Teacher professional development as knowledge building: a Popperian analysis

This paper offers an analysis of how six experienced teachers, and two in particular, used portfolios to aid and chart steps in their own professional development. The key finding of the study was that the pattern of growth of professional knowledge conformed strikingly to the central features of the model proposed by the philosopher of science, Karl Popper, to account for the growth of scientific knowledge. That is, the use of portfolios assisted these teachers in identifying and formulating problems, in proposing tentative theories for their solution, in testing those theories against their experience of implementation, and in moving on to new problems of practice. The research therefore supports a Popperian structure for teacher professional development that coheres with a conception of teachers as self‐learners, or autonomous learners.     

Bookstores of Chicago

Les Brown, Television: The Business Behind the Box (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Javanovich, 1971—$8.95)

Arnold Passman's The Deejays (New York: Macmillan, 1971— $7.95)

Allan Jefferys and Bill Owen's DJ (New York: Ashley Books, 1971—$7.95)

Harvey F. Swearer Commercial FCC License Handbook (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: Tab Books, 1971—$8.95/5.95)

Dick Perry's Not Just a Sound: The Story of WLW (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971—$6.95)     

Photography: Three Production Guides

George M. Craven, Oblect and Image: An Introduction to Photography (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975—$11.50)

Phil Davis, Photography (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1975—$14.95/9.95)

Clifton C. Edom, Photojournalism: Principles and Practices (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1976—$14.95)     

Regulation

Antitrust, the Media and the New Technology (1981, 560 pp.)

Current Developments in CATV 1981 (1981, 629 pp.)

Clifton O. Lawhorne, The Supreme Court and Libel (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981—$19.95)

Robert D. Sack, Libel, Slander, and Related Problems (Practising Law Institute, 810 Seventh Ave., New York 10019 —$50.00)     

The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction

OBJECTIVE: Childhood abuse and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have historically been studied individually, and relatively little is known about the co-occurrence of these events. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which ACEs co-occur as well as the nature of their co-occurrence. METHOD: We used data from 8,629 adult members of a health plan who completed a survey about 10 ACEs which included: childhood abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), neglect (emotional and physical), witnessing domestic violence, parental marital discord, and living with substance abusing, mentally ill, or criminal household members. The bivariate relationship between each of these 10 ACEs was assessed, and multivariate linear regression models were used to describe the interrelatedness of ACEs after adjusting for demographic factors. RESULTS: Two-thirds of participants reported at least one ACE; 81%-98% of respondents who had experienced one ACE reported at least one additional ACE (median: 87%). The presence of one ACE significantly increased the prevalence of having additional ACEs, elevating the adjusted odds by 2 to 17.7 times (median: 2.8). The observed number of respondents with high ACE scores was notably higher than the expected number under the assumption of independence of ACEs (p <.0001), confirming the statistical interrelatedness of ACEs. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides strong evidence that ACEs are interrelated rather than occurring independently. Therefore, collecting information about exposure to other ACEs is advisable for studies that focus on the consequences of a specific ACE. Assessment of multiple ACEs allows for the potential assessment of a graded relationship between these childhood exposures and health and social outcomes.     

Theory,politics, and experiment in educational research methodology

In laboratory experiments and all other research situations the testing of any one hypothesis entails the simultaneous testing of a whole network of auxiliary hypotheses. These will include hypotheses about the stability of statistical structure, the viability of methods, and the social relations between researcher and subject. In the absence of a rigorously theorized naturalistic framework, traditional experimental designs entail professional domination of knowledge and epistemically privileged researchers; as a consequence, their use is open to serious epistemological and political questioning.An alternative account of experiment and scientificity is proposed which recognizes the need to incorporate an understanding of subjects' epistemologies into research programmes, a need which requires greater power for subjects in the development of research, and thus undermines professional domination and epistemic privilege. The account also implies that laboratory experimental inquiry will lapse in rigour unless it is designed and conducted within an explicitly and precisely theorized naturalistic context. Whereas other accounts make scientificity contingent upon professional control and epistemic privilege, the present account suggests that scientificity in social and educational research is contingent upon a deprofessionalized set of social and epistemic relations.

