Modern Textbooks Research Articles

Playing with fire? The impact of the hidden curriculum in school genetics on essentialist conceptions of race

AbstractRace has been a longstanding topic in the biology textbook curriculum. Yet, there appears to be no research investigating whether the treatment of race in modern biology textbooks impacts how students conceptualize race. In the present study, a double‐blind field experiment employing mixed‐methods is used to investigate the impact of textbook‐based genetics learning on essentialist conceptions of race amongst adolescents. The study was carried out in an eighth grade classroom in a California Bay Area School. Students recruited for the study (N = 43) read either a racialized or a non‐racialized textbook passage on human genetic diseases and completed a reading comprehension assessment. After a short distracting task they responded to items in two different race conception instruments. Controlling for race, gender, age, prior race‐conceptions, and reading comprehension, statistically significant effects were observed on both race conception instruments by treatment. Students in the racialized condition exhibited stronger essentialist conceptions of race than students in the non‐racialized condition. Additionally, an exploratory analysis indicated that an understanding of Mendelian heredity moderated the observed treatment effects. The findings of the present study tentatively suggest that textbook‐based instruction in school biology can inadvertently reinforce essentialist conceptions of race that underlie racial bias. Implications for teaching and research are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 462–496, 2014

Ludwig Lange on the law of inertia

Ludwig Lange (1863–1936) published in the years 1885–1886 (at the age of 22– 23 years!) three papers on the law of inertia which have to be judged as a stroke of genius because, nearly 200 years after Newton’s Principia, he succeeded in eliminating the concepts of absolute space and absolute time. A particular merit of Lange’s papers is that he clearly analyzed which parts of Newton’s first law are useful definitions and which parts are non-trivial experimental facts, if not wonders of nature, a distinction which is even missing in most modern textbooks on mechanics. (And it should be clear from the outset that any basic law of physics has to contain both definitions – here inertial system, in other cases electric field, temperature, entropy, quantum state, . . . – and new non-trivial facts about nature.) The papers [1] and [2] are quite extended works, containing, besides Lange’s innovative contributions, also historical and philosophical overviews of the law of inertia, the booklet [2] also containing Lange’s PhD-thesis of the year 1886 at the university of Leipzig. The shorter paper [3], translated here, concentrates on Lange’s own contributions and their mathematical foundations. In the year 1902 Lange published again a quite extended analysis [4] of the law of inertia, together with reactions of other authors on his work from 1885–1886; see below. Lange’s main new findings and his results of lasting significance are contained in part I of the paper [3]. In this part he also gives a clear motivation for his work by saying: “Newton’s absolute space is a phantom that should never be made the basis of an exact science”. “To find a fully valid substitute for it is the goal of the following”. The absolute highlight of Lange’s work are his Definitions I and II and his Theorems I and II, and these are also the parts which are later highly praised and often literally quoted by other authors. Lange’s papers obviously are the first place where the nowadays standard terms ‘inertial system’ and ‘inertial timescale’ are introduced into the literature. As Lange freely admits, his Definition II and Law II concerning the inertial timescale owe much to somewhat earlier work by Neumann [5] and Thomson, Tait [6]. Neumann’s work particularly was a decisive stimulus for Lange, as is clear from the quotation: “The question now arises whether it is possible to eliminate also absolute space by a similar procedure [as Neumann’s one]. Indeed this is possible”. Concerning Definition I we like to point to the fact that originally, in [1], Lange tried to base an inertial system on only two points left to themselves. After an objection

Reduction of Shoulder Dislocation by Dzhanelidze

The most physiologic and low invasive method for reduction of anterior shoulder dislocation is Dzhanelidze technique that has been proposed in about 100 years ago. However this technique is not often applied in practical work. The authors have analyzed the efficacy of original Dzhanelidze technique at treatment of 6 patients and its popularity among practical trauma- and orthopaedic surgeons (n=54) from different hospitals in Vladivostok and Primorski Territory. It is shown that original shoulder dislocation reduction technique by Dzhanelidze without morphine use is not effective. Out of all surgeons who participated in questionnaire survey only 10 (18.5%) specialists apply Dzhanelidze method in practice. Physicians use various modifications of this method that considerably differ from the original technique. Description of Dzhanelidze technique in modern textbooks and manuals of surgery and traumatology are contradictory and significantly differ from the author’s technique.

