The Kirtsaeng and SCI-HUB Cases: The Major U.S. Copyright Cases in the Twenty-First Century

There has been a plethora of substantive copyright cases in the history of the United States. Two of the most important cases in the last few years were: the Kirtsaeng case before the Supreme Court of the United States; and the SCI-HUB case before the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York. This paper addressed the key copyright issues raised in each case, including a discussion of relevant sections of the Copyright Law of the United States (17 U.S.C.) as well as suggestions the book and scholarly journal industries could consider addressing the insidious impact of copyright violations.     

Selection of Authentic Modelling Practices as Contexts for Chemistry Education

In science education, students should come to understand the nature and significance of models. In the case of chemistry education it is argued that the present use of models is often not meaningful from the students' perspective. A strategy to overcome this problem is to use an authentic chemical modelling practice as a context for a curriculum unit. The theoretical framework for this strategy is activity theory rooted in socio‐cultural theories on learning. An authentic chemical modelling practice is characterized by a set of motives for model development through a well‐defined modelling procedure using only relevant issue knowledge. The aim of this study was to explore, analyse, and select authentic chemical modelling practices for use in chemistry education. The suitability of the practices was reviewed by applying a stepwise procedure focused on criteria such as students' interest and ownership, modelling procedure, issue knowledge, and feasibility of the laboratory work in the classroom. It was concluded that modelling drinking‐water treatment and human exposure assessment are both suitable to serve as contexts, because both practices exhibit clear motives for model construction and the applied modelling procedures are in line with students' pre‐existing procedural modelling knowledge. The issue knowledge involved is consistent with present Dutch science curriculum, and it is possible to carry out experimental work in the classroom for model calibration and validation. The method described here to select and evaluate practices for use as contexts in chemistry education can also be used in other science domains.     

Evaluation of a Design Principle for Fostering Students’ Epistemological Views on Models and Modelling Using Authentic Practices as Contexts for Learning in Chemistry Education

Science education should foster students’ epistemological view on models and modelling consistent with formal epistemology in science and technology practices. This paper reports the application of a curriculum unit in the classroom using an authentic chemical practice, ‘Modelling drinking water treatment’, as the context for learning. An authentic practice is defined as professionals working on an issue guided by common motives and purposes, according to a similar type of procedure and applying relevant knowledge. The epistemology on models and modelling in the practice was analysed and anchored in the curriculum unit. The knowledge involved was captured in a design principle ‘content modelling’. A design principle provides heuristic guidelines to reach the intended pedagogic effects in the classroom. Throughout the field tests, research data were collected by means of classroom observations, interviews, audio‐taped discussions, completed worksheets, and written questionnaires. Students were able to evaluate the advanced model features of goodness of fit and reliability, and, to a lesser extent, validity. However, reflection on the modelling approach applied can be improved. The findings were used to reconsider the current completion of the design principle ‘content modelling’. This study contributes to the acquisition of a knowledge base concerning the use of authentic practices as contexts for learning in chemistry education as well as in science education in a broader sense.     

Effect of worked examples and Cognitive Tutor training on constructing equations

Algebra students studied either static-table, static-graphics, or interactive-graphics instructional worked examples that alternated with Algebra Cognitive Tutor practice problems. A control group did not study worked examples but solved both the instructional and practice problems on the Cognitive Tutor (CT). Students in the control group requested fewer hints and made fewer errors on the CT practice problems but required more learning time on the instructional examples. There was no difference among the four groups in constructing equations on a paper-and-pencil posttest or on a delayed test that included training and transfer problems. However, students who studied worked examples with a table were best at identifying the meaning of the equation components. The concept of transfer-appropriate processing (the overlap between instructional task and assessment task) aided our interpretation of the findings. Although the CT had a short-term effect on reducing errors and hint requests on CT practice problems, the worked examples were as effective on delayed paper-and-pencil tests. The subsequent construction of a new module for the Animation Tutor (Reed and Hoffman, Animation Tutor: Mixtures. Instructional software, 2011) used both the interactive-graphics and static-table worked examples to take advantage of the complementary strengths of different representations (Ainsworth, Learn Instr 16:183–198, 2006).     

Examining Student Digital Artifacts During a Year-Long Technology Integration Initiative

This study was situated within a year-long, statewide technology integration initiative designed to support technology integration within science, technology, engineering, and math classrooms. It examined the elements used in student artifacts in an attempt to investigate trends in digital artifact creation. Among several conclusions, this examination highlighted areas of significant improvement in student use of technology, such as an increase in the creation of PowerPoint presentations and the inclusion of multimedia elements. The study also highlighted areas for improvement, such as the low cognitive demand for content in the majority of the artifacts.     

Educating the Next Generation of Public Health Social Work Leaders: Findings from a Summit

This article reports the findings of a 2-day public health social work (PHSW) summit that brought together PHSW educators, practitioners, and administrators to generate ideas for preparing the next generation of PHSW leaders. Data from focus groups revealed four themes: the importance of PHSW in our healthcare delivery system, the need for public health social workers to develop their professional identity, the significance of branding/promoting PHSW, and the favorable consequences of infusing PHSW content into social work curricula. Attendees generated ideas for bringing PHSW forward and provided recommendations to accrediting bodies for highlighting the importance of PHSW.     

Lifelong education: a test of the accumulation hypothesis

A path model of the lifelong education cycle is developed and estimated, using data relevant to a Swedish cohort of men and the method of linear structural relations analysis. The estimates are used to address the question as to whether adult education, by offsetting differences in educational backgrounds, has reduced the gap in educational attainment between the initially poorly‐educated and well‐educated groups comprising the sample studied. The results show that a cycle of accumulation is in operation, so that the quality of earlier experiences of education predict the quality and amount of educational experiences subsequently gathered. Hence, as the expansion of adult education has served to reinforce inequality of educational attainment, at least for the group of Swedish men studied, the accumulation hypothesis is supported. However, because the stability coefficients found in the model are only of modest size, it is concluded that there is room for interventionist policy designed to influence the social distribution of adult education resources.     

Shortcomings of the IQ-Based Construct of Underachievement

Despite being plagued by serious conceptual problems, underachievement ranks among the most popular constructs in research on the gifted. Many of its problems have their roots in the use of the IQ as the supposedly best method of measuring ability levels. Only a few decades ago the opinion was still widespread that the IQ-based construct of underachievement, having withstood neither its empirical nor its theoretical test, ought to be abandoned. Since then, some points of criticism have simply been forgotten. In this article we therefore take up and follow a few of the broken threads within the discussion. To this end, we present a thorough analysis of the implications of the IQ-based underachievement concept. First we present a definition of underachievement and provide a brief overview of the history of the construct. We then enumerate the theoretical, methodological, and empirical problems of the IQ-based construct.