Teaching Appraisal in an American (U.S.) Archives Program

The author, a professor at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, discusses the use of selected archival literature to nurture an appraisal mindset, particularly within the American context. She then addresses in some detail types of appraisal case studies and the variety of ways that they may be used as teaching tools.     

Gender positioning in teacher education in England: New rhetoric,old realities

This article presents data from a series of life-history interviews with female student teachers of physical education. The intention is to forge links between the experiences of female student teachers, and their 'gender positioning' within the micro-politics of teacher education and the wider discourse that informs these interactions. On first entering teaching these women tended to adopt or enter 'survival mode', which endorsed particular professional identities that were consolidated by a form of instrumental rationality. These professional identities were closely tied to conventional conceptions of masculinity, and legitimated and contributed to, the reinforcement of particular gender inequalities in teacher education. The analysis suggests that a liberal discourse of equal opportunities masks the institutionalisation of social 'otherness' and inequality and supports the 'essentialisation' of male and female identities.     

Some problems in interracial communication: An interracial group case study

An interracial group case study has revealed that sensitization, lack of shared experience, stereotyping, racial intragroup pressures, and variables in physical environment all contribute in varying degrees to the problems arising in interracial interaction.     

Social and emotional problems associated with integration in the Israeli junior high school

Teachers and pupils in 28 integrated junior high schools in Israel were interviewed and observed to determine the kinds of social and emotional problems encountered in integrated schools. Though these schools are mandated to achieve both academic and social goals, academic aspects of schooling are inordinately stressed while the social goal is neglected. This strategy has major implications for teaching methods, curriculum, tracking, extra-curricular activities and staff morale. Furthermore, while bright, achieving disadvantaged pupils tend to gain socially and emotionally from this strategy, most disadvantaged children sustain significant losses in the social and emotional spheres and meaningful ethnic integration in the school is not achieved. It is recommended that the school invest greater resources in enhancing pupils' social and emotional development and that there be a dual emphasis in integrated schools on academic and personal development. Implementation of this recommendation requires retraining teachers to provide them with concrete skills in both areas that can be applied in the heterogeneous class.     

International research networks in pharmaceuticals: Structure and dynamics

Knowledge production and scientific research have become increasingly more collaborative and international, particularly in pharmaceuticals. We analyze this tendency in general and tie formation in international research networks on the country level in particular. Based on a unique dataset of scientific publications related to pharmaceutical research and applying social network analysis, we find that both the number of countries and their connectivity increase in almost all disease group specific networks. The cores of the networks consist of high income OECD countries and remain rather stable over time. Using network regression techniques to analyze the network dynamics our results indicate that accumulative advantages based on connectedness and multi-connectivity are positively related to changes in the countries’ collaboration intensity whereas various indicators on similarity between countries do not allow for unambiguous conclusions.     

Small Circles: Mobile Telephony and the Cultivation of the Private Sphere

This article examines how we use mobile telephony to maintain our physically and socially closest social circle. The analysis is based on traffic data gathered from Norway using approximately 24 million calls and texts made by private individuals. Previous research has shown that our temporal and spatial movement is highly predictable and that the majority of calls and text messages are sent to only four to six different persons. This article extends this research by examining both tie strength and the distance between the interlocutors in urban and rural settings. The findings show that even as information and communication technologies (ICTs) potentially put the world at our fingertips, the mobile phone is an instrument of a more limited geographical and social sphere. Approximately two-thirds of our calls/texts go to strong ties that are within a 25-km radius.