Change in Thinking Demands for Students Across the Phases of a Science Task: An Exploratory Study

Science education communities around the world have increasingly emphasized engaging students in the disciplinary practices of science as they engage in high levels of reasoning about scientific ideas. Consistently, this is a critical moment in time in the USA as it goes through a new wave of science education reform within the context of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). We argue that the placement of high demands on students’ thinking (i.e., a high level of thinking) in combination with positioning students to use disciplinary practices as they try to make sense of scientific ideas (i.e., a deep kind of thinking) constitute critical aspects of the reform. The main purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the kinds and levels of thinking in which students engage when they are invited to think and reason as demanded by NGSS-aligned curricular tasks. Our analysis of video records of classrooms in which an NGSS-aligned, cognitively demanding task was used, revealed many ways in which the aspirational level and kind of student thinking will not be met in many science classrooms. We propose a way of characterizing and labeling the differences among these kinds and levels of thinking during the implementation of a reform-based biology curriculum. These categories, which focus on two important features emphasized in the NGSS, can help us to better understand, diagnose, and communicate issues during the implementation of high-level tasks in science classrooms.

     

Achieving and Maintaining Metadata Quality: Toward a Sustainable Workflow for the IDEALS Institutional Repository

This article documents the steps taken to assess metadata errors within the IDEALS repository. It describes the workflows established to create accurate and consistent metadata, focusing especially on the batch ingest and retroactive metadata remediation processes. It also seeks to address theoretical issues surrounding the concept of metadata quality.     

Alternative courses in upper secondary vocational education and training: students' narratives on hopes and failures

Counteracting upper secondary dropouts is an increasingly common issue across the Western part of the world. In Norway, the government has developed different measures to counteract dropouts, one of which concerns alternative educational courses involving increased workplace practice. This article is based on interviews with eight students who participate in the alternative course. The narratives show an identity shift from being outsiders in compulsory education to being participants in the alternative course, something which inspires to learn and installs in the students a hope for the future. This article discusses how and to what extent the alternative courses respond to the purpose of education. We argue that even though the alternative courses respond to many features that may represent educational purposes, this is altogether not enough for the courses to qualify as education. For the courses to qualify as education, a tighter connection to the curriculum is necessary. If the educational system does not respond to the students' construction of new identities through enabling pathways towards more formal qualifications, the development of alternative courses with increased workplace practice might lead to an unintended result of further marginalisation, exclusion and social reproduction.     

Apologia,Antapologia, and the 1960 Soviet U-2 Incident

The study advances a typology of antapologia (discursive reply to apologia) by examining Soviet responses to U.S. image repair during the 1960 U-2 incident. Following U.S. image repair, the Soviets used strategies designed to strengthen its persuasive attack on the United States as well as to weaken U.S. apologia.     

A Functional Analysis of Presidential Direct Mail Advertising

This study investigated the nature of direct mail advertising, a commonly used but little studied form of political campaign communication. 715 brochures were content analyzed employing the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse and Issue Ownership Theory. Acclaims were more common than attacks, which in turn were more frequent than defenses. Primary campaign pamphlets used more acclaims and fewer attacks than general campaign brochures. Democrats used more attacks and fewer acclaims than Republicans. In the general campaign, incumbent party candidates acclaimed more and attacked less than challengers. Incumbents were also prone to use past deeds to acclaim more, and attack less, than challengers. Incumbents tended to use future plans to acclaim more, and attack less, than challengers. Winners used more acclaims and fewer attacks than losers. Overall, direct mail brochures discussed policy more than character. Democrats discussed policy more and character less than Republicans. Democrats discussed Democratic issues more, and Republican issues less, than Republicans. Incumbent party candidates discussed policy more, and character less, than challengers. Winners discussed policy more, and character less, than losers. Winners attacked more on policy, and less on character, than losers. Similarities and differences between direct mail advertising and other message forms were discussed.     

Improving Bhutan’s academic libraries,recommendations from a situational analysis

Abstract

This paper reports from a survey of media exposure and level of knowledge among senior high school students at various locations in Indonesia. Government budgets for education have recently been dramatically reduced in Indonesia and increasing financial burdens are put on the households, like in many other poor countries. There is a tendency to increasing differences in quality of schooling among social layers and geographical areas. Main conclusions in this research are that information asymmetry exists as a problem in society and that type of school and location matter more than media exposure for students’ knowledge level. Students in public schools generally score significantly higher than those in private institutions. Also, students’ level of knowledge tends to fall with decreasing level of geographical centrality. Our policy recommendations include increased public investment in quality schooling for all.     

Kids,Television, and Violence

Aletha Huston Stein and Lynette Kohn Freidrich's Impact of Television on Children and Youth (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975—$2.50, paper)

M.S. Heller and S. Polsky's Studies in Violence and Television (New York: Research Services Division of American Broadcasting Company, 1976—apparently free on request to researchers, paper)