Public understanding of science as a separate subject in secondary schools in The Netherlands

This paper describes and analyses an attempt to introduce the public understanding of science as a subject in its own right to be taught to all students in upper secondary education in The Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to make some of the experiences gained in this attempt, especially those related to the development of curriculum content, available to others. As the large-scale implementation of the new subject is still in progress, we focus on the initial stages of the introduction, covering the period 1994-1998. This period includes: (i) the launching of the initiative by a departmental advisory committee; (ii) the subsequent formulation of attainment targets; (iii) a curriculum development project that produced four teaching units tested in classroom experiments and meant as specimens to guide and inspire the authors of schoolbooks; and (iv) the publication of the first schoolbooks on the new subject. We conclude that in spite of its status as a separate subject, the current version of the course does not yet have a clear identity that distinguishes it, in the eyes of students as well as teachers, unmistakably from the traditional science subjects in the school.     

RECEPTIVITY TO PEER TEACHING AND PEER LEARNING ABOUT THE SAFE AND APPROPRIATE USE OF MEDICATIONS AMONG OLDER ADULTS

The purpose of this study was to assess receptivity to peer teaching and peer learning about the safe and appropriate use of medications among communitydwelling older adults. The sample was predominately White (88.5%), female (75.9%) older adults with an average age of 80.2 ( - 9.1) years. On average, the participants perceived their health status as good (2.8 - 0.6). In addition, participants reported using an average number of 4.4 ( - 3.3) prescribed medications. The majority (75%) of participants also reported no problems with their medications. With respect to receptivity to peer teaching and peer learning, the participants, on average, were neutral to peer teaching (6.0 - 2.4), but were somewhat receptive to peer learning (6.7 - 2.2). The number of prescribed medications that a participant reported taking and the age of a participant were identified as significant predictors of receptivity to peer teaching and accounted for 14.5% of the total variance ( F = 5.84, df = 2, p = 0.005). For receptivity to peer learning, the number of prescribed medications also was a significant predictor ( F = 7.50, df = 1, p = 0.008). This study provides the initial step to identifying community-dwelling older adults who would be receptive to peer teaching and peer learning about the safe and appropriate use of medications.     

How Ordinary MPs Can Make it Into the News: A Factorial Survey Experiment with Political Journalists to Explain the Newsworthiness of MPs

Parliamentarians have to compete against each other to make it into the news, and some of them succeed more than others. Based upon news value theory, I consider MPs’ characteristics as news factors to explain their newsworthiness. I take an innovative approach by conducting a factorial survey experiment with political journalists. This allows me to study first which MPs are considered newsworthy and second whether journalists judge MPs’ newsworthiness regardless of their own personal background. In total, 73 Belgian journalists each judged 8 fictional press releases in which we carefully manipulated 4 characteristics of the MP sending it: party affiliation, issue specialization, media reactivity, and political action. Results show that parliamentarians from larger parties, those who react on mediatized issues, and those who communicate about their bill proposals are more newsworthy. Journalists’ judgments do not differ according to their gender, age, education, or political leaning.     

Learning from the Professions: Examining How,Why, and When Engineers Read and Write

With the advent of the Next Generation Science Standards in engineering (NGSS, 2013), teachers of multiple subject areas are being asked to do more than ever before—not only to teach engineering content in the K-12 classroom but also to engage students in authentic disciplinary reading and writing as part of content learning. These standards sound good, but they beg several questions; namely, what do we know about how, why, and when do engineers read and write as they do their work every day? What do teachers charged with engineering education know about the daily practices of engineers, let alone the literacy practices? In short, little is known about the literacy practices of engineers in the course of their daily work. This article draws on participant observation, interviews, and document analysis of one research engineering laboratory to illustrate the literacy practices of one group of engineers and begins to draw implications from this work for teacher practice in achieving the NGSS engineering education standards.     

Criminal justice outcomes of prosecution of child sexual abuse: A case flow analysis

This study examined the progress and disposition of child sexual abuse cases referred for prosecution in four urban jurisdictions. Most cases were accepted for prosecution. The vast majority of cases carried forward for prosecution resulted in guilty pleas. Only 9% of the total sample went to trial. A majority of the small number that went to trial were convicted. Over 3/4 of those convicted were incarcerated. The rate at which cases were carried forward for prosecution and convicted was comparable to that of a national sample of felony arrests overall, but child sexual abuse cases were more likely to go to trial (p < .005) and received more severe sentences (p < .005). Our results are strikingly consistent with those from previous studies of prosecution of child sexual abuse. A new understanding of prosecution of child sexual abuse is recommended that takes into account the large proportion of cases that do not go to trial.