Gender Differences in Science: An Expertise Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to research on gender differences in science that uses the work on expertise in science as a framework for understanding gender differences. Because gender differences in achievement and participation in the sciences are largest in physics, the focus of this review is on physics. The nature of expertise is first discussed and a framework that focuses on factors that influence the emergence of expertise in physics is presented. This is used to interpret what is known about gender differences in science, particularly physics. Next, the potential contributions of the research on gender differences to our understanding of expertise are discussed. Using what is learned from these two areas of research, recommendations are made for future research examining gender differences in physics. It is suggested that such an approach be used for other areas of science, such as chemistry, where large gender differences in achievement and participation also exist.     

Inspired by Statistics?

This article considers being inspired by statistics as both a learner and a teacher. It looks particularly at a task involving research of Minard's Map, a statistical representation, to create and present a statistical task for a learner. It describes how the use of imagery, and the enthusiasm that developed as the map and its context were explored by the teacher, were passed on to the learner.     

The Theory of Motivated Information Management and Posttraumatic Growth: Emerging Adults’ Uncertainty Management in Response to an Adverse Life Experience

This study tested the degree to which the uncertainty management process that emerging adults go through following an adverse event predicts their perceptions of posttraumatic growth. Participants included 215 emerging adults who had experienced an adverse life event within the past year. Overall, the results largely supported the theory of motivated information management, as uncertainty discrepancies positively predicted negative emotions about the adverse event, which in turn predicted outcome expectancies, but not efficacy assessments. Outcome expectancies were predictive of efficacy assessments, which in turn were predictive of a willingness to seek information about the event from a parent. Collectively, uncertainty management behaviors predicted posttraumatic growth and included significant indirect effects for uncertainty discrepancies through communication and target efficacy, respectively.     

How autonomy support and ethical value alignment influences attitudes towards diversity in English police

ABSTRACT

Antagonism towards diversity, an attitude reflecting low egalitarian ethical values, has been a topic within policing that has received increasing attention in the last decade. Using two-wave data and applying self-determination theory, we investigated how autonomy support versus autonomy frustration, ways of being motivated either through encouraging one’s sense of volition, or otherwise, coercing and imposing pressures, can improve diversity attitudes through its relation with ethical values. Study 1 (n= 398 police officers and staff) found that autonomy-supportive communications fostered ethical values, and hence was negatively related to diversity antagonism. Study 2 (n= 859 police officers and staff) indicated that motivation to overcome prejudice mediates the relationship between ethical values and diversity antagonism. Perceptions of workplace culture as lacking in autonomy support acted as a boundary condition for the ethical values and diversity antagonism relationship; no relationship was present when autonomy support was low.     

Five Critical Stances Towards Liberal Philosophy of Education in Britain

In this paper John White argues that there has been a decline in interest in and support for liberalism in British philosophy of education. He provides examples of work by leading figures in the field that demonstrates scepticism about the key liberal value of autonomy and offers an analysis of new influences in the field that have contributed to this decline. In particular he notes the increase of work from a religious perspective. Doubts are expressed about the practical relevance to education of some of these avenues of thought, and the suggestion is made that they cause those within the field to be more out of touch with society at large, in which liberal values have continued to be the major source of animation. The paper is followed by short responses from four philosophers of education whose work he criticises.     

Middle Schools: the heart of schools in crisis

This paper is about middle schools and the effects of recent policies on the curricula organisation of six of them. We begin by establishing some general links between middle school origins, brief history and development, and wider economic and political forces for change. Drawing on four years of research with a group of schools in one local authority, we describe some of the directions of change which followed the Great Debate. We highlight recent changes as these schools came under increasing bureaucratic control, with the emphasis on the organisation of pupil selection and changes from mixed ability grouping, to setting, and back to mixed ability groups. We conclude with some theoretical discussion related to the work of Habermas.     

An associative account of Orthographic Satiation in Chinese characters

Prolonged inspection of a Chinese character induces a feeling of uncertainty of the character, a phenomenon named as Orthographic Satiation. However, there has not been direct evidence showing that such satiation does occur at the orthographic level. To investigate whether Chinese satiation occurs at the orthographic level or at other levels, the present study applies a speeded repetition priming paradigm to Chinese, which has been successfully used to examine Semantic Satiation in English. When judging whether a category name matched an exemplar word, participants showed gradually slower responses as the character standing for the category name was repeated, indicating the occurrence of satiation. However, repetition of a character without accessing its meaning, or repeated access to its meaning without repeating the character itself, did not elicit satiation. The results suggest Orthographic Satiation occurs not at the orthographic level, but at a level associating orthography and meaning during Chinese character reading.     

Family risk factors and prevalence of dissociative symptoms among homeless and runaway youth

OBJECTIVE: To examine family risk factors associated with dissociative symptoms among homeless and runaway youth. METHOD: Three hundred and twenty-eight homeless and runaway youth were interviewed using a systematic sampling strategy in metropolitan Seattle. Homeless young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers in youth service agencies. RESULTS: The current study revealed widespread prevalence of dissociative symptoms among these young people. Multivariate analyses revealed that sexual abuse, physical abuse, and family mental health problems were all positively associated with dissociative symptoms. No gender differences were found for any of the models. CONCLUSIONS: Dissociative behavior is widespread among these youth and may pose a serious mental health concern. Some young people experience numerous stressors, and with few resources and little support available, many may invoke maladaptive strategies such as dissociative behavior to handle such situations, which may in turn be detrimental to their mental health. Unless youth are provided with programs and intervention, the cycle of abuse that they have experienced at home is likely to continue on the street.