Gilbert, John. (Ed.) (2004). The RoutledgeFalmer Reader in Science Education. Reviewed by Natalie Zayas-Robinson, California State University, Monterey Bay

Gilbert, John. (Ed.) (2004). The RoutledgeFalmer Reader in Science Education. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Pp. 278         ISBN 0415327784 Reviewed by Natalie Zayas-Robinson California State University, Monterey Bay October 18, 2007 The RoutledgeFalmerReader in Science Education is a compilation of writings on various topics such as: Pressures exerted on science education such as globalization The relationship between economics and science education Scientific literacy. Maintaining achievement in science education through frameworks for improving science teaching and learning, using Vygotsky to understand how teachers talk and create meaning Argumentation as pedagogy Using multimedia to help students learn science Trends in science education at a national level where communication with the public is addressed How religion can effect how a student learns science Assessments Initiatives within science education such as; politics, involvement by corporations, pedagogy, barriers to science education, and environmental education Managing change: planning and coping with change and a model for professional development is given and examined. Within the book various authors review research studies and data to provide a better understanding of science education from a global perspective. Many questions are posed giving aspiring researchers, as well as seasoned researchers, many avenues for future research and possibilities to increase the knowledge in the field of science education. The book is useful to pre-service teachers and practicing teachers as well as for graduate programs of study in science education and environmental education. John Gilbert starts off the book with a chapter, not included in the table of contents, entitled, “Science Education: Global or national?” (pp. 1-12). Within this chapter readers are given background information on how the selections for the book took place. Forty requests were sent out to different countries, thirty-eight were received from 14 countries. The question in the request was, “What do you perceive to be the most important current and future issues in science education, especially in your country?”(p.1). Gilbert states that 30 different issues were identified. In order to decide which issues to cover in one book two criterion were used to narrow down the issues. These were (1) was a particular issue likely to be of interest to a world-wide readership?” and (2) “were high-grade articles available on an issue that combined thorough scholarship with a treatment that was not set too firmly in any one national context?” (p.1). The first was not a good discriminator as all of the issues seemed to be of interest. The second, however, was a good screening question and allowed those selecting issues to become more discerning. Two questions were then posed to help create a framework for choosing articles to include in the book. These were as follows: “Is science education a global phenomenon, with the similarities between curricula, teaching methods and assessment procedures far more important than their differences?” “Is science education distinctive in any one country, so that a world-wide perspective is the sum of national provisions?” (p.1). Gilbert continues to explain how differing countries do share commonalities between curricula, teaching and assessment practices; however, there are different national concerns that drive science education. Gilbert then sets the stage for the rest of the book giving background information for each section and chapters within the sections. The reader is given thought provoking information such as in Gilbert’s overview of science and religion when he states that Islamic science is guided by environmental ethics. “Islam is seen as exercising stewardship over nature and the socio-cultural environment. This sets the agenda for science. Science education would therefore focus on the protection of the environment and the perpetuation of sustainable development” (p.5). Gilbert also ties in religious beliefs to culture and how both can affect science education when he discusses “Science education in other world-views” (p.5). He points out that everyone has a world view that is based on culture and experiences and reminds us that our worldview, “governs what knowledge a person is likely to find acceptable and therefore learn and use” (p.5). These are things many people know but do not always consider. Throughout the book there are questions and statements that can lead to further research in the field of science education. One such statement shows up early on in Gilbert’s overview when he is discussing teaching science. He states, “Yet we have little evidence on the ways that textbooks are used by teachers and students or on the consequences of extensive reliance on them” (p. 9). As I read this book I marked these types of statements as points to consider for research, for ideas for students looking for research topics, and to watch for studies on such topics from other researchers. Gilbert wraps up his overview of the book with a list of nine themes from Leonie Rennie and her colleagues that remind us that science education is about making curriculum relevant to the students needs, it is about inquiry, should provide careers and be relevant to the community. Throughout the book readers are referred to additional sources for more information. In the case of Leonie Rennie and her colleagues nine themes Gilbert refers readers to the source, Goodrum, 2001. Each chapter has an extensive list of references for further study. After reading Gilbert’s overview of the book, as a reader I found myself wanting to read each and every chapter right away. Yet as I began to read I found myself so engrossed in each chapter taking notes and looking up other sources that I would finish a chapter full of information, in some way sad that the chapter had ended, only to be enthralled that there was yet another chapter full of great information to come. This book review will review chapter by chapter. Part I: Some pressures being exerted on science education Each part of the book begins with an editor’s introduction. This part consists of three chapters: (1) Globalization and education: an introduction, (2) Science education and economic development; trends, relationships, and research agenda, and (3) Scientific Literacy. In the Editor’s Introduction readers are given questions to consider while reading the chapters. This sets a tone for each chapter and engages the reader. These questions could easily be used in courses on science education if addressing any of the topics within the chapters. The questions are thought-provoking and often reflective in nature. Examples are a thought-provoking question, “To what extent does science education, as currently provided and experienced, support a flexibility of response to changing circumstances, the ability to coexist with others, the development of a sense of identity? (p. 13). A more reflective question, “If you were seeking a greater impact on economic development, what changes would you make to both policy and practice in science education? (p.14). And perhaps a question that could be turned into a research project, “Would any policy changes be welcomed by teachers?” (p.14). Each part of the book is started in this manner gearing the readers thoughts for what they are about to read and learn. Chapter 1: Globalization and Education by Nicholas C. Burbules and Carlos Alberto Torres Burbules and Torres discuss economic restructuring and globalization in regards to science education. They start by discussing some history of economic restructuring in the seventies due to neo-liberal politics. In just six pages they cover quite of bit material. If a reader is not well versed in economics or globalization, let alone the two together, Burbules and Torres help make sense of it all. The have a bulleted list of the “crucial characteristics of globalization” (p.16). Within this list these characteristics are viewed through economic terms, political terms, and cultural terms. With some framework of how globalization and economic restructuring relate, they then take their readers into globalization and the state-education relationship. They discuss economic restructuring in educational terms. They state that in areas of educational policy this is problematic as most states and educational institutions do not seem to agree with each other. They discuss how most educational responses to educational decision-making are done by groups such as teacher unions or critical intellectuals and are in opposition to such policies as vouchers. The conclusion of this chapter is powerful. The authors discuss corporate influence on education and how neoliberalism has affected education systems. Preparation for work versus education for the sake of education and for developing critical thinkers is discussed. The authors discuss how corporations are sponsoring curriculum and therefore commercializing education. With neoliberalism taxes have dropped hence directly affecting the money going into educational systems. The authors also discuss how multiculturism in light of globalization can affect education. They state, “To the degree that education can help support the evolving construction of the self and, at a more general level, the constitution of identities, how can multiculturalism as a social movement, as a citizenship education, and as an antiracist philosophy in curriculum intervene in the dynamics of social conflict emerging between global transformations and local responses?” (p.19). The authors wrap up this chapter by leaving the reader with two points and questions to consider: Given the decreasing role and influence of the nation-state in unilaterally determining domestic policies, and given the fiscal crisis of public revenues inmost societies, there will be a corresponding decline in the state’s commitment to educational opportunity and equality, or whether will simply be a greater turn toward the market, privatization, and choice models that regard the public as consumers who will only obtain the education they can afford. Will these changes produce an overall decline in the civic commitment to public education itself? The troubles that educational systems experience today, which are not all related to the processes of globalization, signal a more deeply felt and decisive dilemma in developed and developing societies: the question of governability in the face of increasing diversity, permeable border and an explosion in worldwide mobility; and media and technology that create wholly new conditions shaping affiliation and identification. What is the role of education in helping to shape the attitudes, values, and understandings of a multicultural democratic citizen who can be part of this increasingly cosmopolitan world? (p. 20). Chapter 2: Science Education and Economic Development: Trends, relationships, and research agenda, by Gili S. Drori This chapter begins with a brief history of how and why global attention turned toward science education. In the 1970s countries turned their attention to promoting science and technology as “the foundations for a prosperous national economy” (p. 22). The Year of Science for Development was declared in 1980. Science and Math were being included as fundamental parts of a solid, liberal education. Science education began to expand. Drori continues on to give statistics from countries showing how not only was science education expanding, but instruction time was increasing globally. To show how science education is related to economic development and economic development is dependent on science education, he quotes Norman Augustine, the CEO and President of Lockheed-Martin as saying, “more and more we see that competition in the international marketplace is in reality a battle of the classrooms” (p. 24). Drori relates this expansion to economic development when on page 24 he states, “the science education for development policy model praises education, and particularly science education, as a requirement for any modern, civilized, economically-vibrant nation-state.” A question for education is, “do we create science education in order to stimulate and expand economies, or do we create science education that creates scientifically literate, critically thinking individuals?” Drori addresses this when he poses questions about science education and economies and he states that some studies show that science education does contribute to greater economic development, some show it hinders economic development, and some show there is no relationship. He states that the methodology of the studies varied and he goes more in depth into comparing the empirical studies. He dissects the studies and points out such things as science education needs to be directly aligned with economic needs in order