The Integration of Modern Sciences into the American Secondary School, 1890--1990s

Studies in Philosophy and Education - School reforms in the late 19th century, mirroring larger social, economic, and political changes in American society, account für the permanent lodging...     

Religion and Science in America: Struggling for Coherence

James Gilbert has provided fascinating and valuable historical sketches of the interactions of science and religion in American culture in this century, especially those taking place between 1945 and 1962. Yet, taken together, it is unclear what conclusion is to be drawn from these interactions. Ambiguity about the variety of forms of the science-and-religion relationship and about the referent of the term religion make the task of apprehending a coherent pattern among these sketches very difficult.     

Academic Achievement of African American Preadolescents: The Influence of Teacher Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with the academic success of predominantly, middle-class African American preadolescent students. This study proposed an ecological model that considered the interaction of family environment, teacher perceptions of social skills, and student characteristics. The estimated model explained 58% of the variance in grade point average. Path analysis revealed three direct effects on grade point average, (a) grade level (negative), (b) teacher perceptions of social skills, and (c) academic ability. Findings revealed that teacher perceptions of social skills was a stronger predictor of grade point average than academic ability. Two indirect effects on grade point average were found. The first indirect effect was negative: gender predicted academic ability, which predicted teacher perceptions of social skills, which predicted grade point average. The second indirect effect was positive and it was from ability to teacher perceptions to grade point average. Implications for policy and practice are made that suggest a collaborative model of school counseling designed to promote the social and academic competence of African American students. Interventions that enhance teacher practices are also suggested.     

Parental Perceptions of Child Development Among Low-Income Mexican American Families

Parents' perceptions of child development are influenced by complex interactions among cultural, social, and economic factors. Insights into how parents from culturally diverse societies perceive the development of their children might explain why different cultural groups foster or value the development of different skills in their children. In this study, we explored the perceptions of child development among low income Mexican American parents. A series of ethnographic interviews were conducted with eight Mexican American families who had preschool children. Qualitative data analyses yielded three main themes that were important to these parents: family attitudes and values, changes, and adaptations. For these parents, the development of social attributes in children, that will enable them to function within their own cultural group, was as important as the development of cognitive or motor skills. Service providers, such as school and mental health personnel, should take into account cultural differences in parents' perceptions of the importance of various developmental milestones for their children when suggesting interventions typically used by parents in the dominant culture.     

Impact of Exposure to Community Violence on Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study of Family Social Support as a Protective Factor for Urban Children

In a longitudinal study, we examined the relationship between exposure to community violence and anxiety, and the extent to which family social support moderated this relationship within a predominantly African American sample of 385 children in an urban public school system. Children reported notably lower anxiety levels compared to normative data for African American children. A high percentage reported witnessing a variety of violent acts. Cross-sectional results indicated that among girls exposure to violence was significantly correlated with total, physiological, and concentration anxiety. Among boys violence exposure was not associated with anxiety. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after controlling for gender, exposure to violence at Time 1 did not significantly predict changes in anxiety. A significant interaction was found for gender and exposure to violence on concentration anxiety; girls who reported higher initial violence exposure reported greater increases in subsequent concentration anxiety than boys. Whereas findings from our study did not support a moderating relationship of family social support on children's exposure to violence and anxiety, a strong negative relationship was found between anxiety and family support. Among children with initially low worry anxiety, those with low family social support showed greater increases in subsequent worry anxiety.     

Implementation of a Culture-Specific Intervention for a Native American Community

Psychiatric services provided to Native Americans should be culturally relevant and integrated with the values and beliefs of the culture since Native Americans use Western health care as a last resort. Reduced utilization of services may be the result of cultural beliefs that sickness or illness comes from disharmony with oneself, one's community, and nature. Treatment entails resolving the disharmony and restoring a state of balance and integration. Western psychiatric services have not usually provided active psychiatric treatment, while simultaneously encouraging participation in native ceremonies and traditions of healing. For 3 years, the Wyoming State Hospital has offered Sweat Lodge ceremonies administered by the Wind River Reservation as part of a pattern of working together to improve the care of Native Americans admitted to the facility. Results indicate increased utilization of hospital services as well as increased patient and tribal satisfaction, improved health care outcomes, and reduced length of stay. This report argues that culturally specific and sensitive treatment interventions provide a concrete and specific benefit to the population which is targeted.     

The Challenge of Cultural Blindness: Implications for Family-Focused Service Delivery

When dealing with culturally diverse families, special education professionals need to be aware of the challenge of cultural blindness and acknowledge the cultural assumptions imbedded in the services they offer. Using data from qualitative interviews with Native American mothers and participant observations of a parent support group on their reservation, I analyze the implications of cultural blindness for the empowerment of minority families.     

Commitment,ego-involvement,and resistance to attack

Subjects with initially extreme or moderate positions (based on a median split) recorded a consonant speech under public, private, or no commitment and later received a strong, mild, or no attack on their position. Extremes were more ego-involved in terms of wider latitudes of rejection, narrower latitudes of non-commitment, and greater resistance to attack, relative to moderates. Commitment had no effect for extremes, suggesting a ceiling effect on changes in the latitudes and resistance to attack for initially high levels of ego-involvement. For moderates, commitment resulted in narrower latitudes of noncommitment, wider latitudes of rejection (greater rejection of discrepant positions), and greater resistance to attack, suggesting that commitment may elevate ego-involvement with the issue. Commitment and ego-involvement may increase the salience of one's attitude position in later situations, thereby increasing the probability of attitudeconsistent behavior.     

The effects of positive examiner verbal comments on the total WISC-R performance of institutionalized EMR students

Forty educably mentally retarded (EMR) students were randomly selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups. Students in the experimental group were verbally praised after their responses to the WISC-R questions, while the students in the control group received nonevaluative procedural comments. The scaled scores for five of eleven subtests, in addition to the Verbal, Performance and Full Scale indices, were significantly greater under the experimental procedure. The treatment's efficacy and considerations for future research were noted and discussed.     

Culturally grounded strategies for suicide and alcohol risk prevention delivered by rural Alaska Native communities: A dynamic wait-listed design evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention

We examined the effectiveness of the Qungasvik (Tools for Life) intervention in enhancing protective factors as a universal suicide and alcohol prevention strategy for young people ages 12−18 living in highly affected rural Alaska Native communities. Four communities were assigned to immediate intervention or to a dynamic wait list. Outcomes were analyzed for 239 young people at four time points over two years of community intervention. Outcomes assessed two ultimate variable protective factors buffering suicide and alcohol risk, and three intermediate variable protective factors at the individual, family, and community level. Dose dependent intervention effects were associated with growth in ultimate but not intermediate variables. This evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention provides support for the effectiveness of its Indigenous strategies for suicide and alcohol misuse prevention in this rural Alaska Native setting. Though findings did not provide support for a theory of change where growth in ultimate variables is occasioned through effects on intermediate variables, research designs focused on young people who enter intervention at lower levels of preexisting protection hold promise for better understanding of intervention change processes. The Qungasvik intervention is responsive to an acute public health need for effective rural Alaska Native suicide and alcohol risk prevention strategies.