Exploring the impact of a hands-on intervention on grade 7 girls and their feelings about self, mathematics, science, technology and related careers

Forty-five 12- and 13-year-old females attending Grade 7 in North York, Ontario were randomly selected from a group of 100 females who had volunteered to participate in a oneday hands-on workshop called It's Your Choice at Seneca College. The goals of this intervention were to broaden the career horizons of these students and to help them realize the need to continue mathematics and science through high school in order to keep occupational options unlimited. The young women were given a pre- and post-attitude survey to provide background information. In the month following participation in the workshop the students were interviewed in small groups (S students per group) to discover their perceptions of the impact of the workshop. The interviews revealed that participants felt that after the workshop their feelings of self-confidence increased, specifically with respect to working with their hands. Participants felt more aware of the usefulness and importance of the study of mathematics, science and technology, They also felt that It's Your Choice increased their interest in careers in these domains and helped them to see that these careers are viable choices for females. The interviews also revealed that many of the participants felt that in this society their roles and their choices were influenced and probably limited by the fact that they are female.

Motivational differences in science course enrolment shown by males and females in grades 9 through OAC

A sample of 1,345 students enrolled in advanced-level science courses from Grades 9 through OAe was surveyed in order to gain perspective into the existence of motivational differences attributing to science course enrolment by gender. Records of enrolment were examined in order to detect patterns and trends. A questionnaire was devised and piloted. It measured five motivational variables - demographics, science and science-related experiences, science ability and attitudes, impressions about women in science, and importance of science and science-related skills. The students also provided some impressions about the image of scientists. Results of the questionnaire were analyzed for frequency of responses and for significant gender differences using the chi-square. Differences were found to exist in the areas of science anxiety as it relates to testing and oral participation; in motivation generated by the performance of extra-curricular science and science-related activities, and by the classroom environment; in impressions of women in science; in the importance of science skills, and in the area of teacher influence. The study also showed a differential enrolment of females, with an emphasis on biology and chemistry. The males were enrolled in courses of physics and chemistry. The findings lead to numerous suggested strategies and programs for encouraging the participation of females in science education and careers.

The bridging of pluralistic visions of science and ethics for bioethics - Tibetan medicine as compared with the Western research on longevity and human genetic enhancement

La thèse examine les liens entre la vision pluraliste de la science et l’éthique de la médecine tibétaine et les nouvelles pratiques en médecine occidentale, soit la longévité et la recherche sur la génétique amélioratrice. Elle cherche à cerner l’apport que la médecine tibétaine peut apporter aux recherches occidentales sur la longévité et la génétique humaine amélioratrice. Elle traite donc d’un enjeu social clé et du débat qui s’y rattache. La découverte et la description sont centrales à la méthodologie et informent l’analyse. Nous avons examiné dans un premier temps, les travaux de recherche sur la longévité reliée à la génétique amélioratrice (mémoire et muscles). Nous nous sommes penchés également sur les fondements de la médecine tibétaine en tant que système intégré. Pour ce faire, nous avons traité des notions telles que la santé, l’identité, la perfection et l’immortalité. Notre cadre conceptuel repose sur la théorie bouddhiste de l’interdépendance qui se caractérise par la formulation de catégories qui ensuite sont synthétisées dans l’essence; les deux niveaux d’interprétation de la théorie sont décrits en détail avant de passer à une comparaison avec la notion de complexité occidentale. La médecine tibétaine de fait présente un système où l’éthique et la science sont intégrées et se prête bien à une comparaison avec la vision pluraliste de la science à partir d’une perspective éthique/bioéthique. Les commentaires recueillis auprès des experts nous ont permis de cerner comment la science, l’éthique et l’amélioration de la longévité sont définies au sein des deux paradigmes de l’Est et de l’Ouest. Nos résultats montrent six points qui se dégagent au terme de cette recherche permettent de jeter un pont sur la vision pluraliste de ces paradigmes. Ceux-ci transcendent les points de vue doctrinaux individuels de religions ainsi que du monde scientifique occidental. Plus que tout, ils laissent entrevoir un cadre de références novatrices qui contribuera à la prise de décision à l’égard de questionnements bioéthiques.

