When the wheels on the bus go round: social interactions on the school bus

Children’s social interactions are often dependent upon the setting or context in which they occur. The current study explored the school bus as a unique context for social interaction. One hundred and fifty-seven elementary school students (78 males and 79 females), in grades 3, 4, and 5, completed a questionnaire concerning the rate and types of prosocial and aggressive behaviors that occur on the school bus ride. Overall, findings indicated that students were prosocial more often on the school bus than they were aggressive. Regarding the types of social behaviors, differences found in the current study were distinctive. Participants mentioned non-traditionally studied prosocial behaviors (e.g., companionship and benevolence) more often than traditionally studied behaviors (e.g., sharing and helping). In addition, participants mentioned physical aggression more often among their female peers than among their male peers. This study reveals the importance of context in understanding children’s social behaviors. It is concluded that the present results have important implications for the school bus context and for future research on children’s social interactions.

Counselor perceptions of students who vary in gender and socioeconomic status

The present study experimentally examined how counselor perceptions of hypothetical students are affected by student gender and socioeconomic status (SES). Results showed that counselors perceive students from low SES backgrounds as having less promising futures and lower math abilities. Counselors also rated female students as lower in math abilities than male students. Our results indicate that institutions should consider providing more school counselor training to reduce bias based on gender and SES.

Whether highly curious students thrive academically depends on perceptions about the school learning environment: A study of Hong Kong adolescents

The present study tested whether the perceived academic values of a school moderate whether highly curious students thrive academically. We investigated the interactive effects of curiosity and school quality on academic success for 484 Hong Kong high school students. Chinese versions of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory, Subjective Happiness Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem scales were administered and shown to have acceptable measurement properties. We obtained Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) scores (national achievement tests) from participating schools. Results yielded Trait Curiosity × Perceived School Quality interactions in predicting HKCEE scores and school grades. Adolescents with greater trait curiosity in more challenging schools had the greatest academic success; adolescents with greater trait curiosity in less challenging schools had the least academic success. Findings were not attributable to subjective happiness or self-esteem and alternative models involving these positive attributes were not supported. Results suggest that the benefits of curiosity are activated by student beliefs that the school environment supports their values about growth and learning; these benefits can be disabled by perceived person-environment mismatches.

Ratings in Black and White: does racial symmetry or asymmetry influence teacher assessment of a pupil’s work habits?

Racial asymmetry, the circumstance of having a teacher’s race differ from that of his or her student’s race, is often considered important because most Black students are taught by White teachers. This paper analyzes data from a nationally representative sample of students and teachers to ascertain the extent to which Black and White teachers differ in their evaluations of the work habits of their Black pupils. Unlike most other investigations on this topic, we explored the likelihood that subject matter and school demographics influence teacher-student relationships beyond the more visible factors of racial symmetry or asymmetry. Our analyses of NELS: 88 data using this framework reveal an inconsistent racial effect on teachers’ evaluations of Black students. The ratings of African American pupils by both Black and White teachers seem to be influenced by both the academic subject they teach and the demographic characteristic of the school. We discuss these findings and suggest avenues for further study.

Schools as promoters of moral judgment: the essential role of teachers’ encouragement of critical thinking

The assumption that high level functioning is characterized by a great deal of autonomy is central to some major theories of moral development [Kohlberg (in T. Lickona (ed.) Moral development and behavior: Theory, research and social issues, 1976); Piaget (The moral judgment of the child, 1932)] and to the self-determination theory of motivation [Ryan and Deci (The American Psychologist, 55, 68–78, 2000)]. Based on these theories, we hypothesized that students’ perceptions of their teachers as autonomy supportive, mainly in the form of encouragement of critical thinking, and perhaps also choice, would be positively associated with students’ advanced moral judgment. Data collected from 12th grade students in two regular schools and two democratic schools supported this hypothesis. Results also showed that being a student in a democratic school (as opposed to a regular one) was associated with autonomous moral judgment, and that this association was mediated by students’ perceptions of teachers as encouraging criticism, but not choice. A possible implication is that programs of moral education should explicitly promote teachers’ inclination to encourage critical thinking in their students.

