Suchergebnisse

The teaching of environmental sustainability was explored in five sections of an elementary social studies methods course with pre-service teachers. Using surveys and structured discussions, we identified pre-service teachers' beliefs about environmental sustainability in response to prior experiences, course readings, films, guest lecture, and group activities (e.g., simulations). Findings suggest the subjects' knowledge of environmental sustainability increased as a result of the course. They believed environmental sustainability is a significant global issue meriting attention in the elementary classroom; however, they felt ill prepared to teach sustainability issues to young children in developmentally appropriate ways. Finally, pre-service teachers expressed caring about improving their own consumer behaviors and sought concrete solutions from others in order to do so. Implications for elementary social studies education are discussed.

For more than 20 years, two courses, History, Education, and Guidance of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Introduction to Instructional Methods for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, have been taught at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania using a traditional lecture format. A state grant provided funding to explore the use of technology to teach online courses to college-age learners who are deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing. Saba Centra software was used as the online tool for the synchronous presentation of course content, which included PowerPoint lecture material, text chat opportunities, sign language–interpreted video, and other forms of class participation (e.g., signaling for questions raised, responding in a "yes/no" format). The present article covers recent successes and challenges in offering online courses in a "virtual classroom" format to deaf and hard of hearing learners, as well as hearing learners, from a qualitative research perspective.

This set of research studies on the life course as a policy lens springs from research and discussions over more than a year and a half among academic researchers and policy analysts. The six empirical studies in this special issue all rely on the life-course perspective to extend the reach of the perspective into areas with policy relevance that have not been examined previously with a life-course lens. The studies examine aboriginal health, social participation, housing instability and evictions, earnings trajectories, and late-life transitions. Key conclusions overall from the project are that (1) Canada may have an early lead in conceptual thinking on life course as a policy lens, giving us the momentum to push this advantage further; (2) the life-course perspective focuses less on individual trajectories and more on the ongoing interactions of individuals with social structures, particularly structures of inequality and life-course scripts; (3) the conceptualization of the life course as a tale of path dependency, gravity, and shocks focuses attention on social circumstances rather than on individual choices; (4) a life-course perspective for policy-makers is more realistic, more attuned to the reality experienced by social actors, and social actors accordingly recognize themselves in policies; and (5) the life-course perspective offers the possibility of making social actors, researchers, and policy-makers work more in tandem.

This set of research studies on the life course as a policy lens springs from research and discussions over more than a year and a half among academic researchers and policy analysts. The six empirical studies in this special issue all rely on the life-course perspective to extend the reach of the perspective into areas with policy relevance that have not been examined previously with a life-course lens. The studies examine aboriginal health, social participation, housing instability and evictions, earnings trajectories, and late-life transitions. Key conclusions overall from the project are that (1) Canada may have an early lead in conceptual thinking on life course as a policy lens, giving us the momentum to push this advantage further; (2) the life-course perspective focuses less on individual trajectories and more on the ongoing interactions of individuals with social structures, particularly structures of inequality and life-course scripts; (3) the conceptualization of the life course as a tale of path dependency, gravity, and shocks focuses attention on social circumstances rather than on individual choices; (4) a life-course perspective for policy-makers is more realistic, more attuned to the reality experienced by social actors, and social actors accordingly recognize themselves in policies; and (5) the life-course perspective offers the possibility of making social actors, researchers, and policy-makers work more in tandem.

In the fast-evolving landscape of scientific research, the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) Academic Freedom Roundtable 'Research Integrity in Open Science for Europe' brought together researchers and European policymakers to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by Open Science.