to have an impact on economic development, that some studies use data that is not consistent, and other studies look into family background and how that relates to science education. In this chapter Drori takes an extensive look into various studies and could be an excellent chapter to use for a research methods course in science education. Students would be shown how to critically examine a research study and at the same time learn how to design a study to attempt to avoid some of the problems Drori points out. Drori concludes the chapter with stating that he does not mean to suggest that all studies be revoked but instead the methodological “points of contention” be solved by future studies. (p. 34). Chapter 3: Scientific Literacy by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development As I read this chapter the following questions came to mind, if science education focused on creating more scientifically literate individuals, couldn’t economies flourish, or would scientifically literate individuals see through advertising and hence, purchase less leading to a lack of consumerism? Would more scientifically literate individuals see sustainability as important and strive to support natural systems instead of consumerism that destroys natural systems? Yet can’t sustainability lead to economic development, just a different economic development than we currently have?” Whatever questions a reader poses while reading this chapter, the chapter provides a solid understanding of what scientific literacy is and how it can be created within a school system, and how it can be assessed. This chapter presents definitions of scientific literacy from Einstein to Hawkings, to reports done by researchers and from organizations like UNESCO. Levels of scientific literacy are given, much like Blooms Taxonomy. The levels are broken down to show how students progress from level to level. Illustrations are provided to give easy to read lists of scientific processes, as well as themes that can be used to assess scientific literacy. For example, processes are listed as: Recognizing scientifically investigable questions Identifying evidence needed in a scientific investigation Drawing or evaluating conclusions Communicating valid conclusions Demonstrating understanding of scientific concepts (p. 43) Themes include biodiversity, ecosystems, genetic control, energy transformations, chemical and physical changes (p. 46). This chapter shows that through any subject matter in science, scientific literacy can be a goal. Another helpful section in this chapter is that of assessment. A table is provided showing a recommended distribution of score points across science processes and in the areas of application (life and health, earth and environment, technology) (pp. 48-49). This chapter is useful to practioners, students, researchers, and even education departments interested in creating standards for school systems. The chapter does not directly relate scientific literacy to economic development as is the theme of the preceding two chapters, but the reader must keep in mind that the overall theme of the section is pressures exerted on science education and a prevailing theme in science education is creating scientifically literate individuals. The preceding chapters and some that follow help the reader think of scientific literacy and how being scientifically literate relates to economics locally and globally. Part II: Maintaining a Continuity of Achievement in Science Education This part of the book “addresses some of the major achievements of scholarship, research and development in science education over recent years” (Gilbert, p. 53). Again Gilbert gives brief overviews of the next three chapters to set the stage for the reader. This overview is also helpful if using this book as a text, as instructors can easily scan for relevant chapters for their course. Again readers are reminded that many sources are pointed out for further reading in this book, one for this section being, “most disturbingly, they (Duit and Treagust in reviewing studies) review evidence that all the great volume of detailed work on this field has had very limited impact on classroom practice. Perhaps, ‘action research’ – discussed in Chapter 18 – offers a way of overcoming this huge problem” (p. 53). For more reading on this readers can go to Duit and Tragust’s book. As a graduate student myself, I found this book full of sources all in one place making my research easier. Again Gilbert also poses questions to consider while reading the following chapters which again are useful for use in a classroom or for researchers to consider. Chapters in this section are as follows: Conceptual Change – A Powerful Framework for Improving Science Teaching and Learning, Teacher Talk and Meaning Making in Science classrooms: A Vygotskian analysis and review, The Place of Argumentation in the Pedagogy of School Science, and Interactive Multimedia and Model-Based Learning in Biology Chapter 4: Conceptual Change – A Powerful Framework for Improving Science Teaching and Learning by Reinders Duit and David F. Treagust This chapter reviews research that looked into the roles of learners and that of teachers. A brief history of teaching and learning is given and the authors point out that in the 1980s Constructivism and ideas from cognitive psychology began to play important roles in teaching and learning in science education. The authors discuss how research in science education and research in cognitive psychology were disjointed, but that Sinatra and Pintrisch’s (2003) attempted to bring these two areas together to show how they can work together. The main objective of this chapter is to help bring the domains of science education and cognitive psychology together by getting researchers to reference each other’s work. The authors provide a clarifying description of conceptual change and sum it up by stating that conceptual change has become a term which denotes learning science from a constructivist perspective (p. 58). They then discuss conceptual change from an epistemological position giving the reader information on many studies done in this area. Conceptual change models that are based in Piagetian ideas, “have proven superior to more traditionally-oriented approaches in a number of studies” (p. 59). Limits of the classical conceptual change approaches are discussed and it is pointed out that there are limited studies to test student conceptual knowledge in environment science, technology, and socio-scientific content. This again can lead researchers to ideas for new research to help further the field of science education. An important section of this chapter is “Bridging the gap between research findings on conceptual change and instructional practices” (p. 68). A downfall between research and practice is that the theory-practice gap has widened. In order to close this gap, the authors suggest that the theories need to be made more simple and teacher professional development in how to use conceptual change theories in the classroom. Chapter 5: Teacher Talk and Meaning Making in Science classrooms: A Vygotskian analysis and review by Philip Scott This chapter covers research that has been done in the area of teacher – student interactions and also covers student-student interactions to show how meaning can be created through such interactions. Vygotskian principles are used to review the literature for this chapter, especially Vygotsky’s socio-cultural approach. In this socio-cultural approach is the claim that “higher mental functioning in the individual derives from social life” (p. 75). This is used in this chapter to show how individuals develop new understanding or meaning in science classrooms through discourse. This chapter provides information on how to analyze discourse and pedagogical interventions teachers can implement to provide discourse that will help students create new meanings of the science they are learning. This chapter would be an excellent reading for a pre-service teacher course or used in a graduate program for teachers as it provides many strategies for using discourse and backs up the strategies with research findings. The main area of research reviewed in this chapter is that of using stories to encourage discourse, transform student knowledge, and teach science concepts after gaining student interest (via the story). Another area of research reviewed that has shown positive results in transforming student knowledge in science is in student’s “doing” science and/or math. The “doing” when labs are conducted with “open-inquiry” gives students decision making power and allows them to work together, creating powerful discourse. The authors also discuss using univocal and dialogic discourse and discuss the pros and cons of each and how the two can work together to help transform student knowledge when used in balance. Scaffolding is also discussed as a method to transform student knowledge. The authors point out that over the years scaffolding has become a buzz word and many do not use it in its true educational meaning. When used properly, the authors discuss how it is a powerful method of transforming student knowledge. Chapter 6: The Place of Argumentation in the Pedagogy of School Science by Paul Newton, Rosalind Driver and Jonathan Osborne This chapter reviews studies that show how argumentation (or discussions) can be used in classrooms, the benefits of them, and why teachers do not use them. The authors give Toulmin’s (1958) 4 main types of statements which contribute to an argument as (1) claims, (2) grounds, (3) warrants, and (4) backings, and explain each. The authors present a good argument on why argument belongs in the science classroom. “As science is a social process involving the sharing of ideas, the key of science then becomes the evaluation of conjectures in the light of evidence” (p. 99). Studies are discussed that show how argument can help in the learning of science. As students do science they then must argue their own claims which in turn increases their knowledge in how science functions but also increases the discourse so important to overall understand and meaning forming. Teachers were brought into research to find out how they used argument, why, and if they didn’t, why not. What was found was that teachers lacked time. Discussions take time and teachers are trying to teach all of the content with the National Curriculum. Attempting to get all that content in has decreased the time available for students to truly learn and form meaning. Managing discussions was another problem teachers pointed out. Discipline becomes a major issue and teachers tend to try to avoid such problems. Motivating students to participate is also noted as a problem. Other issues were teacher’s skills to manage a discussion and students feeling that discussion in science was not giving them the knowledge they needed. The authors explore three models of teaching and learning in light of the observational study on teacher’s views on using discussions within the science classroom. They then discuss change in education relating to National Curriculum, teacher preparation, and professional development. This chapter seems useful to those in teacher education, educational reformers, and researchers interested in furthering research on discourse in the science classroom. Chapter 7: Interactive Multimedia and Model-Based Learning in Biology by Barbara C. Buckley This chapter discusses a project, ‘Science for Living: The Circulatory System’ also referred to as SFL. One student’s journey through this program was selected to discuss for this chapter. The SFL program is a technology program designed for tenth grade biology. Students are given a pre-test so the prior knowledge is assessed before the program begins and assessed after to see what they gained from using the program. Students create multimedia projects over a three week period. This chapter reveals how model-based learning can be used effectively in biology. The authors preface the chapter by giving the reader working definitions of terms used in the study, as well as explaining the model-based learning framework used. They then give an explanation of why it is difficult for students to learn biological phenomena. They explain that specifically the circulatory system is a complex interactive system with many levels and is hard to conceptualize. Much of the system is not visible to the unaided eye and many students never get to “see” these parts of the system making it difficult to understand. Misconceptions then develop in the mind of the learner. At this point the authors discuss why using conceptual models is important to the learning process. They point out the positive and negative aspects of using conceptual models. For example, the use of interactive multimedia enables new ways of overcoming some of the challenges of representing biological phenomena. It allows the inclusion and integration of different kinds of representations linked and