Doing Science,Technology and Society in the National Science Foundation

The author describes his efforts to become a participant observer while he was a Program Director at the NSF. He describes his plans for keeping track of his reflections and his goals before he arrived at NSF, then includes sections from his reflective diary and comments after he had completed his two-year rotation. The influx of rotators means the NSF has to be an adaptive, learning organization but there are bureaucratic obstacles in the way.     

Incorporating Handheld Computers into a Public Science Center: A Design Research Study

ABSTRACT

The feasibility of using handheld computers to customize learning opportunities was explored using a design research process with 68 visitor groups to a small interactive science museum and aquarium. The authors discuss the iterations of the research process, reasons given for both using and not using the handheld computers, and findings related to participants' prior use of handheld computers and their perception of the effects of using the device on their visit. The authors discuss the findings in light of current research on visitor motivations and identities, as well as models of customization. Recommendations for practitioners interested in implementing similar programs, and suggestions for further research are included.     

Integrating Immigrants into the Life of Canadian Urban Christian Congregations: Findings from a National Survey

In just one generation the cultural face of Canadian society has been transformed. The relative level of immigration has increased rapidly as has diversity among those immigrants. This article reports on the findings of a national survey that offers a baseline of how and to what extent local Canadian Christian congregations are responding to this cultural diversity. In particular, it explores how churches are integrating immigrants within the life of their local congregations. This article uses a systems change perspective to frame immigrant integration. This perspective emphasizes three requirements for change: vision, structure and processes that promote immigrant integration. Data was collected using an online survey of urban congregations in the nine urban Canadian communities having an immigrant population above the national average (20% foreign-born). Using these data this article explores the full range of immigrant integration efforts from the initial welcome to inclusion into congregational life. It describes the present status of immigrant integration, details reported successes and challenges and notes respondent suggestions for better integration. Results of this survey provide first-time baseline insights into how a range of urban Christian congregations from across Canada are presently responding to the Canadian immigrant reality.     

Engaged,Embedded, Enjoined: Science and Technology Studies in the National Science Foundation

Engaged scholarship is an intellectual movement sweeping across higher education, not only in the social and behavioral sciences but also in fields of natural science and engineering. It is predicated on the idea that major advances in knowledge will transpire when scholars, while pursuing their research interests, also consider addressing the core problems confronting society. For a workable engaged agenda in science and technology studies, one that informs scholarship as well as shapes practice and policy, the traditional terms of engagement must be renegotiated to be more open and mutual than has historically characterized the nature of inquiry in this field. At the same time, it is essential to protect individual privacy and preserve government confidentiality. Yet there is a scientific possibility for and benefit to introducing more collaborative and deliberative research approaches between scholar and subject in ways that will not violate these first-order ethics. To make the case, this article discusses the possibilities and perils of engaged science and technology scholarship by drawing on our own recent experiences to conduct and apply STS research while embedded in the National Science Foundation. Brief accounts of these experiences reveal the opportunities as well as the challenges of engaged scholarship. They also provide lessons for those fellow travelers who might follow the authors to this or other like host organizations with ambitions of increasing fundamental knowledge about and applying research to the policies, programs, and decisions of the scientific enterprise.     

Nanoscale Science and Technology and People with Disabilities in Asia: An Ability Expectation Analysis

Science and technology, including nanoscale science and technology, influences and is influenced by various discourses and areas of action. Ableism is one concept and ability expectation is one dynamic that impacts the direction, vision, and application of nanoscale science and technology and vice versa. At the same time, policy documents that involve or relate to disabled people exhibit ability expectations of disabled people. The authors present ability expectations exhibited within two science and technology direction documents from Asia, as well as in two policy documents generated and influenced by disabled people from Asia. As well, the authors discuss the impact of the ability expectations exhibited in these four documents with respect to the relationship between science and technology and disabled people.     

