Impressions of ICOTS II

The following short contributions are from people who attended the Second International Conference on Teaching Statistics held in Victoria, August 1986     

Understanding Cultural Differences in the Antecedents of Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of Business Students in the United States and Chile

We surveyed business students in the U. S. (n = 256) and Chile (n = 310). The survey included measures drawn from studies of pro-environmental behavior using Schwartz's norm activation theory (Schwartz, 1977 Schwartz, S. H. 1977. “Normative influences on altruism”. In Advances in experimental social psychology, Edited by: Berkowitz, L. Vol. 10, 221–279. New York: Academic Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980 Ajzen, I. and Fishbein, M. 1980. Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.  [Google Scholar]), and a values-beliefs-norms model created by Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, and Kalof (1999) Stern, P. C., Dietz, T., Abel, T., Guagnano, G. A. and Kalof, L. 1999. A value-belief-norm theory of support for social movements: The case of environmentalism. Human Ecology Review, 6(2): 81–97.  [Google Scholar]. Our results show Chilean business students are more altruistic than business students in the United States and Chilean students felt stronger pressures from their peers to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Chilean business students also expressed higher levels of awareness of environmental problems, a greater sense of obligation to protect the environment, a stronger willingness to limit property rights, and stronger intentions to engage in pro-environmental behavior.     

Evaluation of reflective practice in teacher education

Teacher education based on ‘reflective practice’ consists of observing, analysing and reflecting on teacher performance in order to improve professional practice. This article presents the results of an evaluation of a programme on mathematics teaching carried out using reflective practice. It was targeted at 284 teachers in various stages of the education system, using an approach that combines quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews and reports) methods. While the study shows that the education programme generates high levels of satisfaction, pedagogical appropriateness and learning, its achievements in effectiveness are moderate. Although, in general, what is learned through teacher education is implemented in the classroom, it is done so in an isolated fashion, in other words, individually and without becoming a part of the culture of the school. The results show little evidence of its impact on student learning. The article offers proposals for improving the education programme, while, at the same time, analysing the usefulness of the approach and evaluation tools employed.     

Guidance and counseling in Catalonia (Spain)

The author of this article attempts to set out the efforts that have been made in Catalonia (autonomous nationality within Spain) to regulate rationally the guidance and counseling services of fered to that part of the student population that has the greatest needs. She describes some models of services that have been created under the auspices of different institutions and analyzes their functions. Finally she draws a series of critical conclusions.University of Barcelona     

Hidden connections: Network effects on editorial decisions in four computer science journals

This paper aims to examine the influence of authors’ reputation on editorial bias in scholarly journals. By looking at eight years of editorial decisions in four computer science journals, including 7179 observations on 2913 submissions, we reconstructed author/referee-submission networks. For each submission, we looked at reviewer scores and estimated the reputation of submission authors by means of their network degree. By training a Bayesian network, we estimated the potential effect of scientist reputation on editorial decisions. Results showed that more reputed authors were less likely to be rejected by editors when they submitted papers receiving negative reviews. Although these four journals were comparable for scope and areas, we found certain journal specificities in their editorial process. Our findings suggest ways to examine the editorial process in relatively similar journals without recurring to in-depth individual data, which are rarely available from scholarly journals.     

Queering communication studies: a Journal of Applied Communication Research forum

ABSTRACT

Genders and sexualities continue to remain underexplored in the field of communication studies and the academy in general. This essay examines possibilities for incorporating queer perspectives into communication studies. At the invitation of the Journal of Applied Communication Research editor, 9 communication scholars who use queer theory or queer perspectives in their own work responded to a series of questions addressing how queer theory and perspectives can be used in the discipline, both by those who are new to queer theorizing and those who are looking to expand their knowledge and practices. The answers to these questions provide an understanding of what queer theory is and its relationship with LGBT studies; allow practical considerations for incorporating queer perspectives into communication scholarship in multiple methodological areas; offer considerations for welcoming queer voices in the classroom, the communication discipline, and the larger academy; and indicate several scholarly resources for those who want to learn more about queer theory and LGBT studies.     

To valerse por si misma between race,capitalism, and patriarchy: Latina mother-daughter pedagogies in North Carolina

This article examines mujer-oriented mother-daughter pedagogies that are narrated and discursively embodied, improvised, and contested in the conversations and oral life histories of a group of Latina mothers in rural North Carolina. The teaching and learning that occurs between mothers and daughters through consejos (advice),cuentos (stories) and la experiencia (experience) are wrought with tensions and contradictions yet open with spaces of possibility. Latinas evoked patriarchal ideologies about being a mujer de hogar (woman of the home), while simultaneously negotiating these in discourses about knowing how to valerse por si misma (to be self-reliant). A conceptual framework built around ''funds of knowledge,'' educacion, and third space feminism serves to illuminate how mothers teach daughters to be submissive, rebellious and comforming, all at the same time, as they maneuver between race, patriarchy, and capitalism.     

Interpretative comments - need for harmonization? Results of the Croatian survey by the Working Group for Post-analytics

IntroductionInterpretation of laboratory test results is a complex post-analytical activity that requires not only understanding of the clinical significance of laboratory results but also the analytical phase of laboratory work. The aims of this study were to determine: 1) the general opinion of Croatian medical biochemistry laboratories (MBLs) about the importance of interpretative comments on laboratory test reports, and 2) to find out whether harmonization of interpretative comments is needed.Materials and methodsThis retrospective study was designed as a survey by the Working Group for Post-analytics as part of national External Quality Assessment (EQA) program. All 195 MBLs participating in the national EQA scheme, were invited to participate in the survey. Results are reported as percentages of the total number of survey participants.ResultsOut of 195 MBLs, 162 participated in the survey (83%). Among them 59% MBLs implemented test result comments in routine according to national recommendations. The majority of laboratories (92%) state that interpretative comments added value to the laboratory reports, and a substantial part (72%) does not have feedback from physicians on their significance. Although physicians and patients ask for expert opinion, participants stated that the lack of interest of physicians (64%) as well as the inability to access patient’s medical record (62%) affects the quality of expert opinion.ConclusionAlthough most participants state that they use interpretative comments and provide expert opinions regarding test results, results of the present study indicate that harmonization for interpretative comments is needed.