structured in a multitude of ways, presumably supporting learners with diverse aptitudes and preferences for particular representational modes. However, research has shown that it also presents cognitive and meta-cognitive challenges because learners must direct their own learning as well as understand the various representations and how they relate to each other (p.113). The authors state that this study attempted to answer the questions, “what is the nature and extent of student learning about the circulatory system when they have access to SFL? How do they go about their learning? What role do the representations in SFL and its interface play?” (p. 114). From here the chapter outlines the program, giving in depth explanations of the methods, the pre-test results and how they related to resulting knowledge, retention of knowledge, how data was analyzed, the analysis of the project, the images, how students interacted with the program, and how the models were formed. They also explain how models were revised based on this study. The authors give an in depth discussion, implications of their study and how it relates to theory development and the design of learning environments. There is a section on future research and a conclusion. This chapter could be used by practioners who want to use model-based learning, by instructors to help students learn how to do research, write up a research study, and critically review a research study; by researchers who would like to further this research. This chapter is long, but thorough and provides many avenues for others to learn and expand such programs and research. Part III: Trends in Science Education at National Level Again the editor gives the reader an overview of the chapters for this section. Questions for thought are posed. The editor introductions to the parts of the book are helpful to refer back to before reading a specific chapter. I suggest reading the introduction, proceeding to the next chapter, then revisiting the introduction to re-read the introduction for the next chapter to focus your attention to the questions the editor poses. After each chapter I am full of information and questions and re-reading the introduction section for the next chapter I am about to read focuses my thoughts to that chapter. This book if truly full of information and resources to allow readers to venture into more reading and learning. Chapters in this section areas follows: Science Communication with the Public: A cross-cultural event, The Interaction of Students’ Scientific and Religious Discourses: Two case studies, and Purposes for Assessment Chapter 8: Science Communication with the Public: A cross-cultural event by G.S. Aikenhead This chapter addresses communicating science with the public but has the reader consider how culture plays into how we communicate and how that communication is perceived. The author takes the reader through a lesson in culture tying in anthropology. Various definitions of culture are given and then a discussion of science as a culture unfolds. This section has the reader consider how science is a culture of its own and how other cultures one experiences affects how one perceives science, learns science, and can understand science. The author discusses “border crossing” which is when we jump from culture to culture as we do often in daily life. The author discusses how some people do this smoothly and others struggle with this. Advice is given for the science communicator to help ease border crossing. One example is, “Border crossing into the culture of science can be made smoother for the public if science communicators know the culture of the everyday world of the public, and can contrast that culture with a critical analysis of the culture of science. But even more, a science communicator must consciously move back and forth between the publics everyday world and the scientists’ world” (p. 152). Border crossing, culture, and misconceptions that can occur between the science communicator and the pubic are discussed. The focus is mostly on Western science and the author makes that clear. The mechanistic view of Western science is shown to be part of the reason why border crossing is so difficult. The ideas of memorization for the sake of gaining knowledge is scoffed while the idea of learning by doing and applying to everyday life is shown to reach more learners. A very helpful section for science communicators is that on “Western science and non-Western cultures” (p. 156). The ideas of aboriginal cultures, Japanese culture, and Islamic culture are discussed in relation to that of Western Science. These six pages of the chapter are enlightening for science educators. The author concludes the chapter by calling science educators, or communicators, “culture brokers” and emphasizes the importance of sensitivity to ideas, beliefs, and communication. This chapter shows why culture courses should be taught in all teacher education programs so people become more aware of the various beliefs and ideas they will encounter as science educators. Chapter 9: The Interaction of Students’ Scientific and Religious Discourses: Two case studies by Wolff-Michael Roth and Todd Alexander This chapter relates well to Chapter 8, as religion can be a huge barrier in “border crossing” between ones culture and the culture of science. In this chapter two cases studies are discussed showing how students learn science, or do not learn science, due to their religious views and the conflicts they encounter between learning science and that of their religious views. One of the students in the study became a co-author in this study. He asked if he could do this as a way of learning more about how others viewed science and religion. Two students are discussed in this chapter, one who grew up in a household where science and religion were both part of his life and another who grew up in a household where science and his strong religious views clashed. As a result of this he had a difficult time learning science and his science grades were lower than those of his other courses. Throughout the chapter the views of each student are discussed ranging from the first student who was able to integrate science and religion as he did not take the bible literally and the other student who struggled with science since the bible seemed to be his only factual evidence. He stated, “We know that God exists, because of all the miracles that He has done in the past. History and the Bible say that He is the person that made the Red Sea go apart, He is the one who multiplied the bread and the wine. This is why we believe that there is God.” Yet he also states that is hard for him to understand why he believes in God, “I can’t touch Him, I can’t see him” (p.183). These statements clearly show the struggle students can have when learning science. This relates again back to Chapter 8 for the science educator to be aware of such dilemmas in student’s ability to “border cross.” The study concludes with the problems of teachers not having enough time to develop mediation devices to help students deal with these struggles. Teachers realize this is a problem but are stuck in teaching content, which they do not have enough time for. The authors conclude that perhaps there needs to be a special course that helps students engage in a “philosophy-of-wisdom inquiry in which the discourses of music, literature, drama, politics, science, religion and philosophy are treated at the same level” (p.185). The authors state that they are not advocating that every student become a scientist nor a Christian but that perhaps a course where science is treated as a form of inquiry in the world could help students see science as it is and be able to incorporate it into their knowledge base. After reading chapter 8 I could not help but wonder why in teacher development programs and pre-service teacher programs techniques on “border crossing” couldn’t be implemented so teachers were aware of such issues and incorporated them into their everyday teaching. Again another great chapter for practioners, pre-service teachers, graduate students, those teaching teachers and those involved in professional development. Chapter 10: Purposes for Assessment by P. Black Three purposes for assessment are discussed in this chapter, support of learning, reporting the achievements of individuals, and satisfying demands for public accountability. Of all the chapters in this book, I found this one to be the driest, however, for those involved in assessment or just learning about assessment this would be a valuable chapter. However, when the discussion turned to looking at other factors involved in test scores, my attention was caught. Definitions of formative and summative assessments are given with clear reasons why each of these is performed and important. An excellent and important section in this chapter is that of “Accountability” on page 194. The author discusses correlations between low budgets, language barriers, and large class sizes on test scores and how so often these things are not considered when reporting test scores for schools. If these items are considered when reporting test scores then perhaps districts or states should look at actions that could be taken to help remedy the problems, such as increasing budgets, smaller class sizes, more assistants in a class. The author alludes to test scores and the variables being used to influence policy. In relation to teacher performance and schools being judged by test scores then again these variables should be taken into consideration. The author states that “value-added data” should be included with test scores. Value added data being that of intake test results and later attainment (p. 195). Showing student improvement would be a much better indicator of a teacher’s performance and that of the entire school. The author gives readers a reference (Gray, 1996) to refer to for further reading on judging school effectiveness. The author then goes into how sampling surveys can help to inform policy at a lower cost citing the effectiveness of sampling surveys done in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. This chapter is short but to the point and a bulleted list is given at the end to summarize the main purposes of assessment clearly showing the differences between formative and summative assessments and how each has their place in educational systems. Part IV: Some Initiatives from Within Science Education Part IV deals with science education as a way of educating for democracy, political literacy and environmental literacy. Sustainability and social justice are themes that shine through both chapters in Part IV. Again the editor provides the reader a framework for reading the next chapters and questions to consider. The two chapters in this section are; Time for Action: Science education for an alternative future and Mutualism: A different agenda fro environmental and science education. Chapter 11 Time for Action: Science education for an alternative future by Derek Hodson The almost 22 pages of this chapter cover a brief history of science education, ways that scientific literacy is defined by various organizations such as the AAAS and OECD, and pedagogy. Constructivism comes through as a method of teaching for retention versus the rote memorization method. The author discusses factors that can shape and drive change in science education on page 205. He discusses how society and the expectations of society will drive the change. He discusses culture and ethnicity and technology as major factors for change. The author brings up environmental education and why it is becoming, and should continue to become an important part of science education. He states, In previous generations we have been able to predict the kind of knowledge, skills and attitudes that students currently in school would need for a lifetime of employment. Now for the first time in history we are educating students for a life in a world about which we know very little except hat it will be characterized by substantial and rapid change, and is likely to be more complex and uncertain that today’s world (p.206). For this reason, the rest of the chapter covers why environmental science, linking business, economics and politics is important to include in science education. He discusses how science has been taught by discipline and that there has been very little integration, but to make science more meaningful to students and the changing world, integration is key. By integrating the disciplines and including economics, politics, and societal concerns, and teaching using an issues-based approach, science can become more concrete for students instead of being abstract to them. The author brings in why political literacy is also important in a world run by corporations. He quotes Edmund O’Sullivan (1999): Our present educational institutions which are in line with and feeding into industrialism, nationalism, competitive transnationalism, individualism, and patriarchy