Scientific storytelling: A narrative strategy for scientific communicators

Courses: Science communication, public speaking, technical communication, professional and/or management communication

Objectives: This activity about scientific and technical communication uses narrative principles to communicate complex information to broader audiences. Upon completion of the activity, students will be able to:

• (1)?Explain the four fundamental elements of Cohen’s framework for creating memorable anecdotes.

• (2)?Identify the four elements of Cohen’s framework in sample scientific presentations.

• (3)?Provide examples of how to apply Cohen’s framework to communicate complex information.

• (4)?Identify one or two complex concepts in their subject area that would benefit from a narrative approach.

• (5)?(Optional) Use Cohen’s framework to create a narrative relevant to their subject area.

     

Shifting positionalities across international locations: Embodied knowledge,time‐geography,and the polyvalence of privilege

Despite a robust body of scholarship on positionality, the practice of international Higher Education research often neglects engagement with the varied, fluid and complex positionalities of researchers across national boundaries. Through a series of vignettes, the authors argue for reflexivity that extends beyond rigid social identities and towards embodied knowledge, or self‐understanding that is mutable and context responsive. For international mobile researchers especially, new affinities can evolve through propinquity and social custom, and gradually become incorporated into self‐knowledge with the passing of time. Beyond mere cultural competency, this article raises the importance of symbolic competency that simultaneously negotiates the multiple dimensions of language, various forms of capital, as well as evolving social identities in conducting research in different contexts.     

“Jugos There?” Codeswitching Strategies in Bilingual Picturebooks

Children's Literature in Education -     

The Capitalist State and Public Policy Formation. Framework for a Political Sociology of Educational Policy Making

This article argues that public policy formation cannot be understood without a consistent theory of the capitalist state and politics. This is particularly true with respect to education policies. Expanding capital accumulation and increasing the legitimation of the entire mode of production seem to be the principal roles of the capitalist state, a role that is in perpetual tension. Coming to grips with this tension constitutes a principal challenge for the state. Considering educational policies, programs and practices, to inquire into the reasons for the growth of a given educational level—how programs have been devised historically, by whom, for what purposes, and how they are related to the educational clientele that they are supposed to serve—is to ask for an explanation of the determinants of educational policy formation. In this article a framework for a political sociology of educational policy making and a set of hypotheses on the production rules of public policy are offered.     

A therapeutic model of adult education in Canada: skills and academic upgrading programs in the Province of Alberta

This article reports research findings of a comparative research project, supported by a generous grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). We studied adult education policy implementation in the Province of Alberta, Canada; in Mexico City and a rural district of the State of Mexico; and urban and rural districts of Dar‐Es‐Salaam in Tanzania, East Africa. The study was conducted between 1987‐1991 by three research groups coordinated internationally by Carlos Alberto Torres. Interviews were conducted in the three countries with 50 policy‐makers, 155 adult education teachers, and 447 adult learners. Policy‐makers and teachers wer interviewed using structured, in‐depth interviews, and students were surveyed twice, at the beginning of the programs in 1988‐89 and 15 months later. Only public programs in adult education, skill upgrading, and literacy training were selected, including Alberta Vocational Centers (AVC) and Community Vocational Colleges (CVC); seven different public programs in Mexico, and Folk‐Development Colleges and adult literacy programs from the Institute of Adult Education in Tanzania. Rural and urban programs were studied in Northern and Central Alberta, in the Federal District (Mexico City) and a rural district outside Mexico City, and in a rural municipality and the urban area of Dar‐Es‐Salaam in Tanzania. Two types of programs were studied in the three research settings: academic upgrading programs (consisting of literacy training and adult basic education) and skill upgrading programs Although this article reports specific research findings for the province of Alberta, it benefits from the findings of the international study and from criticisms and analyses made by members of the international teams. Hence, the authors are grateful to Suleman Sumra and Yosiah Bwatwa from the University of Dar‐Es‐Salaam, Raj Pannu and M. K. Bacchus from the University of Alberta, and Sylvia Schmelkes, Carlos Muñoz Izquierdo and Susan Street from the Center for Educational Research in Mexico, for their many contributions to this research.     

La reconstrucción de cuentos en niños sordos

Resumen

Esta investigación analizó la memoria de materiales significativos en niños sordos profundos de cuatro a doce años. Partiendo del marco conceptual de las gramáticas de la historia se diseñaron gráficas y activas (representación en maquetas) con la estructura de cuentos tradicionales. La variable principal fue la experiencia temprana del lenguaje de signos en los niños sordos. Con un diseño factorial mixto se registraron las respuestas de cuatro grupos de niños (doce de oyentes y doce de sordos) manipulando la longitud, el orden narrativo, el tipo de narración y el modo de presentación de los cuentos. Los grupos de sordos se diferencian por su experiencia en el lenguaje de signos. Los resultados indican una tendencia general favorable a los niños con este tipo de lenguaje. Se analizan las causas posibles de este efecto y se sugieren futuras vías de intervención bimodal con los sordos profundos.     

Team processes, team conflict, team outcomes, and gender: An examination of U.S. and Mexican learning teams

Team learning is growing rapidly in popularity in United States (U.S.) and Mexican universities. This instructional approach consists of using learning teams in which participants are required to work together regularly for a semester period of time and produce evaluated team outcomes. These team outcomes, along with their individual performance, have a significant impact on each individual's final assessment. We compare team processes, team conflict, team outcomes, and gender interaction in Mexican and U.S. student teams. U.S. teams report more team-oriented behavior and more cohesiveness, and Mexican teams report more self-oriented behavior and more conflict. Nationality (United States or Mexico) has a moderating effect on the relationship between gender heterogeneity and cohesiveness and conflict. Suggestions are given for applications and future research.