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Zusammenfassung Die Überprüfung einer beliebigen Hypothese in Laborexperimenten und in allen anderen Forschungssituationen, zieht die Gleichzeitigkeit eines ganzen Netzwerkes von Hilfshypothesen nach sich. Diese werden Hypothesen über die Stabilität der statistischen Struktur, die Durchführbarkeit der Methoden, und über das soziale Geflecht zwischen Forscher und Versuchsperson einschließen. Da kein streng-theoretisch naturwissenschaftlicher Rahmen vorhanden ist, zeitigen traditionelle experimentelle Versuchsanordnungen professionelles Herrschaftswissen und erkenntnistheoretisch-privilegierte Forscher; konsequenterweise steht ihre Anwendung für ernsthaft-erkenntnistheoretische und politische Fragen offen.Eine alternative Darstellung des Experimentierens und der Wissenschaftlichkeit wird vorgeschlagen, indem die Notwendigkeit erkannt wird, ein Verständnis des erkenntnistheoretischen Vermögens der Versuchsperson in Forschungsprogrammen mit einzubeziehen und in der Notwendigkeit ihm erweiterte Machtbefugnisse in der Forschungsentwicklung einzuräumen, um auf diese Weise Herrschaftswissen und erkenntnistheoretisches Privileg zu unterminieren. Die Darstellung beinhaltet auch, daß die Laborexperimenten resultierenden Ermittlungen an Strenge verlieren werden, bis sie innerhalb eines deutlichen und präzis-theoretisierten naturwissenschaftlichen Kontextes aufgegriffen und ausgeführt werden. Während in anderen Darstellungen Wissenschaftlichkeit vom Zufall der professionellen Kontrolle und dem erkenntnistheoretischen Privileg abhängig gemacht werden, schlägt der vorliegende Bericht vor, Wissenschaftlichkeit in der Gesellschafts- und Bildungsforschung sei von einer deprofessionalisierten Reihe gesellschaftlicher und erkenntnistheoretischer Zusammenhänge abhängig.

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Résumé Lors des expériences faites en laboratoire et de toutes autres situations de recherche, l'examen de toute hypothèse entraîne l'analyse simultanée d'un réseau entier de variables auxiliaires. Celles-ci comprennent les hypothèses relatives à la stabilité de la structure statistique, la viabilité des méthodes et les relations sociales entre le chercheur et le sujet. En l'absence d'un cadre naturaliste rigoureusement théorisé, les concepts expérimentaux traditionnels amènent une domination du savoir des experts et des chercheurs épistémologiquement priviligiés: en conséquence, leur usage prête à une interrogation épistémologique et politique sérieuse.On propose un second examen de l'expérience et de la scientificité qui reconnaît la nécessité d'incorporer la compréhension des épistémologies des sujets dans les programmes de recherche, nécessité qui requiert une plus grande puissance des sujets dans le développement de la recherche, et sape ainsi la domination des connaissances des experts et le privilège épistémologique. Cet exposé implique également que la recherche expérimentale en laboratoire tombera dans la rigueur si elle n'est pas conçue et réalisée au sein d'un contexte naturaliste théorisé explicitement et précisément. Tandis que d'autres études font dépendre la scientificité du contrôle expert et du privilège épistémologique, l'article présent énonce que la scientificité de la recherche en matière d'éducation et sociale dépend d'une série de relations sociales et épistémologiques dénuées de tout professionnalisme.

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This paper is a revised version of a paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Australian National University, Canberra, November 1983.     

Gender, Psychosocial Dispositions, and the Academic Achievement of College Students

Researchers have recently claimed that there are substantial differences in the psychosocial dispositions and academic achievement of male and female college students. To test this proposition, a sample of 854 undergraduate students were selected from a major Canadian Research-1 university. Multiple regression analyses assessed the effects of gender and several other independent variables on coping strategies, academic control, self-esteem, and grade point averages. Few differences emerged between the genders on the psychosocial dispositions or on academic achievement. The results suggest that both male and female students can improve their coping strategies and academic control, which together directly affect their academic achievement.