must be fundamentally put into question. All of these elements together coalesce into a world view that exacerbates the crisis we are now facing (p. 27). Teaching for social justice, citizenship education, and teaching for a more humane society are themes that come through the entire chapter. To reinforce how this can be done, the author outlines four levels that students can be taken through using an issues-based approach. By using case studies that address global and local issues that effect society such as pollution, health concerns, and energy resources and consumption students learn the science, yet also see how science, technology, economics, and politics are all interrelated. Ethics and social responsibility come through in this method of teaching and learning also. The four levels are defined as: Level 1: Appreciating the societal impact of scientific and technological change, and recognizing that science and technology are, to some extent, culturally determined. Level 2: Recognizing that decisions about scientific and technological development are taken in pursuit of particular interests, and that benefits accruing to some may beat the expense of others. Recognizing that scientific and technological developments are inextricably linked with the distribution of wealth and power. Level 3: Developing one’s own views and establishing one’s own underlying value positions. Level 4: Preparing for and taking action (p. 213). Ways to take action and elements of such a curriculum are discussed in length. Systems thinking is brought into the discussion and the author quotes Capra as he is able to show how and why systems thinking is critical to one’s world view. As with most change ideas there are barriers and resistance and the author takes the time to discuss how students, parents and school systems may feel about such change. He also discusses how Action Research can be a useful tool in helping teachers and others in school systems see how such change can be successful. To support his views he discusses a series of action research projects done in Ontario. Over two academic years teachers worked with researchers. The author gives the reader the reference to look up and read more about these projects, Hodson, Bencze, Nyhof-Young, Pedretti and Elshof (2002), again showing how this book is useful for further reading and studies into educational change. This chapter is so full of information for researchers, graduate students, pre-service teachers, and practicing teachers. The author gives helpful information, but also references for more studies, as well as ideas for further research and ideas for thought and discussion that would be useful in education courses. Chapter 12: Mutualism: A different agenda for environmental and science education by Annette Gough Keeping with the theme of educational change and bringing in the perspective of environmental education, this chapter reinforces the ideas in chapter 11, and gives new information for more thought and action. This chapter begins with a history of environmental education, setting the stage for the reader if they are not aware of the history, goals and objectives of environmental education. The differences between science education and environmental education are discussed with social issues (included in environmental education but so often left out of science education) being the key difference. Why science education and environmental education have not fully integrated with each other and how this can be done is the key theme of this chapter. The author uses the concept of symbiosis to show how science education and environmental education have been competitive predator-prey and host-parasite relationships and she discusses why mutualism is the better relationship for the two entities to bring about needed change in education. Student interest in science has dropped and the author gives statistics and reasons for this, however, interest in the environmental has increased and the author states why this is a good time for science education and environmental education to come together in order to spark interest in students in science. “Environmental education might be an appropriate emphasis for rekindling student’s interest in the relevance of science because young people are concerned about the state of the environment” (p. 231). The author gives five reasons why science education remains stuck in separate disciplines being taught the same way. One is that the global trend for standardized curriculum and reporting has meant that teachers do not have the time/space in the curriculum to plan their own curriculum. Second, the curriculum has been driven/designed mostly by scientists whose priorities are for tertiary studies instead of student interest. Third, many teachers see environmental education as yet another pressure for inclusion, when the curriculum is already overcrowded. Fourth, some science teachers are “disciplinary chauvinists” who put priority on teaching content from their discipline. And fifth, is the question, do science teachers understand environmental education as it is understood by environmental educators? (pp. 234-235). The main emphasis of the chapter, however, is why science education and environmental education need to become mutualistic. The author sums this up when she states, Science education needs environmental education to reassert itself in the curriculum by making science seem appropriate to a wider range of students and making it more culturally and socially relevant. Environmental education needs science education to underpin the achievement of its objectives and to provide it with a legitimate space in the curriculum to meet its goals because they are very unlikely to be achieved from the margins (p. 237). Part V: Managing Change in Science Education The final section of this book discusses how change can occur. Two chapters in this section are provided to help the reader consider how change can actually occur. In educational reform there are many great ideas that never come about. The first chapter in this section, Planning, Doing, and Coping with Change, gives reasons why change attempts often fail and ideas on how change ideas can become reality. The second chapter in this section, A Model for Achieving Teacher Development, discusses teacher development as a method of change in education. Again the editor provides questions for thought as the reader proceeds through the last two chapters of a very thought-provoking book. Chapter 13: Planning, Doing, and Coping with Change by M. Fullan Fullan tackles four major areas of the problems that face planning educational change in this chapter. (1) Why Planning Fails: In this section, Fullan helps the reader understand why most attempts at making change fail. One of these reasons is that most change attempts are “hyperrational.” By this he means that change agents frequently have in mind what needs to be changed but have no idea on how to work through the change process. Because of this change agents are often so entrenched in their ideas that they fail to listen to others, fail to be flexible in how the change will occur, and meet resistance. In order to make change, a change agent must understand those who will be necessary for implanting the change and involve them, be flexible and listen to their ideas also. Without an understanding of the culture and context of those who will be implanting and affected by the change the change ideas are destined for failure. Fullan also warns against “false certainty” which he describes as when you think you have a great idea but it is incomplete. The change idea must be well thought out and stand on its own. Fullan quotes a study done by Hill, Campbell, and Harvey (2000) where seven competing reform proposals where analyzed. The authors found that each proposal had elements of positive change in education; however none could deliver the changes proposed without other changes being made. A change idea must make the changes necessary without relying on other changes in order to succeed. This then makes change a complex problem and Fullan discusses Complexity and Chaos theories. He then brings in Senge’s idea on Learning Environments and how these can bring about more positive change by involving everyone in the change process. (2) Success is Possible & (3) Planning and Coping: In these sections of the chapter Fullan gives hope to change agents citing cases where change did occur. Four logical types of change situations are discussed and a diagram of these is given. Criteria for change are discussed which leads into the next section (4) Planning and implementing change where ten do and don’t assumptions are given. Fullan concludes with giving the reader some assurance in that there are “many dilemmas and no clear answers to the question of where to start. The reader who by now has concluded that the theory of educational change is a theory of unanswerable questions will not be too far of the mark…. No one knows for sure what is best. We are engaged in a theory of probing and understanding the meaning of multiple dilemmas in attempting to decide what to do” (pp. 254-255). This chapter provides assurance, criteria and guidelines, as well as, more references for change agents to read and learn from before embarking on educational reform. Chapter14: A Model for achieving teacher development by B. Bell and John Gilbert In this chapter, Bell and Gilbert describe three main types of development, social, personal, and professional. So often when one thinks of teacher development only professional development comes to mind – development that will help the teacher in their professional life. This chapter reveals why the social and personal are also important to the professional development. This chapter describes a development project where teachers were asked to participate, but after the initial involvement of a facilitator the teachers drove the project. In the beginning the teachers were given an activity to try in their classrooms, and then they met back for discussions. During discussions the teachers ran the show. Through the discussions they were able to learn about themselves, other teachers, form social bonds with other teachers, and the environment was one where they did not feel threatened but invited to share. Various concerns and fears were brought out, such as loosing classroom control, but as teachers discussed how through active learning students may be louder and moving around more they found that students were learning more and the teachers still had control over the learning environment. Through this project teachers learned that by using Constructivism students not only learned but retained more knowledge. Teachers grew socially as their friendships developed with other teachers, they grew personally as they tried new activities and felt more empowered and professionally they realized they could have more positive experiences in their teaching. After discussing the project and outcomes of it, the authors state that “teacher development can be viewed as teachers learning, rather than as others getting teachers to change” (p. 274). As teachers were more involved in this project, they were learning versus a facilitator attempting to get them to learn something or change the ways they teach. This chapter follows much of the research on professional development, whereas in reality, unfortunately, much of the school districts still enforce the administration down choosing of professional development opportunities. Perhaps this chapter could be useful for teachers to use to persuade their districts to attempt different methods of professional development, and for those involved in professional development to approach it in different manners. References Gray, J. (1996) “The use of assessment to compare institutions” in Goldstein, H. and Lewis, T. (Eds) Assessment. Problems, Developments and Statistical Issues, Chichester and New York: John Wiley, pp. 121-33. Goodrum, D., Hackling, M. and Rennie, L (2001) .The Status and Quality of Teaching and Learning of Science in Australian Schools. Canberra: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Hill, P., Campbell, C., & Harvey, J. (2000). It takes a city. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute. Hodson, D. with Bencze, L., Nyhof-Young, J., Pedretti, E. and Elshof, L. (2002). Changing science Education Through Action Research: Some Experiences from the Field. Toronto: Imperial Oil Centre for Social Studies in Science, mathematics and Technology Education, OISE/UR, in association with University of Toronto Press, pp. 361. Sinatra, G.M., and Pintrich, P. R. (Eds.) (2003) Intentional conceptual change. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Toulmin, S. (1958) The uses of Argument Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. About the Reviewer Natalie Zayas-Robinson is a lecturer at California State University, Monterey Bay and is also a graduate student at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.