Das Recht der öffentlichen Sachen. Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht, Besonderes Verwaltungsrecht, Trümmerhaufen – oder was?

<bold>The German Law on Administrative Assets</bold> <italic>General Administrative Law, Special Administrative Law, Rubble Heap – or what</italic> The “law on administrative assets” treats the legal status of assets used by the administration to fulfill its tasks or provided by the administration for public use. It is part of the German “classical canon” of general administrative law, but is increasingly skipped in modern textbooks and monographs on general administrative law. This is related to the considerable uncertainties concerning its scope and content. Therefore, the question arises if a “law on administrative assets” as an autonomous field of law still exists. To be able to answer this question, the article analyses the relevant case law by differentiating between cases concerning movable administrative assets and cases concerning immovable administrative assets. The analysis reveals that a special legal status of movable administrative assets cannot be determined in German law. Concerning immovable administrative assets the legal situation is more complex. In this regard the analysis of the case law reveals that the law on administrative assets should not be understood as a public law equivalent of private property law, but as a field of law concerning the rules regarding the use, the protection, and the maintenance of public infrastructures.

Vittorio Marchi, MD (1851-1908)

Vittorio Marchi was an Italian neuroscientist who lived during the second half of the 19th century. He is generally remembered for developing a novel staining method to trace the degeneration of nervous fibers in lesions of the central nervous system. This osmium-based method was used worldwide for approximately a century and continues to be cited in modern textbooks. Despite several important original scientific contributions, Marchi was never awarded a university chair. Discouraged, he left to practice neurology in a rural area but continued to write outstanding articles, and in 1897, he became a pioneer of meningioma surgery. Today, he is remembered only in specialized contexts. We hope this article can provide the recognition that Marchi deserves.

Do we teach the real language?

This article is about the type of language that is offered to learners in textbooks, using the example of Russian. Many modern textbooks of Russian as a foreign language aim at efficient development of oral communication skills. However, some expressions used in the textbooks are not typical for everyday language. We claim that textbooks’ content should be reassessed based on actual language use, following theoretical and methodological models of cognitive and corpus linguistics. We extracted language patterns from three textbooks, and compared them with alternative patterns that carry similar meaning by (1) calculating the frequency of occurrence of each pattern in a corpus of spoken language, and (2) using Russian native speakers’ intuitions about what is more common. The results demonstrated that for 39 to 53 percent of all the recurrent patterns in the textbooks better alternatives could be found. We further investigated the typical shortcomings of the extracted patterns.

Nusselt's Fundamental Law of Heat Transfer—Revisited

Almost a hundred years ago, in 1915, Wilhelm Nusselt published a paper entitled “Das Grundgesetz des Wärmeüberganges” (The Fundamental Law of Heat Transfer), which is often quoted in modern textbooks in this field of engineering science. Most of these modern textbooks, however, still use the notion of three mechanisms, modes, or kinds of heat transfer. Nusselt demonstrated, in this mentioned paper, that convection is nothing but conduction to a moving fluid. Nusselt's paper, however, usually is not quoted for this logical conclusion from facts already known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but for the principle of similarity or dimensional analysis, leading to the well-known dimensionless numbers widely used in fluid mechanics and heat transfer. The reasons for the reluctance of most (but fortunately not all) present-day experts to follow Nusselt in his logical argumentation have a number of mainly historical roots. This paper tries to explain why teaching our students that there are two mechanisms of heat transfer has a number of advantages over the “classical” method that is again and again repeated in our heat transfer literature.

ChemInform Abstract: The Modern Interpretation of the Wittig Reaction Mechanism

AbstractReview: 108 refs.

The Course as Textbook: A Symbiotic Relationship in the Introductory Statistics Class

In the past several decades, the statistics textbook has evolved to include a variety of ancillary materials intended to supplement students’ learning and assist the teacher (e.g., workbooks, study guides, audio program, test banks, PowerPoint slides, links to applets and websites, etc.). Given the capabilities of modern technology and the need for change in content and pedagogy in the introductory statistics course, a new vision of a textbook is offered, one that exploits new technology, provides modern content, and is a more integral part of the course. Rather than serving as a supplement to a course, the modern textbook needs to embody the course. An example of such a text in the context of a unique, new introductory statistics course is provided.

