Black Liberation research: qualitative methodological considerations

Abstract

This article provides an overview of critical qualitative considerations for Black Liberation Research. The methodological considerations focus on: (a) resistance research as paradigm, (b) researcher positionality, (c) naming Black deprivation as the problem of study, (d) situating Black Liberation as the aim of analysis, and (e) centering emotions as humanizing methods. Taken together, the articles in this special issue provide an example of how Black Liberation Research can support the #BLM movement and simultaneously seek to disrupt Black deprivation in the academy.     

Beliefs and Attitudes about Science and Mathematics in Pre-Service Elementary Teachers,STEM, and Non-STEM Majors in Undergraduate Physics Courses

Elementary teachers often hold inaccurate beliefs about the Nature of Science (NoS) and have negative attitudes toward science and mathematics. Using a pre-post design, the current study examined beliefs about the NoS, attitudes toward science and mathematics, and beliefs about the teaching of mathematics and science in a large sample study (N = 343) of pre-service teachers receiving a curriculum-wide intervention to improve these factors in comparison with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM majors in other physics courses (N = 6697) who did not receive the intervention, over a 10-year period. Pre-service teachers evidenced initially more negative attitudes about mathematics and science than STEM majors and slightly more positive attitudes than non-STEM majors. Their attitudes toward mathematics and science and beliefs about the NoS were more similar to non-STEM than STEM majors. Pre-service teachers initially evidenced more positive beliefs about the teaching of mathematics and science, and their beliefs even increased slightly over the course of the semester, while these beliefs in other groups remained the same. Beliefs about the NoS and the teaching of mathematics and science were significantly negatively correlated for STEM and non-STEM majors, but were not significantly correlated for pre-service teachers. Beliefs about the NoS and attitudes toward mathematics and science were significantly positively correlated for both pre-service teachers and STEM students pursing the most mathematically demanding STEM majors. Attitudes toward science and mathematics were significantly positively correlated with accurate beliefs about the teaching of mathematics and science for all student groups.     

Learning by Creating: Letting the Student Do the Work

There is evidence to suggest that mature students, perhaps studying at home where human tutors are not readily available, learn particularly effectively in a problem-solving environment. Also, they appear to be especially responsive to analogies and metaphors. We seek to exploit these effects by requiring students to transform problems into alternative forms before solving them. Three examples are given of domains where the student has to convert the formulation into an equivalent diagram. Arguably, the process of performing this transformation increases their understanding of the subject area.     

Action learning and the creative industries: the efficacy of an action learning set in building collaboration between a university and creative industries

In the UK, the creative sector has been identified as a key strand in the economic recovery strategy. Composed of mostly micro and small enterprises often grouping together for particular commissions and projects, there is a tendency to operate primarily through a series of networks made up of peers. This paper presents the outcomes of a ‘peer-to-peer business programme’, or action learning set, involving 10 participants from the creative sector over a period of 6 months. The programme was based on a ‘Six-Squared’ model where participants would address their own needs alongside participating in, and developing further understanding of, action learning sets in order to establish sets with others. Assessment of outcomes indicated that the programme allowed participants to develop new skills with peers, network and strengthen relationships and collaborate in a university programme. The paper concludes by suggesting that, within the context of a growing and vibrant creative industries sector and increasing pressures on universities to engage with the business community, it is essential to develop flexible, peer-led and innovative models of collaboration.     

Technical Works

THE ASC TREASURY OF VISUAL EFFECTS, by L.B. Abbott et al. (cloth, $29.95)

SCRIPT-WRITING FOR THE AUDIO-VISUAL MEDIA, by Robert Edmonds (New York: Columbia University/Teachers College Press, 1984—$16.95, paper)

HOW TO PRODUCE A FILM by Stewart Bronfeld (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1984 — $8.95)     

Covering Democracy's Forum: Canadian Press Treatment of Public and Private Broadcasting

A content analysis of Canadian press coverage of public service and private broadcasting conducted by NewsWatch Canada, a media monitoring project at Simon Fraser University, shows that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation receives far more coverage than do private broadcasters. Moreover the institutional structures, mandates, and principles of private media networks tended to be excluded. These findings suggest that commercial media are viewed as private property and therefore outside the boundaries of legitimate political discussion. Both public and private broadcasters received more positive than negative coverage.     

Cable in the Classroom

Cable in the Classroom (CIC) is the cable industry's education foundation and has been active in the fields of media and information literacy for more than fifteen years. This article explains media literacy and its connection to information literacy, details CIC's work in these areas, and describes related resources available on CIC's Web site (http://www.ciconline.org). Finally, the article examines digital citizenship, a new term encompassing teaching youth about Internet safety, media and information literacy, and digital ethics that is generating attention in education policy circles.     

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education: Implications for Health Sciences Librarianship

The Association of College and Research Libraries is developing a new framework of information literacy concepts that will revise and replace the previously adopted standards. This framework consists of six threshold concepts that are more flexible than the original standards, and that work to identify both the function and the feelings behind information literacy education practices. This column outlines the new tentative framework with an eye toward its implications for health sciences libraries, and suggests ways the medical library community might work with this new document.     

Medical Education and Information Literacy in the Era of Open Access

The Open Access movement in scholarly communications poses new issues and concerns for medical education in general and information literacy education specifically. For medical educators, Open Access can affect the availability of new information, instructional materials, and scholarship in medical education. For students, Open Access materials continue to be available to them post-graduation, regardless of affiliation. Libraries and information literacy librarians are challenged in their responses to the Open Access publishing movement in how best to support Open Access endeavors within their own institutions, and how best to educate their user base about Open Access in general.     

Time to rethink the role of the library in educating doctors: driving information literacy in the clinical environment

Question:

Can information literacy (IL) be embedded into the curriculum and clinical environment to facilitate patient care and lifelong learning?

Setting:

The Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM) provides competence-based programs incorporating patient-centred care and lifelong learning. ASAM librarians use outcomes-based educational theory to embed and assess IL into ASAM''s educational and clinical environments.

Methods:

A competence-based IL program was developed where learning outcomes were linked to current patients and assessed with checklists. Weekly case presentations included clinicians'' literature search strategies, results, and conclusions. Librarians provided support to clinicians'' literature searches and assessed their presentations using a checklist.

Main Results:

Outcome data showed clinicians'' searching skills improved over time; however, advanced MEDLINE searching remained challenging for some. Recommendations are provided.

Conclusion:

IL learning that takes place in context using measurable outcomes is more meaningful, is enduring, and likely contributes to patient care. Competence-based assessment drives learning in this environment.