重建科技哲学——关于科学技术的发生学与哲学研究

20世纪关于科学与技术的哲学思索都有点命途多蹇。逻辑实证主义曾喧嚣一时 ,经蒯因对经验主义的两个教条的批判而走向衰弱。由它衍生出来的科学哲学也受到库恩和戴维森的猛烈冲击 :库恩的历史主义弥合了主观与客观的二元论 ,留下了范式更替这种设想 ;而戴维森把范式与内容的二元对立又打得粉碎。技术哲学诞生于科学主义走下坡路的 2 0世纪 50年代 ,它始终没有达到其峰巅 ,究其原因主要是陷入了宗教末世论与技术末世论的二元对立。埃吉尔学派、海德格尔学派、西方马克思主义学派都是以宗教末世论代替技术末世论 ,除了向人类展示了悲天悯人的…     

Adding pieces to the puzzle: a commentary

In Jensen's theme paper she did an excellent job of outlining and explaining ways in which motor developmentalists can use the tools of biomechanics and engineering to address research questions. We extend her thorough efforts in two ways. First, we highlight the communication value provided by the precision of biomechanics terminology, and second, we reinforce the need to embed motion (the kinematics and kinetics) in context and function in order to understand the complexity of behaviour. We illustrate how one biomechanical tool, mechanical models, can facilitate this and provide insight to the development of control. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Achieving productive synergy: Integrating departments into a company

Collaboration between departments and divisions is critical for companies to use their resources successfully. Many executives are experimenting with liaison officers, project teams, and matrix designs. However, groups must believe that their goals are cooperative to use these procedures. Common tasks, shared rewards, supportive attitudes, and shared values develop motivating cooperative goals for organizational units. Case studies illustrate how cooperative goals and coordination devices integrate departments into a company.The author thanks the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its financial support.     

Integrating a computer component into the student psychology laboratory: Problems and prospects

This paper presents some commonly occurring problems associated with integrating a computer component into student psychology laboratories. Implementation of a computer component requires consideration of differences among students, objectives and teaching style of the instructor, course level and content, and courseware to be used. These factors are examined with respect to how they can affect the success of an attempt to use computers in the instructional laboratory.     

大学生的国家科技成就刻板印象

利用信号检测论的方法对130名大学生的国家科技成就刻板印象进行研究。结果发现,被试对中国近现代及当代科技成就判断标准的自然对数值显著高于对中国古代、美国近现代及当代科技成就判断标准的自然对数值(p<0.001),同时,被试对中国古代、美国近现代及当代科技成就的判断标准自然对数值没有显著差异(p>0.05),从而证明了大学生群体中明显存在着国家科技成就刻板印象。进一步的含义表明,大学生对中国古代科技成就依然保持绝对的自信,对中国近现代及当代科技成就的自卑并没有显著改变。在被试对2005年中国科技竞争力在全球的排名进行估计时,高估的人数显著多于低估的人数(p<0.001),从而表明,大学生对中国当前及未来科技成就的自信心开始建立。     

An Experience for the Lifelong Journey: The Long-Term Effect of a Class Visit to a Science Center

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to explore the multiple outcomes of a class visit to a science center, and to investigate changes in these outcomes over time. The study is significant because relatively little research has been conducted on the long-term effects of school museum visits. The study was carried out in the National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Israel, which is the largest science museum in the country. Participants were 8th-grade students who had a guided visit in the museum. Students from this class were interviewed immediately after and then again 16 months after the visit. The short- and the long-term interviews were analyzed according to 3 main categories that addressed meaningful learning outcomes: connecting knowledge, communicating knowledge, and fostering lifelong learning. After 16 months the students retained details of the experience; indicated the contribution of the visit to their knowledge; and emphasized peer interactions during the visit. This highlights the significant educational values that students take to their life's journey from the informal learning experience.     

Towards a State of Being Able to Play: Integrating Gestalt Concepts and Methods into a Psychodynamic Approach to Counselling

The possibility of establishing a rationale for integrating Gestalt concepts and methods into a psychodynamic approach to counselling is examined. Examples are drawn from the writer's current student counselling practice, and four positive indicators for the use of Gestalt are identified. Winnicott's insights on the importance of playing and creativity are seen as offering a significant link between the two therapeutic modes.