The modern interpretation of the Wittig reaction mechanism

The mechanism of the Wittig reaction has long been a contentious issue in organic chemistry. Even now, more than 50 years after its announcement, its presentation in many modern undergraduate textbooks is either overly simplified or entirely inaccurate. In this review, we gather together the huge body of evidence that has been amassed to show that the Li salt-free Wittig reactions of non-stabilised, semi-stabilised and stabilised ylides all occur under kinetic control by a common mechanism in which oxaphosphetane (OPA) is the first-formed and only intermediate. The numerous recent significant additions to the subject - including computational studies and experimental material pertinent to both steps of the reaction (OPA formation and its decomposition) are discussed in detail, and the currently accepted explanations for the source of the stereoselectivity in Wittig reactions are given. We also present the other mechanistic proposals that have been made during the history of the Wittig reaction, and show how they are unable to account for all of the experimental evidence that is now available. Details of certain experimental facts to do with Wittig reactions in the presence of Li cation are also included, although the precise mechanistic details of such reactions are yet to be established conclusively. We make the case that a clear distinction should henceforth be made between the unknown "Li-present" and the now well-established "Li salt-free" Wittig mechanisms.

Современные медицинские проблемы энергообмена у человека

In a living organism 72% of energy exchange occur in the visceral organs, which comprise only 5-6% of the total body mass. The remaining energy is spent at the expense of the skin, bones, connective tissues, resting muscles. The level ofenergy expenditure determines the general physiological state of a human organism, serves for the diagnostics of various diseases, in particular, the diseases of endocrine system, the disruptions of thermoregulation, protein, carbohydrate, and lipometabolism, etc. It should be mentioned that in modern textbooks of physiology, pathophysiology, and biology the problem of energy exchange in humans and animals is given inadequate consideration. Traditionally it occupies only 2-2.5% of the content. Meanwhile, new problems of energy exchange have appeared recently, which almost never were advanced earlier. These are,for example, the reasons and mechanisms of high energy expenditure under conditions of metabolism, the significance of the coefficient of efficiency of a human organism in physiology, special processes previously unknown of the organism heat exchange with the environment, physiological and social components of human energy exchange. There is also a problem of a theoretical possibility of life without energy.

Medkulturno skozi čas: medkulturne vsebine v učbenikih francoščine kot tujega jezika

The article deals with the concept of interculturality as used in foreign language didactics. In accordance with the definition of interculturality given in the first part of the article, two categories are included in the analysis – two “levels” of culture, each of them bearing a different name in literature, namely high and popular culture. Various textbooks used for teaching French as a foreign language in Slovenia in both the past and present were chosen for the analysis of topics that cover a fairly long period of time – among them the textbooks by two Slovenian authors: Južnič (1938) and Grad (1954), as well as some generally-used French textbooks, such as Cours de langue et de civilisation françaises (1953), Le nouveau sans frontières (1988) and Nouveau rond point (2011). The article is based on the hypothesis that high culture is more likely to be present in the older textbooks, which are based on traditional methods, whereas in modern textbooks more popular, everyday topics can be found. It is also presumed that topics in modern textbooks are, compared to their more traditional counterparts, introduced in an intercultural manner which could encourage students to compare the culture of the foreign country with their own. Both hypotheses are partly confirmed. In Slovenian textbooks there are very few culture-based topics. On the other hand, they are present in all French textbooks, regardless of the methodology. It is true that Mauger introduces more high culture than the others and that the intercultural topics are presented only in the most recent textbook. In all the others, it is exclusively the culture of the target country that is introduced.

Adam Smith's theory of absolute advantage and the use of doxography in the history of economics

This article reconstructs Adam Smith's theory of international trade and compares it with the way it is presented in modern textbooks as the theory of absolute advantage. This textbook presentation falls short of Smith's original ideas. I argue that the reason for this is the doxographic reconstruction of Smith's theory to fit him into a Whig history of international trade theory. In this way the historiography of international trade theory has falsely established Smith as a forerunner of modern neoclassical trade theory. I conclude by discussing to what extent Smith's insights can still be relevant today and what can be learnt from the mistreatment Smith has suffered in the historiography of international trade theory.