Baker, Joan M. (2006). Achievement Testing in U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools. Reviewed by Arie J. van der Ploeg

Baker, Joan M. (2006). Achievement Testing in U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Pp. 125         ISBN 0-8204-7631-5 Reviewed by Arie J. van der Ploeg Learning Point Associates Naperville, Illinois October 23, 2007 Joan Baker says at the very start of this small volume that The purpose of this book is to provide an opportunity for new educators—beginning teachers—and parents to view and reflect on the various aspects of school achievement testing. This is a worthy purpose. Unfortunately, it is not delivered. This book became this reviewer’s nightmare. A reviewer hopes to speak nicely about an author’s effort, expects to engage in meaningful dialog, to be challenged, enlightened, occasionally amused. I shuddered each time I picked this book up. What troubles most is the author’s expectation for what “beginning teachers” need to know about testing: apparently, not much. That said, Ms. Baker’s prose is an easy read. I experienced several jealous moments at the smoothness, the even-temperedness of her prose. However, it is also without depth, placid, repetitious, in the end soporific. I do not want beginning teachers to nod off. I want them to sit up and take notice. Assessing student performance and one’s own instructional effectiveness is central to any teacher’s classroom business. Those tasks are neither simple nor simplistic. The book is both. Having delivered myself of these unhappy judgments, I now turn to what any reviewer owes his audience, a description of the book’s plan and content, and some comments thereon. The author uses seven chapters to cover the following territory: testing’s genesis and history, formal and informal tests, ensuring validity and reliability of tests, the variety of large-scale tests and their reporting scales, the positions of national associations about testing, fairness, and test abuse and misuse. A brief eighth chapter offers a closing summary. Only two chapters exceed 14 pages: the chapter on misuse and abuse of tests takes up 28, that describing the positions of national associations requires 20 pages. What should a beginning teacher (or a parent) need to know about the history of testing? Chapter 1 contends that testing came to prominence because from the late 19th to the late 20th century American schools grew greatly in the number and diversity of students enrolled. The growth of testing is that simple, according to Joan Baker. I might want those same teachers and parents to know a bit more about the fits and starts of the growth of the industry, diversification in test content and forms, improvements in the technologies of constructing and scoring and delivering tests, the increasing complexity and subtlety of the cognitive models that lie behind test design. The introductory chapter cites eight references, none published after 1997, in a book published in 2006. This presages the chapters that follow. By my count, only 19 of the book’s references were published after 2000. Ten of these refer to eight newspaper or newsmagazine articles; four reference the Buros Institute’s Mental Measurement yearbooks. Seminal recent books on assessment design, such as the National Research Council volume Knowing What Students Know or the National Society for the Study of Education’s 2004 yearbook Towards Coherence between Classroom Assessment and Accountability, are unacknowledged. In this era of accountability-driven assessment, the No Child Left Behind Act is not mentioned at all. State accountability systems are rarely referenced. A beginning teacher in the U.S. today will not find work in an environment without accountability testing or without pressure to meet a test-based proficiency criterion. Chapter 2 draws a variety of distinctions and parallels between informal classroom and formal large-scale standardized tests. Both of these exist to measure what students know or can do, each supplementing the types of knowledge the other provides. No mention is made that a critical purpose of any during- or after-the-event testing is to provide evidence about the effectiveness of the instruction provided. The core tools in the design and construction of both formal and informal tests are collaboration, investigation, and research. That may be, but it seems to leave out a few things, including content frameworks, instructional approach, item specification, and all the rest. Chapter 3 is devoted to the formal test, and the process of validation. Validity and reliability together are treated in six pages, with hardly a number and no formulae. A correlation is called a comparison. The superficial beginning teacher is left with the impression that published tests will be valid and reliable; the thoughtful beginning teacher will realize these six pages explain next to nothing—it will still not be clear how validity is determined or reliability calculated. The concept of standard error of measurement is treated in one page in this chapter and does not reappear anywhere else in the volume. Yet, at this moment in time when students, teachers, and schools are being judged—despite professional consensus to the contrary--on the basis of one number from one test, it would seem important that beginning teachers be reminded of the uncertainties within test performance distributions and the difficulty in specifying the connections between curriculum content, teacher instructional practice, student learning, and tested performance. Chapter 4 is an uneven tour through a land populated by norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced tests, and informal assessments and their reporting. The first two receive a paragraph each, the latter the bulk of the chapter. However, this latter section drifts back and forth between the types. The various assessment reporting metrics (standard scores, percentile ranks, stanines, grade-equivalents) appear in this informal assessment section, even though teacher-made tests are rarely reported in those terms. Chapter 5 offers an overview of positions taken by national organizations and professional groups on matters of achievement testing. Documents credited to the following groups are mentioned: Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, International Reading Association, National Assessment of Educational Progress, National Center for Improving Science Education, National Commission on Testing and Public Policy, National Council of Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Science Foundation; these are supplemented by references to a few items in the popular press and several scholarly articles. Only one of these organizations actually makes tests. The standards generally subscribed to by the assessment industry, such as the “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” developed and maintained collaboratively by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education, receive no mention in this discussion. Also not mentioned are the research and technical assistance efforts over the past decade sponsored and conducted by such agencies as the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center, the Center for Research on Standards and Educational Testing, the National Center on the Improvement of Educational Assessment, or the Council of Chief State School Officers’ 15 active collaborative workgroups that bring together industry and state education agency technical experts. Rather than the dated hodgepodge of inclusions and exclusions Ms. Baker provides, the beginning teacher would be better served with a shorter history of the development of the current synthesis about best practice in assessment, supported with an annotated list or timeline of agencies and activities. Chapter 6 shifts the focus to fair assessment. It begins with the point that teaching and learning are interactive. Ms. Baker interprets this to mean that “assessment is an integral part of learning,” that student responses during assessment constitute a route to fuller understanding of meaning given and meaning taken. This can be the case in ongoing classroom informal assessment. It is more difficult to assure in formal assessments. This leads her to assert the first of 10 core elements of fair testing. These points are: clarity, currency, objectivity, validation, relevance, unbiased, appropriateness of content, variety of item types, age- and grade-appropriateness, and limitations of assessment. The author discusses each characteristic in turn, but provides little justification why these 10 are the 10 keys; some of the characteristics shade into others and boundaries are less clear than one might wish. Once again, the beginning teacher walks away with a sense of some important topics but is given no means to thread them together—leaving him/her to wonder, why all the fuss? Chapter 7 marches on, to test misuse and abuse. It begins by offering a short list of abuses and misuses, spends two pages on not using standardized test results as the sole source of guidance, and then enters a 10-page discussion of within-school and outside-of-school influences on learning. Unfortunately, little of this says anything