Educational Neuroethics: A Contribution From Empirical Research

In recent years, educational neuroscience has begun to move into the limelight, suggesting an increased importance on the ethical considerations of educational neuroscience work, or educational neuroethics. In a departure from previous work on educational neuroethics, this article focuses on the ethical considerations that are applicable to empirical educational neuroscience research. Neuroethics concepts were compiled through a thorough survey of neuroethics articles. Then, 28 empirical educational neuroscience articles were analyzed through the lens of five categories of neuroethics concepts collected through the literature survey: the scientific enterprise, prediction, neuro‐manipulation, social considerations, and philosophical considerations. Three of the five categories (i.e., the nature of scientific investigation, prediction, and social considerations) applied to a subset of the articles. In addition, a fourth ethical issue not stemming from the neuroethics literature, referred to here as brain‐based justifications, emerged from the nature of educational neuroscience work. Limitations of this study and future directions for educational neuroethics research are discussed.     

Filmed in Front of a Live Studio Audience: Laughter and Aggression in Political Entertainment Programming

Shows blending humor and information are on the rise, and many such shows incorporate live studio audiences. Using two separate experimental studies, we test whether audience laughter on humorous political talk shows affects audience perceptions. We find that the effects of audience laughter depend on context, boosting perceptions of host and program credibility when a host is unknown, while reminding viewers of the comedic intentions and appeal of a known comedic host. If humor allows the hosts of comedic political talk shows more freedom to pointedly question their guests without turning off viewers, it may better engage and inform audiences.     

The Impact of Grey Literature in Advancing Global Karst Research: An Information Needs Assessment for a Globally Distributed Interdisciplinary Community

A survey of the global karst community was conducted in 2006. The survey was distributed via the World Wide Web to known karst researchers. The instrument was designed to generate an initial inventory of core grey information types, to assess levels of usage of grey information by the respondents, and to gauge the karst community’s willingness to participate in building and expanding both this collection and the associated controlled vocabularies.     

Analysis of Propagation Plans in NSF-Funded Education Development Projects

Increasing adoption and adaptation of promising instructional strategies and materials has been identified as a critical component needed to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper examines typical propagation practices and resulting outcomes of proposals written by developers of educational innovations. These proposals were analyzed using the Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument (DSAAI), an instrument developed to evaluate propagation plans, and the results used to predict the likelihood that a successful project would result in adoption by others. We found that few education developers propose strong propagation plans. Afterwards, a follow-up analysis was conducted to see which propagation strategies developers actually used to help develop, disseminate, and support their innovations. A web search and interviews with principal investigators were used to determine the degree to which propagation plans were actually implemented and to estimate adoption of the innovations. In this study, we analyzed 71 education development proposals funded by the National Science Foundation and predicted that 80% would be unsuccessful in propagating their innovations. Follow-up data collection with a subset of these suggests that the predictions were reasonably accurate.     

Bringing Student Responsibility to Life: Avenues to Personalizing High Schools for Student Success

This study examines how school structures and policies shape school culture to ultimately influence student success in one urban high school. We develop a model that explains how caring and personalized connections between students and teachers, coupled with a focus on academic press and support, interact with teacher efficacy to influence student self-efficacy, student attachment to school, and ultimately greater student achievement. We collected data through focus group and individual interviews with students, teachers, and leaders, classroom observations, and school artifacts. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method allowing for the emergence of important patterns. The data revealed several interrelated structures and processes that support teacher and student efficacy and ultimately instill in students a responsibility for their own learning. This case study highlights the need for administrators to develop buy-in from teachers around a cohesive vision in order for structural reforms to be effective.     

Organizational Identification: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring Students’ Relationship with Their University

Organizational identification (OID) is the outcome of social construction processes in which individuals define themselves in terms of their organizational membership. Students’ identification with their university reflects value congruence with the institution and is reflected in communication. Drawing on social identity theory (SIT) and utilizing quantitative and qualitative data from students (n = 555), we found relationships between OID and construed external image of the university, trust in the university, satisfaction with the university, perceived interorganizational competition, and outcomes, including intended future involvement. Students were re-surveyed nine months later (n = 397, with 83 respondents matching Time 1 and Time 2) to assess their OID stability. Open-ended responses describe situations and events that strengthen/lessen OID. We offer implications for OID, SIT, and for organizational communication research and practice.     

Behavior Segmentation by Boys as a Function of Aggressiveness and Prior Information

Previous research documents a hostile attribution bias by aggressive boys when considering a social situation with ambiguous cues as to the intention of the participants. The present research evaluated whether this bias extends to the manner in which boys process incoming information. Aggressiveness of boys in grades 3–6 was assessed with peer behavior nominations. In a separate session, each child viewed a videotape of 2 boys playing tag on a playground and segmented the actions using a standard behavior segmentation procedure. A critical event occurred when one of the boys fell down after being tagged, slowly got up, then resumed the game. Prior to viewing the videotape each child received one of three information conditions: benign (the boys were friends), hostile (the boys did not like one another), or neutral (no specific information about the relationship between the boys). Aggressiveness predicted change in segmentation after the critical event only in the neutral prior information condition. Thus aggressiveness, found in other research to be associated with a hostile attribution bias, also was found to be related to differences in the organization of incoming information.     

Strengthening collaborative capacity: experiences from a short,intensive field course on ecosystems,health and society

A key capacity for engagement in the emerging field of ecohealth is the ability to work collaboratively. Between 2008 and 2010, the Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health collectively designed and delivered three foundational, intensive, field courses. This paper presents findings derived from both quantitative and qualitative student course evaluation survey data. New insights arise around: the diverse opportunities for learning collaboratively in order to tackle complex socio-ecological issues, the social dynamics of collaborative relationships and learning, and the learning challenges that arise during intensive field courses. The lessons learned from these foundational years have enhanced understanding of the interrelated contributions to collaborative learning and relationship building and their relevance to addressing issues spanning ecosystems, health and society.