Book reviews

Schwandt, Thomas A. (1997) Qualitative Inquiry: a Dictionary of Terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 183 pp. $ 23.95 ISBN‐0–7619–0254–6

VanTassel‐Baska, J. (1998). Excellence in Educating Gifted and Talented Learners, Third Edition with chapters by Camilla Persson Benbow, John F. Feldhusen, Kenneth Seeley, and Linda Kreger Silverman. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Co. (532pp., $58.00 hb, ISBN 0–89108–255–7.

Moore, D.P. and Buttner, E.H. (1997). Women entrepreneurs: Moving beyond the glass ceiling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. (262 pp., $19.95 pb, ISBN 0–7619–0464–6)

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (132 pp., $21.95 pb, ISBN 0–87120–342–1).     

Resilience and coping: Implications for gifted children and youth at risk

The large body of literature on resilience and coping gives promise to finding specific ways in which teachers, counselors, and schools can enhance success among gifted and talented children and youth placed at risk. While high intelligence is not a requirement for resilient outcomes, cognitive ability appears to be a supporting factor, especially as it relates to problem solving and coping. To the extent that low‐income and culturally diverse children and youth have more experience overcoming adversity, they may possess a greater range of and flexibility in coping strategies that can be shared with others. This article summarizes findings from resilience literature relevant to the development of children and adolescents and derives specific strategies for enhancing outcomes for gifted children and youth most at risk for encountering adversity.     

Identity construction in adolescent girls: the context dependency of racial and gendered perceptions

This study examines the life world of school‐going adolescent girls in Johannesburg and their construction of identity. It outlines the socio‐historical background of concepts relating to identity such as race and culture and their use and misuse in the South African context. In South Africa, race/culture/identity have been historically conflated for political purposes. This article considers ‘being Black’ and ‘being White’ as ‘invisible’ and pre‐constituted categories and shows how these categories are best understood as being context‐bound. These varied contexts are perceived by girls as being related to class location, geographical areas, socialization, religion, views on marriage speaking English, generational differences and the secrecy around racist discourse as well as the hopes for reconciliation between Black and White people. For White girls, the simultaneous confidence in and ambiguity of their ‘being White’ is inscribed in its negation and a world of dwindling privilege. Although race is a significant strand in Black girls’ identity, socio‐economic factors emerge as the most important formative feature of identity.     

Te Kohanga Reo Hei Tikanga Ako i te Reo Maori: Te Kohanga Reo as a context for language learning

Te Kohanga Reo is an indigenous educational intervention aiming to recover Maori language usage; a need anticipated in early research by Clay (1968). This paper argues that understanding the effectiveness of Te Kohanga Reo for language development and for classroom discourse requires two things. Firstly, a theoretical framework which enables language acquisition to be seen as culturally contextualised and secondly research strategies that enable cultural contexts to be understood. A study of language use in Te Kohanga Reo provides evidence for how language use and processes of acquisition express and construct cultural meanings.     

The Rise and Fall of Swedish Educational Technology 1960–1980

In Sweden educational technology (EdTech) prospered during the 1960s and 1970s inspired by US experiences from primarily programmed instruction. The Departments of Education at the universities started different activities of research and other bodies developed EdTech products for commercial use. In some business firms in‐service training of staff was organised and managed according to the rational ideas that were the basis of EdTech. Public education from elementary to university level was also influenced by EdTech and in the National Board of Education particularly the section responsible for developing teaching–learning aids ran its work guided by EdTech principles in a broad sense of rational and systematic planning. In the 1970s the peak of EdTech withered, to almost disappear towards 1980. This article describes the development in Sweden with the aim of understanding both the rise and fall of EdTech. The rise is understood in relation to the modernisation of Swedish society with reforms of education and trust of science and technology. The fall is understood in terms of the change of values and conception of democracy taking place around 1970 (1968).     

Book reviews

Mamchur, C. (1996). A teacher's guide to cognitive type theory and learning style. Alexandria.VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (132 pp., ISBN‐0871202786)

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (132 pp., $21.95 pb, ISBN 0–87120–342–1).

Reis, Sally M. (1998). Work Left Undone: Choices and Compromises of Talented Females. PO Box 320, Mansfield Center, Conn.: Creative Learning Press (427pp., $19.95 paper, ISBN:0–936386–76–2).

Dettmer, P., & Landrum, M. (Eds.). (1998). Staff development: The key to effective gifted education programs. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press (125 pp., $19.95 pb, ISBN‐1–882664–41–8). [A publication of The National Association for Gifted Children, Washington, DC].     

A method to integrate patterned electrospun fibers with microfluidic systems to generate complex microenvironments for cell culture applications

The properties of a cell’s microenvironment are one of the main driving forces in cellular fate processes and phenotype expression invivo. The ability to create controlled cell microenvironments invitro becomes increasingly important for studying or controlling phenotype expression in tissue engineering and drug discovery applications. This includes the capability to modify material surface properties within well-defined liquid environments in cell culture systems. One successful approach to mimic extra cellular matrix is with porous electrospun polymer fiber scaffolds, while microfluidic networks have been shown to efficiently generate spatially and temporally defined liquid microenvironments. Here, a method to integrate electrospun fibers with microfluidic networks was developed in order to form complex cell microenvironments with the capability to vary relevant parameters. Spatially defined regions of electrospun fibers of both aligned and random orientation were patterned on glass substrates that were irreversibly bonded to microfluidic networks produced in poly-dimethyl-siloxane. Concentration gradients obtained in the fiber containing channels were characterized experimentally and compared with values obtained by computational fluid dynamic simulations. Velocity and shear stress profiles, as well as vortex formation, were calculated to evaluate the influence of fiber pads on fluidic properties. The suitability of the system to support cell attachment and growth was demonstrated with a fibroblast cell line. The potential of the platform was further verified by a functional investigation of neural stem cell alignment in response to orientation of electrospun fibers versus a microfluidic generated chemoattractant gradient of stromal cell-derived factor 1 alpha. The described method is a competitive strategy to create complex microenvironments invitro that allow detailed studies on the interplay of topography, substrate surface properties, and soluble microenvironment on cellular fate processes.     

First grade teachers’ knowledge of phonological awareness and code concepts: Examining gains from an intensive form of professional development and corresponding teacher attitudes

The study examined the efficacy of an intensive form of professional development (PD) for building the knowledge of first-grade teachers in the areas of phonological awareness and phonics. The PD featured frequent in-class support from highly knowledgeable mentors for one school year, in addition to an introductory two-day summer institute and monthly workshops. Pre- and post-assessment of participants on a Teacher Knowledge Survey (TKS) indicated weak knowledge of phonological awareness and phonics concepts prior to PD and large, significant gains in each area by year-end. In addition, to investigate factors potentially associated with teachers’ responses to training, a Teacher Attitude Survey (TAS) was administered before and after the PD. The TAS measured teachers’ attitudes regarding PD, external and internal motivation to participate, intentions to actively engage in learning and implementing new instructional methods, sense of self-efficacy as reading instructors, and premises about reading instruction (e.g., about whole language). Attitudes on a subset of these factors, teachers’ initial knowledge scores on the TKS, and years of teaching experience (estimated by age) accounted for significant portions of the variance in performance on the TKS after training.