Biological Conceptualization of Race

Science & Education - The conception of racial categories from a biological perspective is unconsciously embedded in the individual’s cognition. This is true even among university...     

A Layered Approach to Critical Friendship as a Means to Support Pedagogical Innovation in Pre-service Teacher Education

In this article we describe and interpret how two distinct layers of critical friendship were used to support a pedagogical innovation in pre-service teacher education. The innovation, Learning about Meaningful Physical Education (LAMPE), focuses on ways to teach future teachers to foster meaningful experiences for learners in physical education. Critical friendship was applied in two ways: (1) the first two authors served as critical friends to each other as they taught their respective teacher education courses using LAMPE, and (2) the third author acted as a meta-critical friend, providing support for and critique of the first two authors’ development and enactment of the innovation. Over two years, data were gathered from reflective journal entries, emails, recorded Skype calls, and teaching observations. The two layers of critical friendship held significant benefits in advancing and supporting the development of the innovation while also contributing to the professional learning of all participants. Analysis of the first year’s data showed that we entered the critical friendship without thoroughly considering what we each hoped to give and take from the relationship or acknowledging the potential problems that might unfold. In the second year, guided by suggestions from our meta-critical friend, we took a more rigorous inquiry stance as critical friends, contributing contentious feedback and pushing each other beyond our personal and pedagogical comfort zones. This led to a noticeable improvement in our professional learning about teacher education practices and advanced the development of the LAMPE innovation.     

Measuring Income Inequality in a General Education or Calculus Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

Income inequality is a central social justice concern, and hence excellent motivation for real-world applications in mathematics classrooms at every level. We describe the Mathematics for Social Justice course at Saint Michael’s College, giving a specific example of one of the typical social justice projects for the course, and showing how projects can be adapted to other courses such as Calculus. The projects described focus on the Gini coefficient, a commonly used measure of income inequality. The original lesson used the trapezoid rule and Microsoft Excel to estimate the Gini coefficient for a country, while the project developed for a Calculus I course uses Maple to fit a power function to data and then integration to calculate the Gini coefficient. We also include readings on the Gini coefficient’s role in policy formulation and advocacy.     

Graduates’ experiences of,and attitudes towards,the inclusion of employability-related support in undergraduate degree programmes; trends and variations by subject discipline and gender

Enhancing graduate employability is a priority for many stakeholders in higher education and this research explores graduates’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, the inclusion of employability-related support in undergraduate degree programmes. A literature review is supplemented by primary research on a targeted sample of 104 graduates from humanities, sciences, engineering and social sciences, who span several generations and have over 2250 years of employment experience. The findings are triangulated to a workshop with 23 graduate careers advisory professionals. The results signal some important trends in experiences and attitudes, as well as variations by discipline and gender. While one in 10 graduates prefer a disciplinary focus with just indirect attention to employability, nine in 10 want employability to have greater emphasis, albeit those preferences vary between optional and integrated approaches. Experiences of employability-related support signal a significant shift over recent decades in how that support is provided, with professional service groups such as careers taking a much more active role and the overall level of provision rising. A cautionary note however is that the link with the discipline remains critical and the right balance needs to be struck between the provision of such support and embedding it into the curriculum.     

Text density level as a design variable in instructional displays

Presenting narrative text in computer-based instruction (CBI) is more difficult than in print lessons due to limited screen resolution and display area. The present research aimed at achieving a more compatible match between lesson content and the attributes of the presentation media. Subjects received either a print or CBI statistics lesson containing low-density (concise) narrative text, high-density (conventional) text, or the density type they preferred (learner-control). Results showed the low-density lesson to reduce completion time relative to the high-density version, while yielding equivalent achievement. Subjects receiving the lesson in the print mode had shorter completion times and higher achievement than their CBI counterparts. Attitude results showed that CBI was favorably regarded, but perceived as longer and slow-moving than print. Implications of results for designing instructional material in accord with CBI attributes and learner characteristics are discussed.     

Processing of identity and conditional relations in monkeys (Cebus apella) and pigeons (Columba livid)

Learning & Behavior - As a test of differential processing of identity and conditional relations, subjects were first highly trained on 0-sec delay identity matching (IM) and conditional...