of consequence about test misuse or test abuse. The concluding chapter adds little new material, and more repetition. This review opened with the author’s opening; I end with the author’s closing sentence: . . . it is critical that test designers and test consumers view any test with skepticism, that multiple types of assessments be used, and that all stakeholders remember that no assessment—formal or informal—is powerful enough to make up for the lack of educational opportunity. True enough, I suppose. Still, most tests in use today are not meant to teach. Instruction and assessment, despite the fact we wish them joined, remain independent. This little book reminds us of that but also leaves the beginning teacher, the parent, or any other assessment novice with a sense that things are mostly all right in the assessment world. It does this because it reduces complex issues worthy of serious thought, debate, even heated argument to placid platitudes. Assessment is the heart of the process of making instruction effective. It should engage intellect and emotion. This book manages neither. A beginning teacher or parent looking for a brief introduction to the world of testing would do well to find a copy of Gregory Cizek’s Filling in the Blanks: Putting Standardized Tests to the Test. Published in 1998 by the Thomas Fordham Foundation, it is about half the length of the Baker volume reviewed here but more thorough on the issues that matter. It uses somewhat larger words, but all in all is readable and highly informative. Even though it too predates NCLB, it does provide a solid background for meaningful discussion about testing and assessment in a context of pervasive accountability. References American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington DC: American Educational Research Association. Cizek, G. J. (1998). Filling in the blanks: Putting standardized tests to the test. Washington, D C: Thomas Fordham Foundation. Pellegrino, J. W., Chudowsky, N., & Glaser, R. (Eds.). (2001). Knowing what students know: The science and design of educational assessment. Washington, D C: National Academy Press. Wilson, M. (Ed.). (2004). Towards coherence between classroom assessment and accountability (Part 2 of the 103rd yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. About the reviewer Arie J. van der Ploeg Senior Researcher Learning Point Associates Naperville, Illinois

Simão, Lívia Mathias and Valsiner, Jaan. (Eds.) (2007). Otherness in Question: Labyrinths of the Self. Reviewed by Seamus Mulryan, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Simão, Lívia Mathias and Valsiner, Jaan. (Eds.) (2007). Otherness in Question: Labyrinths of the Self. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc. Pp. 413     $39.95     ISBN 1-59311-232-7 Reviewed by Seamus Mulryan University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign October 29, 2007 Lívia Mathias Simão and Jaan Valsiner have collected fourteen works that interrogate Otherness – a central philosophical concept in psychological and educational studies of human development. This book aims to “stimulate reflections on the issue of otherness in the research domain of self and cultural psychology” (p. 393). In doing so, the authors place Otherness in question by examining the dimensions of self; and, in turn, the asking about Otherness brings the self to light, thus showing the bi-directionality and interdependence of the two. The authors ask broad yet penetrating questions that are answered through both theoretical and empirical reflection. They work through textual exegesis, case-based studies from their practice and from the public world, conceptual development, and, of course, combinations of these. These are relevant and important studies for educators, whose task it is to shape a human life by guiding its development within the dynamic of self and other. The specific dynamic of the education scholar's work is that of the student-teacher relationship, and this book offers an account that can illuminate the nature of it. The book is divided into five parts, in between which the editor places interviews that help the reader tie together the particular section it follows. Part One is entitled “Conceptual Roots of ‘Otherness,’” and it aims to place the reader in the context of the central question of the text. Ernest E. Boesch explains how Otherness is a relating term, a dynamic between I and Other: “‘The Other’ is seen in the perspective of an individual, and this perspective changes, of course, with the individual’s action situation – and accordingly, then, the image of ‘The Other’ changes, too” (p. 5). Boesch offers concrete experiential examples that give the reader a close familiarity with this dynamic such that the reader is better prepared for Simão’s following exegetical work with philosophical texts. In Chapter Two, “Why ‘Otherness’ in the Research Domain of Semiotic-Cultural Constructivism,” Lívia Simão lays out the philosophical underpinnings of the many dimensions of Otherness and alterity – temporality, responsibility (and the ethical), novelty and anonymity. It is then in the four parts following this conceptual introduction that Otherness is questioned. Part II is entitled “Otherness and Dialogicality: Feeling into Phenomena.” Part III is entitled “Striving Toward the Unknown: Self in Motion.” Part IV is entitled “Self in Collective Otherness.” Part V is entitled “The Other Within the Self: Dynamics of Multiplicity.” Part II begins with Chapter Three, entitled “The Feeling of a Dialogical Self: Affectivity, Agency and Otherness.” João Salgado’s work is to conceptualize a self that follows from a “dialogical epistemological/ontological stance,” and he does this by examining the role of feelings in the creation of self. He finds that, because emotions such as anger, surprise, fear, and the like might have different labels and meanings in different cultures, it makes more sense to adopt Stern’s vocabulary of dynamics of feeling such as “crescendo,” “fading,” “elongating” or “fleeting”, to name a few. Such terms seem to create a stronger “integral account of human experience,” as it is much easier to accept that all humans experience changes of feelings and emotions than that of particular conceptualizations of their essences. Salgado’s point is to help us “consider our affectivity as the main currency of our exchanges with the world, as an implicit, energetic, and relational dimension that underlies all our conduct” (p. 67). Following Salgado’s work, we encounter Emily Abbey’s examination of feeling the other in intrasubjective space in Chapter Four, “The Boundary of Me and You: Semiotic Architecture of Thinking and Feeling the Other.” Abbey asks how it is that the Other can drift in and out of our awareness, and how it is that in such awareness of the Other we can feel him or her in the space where the labeling of The Other intrinsic to language is mute, and difference is neutralized. Here, the author takes a foray into the intrapsychological world were she lays out the architecture of mechanisms that act to open and close the possibility of feeling the other, and she tells us that signs regulate the boundary where one faces the possibility of feeling the other. In the labyrinth of self, such signage might take one down the path of responding to an event as having the meaning “fearful.” Different signage might rather make the meaning of the same event “joyful”. It is at these signposts that one’s endpoint is determined: ultimately it is that of being “okay to feel” or that of “not okay to feel.” To give the reader context and to ground her theory in practical experience, Abbey uses a single interview to describe the outer motor-perceptual/attention boundary and the inner peripheral/thinking boundary that surround the central core, which is that of feeling. In Chapter Five, N.E. Coelho, Jr. takes a different turn in analysis by drawing from Luigi Pirandello’s character, Vitangelo Moscarda, found in Uno, Nessuno e Centomilla, to illustrate the levels and dynamics of disturbances caused by a confrontation with otherness. He marks the central points of such a disturbance into four levels: the revealing to the subject things about himself that he himself did not know; the effect of such a revelation, which the subject is unable to assimilate; the threat to one’s identity from such a traumatic experience; and, finally, the recognition of an other within “what was until then a ‘monolithic subject’ [that] produces splitting, an element which . . . [is] fundamental in the development of creative processes of mental maturation” (pp. 98-99). Ultimately, Coelho asserts that “we as subjects will always face the impact of an other (internal and external) which is simultaneously familiar and strange and, therefore, traumatic” (p. 104). Part III begins with a case study by Marisa Japur, Carla Guanaes and Emerson F. Rasera that illustrates “the centrality of otherness of in [sic] the conversational construction of change, here conceived as the possibility of emergence and sustenance of alternative self-descriptions . . . ” (p. 131). Here, the roles of the others that are not present in a group session – those about whom the patient will discuss