Using situated cognition theory in researching student experience of the workplace

It has been proposed that situated cognition theory, in which learning is conceptualized as induction into a community of practice through the activity of legitimate peripheral participation, offers an appropriate theoretical perspective for examining issues of gender in science education. This study critically engages with this proposal by means of an investigation of the vacation work experiences of a group of South African final‐year civil and chemical engineering students. Issues of race and gender appeared prominently and spontaneously in focus group and interview data. An analysis of these data using the situated cognition framework allowed for a deeper understanding of these issues and their impact on learning. It was found that access to legitimate peripheral participation was critical for good learning outcomes (associated with positive identity formation) while denial of this access (as sometimes experienced by black and female students) appeared to be related to less effective learning and poor feelings of self‐worth. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 415–431, 2004     

The historical evolution of engineering degrees: competing stakeholders,contestation over ideas,and coherence across national borders

Recent times have seen significant realignment of engineering degrees globally, most notably in the Washington Accord, a system of mutual recognition of accreditation across much of the Anglophone world and beyond, and the Bologna Process, impacting significantly on the form of engineering degrees in Europe. This article, tracing the historical evolution of engineering degrees, argues that recent events can be seen to be part of an ongoing process of reworking the arrangements for formal engineering education, based on a long-standing contradiction between the different stakeholders that have an interest in curriculum: the state, engineering employers, and academics. This is reflected in a contestation over what was historically termed the ‘shop culture’ of the employers versus the ‘school culture’ of the academy. Furthermore, contemporary developments of mutual accreditation beyond national borders can be seen to have an earlier echo in the relative measure of global coherence that was achieved in the 1870s.     

The Development of Abstract Reasoning about the Physical and Social World

This study investigated 3 questions: (1) Can neo-Piagetian theory predict the developmental sequence through which adolescents progress, in using an abstract form of mathematical analysis to understand the operation of a physical apparatus (the balance beam)? (2) Can the same theory be used to predict the sequence through which they pass in using an abstract form of social analysis, to understand the behavior of a story character? (3) If so, does progress through each sequence take place at the same rate? 80 subjects, aged 9–19 years, were tested. Most were found to be functioning at the level predicted by the theory on each task. A substantial minority, however, were more advanced on 1 task than the other. These results, in conjunction with those from other studies, are interpreted as indicating that abstract thought develops in a fashion that includes both general and specific components.     

Responsiveness to General Education Instruction as the First Gate to Learning Disabilities Identification

Most definitions of learning disabilities (LD) include a qualification that adequate general education instruction was received and the child with LD did not benefit. Rarely is this tenet assessed in either practice or research before a diagnosis is made. We review three studies that investigated children's responsiveness to general education reading instruction as an indicator of need for more intensive interventions. Adequacy of instruction was quantified by children's level and rate of progress, compared to classmates, as measured by curriculum‐based measures of oral reading fluency. We found that the response‐to‐instruction model tested was valid in that (1) children who differ from their peers on level and slope of performance (dual discrepancy) have more severe academic and behavioral problems than children who have IQ‐achievement discrepancies or low achievement; (2) children who demonstrate persistent nonresponsiveness over three years differ from other at‐risk children on reading, reading‐related, and behavioral measures; and (3) at‐risk children who participated in specially designed general education interventions had better outcomes than at‐risk children who did not participate. We conducted additional analyses to assess low achievement definitional variations and found that they lack sensitivity and coverage compared to a dual discrepancy definition.     

Long-Term Stability of Individual Differences in Sustained Attention in the Early Years

The goal of this longitudinal study was to explore whether early measures of attention and inattention would be predictive of later attentiveness and whether there was any evidence of stable individual differences in attentiveness. Both full-term and preterm children were observed at 1, 2, and 3.5 years in free play and in more structured situations. For the group as a whole, and for full-terms separately, quantitative measures of inattention at 2 years were predictive of comparable measures at 3.5 years. For preterms separately, quantitative measures of inattention at 1 year were predictive of both behavior and the mothers' rating on the Conners Hyperactivity subscale at 3.5 years. Global, qualitative ratings of attentiveness at 1 and 2 years were predictive of mothers' ratings on the Conners at 3.5 years for the group as a whole and for full-terms separately. For full-terms only, the global ratings of attentiveness at 1 and 2 years were also predictive of 3.5-year quantitative measures of behavior. These data provide an encouraging base for further investigation of early individual differences in attentiveness and of possible early precursors of later attention deficits.     

On Becoming Allies: A Qualitative Study of Lesbian‐, Gay‐, and Bisexual‐Affirmative Counselor Training

The authors present a qualitative analysis of a process by which a research team of counselors‐in‐training confronted their heterosexist biases while investigating heterosexual attitudes toward sexual minorities. Members of the research team discovered that it was essential to reflect on and evaluate their attitudes, assumptions, and biases before they could conduct scientific research about affirmative attitudes toward lesbian, gay male, and bisexual male and female individuals. Self‐reflective narratives written by each research team member were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methodology. Results yielded 10 general categories or themes. Implications for counseling theory, training, and future research are discussed.     

Metacognitive Development: A View beyond Cognition

A series of studies were conducted to investigate students' metacognitive development in a second year chemical engineering course. The first of these was an exploratory study involving observation together with some limited interviewing. This was followed by a major study with two phases, the first of which involved a series of individual interviews with eleven students over the duration of the course, and the second of which involved a follow-up interview with each student two years later. In the first phase of the major study a theoretical framework characterising metacognitive development as a shift in approach to learning was utilised. The present paper draws on the findings of the second phase of the major study to both confirm the validity of this framework and also point to some of its shortcomings, specifically regarding the necessity of a certain emotional state in order for metacognitive development to take place, and the importance of the formation of a professional identity. It is suggested that metacognitive development needs to be characterised in broader terms than the usual cognitive focus in order to more fully account for students' experiences of learning.     

Attitudes of counseling students in the United States toward minority clients

One hundred and twenty counseling students representing 10 programs across the United States were administered the Purdue Master Attitude Scale, the Defining Issues Test, the Index of Homophobia and a demographic questionnaire in an effort to identify attitudes of students to ward minority groups. A demographic profile of these counselors in traning presents a picture of the typical American. They are fairly young, mostly caucasian, middle class and were raised in traditional two-parent families.The results of the instruments administered indicate that counseling students appear to reflect the dominant culture attitude with respect to homophobia by demonstrating average to high homophobia, while the Purdue Master Attitude Scale reflects a somewhat overall positive attitude toward ethnic minorities.In terms of statistical analyses, level of moral judgment, as measured by the Defining Issues Test, was significantly related to attitude to ward ethnic and sexual preference minorities. Individuals with more favorable attitudes demonstrated higher levels of moral reasoning and vice versa. Higher frequency of experience with minorities was significantly related to lower homophobia scores and demonstrated a trend in the direction of better attitude scores. Quality of experience, while not achieving significance, showed a trend with better quality ratings being related to better attitude toward ethnic minorities and lower homophobia scores.Paper presented to the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling, Utrecht, the Netherlands July 15, 1985.