Disciplinary Backgrounds Research Articles

Computational thinking infusion as transformative teaching: investigating content area teacher perspectives and practices

ABSTRACT Background and Context Using a transformative learning framework, this qualitative study examines the perspectives and practices of 70 middle and high school content area teachers who attended two or more summer professional development workshops. Objective This study describes how teachers’ disciplinary perspectives and backgrounds influence their understanding of CT infusion and their implementation of CT-infused lessons. Method Data sources for this qualitative comparative case study analysis included: retrospective video reflections, implementation surveys, post-PD surveys, and instructional materials. Findings Analysis revealed differences in terms of disorienting dilemmas teachers faced, shifts in their frames of reference, the form of classroom CT infusion, and their integration of specific CT concepts. Implications This study contributes a comparative analysis of how teachers from different content areas come to understand CT infusion and implement CT-infused pedagogical practices to support their disciplinary teaching. Findings indicate the importance of including all teachers, STEM and non-STEM, in CT infusion efforts.

On diversity of human-nature relationships in environmental sciences and its implications for the management of ecological crisis

Decision makers addressing the ecological crisis face the challenge of considering complex ecosystems in their socioeconomic decisions. Complementary to ecological sciences, other scientific frameworks, grouped under the umbrella term environmental sciences, offer decision makers the opportunity to pursue sustainable paths. Because the environmental sciences are drawn from different branches of science, environmental ethics must go beyond the legacy of ecology and the life sciences to describe the contribution of scientific knowledge to addressing the ecological crisis. In this regard, I analyze and compare three environmental sciences based on their seminal articles: Conservation Biology, Sustainability Science, and Sustainability Economics. My analysis shows that conservation biology and sustainability economics share strong similarities despite their different disciplinary backgrounds (life versus social sciences). Both seek to contrast a biocentric and an anthropocentric perspective. The goal of sustainability is therefore understood as a balance that must be found between these two perspectives. If the issue of balancing human and non-human interests is still relevant to sustainable science, it is more likely to take place in an ecocentric perspective based on alternative ontological and normative prescriptions. Based on this analysis, I distinguish between'proscriptive value-based' scientific work that cannot be used for policy advice but is flexible to different value systems, and'prescriptive value-based' scientific work that can be used for policy advice but is fixed within a given value system. Conflicting recommendations from environmental scientists therefore result from the coexistence of multiple 'prescriptive value-based' scientific approaches based on different conceptions of the relationship between humans and nature.

Christianity in (South) Sudan: Historical backgrounds, contemporary contestations, and future directions

AbstractChristianity has played an integral part of Sudanese life through colonialism, postcolonialism, civil wars, and secession. Through it all, writers from a variety of disciplinary and denominational backgrounds have recorded the diverse experiences of Christian individuals and organizations. This essay maps past and present work on Sudanese Christianity, offers assessments of the field, and offers conjecture on the directions that future scholarship on the subject may trek. Given religion's central role in Sudan's recent past, such a task is necessary to understand its possible futures.

Pre-service teacher in STEM education: An integrative review and mapping of the Indonesian research literature

STEM education has become increasingly popular, including for pre-service teachers (PSTs). Preparing PSTs in STEM-based practices is essential to generate STEM-ready teachers. This study reviews STEM education literature for PSTs and provides recommendations for future research and practices. We investigate the Indonesian context–the fourth largest populated country in the world and the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The bibliometric analysis of 31 research papers revealed that STEM education for Indonesian PSTs was first reported in 2017, rapidly increasing to involve 110 researchers. 15 disciplinary backgrounds from 31 higher education institutions across Indonesia have participated in STEM education research, indicating a collaboration, and inclusive implementation of STEM education. However, the integrative review revealed diverse perceptions of STEM implementation. We recommend a framework (STEM-DiMRECS) as guidance to conduct integrated STEM learning: <b>D</b>iscipline <b>I</b>ntegration, <b>M</b>ultiple representations, <b>R</b>ealistic and relevant problems, employing the <b>E</b>ngineering design process, <b>C</b>ollaboration, and <b>S</b>tudent-centered learning.

