Bryn Mawr College
Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College | Bryn Mawr College ResearchNot a member yet
4802 research outputs found
Sort by
Student voice across contexts: Fostering student agency in today’s schools
Get PDFStudent voice is a concept and a set of approaches that position students alongside credentialed educators as critics and creators of educational practice. Student voice and student agency are closely linked when school stakeholders connect the sound of students speaking with students having the power to influence practices and analyses of education. In this article I draw on empirical studies conducted in a range of contexts to present an overview of approaches to student voice that foster student agency. These approaches focus on students working with teachers and researchers to analyze classroom practice, engage in research through various methods, and author and coauthor texts, all with the goal of maximizing and democratizing education for everyone involved. Implications of this discussion include suggestions for teachers, school principals, teacher educators, and researchers regarding how to support student voice such that it fosters student agency
How to Reconcile a Unified Account of Explanation with Explanatory Diversity
Get PDFThe concept of explanation is central to scientific practice. However, scientists explain phenomena in very different ways. That is, there are many different kinds of explanation; e.g. causal, mechanistic, statistical, or equilibrium explanations. In light of the myriad kinds of explanation identified in the literature, most philosophers of science have adopted some kind of explanatory pluralism. While pluralism about explanation seems plausible, it faces a dilemma (Pincock in: Reutlinger A, Saatsi J (eds) Explanation beyond causation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 39–56, 2018). Either there is nothing that unifies all instances of scientific explanation that makes them count as explanations, or there is some set of unifying features, which seems incompatible with explanatory pluralism. Different philosophers have adopted different horns of this dilemma. Some argue that no unified account of explanation is possible (Morrison in Reconstructing reality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015). Others suggest that there is a set of necessary features that can unify all explanations under a single account (Potochnik in Idealization and the aims of science, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 2017; Reutlinger in Reutlinger A, Saatsi J (eds) Explanation beyond causation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 74–95, 2018; Strevens in Depth: an account of scientific explanation, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2008). In this paper, we argue that none of the features identified by existing accounts of explanation are necessary for all explanations. However, we argue that a unified account can still be provided that accommodates pluralism. This can be accomplished, we argue, by reconceiving of scientific explanation as a cluster concept: there are multiple subsets of features that are sufficient for providing an explanation, but no single feature is necessary for all explanations. Reconceiving of explanation as a cluster concept not only accounts for the diversity of kinds of explanations, but also accounts for the widespread disagreement in the explanation literature and enables explanatory pluralism to avoid Pincock’s dilemma
Impacts of Housing Insecurity on Health Care Utilization and Parental Awareness of the Early Intervention Program
Get PDFAmong children under three experiencing housing insecurity associated with poor developmental outcomes and decreased medical visit adherence, parental lack of awareness of the Early Intervention program (EI) may foreshadow racial and economic disparities in EI utilization rates. Informed by a social determinants of health and health equity model, I explore whether housing insecurity impacts children’s access to routine well-child pediatric visits where parents have opportunities to become aware of EI. Utilizing logistic regression analyses of cross-sectional telephone interview data collected from parents of three-year-old children in Rochester, NY, I find that parents of multiracial and African American children are less likely than parents of white and Latinx children to be aware of the EI program despite achieving continuity of care. Findings persisted when controlling for parental concern about children’s development and children’s health at birth. Implications for social work practice and policy with children and families experiencing housing insecurity are discussed
Local Renewable Energy Initiatives in Germany and Japan in a Changing National Policy Environment
Get PDFOur article explores the contribution of local initiatives to the creation of path dependencies for energy transition in Germany and Japan in the face of resistance from entrenched incumbents at the national level. We use a process-tracing methodology based partly on interviews with local participants. In particular, we explore the role of local initiatives in securing socio-political space for the expansion of renewable energy (RE) and in embedding themselves in ecosystems of public and private institutions. German energy activists were more successful than their Japanese counterparts in expanding this space and creating positive feedback in part because they were able to build horizontal networks that anchored the energy transition firmly in local communities. Although problems with grid technology have led to retrenchment in both cases, Japanese activists\u27 reliance on vertical networks has limited their ability to weather a backlash from national government and utility actors. Our study demonstrates the interaction of political, economic/technological, and legitimation paths to energy transition and highlights the importance of the latter two
Open Pedagogy Enhances Student Engagement
No full textOpen pedagogy is more than adopting an OER for your course. Open pedagogy includes inviting students to be part of the teaching process. Motivation for adopting an OER as part of this approach varies among faculty. Our aim at St. Norbert College is to engage students in the learning process by providing them with opportunities for knowledge construction. Two biology faculty members will present their unique open pedagogy story including some preliminary insights about the impact of OER adoption/use on student learning and engagement. Following this, there will be an interactive discussion of how ownership changes the learning process
Linguistic Ideologies in Fiction Podcasts
Get PDFThis thesis is a linguistic analysis of fiction podcasts, focused on the research question: how do linguistic ideologies and stereotypes function in fiction podcasts? To this end, I used both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis investigated whether there is a correlation between a character’s role in a show and the type of language variety they speak. The results of this analysis showed no strong relationship between these factors; all character types were made up of majority *SAE speakers, illustrating the effect of the Standard Language Ideology on the podcasts. Additionally, speakers of three regional varieties, Southern English, New York City English, and Upper Midwest English together made up the majority (87.1%) of all speakers of regional varieties; this result illustrates the salience of these three varieties in American society, and analysis of specific characters who speak these varieties showed the stereotypes closely associated with them. The qualitative analysis focused on specific elements of storytelling in which linguistic stereotypes and ideologies play a role. The results showed linguistic ideologies and stereotypes at work in four specific story elements: humor, character building, worldbuilding, and relationships between characters. Stereotypes about Southern English were present in three of these categories (humor, character building, and worldbuilding), supporting the quantitative finding asserting that variety’s salience. Overall, I conclude that continued research into fiction podcasts will benefit the field of linguistics and creators & consumers of fiction podcasts
Transmedia Franchises and the Digital Humanities
Get PDFHow can we improve digital humanities accessibility? In other words, how can a small, resource-strapped liberal arts humanities classroom foreground the transformative impact of digital methods of analysis without imposing a high skills or materials threshold on students
OER Textbook and Curriculum Creation: Commitment, Resources, and Results
No full textDaniel Leisawitz (assistant professor of Italian) and Lora Taub-Pervizpour (Dean of Digital Learning) of Muhlenberg College will present their large-scale Open Educational Resource (OER) project, “Spunti.” With the institutional commitment and support of Dr. Taub-Pervizpour\u27s office, Dr. Leisawitz and his colleague in Italian, Daniela Viale, developed their own free, online Italian textbook/curriculum for Elementary Italian, which is currently being used for the first time this year. Drs. Leisawitz and Taub-Pervizpour will touch upon the pedagogical, economic, and ethical motivations behind the project, the process involved, and the essential role of the institution in supporting this kind of work
Contents: Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World
Get PDFWhat did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? In Drawing Down the Moon, Radcliffe Edmonds, one of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world, provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as “magic” and set apart from “normal” kinds of practices, Edmonds gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, Edmonds delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, Edmonds journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia—ancient tablets, spell books, bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, and amulets and talismans. He considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.An investigation of the mystical and marvelous, Drawing Down the Moon offers an unparalleled record of the origins, nature, and functions of ancient magic