This article presents an empirically-grounded framework for mediating the everyday-life information worlds of youth aged 9-13. "Tweens" are a sandwiched population with behaviors, circumstances, and needs distinct from children and young adults. Little research has addressed their information-seeking, especially regarding nonschool contexts. Thus,…

As a "new science," nanotechnology has brought many nanoscale-based applications to the forefront of society. This article describes one such application--a nanosensor that can precisely detect a variety of chemical stimuli in the environment--and presents the science behind it as an interdisciplinary science topic. This article also provides…

Vignettes have long been used as a tool to model, teach, and research behavior and understanding as well as to stimulate discussion and problem solving in learning situations. The growing body of research on vignettes as an instructional and assessment tool to enhance recognition, recall, and transfer of subject matter knowledge suggests that the…

The process through which teachers transform the curriculum over time is best explained by incremental change theories. Teachers will tinker at the margins of the curriculum, effecting incremental change, until they begin to feel comfortable with the dissolution of disciplinary boundaries, and they are willing to cede control of some curricular…

In this article, we present vignettes from two projects--one in Cyprus and the other in South Africa--to show how some classrooms enact "heterotopic" affective spaces that oppose normal/ized identities, that is, identities grounded in polarized trauma narratives. The notion of heterotopia is a spatial concept developed by Foucault to…

The Master of Arts in Teaching program at Empire State College, an alternative teacher certification program focused on bringing career-changing adults to high-needs schools, has an important need in its initial pre-service year. These adult students must be prepared to move into complex, high-needs schools without student teaching and often with…

Background: We examined whether staff attributions, emotions and helping behaviours in reaction to "real" incidents of challenging behaviour (CB) exhibited by children with intellectual disabilities were different from reactions to "vignettes". We also examined whether these reactions are congruent with that predicted by attribution theory.…

Recording the antecedents and consequences of problem behavior for the purposes of conducting descriptive analyses (called "A-B-C recording") can be particularly challenging, given the multiple variables that are commonly present in the natural environment. Nonetheless, psychologists and behavioral consultants often must rely on parents and…

Education within Second Life frequently recapitulates the "sage on the stage" as students sit their avatars down in chairs in the virtual world and listen to or read an instructor's lecture while watching a slideshow. This conceptual article explores alternative active learning techniques supporting independent and collaborative learning…

People tend to attach less value to a good if they know a delay will occur before they obtain it. For example, people value receiving $100 dollars tomorrow more than receiving $100 in 10 years. We explore one reason for this tendency (due to Derek Parfit, 1984): In terms of psychological properties, such as beliefs, values, and goals, the decision…

This paper makes a fundamentally simple line of empirically supported argumentation. The increasing demands for high level student learning can best be achieved by the use of the substantive research evidence of the past decade demonstrating that developmentally oriented instruction facilitates academic, behavioral, and social performance. Most…

Changing perceptions of childlessness have been documented in the United States, but little is known about perceptions in developing countries undergoing rapid social changes and globalization, including Turkey. This project uses a survey and hypothetical vignettes about childless couples and parents to assess university students' perceptions of…

Although there has been a dramatic increase in the recognition of autism spectrum disorders over the past decade, a significant gender gap has emerged in the diagnosis of milder forms, such as high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Statistics indicate that while boys are being referred and identified in greater numbers, this is not the…

A number of ethical scandals in the past decade have raised awareness of ethical issues in business. J. M. D'Aquila, D. F. Bean, and E. G. Procario- Foley (2004) reported that 97% of business leaders perceive American businesses as ethical, versus 24.5% of students. G. R. Laczniak, M. W. Berkowitz, R. G. Brooker, and J. P. Hale (1995) provided…

Previous studies on the impact of perceived threat on confirmatory information search (selective exposure) in the context of decision making have yielded mixed results. Some studies have suggested that confirmatory information search is reduced, yet others have found contradictory effects. The present series of 5 studies consistently found that…