Shades of disengagement: high school dropouts speak out

The purpose of this study was to describe how dropouts navigate their educational journeys. Eighty dropouts participated to individual interviews which were recorded and transcribed. The data analysis yielded three broad categories in answering the research question. Setting the stage in the family and the school, the dropouts described their teetering between in and out of school contexts and proceeded to explain how they ended their educational journey. For 20 dropouts, family turmoil represented a pervasive force negatively influencing their schooling. For 24 dropouts, problems in school set the stage for dropping out. Teetering represented juggling strategies to prolongand to sabotage the journey, while the end of the journey occurred as a result of a pivotal moment (48%) or a gradual fade out (52%) from the school context.

Individualism: valued differently by parents and teachers of primary, junior high and high school students

The present study was designed to examine if individualism, a core characteristic of Western societies, is socially valued in two fundamental institutions: Family and school. Parents and teachers of fourth graders (primary school), sixth graders (junior high school) and tenth graders (high school) completed an Individualism Scale (covering the main factors of self-realization, autonomy, emotional independence and social differentiation) which was adapted for each grade. For each item, they had to choose the answer their child, or students, would need to give in order to make a good, or bad, impression. The results showed that individualism is valued differently as a function of the evaluator. Parents valued it in their children (with the exception of sixth graders) although teachers actually devalued it in their students. Additionally, individualism appeared as a multifaceted phenomenon since its different components were not judged consistently.

Math Preference and Mastery Relationship in Middle School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

We conducted this study to determine the relationship between math preference and mastery for five middle school students with autism spectrum disorders. We randomly presented several math addition and subtraction problem formats to determine the students’ preferences. Results indicated that preference was idiosyncratic across students. In addition, preference was not related to mastery in some students. Results are discussed within a theoretical framework of matching law. Implications for practitioners are discussed.

Interkinaesthetic affectivity: a phenomenological approach

This Husserlian transcendental-phenomenological investigation of interkinaesthetic affectivity first clarifies the sense of affectivity that is at stake here, then shows how Husserl’s distinctive approach to kinaesthetic experience provides evidential access to the interkinaesthetic field. After describing several structures of interkinaesthetic-affective experience, I indicate how a Husserlian critique of the presupposition that we are “psychophysical” entities might suggest a more inclusive approach to a biosocial plenum that includes all metabolic life.

Translucent experiences

This paper considers the claim that perceptual experience is “transparent”, in the sense that nothing other than the apparent public objects of perception are available to introspection by the subject of such experience. I revive and strengthen the objection that blurred vision constitutes an insuperable objection to the claim, and counter recent responses to the general objection. Finally the bearing of this issue on representationalist accounts of the mind is considered.

Innovative Methods for Making Behavioral Science Relevant to Medical Education

Thousands of psychologists teach in U.S. medical schools, and these psychologists are responsible for ensuring that the medical students they train are aware of the ways in which research findings from the behavioral and social sciences can enhance the practice of medicine. In addition, it is imperative that physicians appreciate the limits of their own ability to treat psychological and psychiatric problems and know when to refer to mental health professionals. This brief article is based on a talk given by the author at the 2007 American Psychological Association (APA) convention after receiving the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC) Ivan Mensh Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching. The paper draws on the personal experiences of the author after three decades spent teaching behavioral science to medical students, and it introduces readers to the reasoning behind many of the decisions made in planning and developing each of the author’s four editions of the medical school text Behavior and Medicine.

Natural capacities and democracy as a good-in-itself

Democracy is shown to be a non-instrumental good-in-itself (as well as an instrument in securing other goods) by extrapolation from the Aristotelian premise that humans are political animals. Because humans are by nature language-using, as well as sociable and common-end-seeking beings, the capacity to associate in public decisions is constitutive of the human being-kind. Association in decision is necessary (although insufficient) for happiness in the sense of eudaimonia. A benevolent dictator who satisfied all other conditions of justice, harms her subjects by denying them opportunity to associate in the decisions by which their community is governed.

Are There Stable Factors in Preadolescent Girls’ Externalizing Behaviors?

