Making time for science

This work analyzes the evolution of time allocation for agricultural and life science faculty in Tier 1 US research universities from 1975 to 2005. Specifically, it explores the trends with respect to time spent on research versus administrative activities, and shows about a 20% decline in the former and doubling of time spent on the latter. Most of the research time decline is accounted for by increased pre and post-grant administrative efforts and other non-research administrative activities rather than changes in teaching activity. Despite the substantial decrease in time available for research, other key research inputs and overall journal article output per faculty have remained relatively stable over that same time period. These findings raise important concerns regarding whether faculty time is being used sub-optimally relative to other ways in which administrative activities might be completed and scholarly activity might be advanced.     

History of mathematics and history of science reunited?

For some years now, the history of modern mathematics and the history of modern science have developed independently. A step toward a reunification that would benefit both disciplines could come about through a revived appreciation of mathematical practice. Detailed studies of what mathematicians actually do, whether local or broadly based, have often led in recent work to examinations of the social, cultural, and national contexts, and more can be done. Another recent approach toward a historical understanding of the abstractness of modern mathematics has been to see it as a species of modernism, and this thesis will be tested by the raft of works on the history of modern applied mathematics currently under way.     

Your case will now be heard: sign language interpreters as problematic accommodations in legal interactions

This paper uses data from open-ended, videotaped interviews with 12 deaf people to examine their experiences negotiating access during interactions with legal authorities. In every case, these deaf persons preferred an accommodation that involved the use of an American Sign Language interpreter, and in every case, these accommodations were problematic. Three major themes emerged from the informants' narratives: difficulty obtaining the desired accommodation, dealing with a problematic accommodation, and enduring a partial accommodation. These findings suggest that accommodations involving sign language interpreters are not neutral and transparent and that they often have tangible effects on the experiences of and outcomes for deaf persons in the context of dealing with legal matters. Deaf people have very little control over the accommodation they receive and yet are held fully responsible for ensuring its efficacy. These results are discussed in relation to policies and procedures for ensuring that deaf persons have full access in their interactions with American legal institutions.     

Teacher-center and school-based models of collegiality and professional development: Case studies of the teachers’ resource center and the Aga Khan school system in Karachi, Pakistan

Based on two recent teacher development efforts in Pakistan, this chapter examines efforts to promote teacher collegiality within these initiatives. The chapter first describes relevant contextual differences among schools in Karachi and summarizes the history of the two projects within this context. It then analyzes similarities and differences across these two projects in how they dealt with collegiality and professional development. While participants in both projects made progress in ameliorating extreme forms of teacher isolation and authoritarian relationships, they also discovered that balancing increased collegiality within a hierarchy of responsibilities and rewards is a difficult and elusive goal.     

Usage and evaluation of nonformal environmental education services at a state park: are anglers catching more than fish?

Although park naturalists should be inclusive in their attempts to reach a variety of audiences, visitors having a consumptive resource orientation may get overlooked. The activity involvement, place attachment and resource knowledge scores of trout anglers at Montauk State Park (Missouri, USA) were combined into a typology that consisted of four levels of recreation specialization (least, moderately, very and most). This continuum was used to explain anglers’ usage and evaluation of nonformal environmental education services at the park. A total of 532 trout anglers completed questionnaires during the summer of 2003. Results showed that specialized anglers participated more in educational opportunities than those who were less specialized. Each of level of the continuum was mutually exclusive. Nearly three‐fourths of the trout anglers (72.8%) believed that environmental education was important and that the park was doing a good job of providing this type of service. A positive trend between levels of specialization and evaluation of environmental education was observed. This study indicated that a segmentation procedure based on recreation specialization can be useful to accomplish some key park management objectives, such as environmental literacy.     

Education and conflict: Essay review

This review essay looks at three recent publications in the emerging field of ‘education and conflict’ and explores an apparent gap between theory and practice in the field. Recent works by educationalists Lynn Davies, ‘Education and conflict: complexity and chaos’ (2004) and Tony Gallagher, ‘Education in divided societies (2004)’ are contrasted with the World Bank's 2005 ‘Reshaping the future: education and postconflict reconstruction’, and similarities between the publications are highlighted. Davies’ work uses complexity theory to illuminate the relationships between education and conflict and to establish an argument for ‘complex-adaptive schools’, which would use conflict positively to engage students in the creation of peaceful communities. Gallagher, using a number of well-developed case studies, examines the way education systems have been structured to respond to and operate in divided societies, concluding that classroom agency and flexibility are crucial. The calls, by Davies and Gallagher, for educational re-creation are explored in contrast to the World Bank's publication, which offers best practice lessons to support post-conflict educational reconstruction. The article probes these differences and points to areas where the practitioner-directed Bank publication and the more academic works do and do not intersect, attempting to indicate areas where bridges may be built.