On the Treatment of Statical Indeterminacy in the Elementary Statics of Particles and Rigid Bodies

The inability to determine reactions beyond a maximum of six for a three-dimensional rigid body (or three for a planar rigid body) is termed statical indeterminacy and represents a flaw in the elementary statics of particles and rigid bodies because the indeterminate reactions cannot be obtained by methods developed from within the subject. As noted in virtually every modern textbook on statics, statical indeterminacy may be resolved by relaxing the assumption of structural rigidity. This theory forms the content of the mechanics of deformable solids, which considers the stretching, twisting and bending of elastic bars. The indeterminacy may also be resolved by maintaining structural rigidity but relaxing the assumption of support rigidity. Because deformable supports may be modeled by lumped linear and torsional springs (which are traditionally part of the statics of particles and rigid bodies), analysis of statically indeterminate reactions in such systems utilizes no new concepts except that of rigid body translation and rotation. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, by means of example, that this class of statically indeterminate problem is amenable to simple solution and therefore should be treated in standard presentations of the subject.

The neglected cranial nerve: Nervus terminalis (cranial nerveN)

The nervus terminalis (NT; terminal nerve) was clearly identified as an additional cranial nerve in humans more than a century ago yet remains mostly undescribed in modern anatomy textbooks. The nerve is referred to as the nervus terminalis because in species initially examined its fibers were seen entering the brain in the region of the lamina terminalis. It has also been referred to as cranial nerve 0, but because there is no Roman symbol for zero, an N for the Latin word nulla is a better numerical designation. This nerve is very distinct in human fetuses and infants but also has been repeatedly identified in adult human brains. The NT fibers are unmyelinated and emanate from ganglia. The fibers pass through the cribriform plate medial to those of the olfactory nerve fila. The fibers end in the nasal mucosa and probably arise from autonomic/neuromodulatory as well as sensory neurons. The NT has been demonstrated to release luteinizing-releasing luteinizing hormone and is therefore thought to play a role in reproductive behavior. Based on the available evidence, the NT appears to be functional in adult humans and should be taught in medical schools and incorporated into anatomy/neuroanatomy textbooks.

The Molecular Frontiers Foundation: Capturing the Interest of Young Minds

The Molecular Frontiers Foundation: Capturing the Interest of Young Minds

On the Notion of the Measure of Inertia in the Special Relativity Theory

The concept of the relativistic mass and its equivalence to the energy was recently negated within the framework of the special relativity theory (SRT). As a consequence, the relativistic mass notion was excluded from majority modern textbooks and books on SRT. The analysis of this negation is carried out in this paper. By the definition, the mass is the measure of inertia. Therefore everywhere, where inertia exists, the measure of this inertia, that is the mass, should exist. The inertia exists at relativistic velocities. Hence, the relativistic mass is obliged to be presented in SRT. The founders of SRT were right in their formulations from the very beginning and there is no need to revise their physical approaches concerning the relativistic measure of inertia. At the correct approach to the problem, the relativistic mass is returned to SRT. The relativistic mass is the measure of inertia, but it is not a scalar in SRT. It is the component of a 4-vector here. Since the relativistic mass is the component of the 4-vector, the fundamental equivalence of the measure of inertia and the energy is valid at all velocities (less or equal to the light velocity). The above mentioned negation is not harmless for science because it closes the road to some basic researches and generates the confusion in the students' brains.

