GLOBE—The Science Behind Launching an International Environmental Education Program

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is an international science and environmental education program that enables school children to learn about the environment by taking scientific measurements of their natural surroundings and sharing their data with scientists via the Internet. By carefully following protocols and using approved measurement devices, students around the world are developing an archive of standardized data that can also be used in professional research. GLOBE is divided into several separate investigations, each focused on a different aspect of the environment. They include land cover, soil, hydrology, phenology, haze, and the atmosphere. Each investigation has a team of scientists who have worked with students and teachers to develop detailed protocols for the students to collect data. In addition, the scientists are exploring ways of using that data in their own research. This article is mostly about the work of GLOBE scientists—but also some students and teachers—in the first 5 years of the program. It is intended to provide an overview of the scientists' efforts to develop a meaningful learning experience around gathering environmental data for research.     

The role of the governing board in higher education institutions

More autonomy to institutions andincreased focus on institutional policiesimplies that institutional governing bodies arebecoming central actors in developingstrategies for universities or colleges. TheBoard of the institution is an important actorin the decision-making process and formallythe most central elected strategic body at theinstitutional level. The governing Board can beviewed as an important arena for institutionalchange and is also responsible for qualityassurance, efficiency and effectiveness. Thisarticle investigates the role of the governingBoards in higher education institutions. Threeperspectives on organisations are used in orderto illuminate the Board's roles. Aninstrumental perspective focuses on roles thatmay be expected according to the mandate of theBoard. The point of departure for this approachis the legal base of the Board.Neo-institutional theory focuses attention onthe possible decoupling between the formalstructure and actual behaviour, and discussesthe circumstances under which this arises. In apolitical model the Board is seen as an arenafor the practice of power and promotion ofinterests where the members have conflictingpreferences which they attempt to advancethrough negotiation and formation ofcoalitions.     

An investigation of grapheme parsing and grapheme-phoneme knowledge in two children with dyslexia

The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between children’s knowledge of letter-sound rules (“grapheme-phoneme knowledge”) and their ability to identify separate graphemes (e.g., SH, OI) that comprise words (“grapheme parsing”). We used a single-case study approach with children with phonological dyslexia who were able to read words accurately via whole-word processes (“lexical reading”), but were not able to read using grapheme-phoneme knowledge (“non-lexical reading”). These children were able to correctly parse some graphemes without grapheme-phoneme knowledge for these graphemes. However, they were unable to correctly parse some graphemes for which they had grapheme-phoneme knowledge. This dissociation suggests that children may acquire grapheme-phoneme knowledge and phoneme parsing independently. We discuss the implications of these findings for cognitive models of word reading.     

Tools for Successful Student–Teacher–Scientist Partnerships

Student–teacher–scientist partnership (STSP) programs are cooperative relationships in which students, with the support of their teachers, participate in and contribute to the research of scientists. This paper examines one of the world's largest STSPs—an international environmental science education program called GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment)—and proposes recommendations to scientists about how they can get the most out of their research and teaching relationship with students and their teachers. GLOBE is an international K–12 STSP that engages students in Earth's Systems investigations. Extensive training is needed for students to collect and report accurate data to scientists, and special preparatory curricula are needed to make their partnership effective and motivating. Recognizing these issues, this research was conducted specifically to identify and recommend a set of training material design criteria for implementation of STSPs in the elementary and middle school levels. The conclusions—the result of background research, extensive interviews and consultation with teachers—provide guidance to GLOBE and other STSP programs to enhance the development of effective and engaging training materials.     

Examining Housing Policy: A Select Annotated Bibliography of Housing Policy–Focused Periodicals

A bibliography of resources focused on housing policy is presented. The bibliography is broken up into two sets, a set of publications focusing on housing policy in the United States and a set focused on housing policy at a multi- or international level. Each entry is detailed with the same categories of information, where applicable. Useful online housing policy resources (organizations, data sets) are provided as well.     

Item-Level Comparative Analysis of Online and Paper Administrations of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills

This article describes a comparative study conducted at the item level for paper and online administrations of a statewide high stakes assessment. The goal was to identify characteristics of items that may have contributed to mode effects. Item-level analyses compared two modes of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) for up to four subjects at two grade levels. The analyses included significance tests of p-value differences, DIF, and response distributions for each item. Additional analyses investigated item position effects and objective-level mode differences. No evidence of item position effects emerged, but significant differences were found for several items and objectives in all subjects at grade 8 and in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) at grade 11. Differences generally favored the paper group. ELA items that were longer in passage length and math items that required graphing and geometric manipulations or involved scrolling in the online administration tended to be the items showing mode differences.     

Peer Tutoring: An Aid to Individual Instruction

In this article, the author describes a personal teaching experience that led her to incorporate improvisational drama into her English classroom. The author describes justifications for implementing drama into the classroom as well as the possible benefits gained by teachers and students. Also included are several improvisational dramatic activities and instructions for incorporating them into the English curriculum. Using drama helped to develop confidence, community, and content knowledge in the middle school classroom.     

Bubbles & Squat – did Dionysus just sneak into the fitness centre?

A Danish fitness chain recently introduced a new concept called Bubbles & Squat. Here, fitness training is combined with free champagne and music. In this paper, we examine this new way of bringing parties, alcohol and physical culture together by exploring the possible meaning of it through existential philosophical analysis. We draw in particular on Nietzsche’s distinction between the Apolline and the Dionysiac, as well as his account of great health. On this basis, we analyse Bubbles & Squat as a case of Dionysiac intoxication, excess and ecstasy sneaking into contemporary Apolline fitness culture. In the last part of the paper, we raise the question if adding parties and bubbles to fitness training may, perhaps paradoxically, be healthy for the participants in an existential sense because it contributes to existential balance between the Dionysiac and the Apolline. We conclude that the philosophical framework presented in this paper can contribute to a new understanding of a general physical cultural phenomenon that the case of Bubbles & Squat represents.     

Eclecticism: Psychological theories as interwoven stories

Taking a postmodern perspective, the author makes the claim that all psychological theories could be viewed as stories. Labeling psychological theories as theory-stories, she argues that they reflect the life experience of their authors as well as their socio-political context. Further, by conceiving of psychology itself as a discipline of stories, she proposes that theory-stories are likely to contain many similar themes despite strong differences. These similarities exist because all theory-stories are born of human experience. The author further suggests that past theory-stories have the potential to inform, deconstruct, and add depth to current postmodern practice. This provides the justification for the importance of eclecticism. By way of example, she explores two theories, logotherapy and radical behaviorism, for their fit within a postmodern framework. Finally, by viewing theory as story, the author proposes that eclecticism provides necessary tools to explore story alternatives when liberating clients' from oppressive story lines.