Horizons,not Boundaries,are the Language of Retirement: Sense of Fulfillment,Fears, and Life Trajectories of Faculty Extendees in the Philippines

This qualitative study probed into (a) the sense of fulfillment, (b) fears and anxieties, and (c) life trajectories of aged working professors recruited from one comprehensive university in the Philippines. Interestingly, findings of the study reveal that respondents were fulfilled and felt successful through the life outputs of their students; their self-worth was witnessed through continued employment and communication to students of ideas, work ethic, and values. Fears and anxieties were rarely felt because of religious commitments and prayers to God. Sense of delight was manifested through the satisfactory academic environment; the possession of supportive systems, including family, friends and community, and their plans of spending their remaining years with the family in leisure activities; and in joining religious organizations.     

Cumulative trauma and symptom complexity in children: A path analysis

Multiple trauma exposures during childhood are associated with a range of psychological symptoms later in life. In this study, we examined whether the total number of different types of trauma experienced by children (cumulative trauma) is associated with the complexity of their subsequent symptomatology, where complexity is defined as the number of different symptom clusters simultaneously elevated into the clinical range. Children's symptoms in six different trauma-related areas (e.g., depression, anger, posttraumatic stress) were reported both by child clients and their caretakers in a clinical sample of 318 children. Path analysis revealed that accumulated exposure to multiple different trauma types predicts symptom complexity as reported by both children and their caretakers.     

Continuous fixed-time convergent regulator for dynamic systems with unbounded disturbances

This paper presents a novel continuous fixed-time convergent control law for dynamic systems in the presence of unbounded disturbances. A continuous fixed-time convergent control is designed to drive all states of a multi-dimensional integrator chain at the origin for a finite pre-established (fixed) time, using a scalar input. The fixed-time convergence is established and the uniform upper bound of the settling time is computed. The designed control algorithm is applied to fixed-time stabilization of two mechatronic systems, a cart inverted pendulum and a single machine infinite bus turbo generator with main steam valve control.     

Design and development research: a model validation case

This is a report of one case of a design and development research study that aimed to validate an overlay instructional design model incorporating the theory of multiple intelligences into instructional systems design. After design and expert review model validation, The Multiple Intelligence (MI) Design Model, used with an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) Model, was tested for use by four practicing instructional designers. Instruction developed for learners using this model was then evaluated measuring post-test and attitudinal scores with 102 participants. This report also provides a reflection on the lessons learned in conducting design and development research on model validation. The procedures and findings have implications for the processes involved in instructional design model validation through designer use and program implementation.

PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ VIEWS ABOUT NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE STUDY

This article presents the findings of an international collaborative investigation into preservice teachers’ views on the nature of scientific knowledge development with respect to six elements: observations and inferences, tentativeness, scientific theories and laws, social and cultural embeddedness, creativity and imagination, and scientific methods. A total of 640 preservice teachers, 209 from the United States, 212 from China, and 219 from Turkey, participated in the study. The survey “Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI)”, having a blend of Likert-type items and related open-ended questions, was used to gain a fuller understanding of the preservice teachers’ views of the nature of scientific knowledge development. Across the three countries, the participants demonstrated better understanding of the tentative NOS aspect but less understanding of the nature of and relationship between scientific theories and scientific laws. The Chinese sample scored highest on five of the six Likert sub-scales, the USA sample demonstrated more informed views on observation and inference, and the Turkish preservice teachers possessed relatively more traditional views in all six NOS aspects. Conclusions and limitations of the present study as well as implications and recommendations for future studies, are also discussed.     

Navigating between an emic and an etic approach in ethnographic research. Crucial aspects and strategies when communicating critical results to participants

There is a fundamental tension in ethnographic research between trying to understand participants from within their own perspective and viewing them with greater distance. With this in mind, the aim of this article is to describe how a reflexive communication model was developed during the study of El Sistema Gothenburg, and to discuss aspects and strategies that are crucial when navigating between an emic and an etic approach. It is argued that by reflexive communication, researchers can make their results useful for participants and that reflecting upon the relationship is even more important when communicating critique. With the help of this model, communication of critical results was facilitated by the establishment of an integrative approach that combined the insiders’ and outsiders’ perspectives and was based on the formation of a strong relationship between the researchers and the participants, as well as by the participants’ own cultivation of theoretical understanding.     

Pushing Past Clichés: Latina and Black Women’s Perceptions of the Dietetics Major and Profession during Career Exploration

Diversity in dietetics, like other health professions, has remained stagnant despite the increase of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. We examined how Latina and Black women, enrolled in a university outreach program, make sense of a critical media literacy program during career introduction to dietetics. Our findings revealed that the women did not identify with the dietetics major and profession due to stereotypical images. Cliché messages were used as a discourse method. The need to explore public discourse to understand identity formation and barriers to entry into health profession careers is discussed.     

Black Mathematics Educators: Researching Toward Racial Emancipation of Black Students

This article focuses on the scholarship of Black mathematics education researchers whose work focuses on Black students in P–20 mathematics spaces. We conducted a metasynthesis literature review of empirical studies by Black mathematics education researchers. The authors utilized critical theories of race and racism to aid in the synthesis of the literature. The Black researchers we reviewed challenged the perspective that failure and limited persistence in Black students who are learning and participating in mathematics is normative. As a critical defense, these scholars offer research that problematizes test score data, race and racism, opportunities to learn mathematics, identity considerations, and other constructs that produce unequal effects in mathematics learning. We found that Black mathematics education researchers strategically disrupt the deficit narrative about Black students. Black scholars select theoretical frameworks that allow them to focus on race and how racism operates in mathematics education. We present this research to incite dialogue among all mathematics educators about improving the mathematical context for Black students.     

Invalidated identities: The disconfirming effects of racial microaggressions on Black doctoral students in STEM

Black students face repeated racial microaggressions that may challenge their mental health and academic performance in engineering doctoral programs. Researchers attribute this to stereotypes and institutional climates that juxtapose their STEM and racial identities as incongruent. In this article, we analyzed the perceptions of environmental, behavioral, and verbal racial microaggressions of 33 Black doctoral students and postdocs, with a focus on their interactions with non-Black peers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with Black doctoral students from 11 Predominantly White Institutions in the United States. To analyze the experiences of our participants, we utilized two theoretical frameworks: Racial microaggressions and identity nonverification. Across the interviews, participants described various forms of racial microaggressions that greatly challenged their sense of belonging and identities as engineers. This research affirms the need to develop initiatives at the departmental and institutional levels to encourage more inclusive spaces for diverse students in STEM doctoral programs and to combat the types of exclusionary practices found in this study.