The Role of Scientist Mentors on Teachers’ Perceptions of the Community of Science During a Summer Research Experience

This study focuses on the mentor relationships between science teachers and their scientist mentors in a summer Research Experience for Teachers program at a United States national laboratory facility. Using mixed methods, the authors surveyed and interviewed (semi-structured) the eleven participating teachers before and after the program. The authors also observed the teachers with their mentors each week. During these observations, three different types of mentoring relationships were observed. The authors highlight these through case studies of three teachers, each of whom experienced one of the three relationships. These case studies include their pre and post survey and interview data as well as classroom observations following the program. The results show that the mentoring relationship positively influences teachers?? views of scientific inquiry. The participating teachers felt a sense of membership in the science community as a result of the mentoring they received from their scientists and/or other members of their research group (i.e. graduate students, post doctorates). The three cases demonstrate that teachers felt a higher sense of ownership when they were ??discovering?? information that was new to their scientist or ??translating?? their work. All three types of mentoring relationships improved teachers?? understanding of scientific inquiry, which can translate into the classroom.     

Whole school support for vulnerable children: the evaluation of a part‐time nurture group

The positive impact that nurture groups can offer is well documented. This study aims to describe the evaluation of a nurture group intervention across six schools. In contrast to previous research, children accessed the group for a maximum of four mornings per week. The findings show that this model did not comprise the gains reported in previous studies. The results show a significant positive effect on the children with reference to their behaviour both in school and at home. In addition, the intervention appears to have contributed further to the whole school system. Schools reported an improved ethos and an increased capacity to support children with social and emotional difficulties. This paper concludes by considering the new Scottish Curriculum guidelines A curriculum for excellence and whether the principles and theoretical underpinnings of nurture groups can be fully integrated into a mainstream environment.     

Cinematic Jujitsu: Resisting White Hegemony through the American Dream in Spike Lee's Malcolm X

Spike Lee's film Malcolm X (1992) presented Malcolm X's life story using the narrative framework of the American Dream myth central to liberal ideology. Working from Gramsci's notion of common sense in the process of hegemony, I explain how Lee appealed to this mythic structure underlying American popular culture to give a platform to Malcolm X's controversial ideas. By adopting a common sense narrative to tell Malcolm X's life story, this movie functioned as a form of cinematic jujitsu that invited critical consciousness about the contradictions between liberal ideology and the life experiences of racially excluded groups. Other formal devices in Lee's film incorporated Malcolm X's rhetoric within the common sense of mainstream politics and connected Malcolm X to more contemporary racial struggles. This analysis suggests that common sense framings of controversial figures may provide a limited space to challenge institutionalized forms of racism within popular culture.     

The Post-Nuclear Family and the Depoliticization of Unplanned Pregnancy in Knocked Up,Juno, and Waitress

This essay explores three films from 2007, Knocked Up, Juno, and Waitress, which foreground young women's unplanned pregnancies. These movies depoliticize women's reproduction and motherhood through narratives that rearticulate the meaning of choice. Bypassing the subject of abortion, the women's decisions revolve around their choice of heterosexual partners and investment in romantic relationships. Although they question the viability of the nuclear family for single pregnant women, these films represent new iterations of post-feminism that ultimately restore conservative ideas that valorize pregnancy and motherhood as women's imperatives. We conclude by addressing how these movies present a distorted and short-sighted depiction of the politics of reproductive agency and the challenges that single mothers face.     

The technical adequacy of curriculum-based writing measures with English learners

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of Curriculum-Based Measures in writing for English learners. Participants were 36 high school English learners with moderate to high levels of English language proficiency. Predictor variables were type of writing prompt (picture, narrative, and expository), time (3, 5, and 7 min), and scoring procedure (words written, words spelled correctly, correct word sequences, correct minus incorrect word sequences). Criterion variables were teacher ratings of writing performance and student performance on the Test of Written Language-III, the writing subtest of the Test of Emerging Academic English, and the Minnesota state writing test. Results supported the validity and reliability of a 5 to 7-min writing sample written in response to a narrative or picture prompt and scored for percent of correct word sequences, correct minus incorrect word sequences, or words written plus correct minus incorrect word sequences.     

TAKING A “SIMPLE VIEW” OF THE DYNAMIC INDICATORS OF BASIC EARLY LITERACY SKILLS AS A PREDICTOR OF MULTIPLE MEASURES OF THIRD‐GRADE READING COMPREHENSION

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity evidence of first‐grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) scores for predicting third‐grade reading comprehension scores. We used the “simple view” of reading as the theoretical foundation for examining the extent to which DIBELS subtest scores predict comprehension through both word recognition and language comprehension. Scores from the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) subtest, a measure of word recognition speed and accuracy, strongly and significantly predicted multiple measures of reading comprehension. No other DIBELS subtest score explained additional variance beyond DIBELS ORF. Although experimental DIBELS Word Use Fluency (WUF) was significantly correlated with a language comprehension measure and measures of reading comprehension, WUF scores did not predict reading comprehension beyond ORF scores. Alternatively, first‐grade Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores did predict additional, significant variance in reading comprehension, beyond DIBELS ORF.     

Identifying Indicators of Behavior Change: Insights From Wildfire Education Programs

Environmental educators are challenged to document behavior changes, because change rarely depends solely on outcomes of education programs, but on many factors. An analysis of 15 communities in the United States that have increased their preparedness for wildfire allowed us to explore how education programs encouraged individual and community change. Agency-sponsored adult educational programs helped communities change their philosophy about firefighting, pass ordinances that restrict individual property rights, and empower residents to reduce their wildfire risk. This article explores several outcomes of these programs and offers suggested indicators of change that might be useful for education program evaluation.     

Measuring Teacher Attitudes Toward Instructional Technology: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the TAC and TAT

In this article the authors present a confirmatory factor analysis of the Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Computers (TAC) and the Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Information Technology (TAT) scales by Christensen and Knezek (1996, 1998) using large samples from three states. The TAC was reduced from 98 items and nine factors to 35 items and eight factors, while maintaining superior psychometric properties. The TAT was reduced from 50 items and five factors to 20 items measuring five factors, similarly maintaining excellent psychometric properties. The authors also developed a combined short form of both instruments using 42 items to measure 11 factors for use in situations where parsimony is critical.     

Working Through Political Entertainment: How Negative Emotion and Narrative Engagement Encourage Political Discussion Intent in Young Americans

This study examines how a political entertainment film (Man of the Year) can impact an individual's political discussion intent after the same political topic is made salient in a subsequent news story. In addition, a process of communication influence is assessed when the roles of negative emotion and narrative engagement are considered as potential mediators of the relationship between political entertainment film viewing and political discussion intent. Seven hypotheses serve as the foundation for this experimental study, and structural equation modeling was used to test these hypotheses. Results reveal there was no direct influence of political entertainment film viewing on political discussion intent, but there was an indirect effect through negative emotion. Furthermore, narrative engagement emerged as a predictor of political discussion intent and a mediator of the association between negative emotion and political discussion intent.