Workshopping AI: Who’s at the Table?

In 2017, the Canadian federal government launched the “Pan-Canadian Strategy on Artificial Intelligence,” an ambitious plan to make Canada “a global leader in AI.” As part of this plan, the government sought to stimulate discussion about the ethical and societal implications of AI by sponsoring a series of AI & Society workshops. Hosted by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), these workshops brought together academics, engineers, and policymakers to discuss the impact of AI on healthcare, education, the modern workplace, Indigenous communities, and other areas. In its reports, CIFAR describes the AI & Society workshops as inclusive, diverse forums that allow actors from a range of different disciplinary, occupational, and ethnic backgrounds to express their opinions and concerns about AI. This paper investigates whether the AI & Society workshops are truly inclusive, or whether they privilege the voices and perspectives of some actors over others. It will be argued that, by inviting only “experts,” “thought leaders,” and “community leaders” to participate, the workshops systematically exclude laypeople and average consumers of technology. This is highly problematic since average consumers bear many of the social costs of advancements in AI. After critiquing the workshops, the paper proposes ways to amplify the voices of regular users of AI in public and intellectual discourse.

Breakdowns and breakthroughs. Handling challenging moments in university teaching

ABSTRACT Research on Higher Education (HE) documents a plethora of applicable teaching practices and improvements focused on better instructional planning. Yet, what happens when carefully crafted plans must be abandoned due to something unforeseen? This study documents teaching situations when things do not work as expected, where moments of breakdown alter a planned pedagogical course of action. Analysing these moments and their aftermath directs attention to empirical events rendering visible some overlooked, but revealing aspects of HE teaching. We conducted a qualitative study into the characteristics of breakdowns and how teachers handle such situations. University teachers from different disciplinary backgrounds and academic positions were interviewed about teaching experiences they found challenging. From our nine semi-structured interviews, three were selected for this paper. Inspired by methodology from Science and Technology Studies (STS), breakdowns are theorised as analytically generative moments for understanding ways in which technology, subject knowledge, and teacher-student relations, are intertwined. We offer terminology for discussing breakdowns and how elements of teaching practice can transmute and recombine into novel forms of practice. The study provides evidence relating to how breakdowns manifested in multiple ways, and despite abruptness and threats of disjointedness, gave rise to improved interaction, methodological development, and long-term learning. Three key phases are identified: breakdown, remobilisation and re-stabilisation. Further, rendered visible are ways in which teaching relies on material complexities and interdependencies. Breakdowns were sources of trouble, tension, and discouragement, but also facilitated instructional creativity opening space for unanticipated and inventive approaches to teaching (breakthroughs).

Historicising the perpetrators of sexual violence: global perspectives from the modern world

ABSTRACT This special issue seeks to re-situate perpetrators at the heart of discussions of sexually coercive behaviour. Acts of sexual aggression are intrinsically connected to historically contingent gender dynamics, as well as by social structures which foster the circumstances for sexual assault. In a wide range of geopolitical contexts, the perpetrators of sexual violence have been protected by ineffective and intrusive police, prosecution and court systems which ultimately place the burden of proof on victims, and by patriarchal social structures in which aggressors are more likely to occupy positions of power which can be exploited with impunity. Our contributors come from varied disciplinary backgrounds, including anthropology, sociology, media studies and history to explore perceptions and characteristics of sexual perpetrators in a range of geographical and cultural contexts. Throughout their work, the term ‘perpetrator’ emerges as both the individual agent of crime as well as the institutions, social structures, and discourses which facilitate and accommodate sexual violence. By recognising the historical contingency of sexual perpetrators, we eschew essentialising worldviews which present sexual harm as natural and immutable.