in an individual session – are not those others’ effects that the authors wish to examine. Rather, they set out to describe the dynamics between the patient in the group and the other group participants and how such conversations help shape the self. Alex Gillespie then takes us to the world of tourists in Ladakh, India, where he draws from interviews to show the dynamics of a tourist’s prior conceptions of other as they collide with the later experiences of other, within the context of a tourist's striving to become an other. For example, one interviewee, prior to arriving in Ladakh, sees her self-position as not that of the other-position of a National Geographic photographer. In the course of her tourism, the interviewee begins to see how her photographs resemble those of “those-photographers-in-the-Himalaya” (p. 184). Thus, she begins to occupy the position of this other. Gillespie proffers in Chapter Seven the assertion that “the recognition that self gives to the other is simultaneously recognition promised, or extended, to self (if self manages to occupy the position of other) and thus constitutive of the self’s motivation for striving” (p. 184). Tania Zittoun examines one life story to examine the roles of “poems novels, images, and other objects made out of signs in the fabric of self” (p. 187). Here, she uses interruptions and the re-equilibria that are subsequent to ruptures as landmarks in the spatiality of the striving self. She shows how cultural resources can help enable and shape the movement of the self from present toward the other-toward-which-one-is-striving. Through the life story, the author explains this dynamic as it happens at different stages in development, from the pre-symbolic and early symbolic phases of growth with simpler objects like watches and maps to the later phases where one develops complex systems of symbols such as language. She ultimately offers us a model with which to analyze the transformation of cultural elements into symbolic resources: a semiotic prism where Self, Other(s) and meaning/sense for other, and Cultural Object occupy the three apexes. In Chapter Nine, Alberto Rosa, Jorge Castro, and Florentino Blanco lead us from the striving self to the self in collective others by discussing the many Others of Spanish Regenerationism – Historical, Social, and International (of both regional and Nation-state) – and the role they play in constructing the self. Chapter Eleven takes us to contemporary America, where Derek Richter and Jaan Valsiner analyze the political rhetoric and the dynamics between the dialogical consumers (voters) and dialogical exploiters (politicians) of G.W. Bush and Al Gore. Their analysis points out how politicians attempt to create in the voter a feeling of free choice in their vote, when in fact the politician has targeted the dialogical consumer, “attempt[ing] to display a construction of their own publicly presented selves that can easily be reconstructed by the audience, in a form that is in line with the recipient’s system of I-positions” (p. 281), so that their “free choice” is really a set of carefully manipulated and “strategically facilitated sentiments rather than actual policies” (p. 281); the dialogical self is also a targeted self. Shi-Xu, preceding the Richter’s and Valsiner’s chapter, asserts that the discourse on difference is inadequate: it considers difference as deficiency, it universalizes intercultural communication, and it fails to recognize the historical and power dimensions of such communication (p. 258). To remedy the situation, he says that we must also “view intercultural communication . . . locally and historically” (p.258). Leading by example, Shi-Xu takes on an examination of the discourse between the United States and China regarding human rights violations, paying particular attention to the aforementioned missing dimensions of intercultural communication. The last movement of the book takes us to search for the Other within the self. Mick Cooper and Hubert Hermans begin quite clearly with the assertion that “we can experience elements of our own as mysterious, enigmatic, and transcendent to our ‘self’ just as we can experience the being of an Other. In this sense, phenomenologically at least, it is legitimate to talk of a ‘self-otherness,’ just as we can talk of the otherness of an Other” (p. 308). To explicate, Cooper and Hermans point to the other beings that “exist within our very essence” (p. 309) and that the self is “fundamentally riven with alterity" (p. 313). They ultimately propose a constructive means by which to confront this inner alterity, and they introduce a term to describe a comportment that is open and respectful towards one’s mysteriousness and that does not expect engagement or understanding found in a dialogical relation: honoring. They assert that this comportment is more constructive than the attempts to dominate and oppresses those parts of self one dislikes, and rather it allows for the moving “beyond a ‘nostalgia for totality,’ toward an acceptance of the incompleteness of self, a willingness to live with the unknowability and uncertainty of who we are” (p. 311). In Chapter Thirteen, Danilo Silvia Guimarães and Lívia Mathias Simão take us to the world of role playing games (RPGs) to explore the dialogical dynamics between radical and egological intersubjectivity and the hermeneutics of I-Other and I-I relations. Using the RPG, Guimarães and Simão are able to show how subjects move between I-positions of fantasy selves and “real” selves, and thus how players become others, investigate otherness through becoming other, and how their positions change as they co-construct and maintain the shared world which houses their fantasy selves. Finally, Jaan Valsiner asks us to move away from a discourse that treats emotions and feelings as entities. He presents us with models of feeling and emotion as process; feeling is caught between past and future, initiated by something already in the past when felt, and already anticipates the future: “The subjective world of a human being is constantly in the state of a complex whole of the immediate experience which is dynamically changing” (p. 351). As such, Valsiner tells us, it is not open to being communicated as something discrete. Yet we do desire to communicate such experiences, and so we violate the dureé and discretize our experience by the use of semiotic mediation (p. 351). At the basic level, however, motivations and meanings of actions and calls to respond are “fuzzy,” difficult to describe in words, uncertain. These are when such motivations carry what Valsiner calls “hypergeneralized meanings” (p. 358), e.g., values that become so fundamental to, imbued into and diffused within the everyday of experience that they are hard to articulate. He tells us that “values are so basic – ontogenetically internalized – that they are no longer easily accessible through cerebrally mediated processes” (p. 362), much in agreement with what Charles Taylor (1989) argues about “hypergoods.” Valsiner then describes how the levels of semiotic hierarchy direct our future striving by mediating our future affects. An interesting question he raises is how depression, as a feeling, differs between a culture that considers it just a part of life and characteristic of normalcy (like a Buddhist culture) as opposed to another culture that considers depression something to get rid of, something wrong or uncharacteristic of normalcy (American culture, for example). How is it, then, that the cultural resources we are given to analyze and express our emotions constrain the direction of the striving self? In its entirety, Otherness in Question: Labyrinths of the Self is an excellent resource for a wide variety of audiences interested in exploring the ways in which otherness is understood through examining the self and how the self is understood through examining otherness. Unfortunately, Otherness in Question does suffer from translation errors that become frustrating in chapters where thicker language is being used and more conceptual work is being done. This makes arguments difficult to follow at points, as precision and clarity are exceptionally important in philosophical work in order to covey meaning appropriately. Nonetheless, the authors successfully problematize the dynamic between self and other, the existential space that lies between them, and the discourse of Otherness itself. Otherness in Question has well thought-out and purposeful organization, and it does offer its readers insightful analysis and an accessible view into the relation between self and other to those who have some background in reading phenomenological works in psychology or philosophy. Reference Taylor, Charles (1989). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. About the Reviewer Seamus Mulryan is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he specializes in philosophy of education. He earned his MA in Philosophy & Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and he has worked in public and private school settings in both teaching and administrative positions. His current work is in conceptions of human development and in the educative dimensions of cross-cultural dialogue.

