The Rise of the Creative Underclass

In this article, Tyler Denmead draws upon critical race theory to argue that the creative city discourse reproduces racial injustice for youth. In particular, the creative city invests in the property rights and profitability of whiteness by inscribing creative superiority on the bodies of young people who are more likely to be privileged by virtue of their race and class. Through evidence collected by both autoethnographic and ethnographic methods, Denmead discusses how his history as an arts educator has been entangled in the manifestation of this racist reconfiguration of urban space in one particular American city, Providence, Rhode Island. He discovered that the racial dynamics of the creative city discourse have productive power over how young people construct their identities and make life choices in this city and, further, that those dynamics operate in and through artist partnerships between those positioned as creatives and those positioned as troubled youth. As a result, Denmead argues that white arts educators, in particular, must disinvest themselves from notions of creativity that enhance the profitability and power of whiteness. This move requires advocating ceding land and resources that have been acquired through the creative city discourse and committing to reframing culture‐led urban renewal in terms of the economic and creative flourishing of communities of color.     

Rosalind Franklin and the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

Science & Education - Issues associated with nature of science (NOS) have long been recognized as an essential component of scientific literacy. While consensus exists regarding the importance...     

Science and the British Empire

The last few decades have witnessed a flowering of interest in the history of science in the British Empire. This essay aims to provide an overview of some of the most important work in this area, identifying interpretative shifts and emerging themes. In so doing, it raises some questions about the analytical framework in which colonial science has traditionally been viewed, highlighting interactions with indigenous scientific traditions and the use of network-based models to understand scientific relations within and beyond colonial contexts.     

A theory of instruction for introductory programming skills

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Current introductory instruction fails to identify, structure, and sequence the many skills involved in programming.

Objective: We proposed a theory which identifies four distinct skills that novices learn incrementally. These skills are tracing, writing syntax, comprehending templates (reusable abstractions of programming knowledge), and writing code with templates. We theorized that explicit instruction of these skills decreases cognitive demand.

Method: We conducted an exploratory mixed-methods study and compared students’ exercise completion rates, error rates, ability to explain code, and engagement when learning to program. We compared material that reflects this theory to more traditional material that does not distinguish between skills.

Findings: Teaching skills incrementally resulted in improved completion rate on practice exercises, and decreased error rate and improved understanding of the post-test.

Implications: By structuring programming skills such that they can be taught explicitly and incrementally, we can inform instructional design and improve future research on understanding how novice programmers develop understanding.     

Impact of Sensory Processing on School Performance Outcomes in High Functioning Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Difficulty processing sensory information may impede progress in school for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We explore the relationship between sensory processing and school performance in 26 high‐functioning youths with ASD and 26 controls (age 8–14) using measures of sensory, social, cognitive, and academic functioning. In the ASD group, bivariate Pearson correlations indicated a significant positive relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and the School Competence Scale (SCS) of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and a significant negative relationship between Dunn's Sensory Processing Framework and SCS scores. Final hierarchical multiple linear regression model accounting for SCS scores in ASD included IQ, ADHD symptoms, and sensory features. An interaction between increased sensory sensitivity with reduced sensory avoidance behaviors explained the greatest amount of variance in SCS, meaning school performance is lowest for children with greater hypersensitivity and fewer avoidance behaviors. Results indicate a strong impact of sensory processing on school performance in ASD.     

Exploring the use of multiple analogical models when teaching and learning chemical equilibrium

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the observation of three consecutive Grade 12 lessons on chemical equilibrium, pre‐ and post‐lesson interviews, and delayed student interviews. The key analogical models used in teaching were: the “school dance”; the “sugar in a teacup”; the “pot of curry”; and the “busy highway.” The lesson and interview data were subject to multiple, independent analyses and yielded the following outcomes: The teacher planned to use the students' prior knowledge wherever possible and he responded to student questions with stories and extended and enriched analogies. He planned to discuss where each analogy broke down but did not. The students enjoyed the teaching but built variable mental models of equilibrium and some of their analogical mappings were unreliable. A female student disliked masculine analogies, other students tended to see elements of the multiple models in isolation, and some did not recognize all the analogical mappings embedded in the teaching plan. Most students learned that equilibrium reactions are dynamic, occur in closed systems, and the forward and reverse reactions are balanced. We recommend the use of multiple analogies like these and insist that teachers always show where the analogy breaks down and carefully negotiate the conceptual outcomes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1135–1159, 2005     

The decision to enter higher education: The case of polytechnic sociology students

This paper examines the decision to enter higher education by students who entered British polytechnic degree courses in sociology/social studies. It is concerned with the extent to which occupational considerations affect the decision to enter and with relating these findings to theories of occupational choice. The paper commences with an examination of three models of occupational choice and summarises the findings of studies that have focused on the entry into higher education and occupational decision-making. The results of our own study, based on questionnaire and interview data, indicate that occupational considerations are of limited importance in the decision to enter sociology/social studies courses at polytechnics. Rather our data favours a model emphasizing the role of socio-cultural background of home and school creating expectations for higher education. Data on past decisions which affect educational careers indicated that entry into higher education was seen in terms of an automatic process rather than a conscious decision made for particular goals. In our population there was, however, a small vocationally oriented group who differed from other students, in which females and those under 18 years of age were over-represented, and who were predominantly from two colleges which offered vocational training in their courses. Our results, we conclude, lend support to a fortuitous model of occupational choice in respect of the decision to enter higher education. Expectations derived from socio-cultural backgrounds of the students were more important in determining entry than conscious occupational goals.The research on which the paper is based is located in the Department of Social Science, Polytechnic of the South Bank, and supported by the Social Science Research Council.Work on this project has also been carried out by Dr I. C. Cannon and Ms. A. Scambler. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Standing Conference of The Sociology of Further Education, London, June 1975.     

Emerging adult women’s career role modeling and wishful identification with female TV news personalities

This study investigated how emerging adult women perceive, role model, and wishfully identify with female television news personalities (TVNPs) in the contemporary climate of social media celebrity where a male-dominated newsroom persists. Participants (n = 138, M = 19.58 years) selected TVNPs and completed survey measures of exposure, personal work values, perceived TVNP work values, and wishful identification. Participants’ perceived extrinsic and intrinsic work values of TVNPs correlated with their own work values, extrinsically and intrinsically. Exposure to TVNPs predicted greater wishful identification. The discussion explores women’s perceptions of TVNPs as they formulate career plans.     

A validation of the Dyslexia Adult Screening Test (DAST) in a post‐secondary population

In Ontario, Canada, there is a demand for psychometrically robust screening tools capable of efficiently identifying students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), such as dyslexia. The present study investigated the ability of the Dyslexia Adult Screening Test (DAST) to discriminate between 117 post‐secondary students with carefully diagnosed SLDs and 121 comparison students. Results indicated that the DAST correctly identified only 74% of the students with SLDs as ‘highly at risk’ for dyslexia. Although employing the cutoff for ‘mildly at risk’ correctly identified 85% of the students with SLDs, this also increased the percentage of students with no major history of learning problems identified as ‘at risk’ for dyslexia from 16% to 26%. These findings suggest that the DAST in its present form is limited in its ability to screen for SLDs. Implications for future research are discussed.