The association of disciplinary background with the evolution of topics and methods in Library and Information Science research 1995–2015

AbstractThe paper reports a longitudinal analysis of the topical and methodological development of Library and Information Science (LIS). Its focus is on the effects of researchers' disciplines on these developments. The study extends an earlier cross‐sectional study (Vakkari et al., Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2022a, 73, 1706–1722) by a coordinated dataset representing a content analysis of articles published in 31 scholarly LIS journals in 1995, 2005, and 2015. It is novel in its coverage of authors' disciplines, topical and methodological aspects in a coordinated dataset spanning two decades thus allowing trend analysis. The findings include a shrinking trend in the share of LIS from 67 to 36% while Computer Science, and Business and Economics increase their share from 9 and 6% to 21 and 16%, respectively. The earlier cross‐sectional study (Vakkari et al., Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2022a, 73, 1706–1722) for the year 2015 identified three topical clusters of LIS research, focusing on topical subfields, methodologies, and contributing disciplines. Correspondence analysis confirms their existence already in 1995 and traces their development through the decades. The contributing disciplines infuse their concepts, research questions, and approaches to LIS and may also subsume vital parts of LIS in their own structures of knowledge production.

Community perceptions of environmental water: a review

SummaryAllocation of water specifically to the environment (often dubbed ‘environmental water’ or ‘environmental flows’) can be contentious within government, among irrigators and between community members. The reduction in supply of fresh water has led to questions surrounding the efficiencies and ecological value of securing these adequate flows for waterways. This literature review examines the evidence on these perceptions of environmental water allocations, focusing foremost on general public, irrigator, Indigenous and decision-maker perspectives. Existing studies are predominantly in Global North areas such as Australia, Canada and the USA. Two themes featured strongly in the papers: the importance of personal values in the acceptance of environmental water and the perception of fairness in environmental water allocation processes. Although the research area has been expanding, there is still limited representation in types of study, disciplinary backgrounds and study locations, and as such many research opportunities remain.

An Invitation to Discomfort in Pursuit of Diversity, Inclusion, and Excellence

An Invitation to Discomfort in Pursuit of Diversity, Inclusion, and Excellence

Towards enhancing teaching and learning computer programming in Saudi Arabia

Globally, numerous students struggle with understanding computer programming, which is one of the most difficult courses in the computer science curriculum as stated in the literature. This is especially true in a diverse learning environment where students come from different disciplinary backgrounds, language skills, and cultures. Hence, to improve on the aforementioned challenges, another research introduces a framework that combines constructivist and collaborative learning theories with a student-centered teaching pedagogy for teaching postgraduate introductory programming classes at Central Queensland University, Australia. However, the framework will not work effectively when teaching computer programming courses to undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia. This is due to geographical differences, study levels, negative emotional issues, and stress affecting students' learning. Such as students' first view that programming is difficult, or the difference between students' and teachers' perspectives on learning (disciplinary backgrounds, language skills, and cultures). Therefore, this paper proposed a student-centered learning and teaching method that combines constructive alignment (consistency), collaborative learning theory (collaboration, conception, and cognition), and bits of Maslow's theory (love/belonging and self-actualization) in a student-centered teaching pedagogy. The research findings reveal that when using the existing method to teach Introduction to Computing-II (Object Oriented Programming in Java) at the University of Hafr Al Batin, Saudi Arabia, only 87.5% of students passed the course, while 12.5% failed. However, when using the proposed method 95.2% of the students passed the course, while only 4.8% failed. Thus, the proposed method clearly shows significant improvement, with the failure rate reducing from 12.5% to only 4.8%.

Supporting Antiracism Through the Thoughtful Conduct, Evaluation, and Use of Research

Supporting Antiracism Through the Thoughtful Conduct, Evaluation, and Use of Research

Pragmatism in practice: Bricolage as a methodological framework for SoTL

I begin this paper by discussing some of the issues that scholars face when they begin to make the transition from discipline-based research to SoTL. I take seriously the fear that many feel when attempting to move into what they perceive to be unfamiliar territory and I encourage readers to face their own fears as a first step towards resolving them. I suggest that, although many scholars are intimidated by the thought of SoTL because they believe that it is totally alien to them, in fact they have gained skills and experience elsewhere that are transferrable into SoTL: the terminology might be unfamiliar, but the practices need not be. In order to explain this, I introduce the concept of bricolage (which, as I understand it, involves taking existing resources and repurposing them) and show how this practice can be used to develop a methodological approach to SoTL. In so doing I describe a methodology for SoTL that can be adopted and adapted by any scholar, whatever their disciplinary background, and that helps scholars to make the transition from disciplinary research to scholarship of teaching and learning. I end by giving a set of recommendations for those wanting to use bricolage for themselves, and a call for others to join me in the practice of bricolage.

