An Empirical Examination of the Warfare Metaphor with Respect to Pre-Service Elementary Teachers

Since its origination in the late nineteenth century, the warfare metaphor has been used to characterize the relationship between science and religion, especially orthodox Christianity. Though thoroughly discredited by historians of science, the ideological descendants of Thomas Huxley, who spoke of science in quasi-religious terms, have kept the warfare metaphor alive. On the other hand, there are substantial numbers of Christians who at least appear to oppose science given their high-profile opposition to the general theory of evolution. The research reported in this paper asked, “Does anti-science sentiment increase with increasing orthodox Christian belief?” Two validated, published instruments were used: The Thinking about Science Survey Instrument and the Christian Fundamentalist Belief Scale. The subjects for the study were 545 preservice elementary teachers. The analysis did not show that anti-science sentiment increases with increasing Christian belief. Subjects with strong Christian beliefs were found to be just as supportive of science, if not more so, than subjects with no Christian beliefs. The study concludes with a caution against projecting attitudes toward science “on the whole” based on attitudes specifically toward evolution when working with preservice elementary teachers. Such a projection could well be counterproductive. The study has implications for other modern countries having highly religious populations such as Turkey.     

Creating prop boxes to stimulate dramatic play and literacy development

The sign says OPEN and five excited preschoolers are at play in a thematically based dramatic center. Their teacher has transformed a corner of the room into a shoe store, complete with materials designed to support the children's early literacy development.Cathleen S. Soundy is with the College of Education, Temple University, and Phyllis Wolf Gallagher is with the Education Department, Holy Name College, Philadelphia, PA.     

Qualitative analysis of parents' information needs and psychosocial experiences when supporting children with health care needs

OBJECTIVE: To identify the information needs of parents of children with health care needs. METHODS: A series of three focus groups and one in-depth interview were held with parents (n = 10, 90% female) in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK. RESULTS: Findings were grouped into four themes: delivery of information; levels of support; relationship between the family and professional; and management of events. Parents expressed a preference for information to be delivered on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis by a professional, supplemented by accessible, written reference materials. The provision of a contact telephone number for a named professional, so further information could be obtained when required, was identified as a key source of support. Participants emphasized the importance of being consulted about the care of their child, the interaction between professional and child, and also of being treated as an individual by the professional. CONCLUSIONS: Delivery of information to parents may be most effective on a verbal, 'one-to-one' basis with a professional, in conjunction with written accessible general and child-specific reference materials. The importance to parents of the provision of contact details for a named professional and specialist nurse support is also emphasized. The psychosocial experiences of parents, along with the impact of the relationship between family and professional, and requirement for good channels of communication, must be taken into account by professionals during the care of children with health care needs. These findings have important implications for professionals and service providers for the future delivery of information to parents of children with health care needs.     

Get out of fines free: Recruiting student usability testers via fine waivers

St. John Fisher College's Lavery Library's Access Services and Systems departments began a pilot project in which students with overdue fines tested usability of library Web sites in exchange for fine waivers. Circulation staff promoted the program and redeemed fine waiver vouchers at the Checkout Desk, while Systems staff administered testing and provided vouchers to participants. Staff evaluated the pilot to be a success, as qualitative data were collected to enable iterative changes to library Web sites, and users had a positive customer service experience. The piloted method may be applied in the future to assess other programs and services.     

Faculty self-actualization: Factors affecting career success

This study determined the degree of relationship between four personal factors related to faculty growth and development, two environmental indices, and career success and satisfaction. Maslow's notion of self-actualization guided the construction of the personal indices of self-democraticness, support, tolerance, and trust; McGregor and Likert provided the theoretical bases for the environmental indices. The data came from the American Council on Education—Carnegie Commission national survey. Selecting only faculty at the rank of assistant professor and higher who were teaching in arts and science departments produced anN of 7,534. Trust was the only personal variable significantly and consistently related to success and satisfaction, but even it had low contingency coefficients. Control of the work environment was the best predictor of the outcome variables and produced CC=0.41 under certain conditions. While not a causal study, the findings nonetheless suggest that factors which can be more easily changed (environmental in contrast to personal) can positively affect faculty growth and development. Implications for administrators follow.     

Career patterns of U.S. male academic social scientists

Seventy-four U.S. male academic social scientists provided career stage data. All were born between 1893 and 1903. The subjects were divided into four groups on the basis of their scholarly article productivity after age 59. Spilerman's conceptualization of work history guided the analysis. To a lesser extent, adult development theory (e.g., Hall and Nougaim, 1968) was also examined.Critical career events were content analyzed and compared. Distinct career paths through and beyond retirement emerged. Among other things, the active publishers have had a less varied career in terms of the different academic roles possible in colleges and universities. Obtaining the Ph.D. followed by research in one setting well beyond retirement characterize these individuals. The moderately active and inactive publishers began their work history with high school teaching and administration, later had college posts as department heads or deanships, and reported sharper separation from academic work at age 65.The importance of early start and place of work support Spilerman's contention of the organization shaping the individual. Career events did not cluster at either chronological or career ages and hence fail to corroborate adult development theorists.     

The role of test scores in explaining race and gender differences in wages

Previous research has suggested that skills reflected in test-score performance on tests such as the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) can account for some of the racial differences in average wages. I use a more complete set of test scores available with the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort to reconsider this evidence, and the results suggest a conclusion similar to earlier research. I also examine the ability of test scores to account for gender differences in wages. Women do not perform as well as men on two math-oriented tests, but they perform better on two speed-oriented tests that appear to have a strong relationship with wages. On net, the test-score difference can help account for only a small part of the gender difference in wages (for any race). Further results suggest that unexplained race and gender differences in wages have been growing over time for the 1979 cohort.