The Good Working Mother: Managerial Women’s Sensemaking and Feelings About Work–Family Issues

We use a sensemaking lens to explore how women managers experience and articulate work–life concerns upon their return to paid work following maternity leaves. We focus on 11 women who held different types of managerial positions, including vice presidents, circulation managers, and human resources experts. We found that our participants re‐framed the good mother image into a good working mother role that fit their lifestyles and interests. To accomplish this reframing, participants engaged in three thematic processes supportive of the good working mother image: (a) good working mothers arrange quality child care; (b) good working mothers are (un)equal partners; and (c) good working mothers feel pleasure in their working mother role. These themes and image were both ironic and fragile constructions of working motherhood. Because these themes and images enable participants to make sense of and establish the worth of working motherhood to family members, friends, acquaintances, organizational members, and community members, they provide a reason why middle‐ or upper‐class working and stay‐at‐home mothers may be in conflict about work and family choices.     

Pedagogical intersubjectivity,autism and education: can teachers teach so that autistic pupils learn?

Effective pedagogy and inclusive practice are located within the quality of learning relationships and the context-sensitive, moment-to-moment professional judgements made by teachers within learning interactions. In particular, good teachers are able to align themselves with pupils’ subject positions, though this experience of relatedness within learning interactions is a bodily one that is mundane and mostly overlooked. The aim of this article is to explore whether this account of learning, that crucially involves a shared way of being minded, is adequate to describe the learning of pupils on the autism spectrum. Problems with the idea of ‘pedagogical intersubjectivity’ in relation to autism are noted. Using personal accounts of learning interactions and recent micro-level research findings about the competences of autistic children in favourable interactional ecologies, it is argued however that experiences of relatedness in learning should be considered as important for autistic pupils too. It is concluded that a key aspect of good practice in relation to autism and education is that teachers are able to critically reflect on their bodily experiences of interaction with autistic pupils as a way of deepening their understanding and developing their professional practice.     

Predictors of Tuition Worth: Psychological Sense of Community,Institutional Integrity,and Student Thriving

Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, this study examined the factors that contribute to the variation in students' subjective perceptions of the value of their tuition dollars. This study utilized data on 6,322 undergraduate students from 11 institutions in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) who completed the Thriving Quotient questionnaire. The results revealed that psychological sense of community (β = .321) was the strongest predictor of students' perception that their tuition was a worthwhile investment. Financial difficulty was the second strongest predictor (β = –.245), and students' perception of institutional integrity was the third strongest (β = .161). These findings indicate that helping students develop a sense of community on campus and perceive that their institutions are meeting the expectations created during the admissions process are important elements of helping students appreciate the value of their tuition. Further discussion on the theoretical and practical applications of the findings are included.     

Civic Development Among College Students at Southern Baptist Colleges and Universities

Utilizing data from the 2009 College Senior Survey, this study measured and compared social agency and civic awareness among undergraduate students enrolled at four types of institutions: Baptist, CCCU, Catholic, and nonsectarian. Comparisons were made through paired-sample t-tests and ANOVA analyses. A series of separate multiple regressions were conducted to compare the patterns and predictors of civic development across institutional types. The results indicated that, despite the many features religious colleges share in common, student outcomes varied significantly between institutional types. Furthermore, student characteristics and college experiences contributed to students’ civic development to varying degrees depending on the type of religious institution students attended.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Instructional Practices and the Teaching Science as Argument Framework

The research reported in this study examines the very first time the participants planned for and enacted science instruction within a “best-case scenario” teacher preparation program. Evidence from this study indicates that, within this context, preservice teachers are capable of implementing several of the discursive practices of science called for in standards documents including engaging students in science investigations and constructing evidence-based explanations. The participants designed experiences that allowed their students to interact with natural phenomena, gather evidence, and craft explanations of natural phenomenon. The study contends that the participants were able to achieve such successes due to their participation in a teacher education program and field placement, which were designed using a comprehensive, conceptual framework. Video of the participant’s teaching and annotated self-analysis videos served as the primary data for this study. Implications for future research and elementary science teacher education are discussed.