Climate Politics and the Power of Religion, edited by EVAN BERRY

Is religion an overlooked resource in the quest to overcome international gridlock on climate change? Or is its power exaggerated, doomed to fizzle once lofty ideals meet real life? These two questions once served as the intellectual centers of gravity in discussions of religions and climate change. Evan Berry’s edited volume Climate Politics and the Power of Religion marks a welcome new phase of scholarship, one that shifts our attention from questions about the potential of religion writ large to questions about specific religions, at specific times, scales, and places. A companion volume to Understanding Climate Change Through Religious Lifeworlds (edited by David Haberman, 2021), Climate Politics and the Power of Religion aims to address three gaps in the existing literature: the paucity of literature on religions outside the richer countries of the global north (especially Christianity); a secular bias in the social scientific literature on climate change; and inadequate attention to politics in the religion and environment literature (3). To accomplish this, the volume assembles scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, with a heavy emphasis on anthropology—a natural outcome of the project’s stated aim of emphasizing ethnographic scholarship (vii). The chapters of Part I analyze the role of religious actors and ideas in national-level climate policy discussions, via case studies in the Philippines, Trinidad, and India. The chapters in Part II articulate theoretical concerns about the treatment of religion in climate research. Part III investigates “novel and emerging modes of religious engagement with climate politics” (7) in India, Peru, and Puerto Rico. Crosscutting these divisions are three broad questions, the answers to which are assessed in the final chapter: how are religious actors shaping national and transnational climate disputes, how are religious norms shaping the understanding and experience of climate change on the ground, and finally, how is climate change changing religions.

A Comparative Study on Promotion of Modal Adjuncts in Research Article Introductions

Promotion is a major strategy in Research article introductions (RAIs) to attract reader's attention and gain recognition. Building on previous researches that suggest promotion in RAIs could be realized by different kinds of linguistic elements and rhetoric structures, this study collected 100 SCI RAIs in the discipline of computer science as data and explored the promotion realized by interpersonal metafunction and rhetoric structure of modal adjuncts. Meanwhile, in order to identify if there are differences and similarities of promotion between Chinese EFL RAIs (English RAIs written by Chinese scholars) and English L1 RAIs (English RAIs written by English and American scholars), this study quantified lexical features by examining lexical density, lexical variety and position of modal adjuncts. Results showed that the modal adjuncts could realize promotion through varying interpersonal metafunctions (temporality, modality, intensity and comment) and the model of Create a Research Space (CARS). However, more comprehensive promotion was realized in English L1 RAIs through interpersonal metafunction conveyed by more frequent, more kinds of and more positions of modal adjuncts. Besides, this study also verified that modal adjuncts were encoded of CARS to realize promotion in both Chinese EFL RAIs and English L1 RAIs in the same way because of the same strategies (familiarity and logic) and similar linguistic features. These results are discussed in terms of "constraint communication", and discipline background drawn on for knowledge claims in same and different types of academic writing of promotion between Chinese EFL RAIs and English L1 authors.

Disciplinary and gender-based variations: A frame-based analysis of interest markers in research articles

Linguistic expressions of interest as emotive responses are not uncommon in academic discourse but have hardly attracted any research attention. This paper reports on a study designed to examine how the deployment of such expressions in academic writing is mediated by an academic author's disciplinary background and gender. Drawing on a semantic frame developed for interest markers found in a corpus of 640 research articles sampled from four disciplines, corpus-based quantitative analyses were conducted on the incidence of the various elements of the Interest frame. Text-based interviews were also conducted with 16 disciplinary informants to explore considerations behind their use of interest markers. The corpus analyses found that although discipline and gender did not reliably predict academic authors' overall use of interest markers, they were robust predictors of several frame elements. The analyses of the interview data revealed that the observed quantitative differences were related to disciplinary knowledge-making practices, knowledge/knower epistemological orientations prevailing in the disciplines, gender-preferential discursive practices and an author's relative status in academia.