Characterising secondary school teacher imperatives as subject (signature) pedagogies : a pedagogy of support in maths and a pedagogy of engagement in science

The ideas of Lee Shulman have played a major role in reconceptualising pedagogical description. In 2005, Shulman described a construct called “signature pedagogies” in order to describe recognisable and distinctive pedagogies used to prepare future practitioners for their profession. As a broader application of Shulman’s ideas, this paper asks, what is the efficacy of describing pedagogies that have become entrenched in secondary school subjects as signature pedagogies? Approached from a cultural perspective these questions are examined by comparing the subject cultures of junior school maths and science as experienced by, and represented in the classrooms of, a small number of teachers from two secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. In this research, subject culture is underpinned by shared basic assumptions that govern the dominance of certain “subject paradigms” (what should be taught) and “subject pedagogies” (how this should be taught) (Ball & Lacey, 1980). In this secondary school setting, the term signature pedagogies can be equated to the term subject pedagogies on the basis that both aim to characterise practice across the subject, or discipline, based on what was perceived as central to the task of teaching and learning. The paper draws on classroom observation and teacher interview data to show how six teachers positioned two aspects of their teaching in relation to what they believed was central in shaping their maths and science teaching: the effect of the arrangement of curriculum content on teachers’ conceptualisations of the teaching task; and a pedagogical imperative to engage students through activity-based learning experiences. The cultural expectations surrounding these two aspects of teaching appear to have a strong influence on practice, and in some senses teachers’ pedagogical responses were clear. These common responses are what I am calling “subject pedagogies” (see Ball & Lacey, 1980) because there was general agreement about what was central to the teaching task. Two subject pedagogies were seen to represent strong discourses occurring in both subjects: a “Pedagogy of Support” in maths, and “Pedagogy of Engagement” in science. Their established and shared character resembled Shulman’s posited “signature pedagogies” (Shulman, 2005). The data shows that by evaluating cultural practices that teachers have in common, and assumptions underpinning these, there is potential for highlighting imbalances, strengths and weaknesses, and connections and disconnections, associated with prevailing subject pedagogies.

Made in God's Image! - What Does It Mean? Science and Religion in Conversation

How can we best interpret the traditional Christian affirmation that human beings are made in God's image in light of contact and dialogue between religion and science? And what, if any, are the environmental implications of this conversation between the two?

On science and revelation. Being the presidential address delivered at the annual meeting of the Victoria Institute.

On title page: Author's copy.

Author and title list of the most important accessions to the War Department Library : with subject entries in biography, military history, and military science, and index of periodicals received during the calendar year, 1904.

"Office of the Chief of Staff, Second (Military Information) Division."

Science, technology, and the modern navy : thirtieth anniversary, 1946-1976 /

Includes bibliographical references.

The Christian philosopher; or, The connection of science and philosophy with religion ... Illustrated with upwards of one hundred and fifty engravings.

Mode of access: Internet.

Museum of foreign literature, science and art.

Edited at first by Robert Walsh, Jr. and then by Eliakim and Squier Littell, the monthly Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art was the leading American eclectic for twenty years. Much of its contents were selected from British magazines; included were reviews, poetry, literary and scientific news, biographical sketches of British authors, lists of new British publications, and articles on literature. The engraved portraits in each number were a popular feature. After 1830, plates were published regularly, and the magazine began to devote a large proportion of its space to serial fiction by Dickens, Reade, Bulwer, Thackeray and other popular English novelists.

Twelve lectures on the connection between science and revealed religion : delivered in Rome /

Mode of access: Internet.

Science and the business of living.

Mode of access: Internet.

The origin and nature of man /

Includes index.

The Christian philosopher; or, The connection of science and philosophy with religion.

"List of popular works on the different sciences treated of in this volume": p. 391-399.