Fair play for college athletes: Racism and NCAA rules

In addition to being editor ofAcademic Questions and chairman of the National Association of Scholars. He was the starting center for the Columbia University basketball team from 1957 to 1960.     

Differences in cost,tenure ratio,and faculty flow as a result of changed mandatory retirement ages

The present study uses the USC Faculty Planning Model to determine the impact of changes in the mandatory retirement age. Analysis was performed for three faculty groups, differing in age and rank distributions, and with three different policy scenarios (representing low turnover, high turnover, and retrenchment). Results indicate that the impact of changes in retirement age will vary considerably depending upon the initial faculty age and rank distributions and, to a lesser extent, upon the policy assumptions made.     

Reasoning about Representations: Effects of an Early Math Intervention

ABSTRACT

The outcomes of a longitudinal randomized number sense intervention including pre-, post- and follow-up tests are reported. The intervention was conducted in Grade 0 when children were six years old. Using Concrete-Representational-Abstract principles, a structured explicit 10-week program focusing on numbers and collective reasoning about representations was conducted by the classroom teachers. In addition to their regular mathematics teaching, a trained control group received an equally structured and explicit intervention program but without the critical mathematics component. The children in the experimental group outperformed the children in the control group on number sense growth between the pre- and the post-test. There was also a sustained effect of the intervention nine months later when children were assessed in Grade 1.     

Naturalistic Language Recordings Reveal “Hypervocal” Infants at High Familial Risk for Autism

Children's early language environments are related to later development. Little is known about this association in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who often experience language delays or have ASD. Fifty‐nine 9‐month‐old infants at high or low familial risk for ASD contributed full‐day in‐home language recordings. High‐risk infants produced more vocalizations than low‐risk peers; conversational turns and adult words did not differ by group. Vocalization differences were driven by a subgroup of “hypervocal” infants. Despite more vocalizations overall, these infants engaged in less social babbling during a standardized clinic assessment, and they experienced fewer conversational turns relative to their rate of vocalizations. Two ways in which these individual and environmental differences may relate to subsequent development are discussed.     

THE ACCREDITATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES∗

In view of the interest which certain countries have expressed in developing accreditation systems for higher education based on the American model, the author lists nine attributes which he considers critical to the success of this model. As the success of the American model depends very much on certain fundamental characteristics of American higher education, they should be adapted with very great care in different contexts. Indeed, even in the United States, traditionally held views of what accreditation represents and how it should be conducted are being increasingly challenged. The feeling is that normal accreditation procedures have neglected consideration of such matters as the quality and the results of education programmes, student attrition rates, the default rate on student loans, and similar matters of great concern to the public. The author proposes a series of reforms so as to address these criticisms and to develop a reformed accreditation model.

     

Personalization in science: Preliminary investigation at the middle school level

A science program in which students were encouraged to select their own project goal as well as the apparatus to accomplish this goal was developed and tried in two fifth-grade classes. The program was designed to foster children's logical thinking skills. The classes in the study had not previously experienced any individualized program. The advantages, disadvantages, problems, and questions that resulted from the program are discussed. Observations during the program revealed that the transition from group to personalized work is a complicated process. Changes in the classroom social structure, reward structure, and general organization are described. Evaluation of student progress revealed that the major intellectual goal of the program was accomplished. Children in the program performed better on measures of describing variables and interpreting experiments than did control children. Differences in individuals which affect success in the program are discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. An earlier version of this research was presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching meeting, Chicago, 1974. We wish to thank Joan C. Randle for teaching the classes and the Moraga School District for their cooperation.Advancing Education through Science Oriented Programs (AESOP).     

Positive and negative patterning in human classical skin conductance response conditioning

Three experiments on classical differential conditioning of the human skin conductance response to elemental and compound stimuli are reported. Subjects in Experiment 1 received both positive and negative patterning training, followed by either positive or negative patterning transfer tests on new stimuli. In positive patterning, a compound of two stimuli is reinforced and its elements are nonreinforced. In negative patterning, the elements are reinforced and the compound is nonreinforced. Subjects in Experiments 2 and 3 received either positive or negative patterning during training, followed by transfer tests on new stimuli. In Experiment 2, the transfer series began with new elements, after which their compound was presented; in Experiment 3, the new compound was presented first in the transfer series, and then the separate elements were administered. All three experiments provided evidence of the acquisition of positive patterning, while negative patterning was found only in Experiments 2 and 3. Positive patterning transferred to new stimuli, indicating that it was not attributable solely to summation of sub-threshold excitation conditioned to the elements on reinforced compound trials. This finding, coupled with the negative patterning found in Experiments 2 and 3, provided support for the unique cue hypothesis. It was concluded that the assumed unique cue constituted a learned “rule,” and that the actual elemental stimuli were neither perceptually nor otherwise modified during the conditioning process.     

Engineering problem-solving knowledge: the impact of context

Employer complaints of engineering graduate inability to ‘apply knowledge’ suggests a need to interrogate the complex theory-practice relationship in twenty-first century real world contexts. Focussing specifically on the application of mathematics, physics and logic-based disciplinary knowledge, the research examines engineering problem-solving processes as enacted by recent graduates in a range of industrial settings. Theoretically situated in the sociology of education, the Bernsteinian concept of knowledge structures and Legitimation Code Theory epistemic relations are utilised to surface the disciplinary basis of problem solving in different sociotechnical contexts. It is argued that the relationship between the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of the problem gives rise to significantly different practice ‘codes’ between which successful engineering problem-solvers are required to shift. This paper presents two contrasting case studies which demonstrate the impact of the environment on code-shifting practices. Findings suggest that engineering curricula need to facilitate a more conceptual grasp of contextual complexities.     

Toward alternative metrics of journal impact: A comparison of download and citation data

We generated networks of journal relationships from citation and download data, and determined journal impact rankings from these networks using a set of social network centrality metrics. The resulting journal impact rankings were compared to the ISI IF. Results indicate that, although social network metrics and ISI IF rankings deviate moderately for citation-based journal networks, they differ considerably for journal networks derived from download data. We believe the results represent a unique aspect of general journal impact that is not captured by the ISI IF. These results furthermore raise questions regarding the validity of the ISI IF as the sole assessment of journal impact, and suggest the possibility of devising impact metrics based on usage information in general.     

Rating the Quality of Trials in Systematic Reviews of Physical Therapy Interventions

Physical therapists seeking to use evidence to guide their practice may have limited time to read research reports. One way to reduce the time required to identify and read about the research that is relevant to a particular clinical question is to read a systematic review that summarizes multiple studies. This paper explains the process that is used to conduct systematic reviews, which includes the establishment of a protocol, comprehensive searching, appraisal of the quality of the included studies, data extraction and metaanalysis, and consideration of the clinical and research implications of the findings. We also consider how the reader of a systematic review can determine whether the review is likely to provide an unbiased (believable) estimate of the treatment effect. A systematic review of randomized trials of a cardiopulmonary physical therapy intervention is used as an example. The issue of appraisal of quality is then discussed further, with a demonstration of how one validated tool for quality appraisal–the PEDro scale–can be used to evaluate a randomized trial in cardiopulmonary physical therapy.Key Words: systematic review, physical therapy