Relatively little is known about the factor structure of disruptive behavior among preadolescent girls. The present study reports on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of disruptive girl behavior over four successive data waves as rated by parents and teachers in a large, representative community sample of girls (N = 2,451). Five factors were identified from parent ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, relational aggression, and callous-unemotional behaviors), and four factors were identified derived from teacher ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems/callous-unemotional behaviors, inattention, hyperactivityimpulsivity, and relational aggression). There was a high degree of consistency of items loading on equivalent factors across parent and teacher ratings. Year-to-year stability of factors between ages five and 12 was high for parent ratings (ICC = 0.70 to 0.88), and slightly lower for teacher ratings (ICC = 0.56 to 0.83). These findings are discussed in terms of possible adjustment to the criteria for children's disruptive behavior disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders.

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Parental style and child bullying and victimization experiences at school

The aim of this study was to propose and test a theory-driven model describing the network of effects existing between parental style and child involvement in bullying incidents at school. The participants were 377 Greek Cypriot children (mean age 11.6) and their mothers. It was found that a line of influence exists between maternal responsiveness, over-protection and child victimization experiences at school. Also, responsiveness predicted low scores of child bullying behaviour. Permissive mothers (who by definition are high in responsiveness) had children with the highest mean score in victimization experience compared with mothers who function under the other three parental styles.

Two Theories of Just War

As it is traditionally conceived, Just War Theory is not well suited for dealing with nation vs non-nation wars. It thus makes sense to create a second Just War Theory to deal with these wars. This article explores the differences and similarities between the two theories.

The phenomenology of agency and intention in the face of paralysis and insentience

Studies of perception have focussed on sensation, though more recently the perception of action has, once more, become the subject of investigation. These studies have looked at acute experimental situations. The present paper discusses the subjective experience of those with either clinical syndromes of loss of movement or sensation (spinal cord injury, sensory neuronopathy syndrome or motor stroke), or with experimental paralysis or sensory loss. The differing phenomenology of these is explored and their effects on intention and agency discussed. It is shown that sensory loss can have effects on the focussing of motor command and that for some a sense of agency can return despite paralysis.

Visualizations in Mathematics

In this paper we discuss visualizations in mathematics from a historical and didactical perspective. We consider historical debates from the 17th and 19th centuries regarding the role of intuition and visualizations in mathematics. We also consider the problem of what a visualization in mathematical learning can achieve. In an empirical study we investigate what mathematical conclusions university students made on the basis of a visualization. We emphasize that a visualization in mathematics should always be considered in its proper context.

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Academia, Aristotle, and the Public Sphere – Stewardship Challenges to Schools of Business

In this paper we suggest that the ethical duties of business schools can be understood as representing stewardship in the Aristotelian tradition. In Introduction section we briefly explain the nature of ethical stewardship as a moral guideline for organizations in examining their duties to society. Ethical Stewardship section presents six ethical duties of business schools that are owed to four distinct stakeholders, and includes examples of each of those duties. Utilizing this Framework section identifies how this framework of duties can be used in the process of self-examination and transformation within business schools. Why It Matters section concludes by explaining why the process of examining ethical duties at business schools is vitally important for both business schools and the larger communities that they serve.

Ethics Education in our Colleges and Universities: A Positive Role for Accounting Practitioners

In this research, we review the current level of ethics education prior to college and the emphasis of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) on business ethics education in college using an ‘across the curriculum’ approach. We suggest that business schools and accounting practitioners can forge a more meaningful partnership than what currently exists through the traditional business advisory council prevalent at most schools of business. Ethical conduct is inherent in the practice of public accounting and a hallmark of the accounting profession. Accounting practitioners can play a significant and positive role in helping business schools to reexamine their obligations to society and their students by actively engaging in the exchange of views by academics on the necessity for ethics education as well as those of professional accounting bodies.¹

Towards a New Epistemology of Mathematics

In this introduction we discuss the motivation behind the workshop “Towards a New Epistemology of Mathematics” of which this special issue constitutes the proceedings. We elaborate on historical and empirical aspects of the desired new epistemology, connect it to the public image of mathematics, and give a summary and an introduction to the contributions to this issue.

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