Balancing Autonomy and Collaboration in Large-Scale and Disciplinary Diverse Teams for Successful Qualitative Research

Large scale, multi-organisational collaborations between researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds are increasingly recognised as important to investigate and tackle complex real-world problems. However differing expectations, epistemologies, and preferences across these teams pose challenges to following best practice for ensuring high-quality and rigorous qualitative research, while maintaining goodwill and team cohesion across team members. This article presents critical reflections from the real-world experiences of a team navigating the challenges of collaborating on a large-scale, cross-disciplinary interview study. Based on these experiences, we extend the literature on large team qualitative collaboration by highlighting the importance of balancing autonomy and collaboration, and propose eight recommendations to support high quality research and team cohesion. We identify how this balance can be achieved at different times: when centralised decision-making should be prioritised, and autonomy can be allowed. We argue that prioritising time to develop shared understandings, build trust, and creating positive environments that accept and support differing researcher perspectives on qualitative methods is paramount. By exploring and reflecting on these differences, teams can identify how and when to support autonomy in decision-making, when to move forward collaboratively, and how to ensure that shared processes reflect the needs of the whole team. The reflexive findings, emanating from practical experience, can inform large research teams undertaking qualitative studies to explore complex issues. We make an original contribution to qualitative methods research by arguing that balancing autonomy and collaboration is the key to promoting high quality research and cohesion in large teams.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in International Crisis Medical Relief: A Look at the Nepal Earthquake and Ebola Relief Efforts.

This study explores interprofessional collaboration among medical and non-medical personnel planning and implementing international crisis health and medical relief efforts, and how disciplinary and professional background influences these activities. This study analyzes semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in organizations medical or health services to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa (2014-2016) or the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Disciplinary background, sometimes coupled with organization role, shaped how relief workers engaged in the process of planning and implementing crisis medical relief. There were 3 thematic areas where these differences emerged: issue focus, problem -solving approaches, and decision-making approaches. Solutions from the field emerged as a fourth theme. The study demonstrates medical relief required collaboration across medical and non-medical professions and highlights the importance of relief workers' disciplinary background in shaping the planning and implementation of crisis medical relief. Successful collaboration requires that people involved in crisis relief communicate the relevance of their own expertise, identify limits of their own and others' disciplinary perspective(s), seek out strengths in others' expertise, and can identify/ respond appropriately to others who do not see their own disciplinary limits, as well as learn these skills before engaging in relief.

A Team Science Training Approach to Enhance Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Communication Science and Disorders Programs

This paper aims to describe the core components of a cross-disciplinary team science training offered in a Communication Science and Disorders (CSD) program delivered to 17 doctoral scholars in CSD, education, special education, psychology, and social work. The team science training model is offered as one approach to consider in preparing pre-service leaders and faculty in CSD to engage in scientific collaboration with other researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. In addition to an overview of training, the paper includes preliminary data on participants' perceptions of team science training and recommendations for future offerings.

AN AMAZING CASE OF IRREGULARITY, CORRUPTION AND ILLEGALITY; APPOINTMENT OF PROFESSOR of PHARMACY IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNIVERSITY WITH HIS UNACCEPTABLE, ILLEGITIMATE D AND NON-SUPPORTIVE EXTERNAL EVALUATION REPORTS OF FOREIGN EXPERTS

The quality control in public and private sector universities improve the over quality of education and professional skills in local and international economy. That also gives confidence and certainty to educational system and help to maintained high quality standards. Additionally, these become important component to deliver and contribute in human resources. the faculty position description that covers the scholarly areas should include the experience, academic credentials, and particular disciplinary background. That should compatible with international standards that appeal to a broad applicant pool. For this purpose, we have to avoid the conditions that deter the highly qualified applicants around the world. Avoid the “replacement” of faculty member who has left or retired from the department