The Sudans in The Twenty-First Century

Joseph O. Abulemoi. The Fragility of Sudan: A Study of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. London: Janus, 2011. xxvi + 340 pp. Acknowledgments. Abstract. Maps. Bibliography. Apendixes. £16.95. Paper. J. Millar Burr and Robert O. Collins. Sudan in Turmoil: Hasan al-Turabi and the Islamist State. Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 2010. vxiii + 340 pp. Map. Abbreviations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $89.95. Cloth. $28.95. Paper. Elke Grawert, ed. After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan. Woodbridge, Suffolk, and Rochester, N.Y.: James Currey, 2010. xvi + 293 pp. Tables. Figures. Maps. Editor's Preface. Notes on Contributors. Bibliography. Index. $70.00. Cloth. Randall Fegley. Beyond Khartoum: A History of Subnational Government in Sudan. Trenton, N.J., and Asmara: Red Sea Press, 201 1 . xix + 395 pp. Figures. Maps. Tables. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. $34.95. Paper. Abdullahi A. Gallab. A Civil Society Deferred: The Tertiary Grip of Violence in the Sudan. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 201 1. xxiii + 239 pp. Preface. Acknowledgments. Note on Transliteration. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $74.95. Cloth. Douglas H. Johnson. The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars: Peace or Truce. Revised edition. Oxford: James Currey, 201 1. xx + 236 pp. List of Abbreviations. List of Maps. Preface. Bibliography. Index. Appendix. $29.95. Paper. John RyIe, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo, and Jok Madut Jok, eds. The Sudan Handbook. Oxford: James Currey, 201 1 . xx + 220 pp. Maps. Figures. Tables. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments. Glossary. Chronology. Index. $34.95. Paper. Many recent books on Sudanese history and politics have fallen into two broad categories: analyses of the Sudan's problems (what may be called Failed State Studies), and more specifically, accounts of the civil war that ended in 2005 and led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011. The seven books reviewed here (with one partial exception) fall into one or another of these categories or straddle them. As such they share attributes and defects, but in representing recent scholarship they are notewordiy too in pointing to marked change in the focus of academic interest and in the approaches concomitantiy eschewed and permitted by that change. For various reasons (most worthy of attention themselves), Golden Age in historical writing on the modern Sudan ended in the 1970s. Although much of lasting importance has appeared since then (and several historians have produced superb bodies of work), the ability of Sudanese and foreign scholars to conduct original research in Sudanese archives, and the scarcity of expert supervision of postgraduate study in the Sudan and elsewhere, have in part been responsible for this decline. Originality has suffered as well-worn themes have been repeatedly reworked, often badly (the AngloEgyptian conquest of 1896-98; the regime of Lord Cromer; colonial education policy; the Juba Conference; the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, etc.). Overall quality has been diminished by shoddy or inexpert supervision in European and American universities. For political, financial, and other reasons, good Sudanese historians and promising Sudanese students have abandoned the field. In general, the result has been the substitution of deadline-driven ephemera for studies of modern history, and the deracination of political or sociological studies from history. It might be expected that the dearth of modern historical textbooks makes The Sudan Handbook welcome addition to the literature. Proceeding from an annual Sudan Course held at the Senior Secondary School at Rumbek under the auspices of the Rift Valley Institute, the book is meant as a critical guide to current knowledge. This, at least, it is not. Of as uneven quality as one would expect of volume with four editors and score of contributors, the book is medley rather than summary and critique. None of the chapters is original, although one (Wendy James's Religious Practice and Belief), is real essay with beginning and an end and is gem of concision. …

Cultural Practices and Medical Beliefs in Pre-Revolutionary Russia Compared to Modern Textbook Advice: Did Russian Women Breastfeed the “Wrong” Way?

Historical accounts of infant feeding practices can inform our understanding of current-day practices and the ways in which cultural traditions are incorporated into infant care. Pre-revolutionary Russian feeding practices have not previously been summarized, to our knowledge. The purpose of this study is to collect information about pre-revolutionary feeding practices. We may then be able to better understand the motivation for suboptimal practices and tailor feeding messages to the specific population. Materials were collected from libraries and from the Internet regarding medical, demographic, and ethnographic literature of the 19(th) century and early 21(st) century, primarily in Russian. Breastfeeding was pervasive in pre-revolutionary Russia, but suboptimal patterns such as withholding colostrum and early introduction of other foods and liquids were common. Breast problems were treated with folk remedies and comfort measures, some of which are similar to modern-day treatments. Around 1906, child rearing and infant feeding recommendations were subsumed by male physicians espousing the "scientific approach." Many of these medical recommendations were detrimental to the previously successful breastfeeding practices that, despite barriers, had allowed Russian women to continue breastfeeding for 2 years or longer.

A student's guide to geophysical equations

The advent of accessible student computing packages has meant that geophysics students can now easily manipulate datasets and gain first-hand modeling experience - essential in developing an intuitive understanding of the physics of the Earth. Yet to gain a more in-depth understanding of physical theory, and to develop new models and solutions, it is necessary to be able to derive the relevant equations from first principles. This compact, handy book fills a gap left by most modern geophysics textbooks, which generally do not have space to derive all of the important formulae, showing the intermediate steps. This guide presents full derivations for the classical equations of gravitation, gravity, tides, earth rotation, heat, geomagnetism and foundational seismology, illustrated with simple schematic diagrams. It supports students through the successive steps and explains the logical sequence of a derivation - facilitating self-study and helping students to tackle homework exercises and prepare for exams.