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Sophisticated Understanding (sophisticated + understanding)
Selected AbstractsPsychobiological models of adolescent risk: Implications for prevention and interventionDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Julia Jackson-Newsom Abstract Psychobiological models of risk have much to contribute to the prevention of and intervention with risky behavior among adolescents. Emerging research is beginning to provide better information about mechanisms underlying individual differences in risky behavior (e.g., differences in self-regulation) and providing insight into unique vulnerabilities that occur during adolescence (e.g., increases in reward seeking). This work suggests ways in which prevention programming can be designed to be sensitive to both individual differences and developmental timing. Psychobiological models of risk also have practical implications for the manner and methods of conducting prevention and intervention work. Future work in both the etiology and prevention of risky behavior can benefit from ongoing dialogue and has the potential to result in a more sophisticated understanding of the mechanisms of change related to risky behavior. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 52: 295,297, 2010 [source] Instructional Tools in Educational Measurement and Statistics (ITEMS) for School Personnel: Evaluation of Three Web-Based Training ModulesEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008Rebecca Zwick In the current No Child Left Behind era, K-12 teachers and principals are expected to have a sophisticated understanding of standardized test results, use them to improve instruction, and communicate them to others. The goal of our project, funded by the National Science Foundation, was to develop and evaluate three Web-based instructional modules in educational measurement and statistics to help school personnel acquire the "assessment literacy" required for these roles. Our first module, "What's the Score?" was administered in 2005 to 113 educators who also completed an assessment literacy quiz. Viewing the module had a small but statistically significant positive effect on quiz scores. Our second module, "What Test Scores Do and Don't Tell Us," administered in 2006 to 104 educators, was even more effective, primarily among teacher education students. In evaluating our third module, "What's the Difference?" we were able to recruit only 33 participants. Although those who saw the module before taking the quiz outperformed those who did not, results were not statistically significant. Now that the research phase is complete, all ITEMS instructional materials are freely available on our Website. [source] BROADENING THE APPLICATION OF EVOLUTIONARILY BASED GENETIC PEST MANAGEMENTEVOLUTION, Issue 2 2008Fred Gould Insect- and tick-vectored diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease cause human suffering, and current approaches for prevention are not adequate. Invasive plants and animals such as Scotch broom, zebra mussels, and gypsy moths continue to cause environmental damage and economic losses in agriculture and forestry. Rodents transmit diseases and cause major pre- and postharvest losses, especially in less affluent countries. Each of these problems might benefit from the developing field of Genetic Pest Management that is conceptually based on principles of evolutionary biology. This article briefly describes the history of this field, new molecular tools in this field, and potential applications of those tools. There will be a need for evolutionary biologists to interact with researchers and practitioners in a variety of other fields to determine the most appropriate targets for genetic pest management, the most appropriate methods for specific targets, and the potential of natural selection to diminish the effectiveness of genetic pest management. In addition to producing environmentally sustainable pest management solutions, research efforts in this area could lead to new insights about the evolution of selfish genetic elements in natural systems and will provide students with the opportunity to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the role of evolutionary biology in solving societal problems. [source] Beyond the ,digital natives' debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students' technology experiencesJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 5 2010S. Bennett Abstract The idea of the ,digital natives', a generation of tech-savvy young people immersed in digital technologies for which current education systems cannot cater, has gained widespread popularity on the basis of claims rather than evidence. Recent research has shown flaws in the argument that there is an identifiable generation or even a single type of highly adept technology user. For educators, the diversity revealed by these studies provides valuable insights into students' experiences of technology inside and outside formal education. While this body of work provides a preliminary understanding, it also highlights subtleties and complexities that require further investigation. It suggests, for example, that we must go beyond simple dichotomies evident in the digital natives debate to develop a more sophisticated understanding of our students' experiences of technology. Using a review of recent research findings as a starting point, this paper identifies some key issues for educational researchers, offers new ways of conceptualizing key ideas using theoretical constructs from Castells, Bourdieu and Bernstein, and makes a case for how we need to develop the debate in order to advance our understanding. [source] Assessing online issue threats: issue contagions and their effect on issue prioritisationJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2002W. Timothy Coombs Abstract To be effective, issue managers must develop a sophisticated understanding of the Internet's effect on issues management. Our current understanding is in an early phase of description. We know that the Internet makes it easier for publics to form so they can press an issue but precious little is known of how the dynamic operates. The issue contagion perspective is offered as an explanatory and prescriptive device. The idea of an issue contagion posits that the Internet provides a means for altering issue priorities, often with blinding speed. One route for change is altering the likelihood; a common evaluative tool for prioritising issues that assesses the probability of an issue gaining strength and requiring action. Through various Internet communication channels, attempts can be made to change the likelihood of an issue requiring attention and action , an issue manager will witness shifts in issue prioritisation. This paper details why likelihood is important, how it can be altered via the Internet, and the implications for issue managers. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications. [source] Producing Parsons' reputation: Early critiques of Talcott Parsons' social theory and the making of a caricatureJOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2010B. Robert Owens This article examines the critical responses to Talcott Parsons' first major work, The Structure of Social Action (1937), and his two subsequent books, Toward a General Theory of Action and The Social System (both 1951). Because Parsons' work was the subject of such virulent debate, we cannot fully understand Parsons' impact on the discipline of sociology without understanding the source and nature of those early criticisms. I trace the responses to Parsons, first through book reviews and private letters and then in the more substantial statements of C. Wright Mills, George Homans, and Alvin Gouldner, from the largely positive but superficial reception of Structure to the polemics that followed Parsons' 1951 works. In the late 1930s and 1940s, Parsons' reputation grew steadily but there remained no careful reception of Structure, fostering resentment toward Parsons in some quarters while precluding a sophisticated understanding of his work. After 1951, a few critics capitalized on that tension, writing sweeping rejections of Parsons' work that spoke to a much broader audience of sociologists. That dynamic, coupled with Parsons' own indifference toward his harshest critics, produced a situation in which many sociologists simply chose not to read Parsons in the 1950s and 1960s, reinforcing a caricature and distorting perceptions of Parsons' place in mid-twentieth-century American sociology. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Lost in the Supermarket: The Corporate-Organic Foodscape and the Struggle for Food DemocracyANTIPODE, Issue 3 2009Josée Johnston Abstract:, The corporatization of organics has been critiqued for the concentration of ownership, as well as the ecological consequences of the long distances commodities travel between field and table. These critiques suggest a competing vision of food democracy which strives to organize the production and consumption of food at a proximate geographic scale while increasing opportunities for democratically managed cooperation between producers and consumers. This paper examines how the corporate-organic foodscape has interacted and evolved alongside competing counter movements of food democracy. Using discourse and content analysis, we examine how corporate organics incorporate messages of locally scaled food production, humble origins, and a commitment to family farms and employees, and explore some of the complexity of the corporate-organic foodscape. This paper contributes to the understanding of commodity fetishism in the corporate-organic foodscape, and speaks more generally to the need for sophisticated understandings of the complex relationship between social movement innovation and market adaptation. [source] | |||||||||||||