Inclusive masculinities of university soccer players in the American Midwest

Male teamsport athletes have traditionally been described as some of the most homophobic and femphobic men in North American culture. However, in this ethnographic research of an education-based soccer team at a small Catholic university in a rural part of Middle America, I use inclusive masculinity theory to highlight that a softer version of masculinity is in operation. I use participant observation and 22 in-depth interviews to show that these men are gay friendly, that they avoid fights, and that they use reciprocal disclosure and homosocial tactility to emotionally bond. Although the type of masculinity the men on this team exhibit retains some orthodox behaviours, it is nonetheless far removed from the traditional model of hegemonic masculinity commonly attributed to teamsport athletes found in American institutes of sport and education.     

Environmental Education in Missouri

Abstract

One result of globalization is that more of what people consume comes from distant regions through complex transactions hidden from ordinary view. To illuminate such flows, scholars often trace commodity chains following one product from inception to sale. Although most of us cannot escape being involved in commodity chains, we can participate with greater or less responsibility. This article outlines the advantages of studying the coffee chain to understand its relationship to consumer choice and environmental issues.     

Adverse childhood experiences,health perception,and the role of shared familial factors in adult twins

To examine the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and health perception in adulthood, and to explore the contribution of shared familial factors to these associations. Data were collected from 180 female twins (90 pairs) from the community-based University of Washington Twin Registry. Participants completed questionnaires including the modified ACE Questionnaire, Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire, McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form, and the SF-36. Mixed effects linear regression modeling investigated the effects of ACE on indices of health perception controlling for correlated twin data. Additional models examined the associations while controlling for the experience of physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood; within-twin pair models that inherently adjust for familial factors explored shared familial influences. After controlling for relevant demographic variables, more ACE was associated with worse perceptions of general health (p = .01) and vitality (p = .05) on the SF-36. After controlling for childhood physical and/or sexual abuse, the relationship between ACE and general health remained significant (p = .01) while vitality was no longer significant. None of the associations remained significant after accounting for the influence of familial factors. These results support previous findings on the negative link between ACE and perceived health in adulthood. The detrimental effects of ACE on vitality may be accounted for by the experience of childhood physical and/or sexual abuse. Shared familial factors might play a partial role in the relationship between ACE and health perception. Future research should further investigate the genetic and environmental mechanisms that may explain this relationship.     

Policy‐making in a cuts culture

The financial constraints imposed upon local government over the past decade have forced many authorities to make savings rapidly and in conditions of considerable uncertainty. Education, as the largest spender and with falling pupil numbers, has often provided the bulk of these savings. In many authorities these have been made in an unplanned, piecemeal fashion and have seriously damaged the service. This paper considers the possibility of a ‘cuts culture’ in which continuing contraction is planned for as part of corporate policy. It raises important questions about the nature of schooling, the relationship between schools and the community and control over the financing of education. It suggests that a case might be made for substantial change, but not unbridled, insensitive reform. The importance of defending, as well as reforming the system is stressed, and the organizational implications of this are considered.     

Finding creativity and flow in a high-stakes assessment context

Remarks by the Minister for Education and Skills underscore the accountability that public institutions and the teaching profession carry for assuring the success of the nation's education enterprise. This article challenges assumptions about the nature of education that are critical to the accountability and testing regimens currently in favor internationally. While supportive of the goals of accountability systems, it argues that higher order pedagogies that reconcile competing historical trends between ‘progressive’ and ‘back to basics’ themes are very promising in an era of important new tools. These approaches include designing classroom ecosystems in ways that routinely elicit high performance and flow-like experiences in learning. Such designs, when successful, alter the terms of accountability and testing dialogues.     

Using an adaptive expertise lens to understand the quality of teachers’ classroom implementation of computer-supported complex systems curricula in high school science

Background: This exploratory study is part of a larger-scale research project aimed at building theoretical and practical knowledge of complex systems in students and teachers with the goal of improving high school biology learning through professional development and a classroom intervention.

Purpose: We propose a model of adaptive expertise to better understand teachers’ classroom practices as they attempt to navigate myriad variables in the implementation of biology units that include working with computer simulations, and learning about and teaching through complex systems ideas.

Sample: Research participants were three high school biology teachers, two females and one male, ranging in teaching experience from six to 16 years. Their teaching contexts also ranged in student achievement from 14–47% advanced science proficiency.

Design and methods: We used a holistic multiple case study methodology and collected data during the 2011–2012 school year. Data sources include classroom observations, teacher and student surveys, and interviews. Data analyses and trustworthiness measures were conducted through qualitative mining of data sources and triangulation of findings.

Results: We illustrate the characteristics of adaptive expertise of more or less successful teaching and learning when implementing complex systems curricula. We also demonstrate differences between case study teachers in terms of particular variables associated with adaptive expertise.

Conclusions: This research contributes to scholarship on practices and professional development needed to better support teachers to teach through a complex systems pedagogical and curricular approach.     

Making a modernist pedagogy: changes in elementary and pre-elementary schooling

Present primary public education in France originated in the école républicaine of the nineteenth century. Starting in the 1960s, the primary school has become integrated into a system of education, with virtually all children now attending pre-elementary and secondary education. These structural changes have led to important alterations in the curriculum of pre-elementary and elementary schools: their traditional pedagogical specificity has diminished in response to a relatively new requirement of curriculum continuity and the overall aim of preparing for future schooling. On the whole, however, this level of schooling is characterized by modernistic pedagogy, the importance it gives to children's harmonious growth and the psycho-affective nature of the teacher-pupil relationship. Although inequalities in socio-economic status between children have not disappeared, new directives aim to limit the inegalitarian mechanisms at work through decentralized compensatory measures and teamwork inside schools.     

Online Ph.D. Program Delivery Models and Student Success

The purpose of this study was to provide information to an online university that offers Ph.D. programs in three formats: knowledge area modules (or KAM, a type of faculty-led, self-directed doctoral study), course-based model, and mixed model (a combination of the KAM and course-based models). The investigators sought to determine why students choose a particular delivery model; their satisfaction with the model; and if they switch, why they do so. A mixed-method approach was utilized using quantitative student characteristics and survey data as well as qualitative survey and interview data. Results indicate that students enrolled in a course-based online Ph.D. program are more likely to be retained and more satisfied than students enrolled in other online delivery models.     

In Support of Pair Programming in the Introductory Computer Science Course

A formal pair programming experiment was run at North Carolina to empirically assess the educational efficacy of the technique in a CS1 course. Results indicate that students who practice pair programming perform better on programming projects and are more likely to succeed by completing the class with a C or better. Student pairs are more self-sufficient which reduces their reliance on the teaching staff. Qualitatively, paired students demonstrate higher order thinking skills than students who work alone. These results are supportive of pair programming as a collaborative learning technique.     

When procedures discourage insight: epistemological consequences of prompting novice physics students to construct force diagrams

ABSTRACT

One aim of school science instruction is to help students become adaptive problem solvers. Though successful at structuring novice problem solving, step-by-step problem-solving frameworks may also constrain students’ thinking. This study utilises a paradigm established by Heckler [(2010). Some consequences of prompting novice physics students to construct force diagrams. International Journal of Science Education, 32(14), 1829–1851] to test how cuing the first step in a standard framework affects undergraduate students’ approaches and evaluation of solutions in physics problem solving. Specifically, prompting the construction of a standard diagram before problem solving increases the use of standard procedures, decreasing the use of a conceptual shortcut. Providing a diagram prompt also lowers students’ ratings of informal approaches to similar problems. These results suggest that reminding students to follow typical problem-solving frameworks limits their views of what counts as good problem solving.