'Psychotherapy has to do with two people playing together. Where playing is not possible, then the work done by the therapist is directed towards bringing the patient from a state of not being able to play into a state of being able to play'. Winnicott (1974a. p. 44)     

Home Groups: Integrating Peer Support and Clinical Care in a Community Mental Health Center

With peer supporters now comprising one of the most rapidly growing components of the mental health workforce, group interventions that combine their expertise with those of more traditional mental health providers are needed. An example of one such intervention, developed and implemented at a large community mental health center for individuals with serious mental illnesses, is presented. Called a “Home Group” and co-led by peers and clinical psychology interns, this intervention provides unique learning opportunities for peers and trainees and many potential benefits to group members. Vignettes to illustrate the model are presented and the potential therapeutic and empowering aspects of this innovative and promising approach are identified and discussed.     

PRiME: Integrating professional responsibility into the engineering curriculum

Engineering educators have long discussed the need to teach professional responsibility and the social context of engineering without adding to overcrowded curricula. One difficulty we face is the lack of appropriate teaching materials that can fit into existing courses. The PRiME (Professional Responsibility Modules for Engineering) Project (http://www.engr.utexas.edu/ethics/primeModules.cfm) described in this paper was initiated at the University of Texas, Austin to provide web-based modules that could be integrated into any undergraduate engineering class. Using HPL (How People Learn) theory, PRiME developed and piloted four modules during the academic year 2004–2005. This article introduces the modules and the pilot, outlines the assessment process, analyzes the results, and describes how the modules are being revised in light of the initial assessment. In its first year of development and testing, PRiME made significant progress towards meeting its objectives. The PRiME Project can strengthen engineering education by providing faculty with an effective system for engaging students in learning about professional responsibility. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 conference, Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology, Linking Workplace Ethics and Education, co-hosted by Gonzaga University and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 9–10 June 2005.     

Integrating couples and family therapy into a community alcohol service: a pantheoretical approach

This paper discusses the contribution of family systems theory and therapy to mainstream alcohol treatment programmes. Systemic psychotherapy is integrated with group analytic psychotherapy in a couples and family therapy service within a community alcohol service (CAS) which uses the Prochaska and Diclemente model of stages of change. Problems and solutions in putting these complex ideas into practice are discussed, with specific reference to issues of engagement. An example of our work with a couple is offered to illustrate our weave of theory and practice.     

A New Frontier: Integrating Behavioral and Digital Technology to Promote Health Behavior

Modifiable behavioral risk factors such as cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, and obesity contribute to over 40 % of premature deaths in the USA. Advances in digital and information technology are creating unprecedented opportunities for behavior analysts to assess and modify these risk factors. Technological advances include mobile devices, wearable sensors, biomarker detectors, and real-time access to therapeutic support via information technology. Integrating these advances with behavioral technology in the form of conceptually systematic principles and procedures could usher in a new generation of effective and scalable behavioral interventions targeting health behavior. In this selective review of the literature, we discuss how technological tools can assess and modify a range of antecedents and consequences of healthy and unhealthy behavior. We also describe practical, methodological, and conceptual advantages for behavior analysts that stem from the use of technology to assess and treat health behavior.     

Developmental Therapy: Integrating Developmental Processes into the Clinical Practice

The facilitation of development may be considered the primary goal of counseling and therapy. Developmental theory, however, remains relatively divorced from direct clinical work. Developmental therapy is oriented toward identifying how to use basic developmental theory in clinical consultation. Developmental therapy differs from life span developmental psychology in emphasizing specific processes of change, growth, and development rather than outcomes and life stages. Thus, developmental therapy supplements life span theory and provides specific suggestions for clinical-counseling interventions that may be used to assess the developmental level of a client on a specific task, select counseling skills and theory to match client cognitive-developmental level, and obtain feedback on the effectiveness of the intervention that will enable one to change counseling style to meet client needs. Basic to developmental therapy is a modern adaptatio of Platonic and Piagetian constructs that allows the systematic integration of counseling and therapy theory. Implications of the model for training and practice are discussed.