing ethics-related education outcomes between educators in (1) the United States, (2) non-US Anglo, and (3) Western European countries who teach engineering students. In an increasingly globalised world where companies and projects draw from talent across countries, it is important to understand how different cultures educate future engineers about their ethical responsibilities. Survey results revealed that a majority of educators in all three groups viewed undergraduate and postgraduate education on ethics as insufficient. A higher percentage of non-US Anglo and Western European educators taught sustainability and environmental issues in their courses compared to US respondents. US educators taught codes of ethics, ethics in design, and safety more than those in Western Europe. Open-ended responses illuminated challenges and opportunities to improve ethics education.     

The Child Abuse Potential Inventory and pregnancy outcome in expectant adolescent mothers.

OBJECTIVE: The study explores the prenatal Child Abuse Potential (pCAP) scores derived from the Child Abuse Potential Inventory administered to expectant adolescent mothers. The aim of the study was to assess the association of the pCAP scores with maternal negative prenatal behaviors, and evaluate the contribution of the pCAP scores to neonatal morbidity. METHOD: The pCAP scores, demographic data, and self-report on prenatal behaviors were obtained during the second half of the pregnancy in a sample of 45 poor single adolescent mothers. A pediatrician blind to the prenatal data reviewed the neonatal records to assess neonatal morbidity. Maternal prenatal records were reviewed for obstetric risk assessment by an obstetrician who was blind to the rest of the data. The relations among the pCAP scores, prenatal behaviors, and neonatal morbidity were analyzed. RESULTS: In the prenatal period, the pCAP scores were positively correlated with self-reported prenatal smoking and substance use. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the pCAP scores significantly contributed to neonatal morbidity independently of obstetric risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The Child Abuse Potential scores obtained during pregnancy in poor single adolescent mothers reflect domains of maternal functioning that are associated with negative prenatal behaviors and appear to be important for predicting neonatal morbidity. Further studies are warranted to validate the prenatal use of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory.     

Assessing the SB‐V factor structure in a sample of preschool children

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Stanford‐Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB‐V), based on the Cattell‐Horn‐Carroll (CHC) theory of intelligence using a sample of 200 preschool children. The CHC framework uses three different models: one similar to Spearman's g, one similar to the Gf‐Gc model, and one representing the hierarchical three‐stratum CHC model. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), utilizing these three models, was conducted to determine which theoretical model best described the ability structure measured by the SB‐V. Results of the CFA revealed that, although the two‐stratum model provided the best fit statistics, a large amount of overlap existed among the broad CHC factors in this model. Therefore, these results suggested that a simple, overall ability model may be the best representation of ability for preschool children when using the SB‐V because the factors appeared to be indistinct with this age group. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Hebrew Teachers College of Boston (1921–1951)

The collection of data for a study of research currently in progress necessarily entails certain inherent difficulties since there are no published sources to which one can turn for a record of such work; research normally is published only after it has been completed. For this reason, it is almost certain that the present investigation has failed to include a certain number of research studies in Jewish education currently being pursued. This is true particularly in the case of research carried on independently by individual members of the profession without institutional sponsorship. There simply is no practical way in which to determine what every single member of our profession is doing in the way of research until these studies actually appear in print.