Rethinking the natural capital metaphor: implications for education and learning

One way in which the concept of sustainable development has been understood is through the metaphor of natural capital. This sees that the natural world has performing functions similar to those of economic capital. This metaphor is usually developed by applying to Nature standard economic techniques for capital valuation. However, where valuation of economic capital is complex, additional techniques are often used. One such technique is ‘real options’ analysis. Applying this technique to the concept of natural capital tends to lead to its revaluation, and has particular implications for the role of learning. Learning opportunities arising from the real options metaphor are explored through a number of examples.     

Social support and digital inequality: Does Internet use magnify or mitigate traditional inequities in support availability?

This study tested competing predictions about the implications of Internet use for traditional inequities in social support availability. Using survey data collected as part of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, inequities in social support availability stemming from demographic and network-related factors were examined among non-users, Internet users, and Internet users who also participated in a social network site (SNS). The results offered evidence consistent with the social compensation perspective. Traditional inequities in support availability related to age, race, and total network size persisted among respondents who did not use the Internet, but were less evident or absent among Internet users and/or Internet users who participated in an SNS. Using the Internet to connect with others appeared to be an important mechanism through which inequality in support availability was mitigated.     

A Social Ecological Framework: Counselors' Role in Improving Student Athletes' Help‐Seeking Behaviors

Student athletes' demands increase their risk for experiencing mental health concerns (Ryan et al., 2018). Risk factors for student athletes include coping with athletic success and failure; balancing dual roles; dealing with identity confusion; and experiencing isolation, injury, career termination, and burnout (Beauchemin, 2012; G. T. Brown, 2014). Using the social ecological model, we review factors that interfere with student athletes' help‐seeking behaviors and propose recommendations for the ways counselors can address these barriers in the roles of educator, advocate, and therapist.     

Congruence between mother and handicapped child's view of the child's sense of adjustment

The responses of 22 physically handicapped children to selected items of the Piers‐Harris Self Concept Scale for Children were compared with their mothers’ responses to equivalent items of the Personality Inventory for Children. The direction of the responses, whether children were more or less positive in self‐evaluation than mothers perceived them to. be, was analyzed with respect to sex of child, type of school attended, and diagnosis of handicap (cerebral palsy or spina bifida). Only diagnosis of handicap was significantly related to the tendency for children to be either less or more positive in response to the items than their mothers, with cerebral palsy children more positive and spina bifida children consistently less positive in direction. Possible explanations are considered, with particular reference to the children's views regarding peer relationships.     

Does adviser mentoring add value? A longitudinal study of mentoring and doctoral student outcomes

This study of the impact of doctoral adviser mentoring on student outcomes was undertaken in response to earlier research that found (a) students with greater incoming potential received more adviser mentoring, and (b) adviser mentoring did not significantly contribute to important student outcomes, including research productivity [Green, S. G., and Bauer, T. N. (1995). Personnel Psychology 48(3): 537–561]. In this longitudinal study spanning 5 1/2 years, the effect of mentorship on the research productivity, career commitment, and self-efficacy of Ph.D. students in the ‘hard’ sciences was assessed, while controlling for indicators of ability and attitudes at program entry. Positive benefits of mentoring were found for subsequent productivity and self-efficacy. Mentoring was not significantly associated with commitment to a research career.     

The role of school psychologists in the assessment,prevention, and intervention of cyberbullying

Many school‐aged children have experienced the cruelty of bullying. The impact and effects of bullying have been described extensively in scholarly literature. Unfortunately, the impact of bullying has also made contemporary headlines with the recent rash of school shootings and other forms of school‐based violence. The current body of students brings an additional threat to bullying. Due to their sophisticated use of technology, today's students are using contemporary delivery systems to taunt, tease, and threaten their classmates. Cyberbullying is the newest form of bullying, and it brings additional challenges for school personnel. Because of the unique aspects of cyberbullying, school psychologists need strategies to guide school communities faced with this threatening behavior. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Creating a web of support: an important leadership strategy for advancing campus diversity

Research demonstrates that leadership, particularly among presidents, is important for moving a diversity agenda forward and make appreciable progress on it. The research questions pursued here are: What is the role of the college president in advancing a diversity agenda? What strategies do presidents identify as important to facilitating a diversity agenda? There were three main findings: (1) strategies are deployed in a non-linear way best represented through a web metaphor, (2) six sets of actors that serve as key nodes on the web and specific strategies were crucial to enhancing and deepening the web-developing an internal network, hiring, mentoring, partnering with faculty on the curriculum, supporting student affairs staff, working directly with and learning from students, and establishing external networks; and, (3) strategies within the human resource frame are noted by presidents as particularly important to moving a diversity agenda forward.