Changes in professional vision in the context of practice

In initial teacher education, it is a challenge to foster the development of teaching skills proximal to classroom action. In this study, the impact of a combined practical and theoretical university-based term on preservice teachers’ professional vision is investigated by a video-based approach to supervising their knowledge acquisition and assessing their learning outcomes. Participants were N = 109 preservice teachers attending a 5-month theory practice term guided through video-based courses about effective teaching and learning. We measured their changes in professional vision using the video-based tool Observer. Our results show that preservice teachers positively change their professional vision during the theory practice term, especially if they show low entry levels at the beginning. Their notes on the observed teaching lessons illustrate these changes.     

“You’re getting a degree in WHAT?”

In “You're Getting a Degree in WHAT?” Stefanie Thomas addresses the various pros and cons of a Women's Studies Department at a major university. Majoring in women's studies gives her the unique perspective of observing classroom dynamics where studients are implicitly geared towards one focus, feminism. A women's studies curriculum and tenets of feminism, being revolutionary to a college campus, leads to not only fresh ideology but tension in its formations. “You’re Getting a Degree in WHAT?” outlines the author's experiences and personal thoughts on women’s studies and the actual progress this short institutional feminism has made in her life.     

Intergroup leadership

Strong leadership within a group can increase the likelihood of conflict with other groups. This ingroup/outgroup leadership trade-off, occurring in contexts from businesses and political parties to ethnic groups and nations, raises questions about how a different kind of leadership can improve intergroup relations. Although leadership theory often focuses on a single group, sidelining questions of intergroup dynamics, some leadership literature addresses intergroup relations. Concurrently, some intergroup relations literature directly addresses leadership. Here, we synthesize and attempt to catalyze research on leadership that promotes positive intergroup relations: intergroup leadership. We begin by reviewing the ingroup/outgroup leadership trade-off. Next, we examine five theoretical approaches to leadership that show potential to promote positive intergroup relations. Finally, we identify six characteristics of the literature as it has developed and might develop in the future. These serve as possible directions for research to further illuminate the science and practice of intergroup leadership.     

Fifteen years later: Can residential mobility programs provide a long-term escape from neighborhood segregation,crime, and poverty

We examined whether the Gautreaux residential mobility program, which moved poor black volunteer families who were living in inner-city Chicago into more-affluent and integrated neighborhoods, produced long-run improvements in the neighborhood environments of the participants. We found that although all the participants moved in the 6 to 22 years since their initial placements, they continued to reside in neighborhoods with income levels that matched those of their placement neighborhoods. Families who were placed in higher-income, mostly white neighborhoods were currently living in the most-affluent neighborhoods. Families who were placed in lower-crime and suburban locations were most likely to reside in low-crime neighborhoods years later.     

Understanding Condom Use Decision Making Among Homeless Youth Using Event-Level Data

This is one of the first qualitative event-based studies to understand the various mechanisms through which multiple factors influence condom use decision making among homeless youth. Event-level interviews that explore characteristics of the environment surrounding sexual events were conducted with 29 youth who were asked to describe two recent sexual encounters. In thematic analyses of data across events, reasons that youth gave for engaging in unprotected sex included the expectation of having sex and use of alternative methods of protection against pregnancy. Other nonevent factors that influenced condom use decision making were related to attributes of the partnership (e.g., testing, trust and love, and assessments of risk) and attributes of the youth (e.g., perceptions of diseases, concerns over pregnancy, and discomfort using condoms). Additional event analyses conducted within the same individuals found that decision making was influenced by multiple interacting factors, with different pathways operating for event and nonevent factors. Future interventions should consider taking a multilevel and individualized approach that focuses on event-based determinants of risky sex in this population.     

The Emigration of Pro-social Behaviors: A Comparative Analysis of Colombian and US Latter-day Saints

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Scholars have studied the differences in pro-social behaviors among countries for over 50 years. Religious...