The Failure of Reduction and How to Resist Disunity of the Sciences in the Context of Chemical Education

The failure, by philosophers of science, to reduce special sciences such as chemistry to quantum mechanics has produced many responses including the notion of supervenience and that of the disunity of the sciences. This article criticizes these responses and proposes an alternative one, namely the autonomy of chemistry. After examining the history of the atomic orbital model I argue that chemical educators should legitimately continue to view terms such as orbital and configuration in a realistic manner although they are deemed to be strictly non-referring in quantum mechanics. Such a view of autonomous though related levels is opposed in particular to the increasingly prevalent notion of disunified sciences.     

Breaking the Silence: Achieving a Positive Campus Climate for Diversity from the Staff Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that create a positive climate for diversity and to demonstrate how these factors predict outcomes related to achieving a positive campus climate for diversity. Based on survey data collected from 437 staff members employed at a large, public, predominantly White university in the Midwest, results suggest that the institution’s ability to achieve a positive climate for diversity reflects not only the personal characteristics of the staff member (race, gender, education level, and age) but also their perceptions of their immediate work environment. Implications are discussed.     

Comparative/International Research on Juvenile Justice Issues: A Review of Juvenile Justice Specialty Journals

In recent years, leaders in the field of criminology and criminal justice have advocated for comparative/international and collaborative research; however, there is uncertainty regarding how much comparative/international research on the topic of juvenile justice is being conducted and how well information on juvenile justice issues with a cross-cultural or international focus is being disseminated. This study analyzed the number and focus of studies on international/comparative juvenile justice papers in the four major US juvenile justice specialty journals (Juvenile & Family Court Journal, Journal of Juvenile Justice, UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law & Policy, and Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice). Data came from 567 papers published during the period of 2000–2013. The authors discuss the roles of the juvenile justice specialty journals to encourage the study of juvenile justice internationally.     

Does Higher Quality Early Child Care Promote Low‐Income Children’s Math and Reading Achievement in Middle Childhood?

Higher quality child care during infancy and early childhood (6–54 months of age) was examined as a moderator of associations between family economic status and children's ( N  = 1,364) math and reading achievement in middle childhood (4.5–11 years of age). Low income was less strongly predictive of underachievement for children who had been in higher quality care than for those who had not. Consistent with a cognitive advantage hypothesis, higher quality care appeared to promote achievement indirectly via early school readiness skills. Family characteristics associated with selection into child care also appeared to promote the achievement of low-income children, but the moderating effect of higher quality care per se remained evident when controlling for selection using covariates and propensity scores.     

Tool time: Gender and students' use of tools,control, and authority

In this study, we examined how students used science equipment and tools in constructing knowledge during science instruction. Within a geographical metaphor, we focused on how students use tools when constructing new knowledge, how control of tools is actualized from pedagogical perspectives, how language and tool accessibility intersect, how gender intersects with tool use, and how competition for resources impacts access to tools. Sixteen targeted students from five elementary science classes were observed for 3 days of instruction. Results showed gender differences in students' use of exclusive language and commands, as well as in the ways students played and tinkered with tools. Girls tended to carefully follow the teacher's directions during the laboratory and did little playing or tinkering with science tools. Male students tended to use tools in inventive and exploratory ways. Results also showed that whether or not a student had access to his or her own materials became indicative of the type of verbal interactions that took place during the science investigation. Gender‐related patterns in how tools are shared, how dyads relate to the materials and each other, and how materials are used to build knowledge are described. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 760–783, 2000     

Science as Sound Bites: The Lancet Iraq Casualty Reports and Prefigured Accommodation

In this article I examine The Lancet Iraq casualty reports for their demonstration of prefigured accommodation, a rhetorical strategy in which the authors anticipate and attempt to influence their work's wider popularization. My reading of the reports and accompanying commentaries attends to the introduction of journalistic features and calls to political action. As part of my analysis, I interview a lead author of the reports about his rhetorical concerns in composing the work of a politically engaged science.