Robinson, Sharon P. and Brown, M. Christopher II (Eds). (2007). The Children Hurricane Katrina Left Behind: Schooling Context, Professional Preparation, and Community Politics. Reviewed by Victoria Rankin Marks, American Institutes for Research

Robinson, Sharon P. and Brown, M. Christopher II (Eds). (2007). The Children Hurricane Katrina Left Behind: Schooling Context, Professional Preparation, and Community Politics. NY, NY: Peter Lang. Pp226     ISBN 978-0-8204-8822-6 Reviewed by Victoria Rankin Marks American Institutes for Research November 7, 2007 In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, much has been said and written about the ongoing devastation faced by the families whose lives were inexorably changed by the disaster. It is no secret that, even prior to Katrina, New Orleans did not provide quality and equitable public education to its children. The contribution of this book lies in the examination of the historical and social contexts that shaped education in urban areas, and how those contexts continue to affect education in urban public schools today, both in New Orleans and nationally. Part One: Education and School Contexts The Children Hurricane Katrina Left Behind is divided into three sections. Part One contains essays that explore the historical and social elements that shaped the educational experiences of the children of New Orleans. Freeman begins chapter one with a comparison of the migration caused by Katrina to the historic ‘Great Migration’. She reminds us that the same housing, economic, and educational issues that confronted African American families during the migration of the late 1800s/early 1900s to 1970 still confront Black families in the 21st century. The Great Migration was, like the migration in the aftermath of Katrina, involuntary: African Americans families did not want to leave the south, but felt they must in search of better economic, housing, and educational opportunities. Instead, as European Americans fled urban areas for the suburbs, African Americans inherited segregated housing, segregated education, and discriminatory hiring practices. Similarly, during the migration forced by Katrina, African Americans did not want to leave New Orleans, but had no choice. Indeed, the impediment faced by families who wish to return to New Orleans is not their desire or willingness, but the lack of infrastructure to support education, housing, transportation, economics, and health (Hill & Hannaway, 2006). Freeman also finds parallels between the language used to describe the educational dilemma confronted by African American children since Katrina and that used in the Great Migration. The chapter makes it evident that one cannot expect different outcomes if the inputs are the same. Ladson-Billings continues the comparative analyses in her essay, which also examines the inequities that were evident in New Orleans prior to Katrina. The inequities Ladson-Billings addresses are, in particular, the economic investments made in school districts; she contrasts the richness of suburban investment in education with the meagerness of urban school districts. She cites, among others, the work of Jonathan Kozol (2005), as a reminder that the deplorable condition of education in New Orleans prior to Katrina was not as much as anomaly as we would like to believe. If the economic and social chasm that exists in New Orleans occurs in other urban areas, will it take the devastation of a hurricane and the media to focus our attention on such problems? Perhaps that will shift our focus, but according to Ladson-Billings, our attention is superficial. We practice what she terms aggressive neglect—the poor are demonized, blamed, and isolated: out of sight and out of mind. A disaster strikes, and we pay attention but all too quickly our national consciousness shifts to other things, and the poor are left to fend for themselves. Ladson-Billings advocates aggressive attention—a concentrated and focused effort to reverse the systematic neglect we show our poor. The themes of persistent and historical inequities continue in chapter three, where Irvine provides statistics about the state of children in New Orleans and in America. Race and racism still influence the number of babies born into poverty, infant mortality, rates of teenage motherhood, babies born without health insurance, babies born to mothers who did not finish high school, and babies born to unwed mothers. Irvine demonstrates the relationship among race, poverty, and school inequality through a discussion of segregation and the test score gap. Segregation has been on the rise (and undoubtedly will increase as posited in an AERA summary of the Supreme Court case involving the consideration of race in school assignment in Seattle, Washington and Jefferson County, Kentucky [2006]). Irvine raises the question of why researchers focus on the individuals and classrooms in lieu of systemic issues related to the achievement gap between students of different racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. One possible answer may be that it is easier to talk about implementing changes to individuals and classrooms than it is to obtain the political, economic, and social will necessary to change systems of education. Given that presumption, ongoing investments in individual and classroom reform over the last three decades have failed to substantially affect the persistent gap in achievement (for further discussion, see Jencks & Phillips, 1998). It is precisely a transformation of urban education—finding the political, economic, and social will—that Irvine and the other authors of this text advocate. Chapters four through seven conclude Part One with more discussion regarding academic achievement among African American students, both nation-wide and in New Orleans. Leonard’s focus is predominantly on achievement in mathematics. Zamani-Gallaher, and Polite examine the implications of Katrina on K-16 education in New Orleans, and discuss some of the psychodynamic theoretical perspectives on the impact of the hurricane. Brown, Dancy, and Davis continue in chapter six by providing additional reflection on the context and history of education in America, drawing from the theoretical paradigms of status (Weber, 1978), cultural capital and reproduction (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). In chapter seven, Gadsden and Fuhrman’s discussion of educational equity in post-Katrina New Orleans segues into Part Two of the book. Their essay serves as a summary of the collective issues that historically and currently plague New Orleans (racism, poverty, inadequate educational resources). The authors suggest that the federal, as well as national and local, government forces must intervene with needed support to ensure that New Orleans receives the help it needs (p. 76). The help needed now, the authors warn, differs substantially from what was needed prior to Katrina; those returning have experienced the resources available elsewhere, and bring with them trauma and stress imposed by their dislocation from the familiar. Similarly, those who never left New Orleans have also experienced extraordinary levels of trauma and stress as the lives they knew were irretrievably changed. Gadsden & Fuhrman note that any consideration for the future of education in New Orleans must address the challenges currently faced by children and their families. One way to address educational challenges is through the professional preparation of educators, which is the focus of Part Two. Part Two: Preparing Professionals for the Possible Lit & Snyder’s essay, which begins Part Two of the book, deals with the opportunity for changes to the structure and processes of urban education provided by the catastrophe of hurricane Katrina. They recommend an approach to public education that could improve achievement outcomes for students of color and students from low-income families—Quality Schools Collaborative—which emphasizes teacher quality, stakeholder participation, and infrastructure development. In chapter nine, Fleener, Willis, Brun, & Herbert present a reflection on the work of academics, with reference to unwritten rules that make it more acceptable to write about problems regarding education in urban America than to do something about it. This is particularly the case for universities and colleges situated on campuses adjacent to urban areas where the needs of children are visible if one is but willing to look. Departments of education housed in universities and colleges can shape a framework responsive to the educational crisis. Adequate resolution of the issues children face might require bending, and even breaking, rules of research, analysis, and community engagement. In the essay presented in chapter 10, Distad continues the call for collaborative effort among leaders in education. Outlining eight characteristics of teacher-leaders, Distad reminds us that how we train teachers is of vital importance because they are on the frontline in the crusade against the ravaging effects of poverty and substandard education. Mattai and Williams begin chapter 11 with a discussion of the misuse of socioeconomic class as a surrogate for race in the discourse surrounding education. Framing discussions around the issue of education in this manner makes it easier to avoid addressing the root cause of the problems faced by students of color as they navigate the processes of schooling. The authors challenge the notion of socioeconomic class as preeminent over race in the problem of academic achievement. However, they criticize the emphasis on multiculturalism as insufficient to address the issues. The attempt to include all cultures implies a level of equality among racial and ethnic groups, which the authors find contradictory. The context of this discussion raises the importance of authentic cultural inclusion as we move forward in shaping children’s educational experiences. In response, Mattai and Williams emphasize the importance of making cultural responsiveness a central component of teacher preparation. The essay by Smith and Williams-Boyd provides evidence of the effect exposure to children’s social and cultural contexts can have on teachers in training. The authors recount stories from trips to New Orleans by professors and graduate students of the education department at Eastern Michigan University. The trips, undertaken immediately after Katrina and again after Rita, helped students put faces, names, and lives on the tragic events. They learned how much the people devastated by the hurricanes were just like them. They learned how quickly the fabric of our lives, those things that constitute our daily being, can be stripped away. The experience induced a change in how the visiting graduate students thought about their role as educators, which is an important first step toward culturally responsive pedagogy. Robinson and Engel conclude Part Two with an essay that underscores yet again the importance of excellent preparation, i.e., one that is responsive to the needs of students. They also emphasize the correlation between excellent teacher training and student achievement, citing several studies that support the positive association between teacher quality and students’ academic outcomes. Delineating the characteristics of exceptional world-class teachers, Robinson and Engel state that such characteristics are usually not found in urban public schools. Hope lies in the transformation of teacher education, which is underway in many colleges of education. The effects of Katrina and Rita can help escalate the transformation of teacher education by providing an opportunity for direct and in immediate response to dire circumstances. This is not to suggest that circumstances in pre-Katrina New Orleans were not dire, or that they are any less compelling in urban districts throughout the United States. However, the issues brought to light in post-Katrina New Orleans should make it impossible to deny the necessity for urgent action. New Orleans represents a tragic, but unique opportunity to rebuild a system of education from the ground up, and to apply the lessons learned nation-wide. Part Three: The Social Dynamics of Educational Reform Levine’s essay begins Part Three of the book with comments that appear antithetical to the promise of positive outcomes suggested by Robinson and Engel. Levine discusses interviews with community college students, in which the prevailing sentiment was not hope, but disappointment and despair. The students who participated in the focus group were critical of the local, state, and federal governments, and the representatives who proved so inept in their response to people in distress. They viewed the lessons of Katrina and Rita through cynical lenses: looking out for number one is what matters most. However, Levine uses the results of focus groups with students to reiterate the theme of the previous essays: we must extract from the post-Katrina experience a consciousness about our connection to those who are less fortunate. Other essayists challenge faculty in schools of education and student in teacher training to become more responsive. Levine challenges children, along with the rest of us, to be more responsive. His essay advocates teaching children vital lessons learned from the devastation left in the wake of Katrina. From the tragedy, children can learn how each one of us can connect to those around us. In chapter 15, Smith’s essay returns us to the issue of teacher quality. Smith recounts her educational experiences in segregated, and later, integrated schools in the south. She reemphasizes the importance of teachers who genuinely care about the children they educate. Caring is a characteristic, Smith suggests, too often absent in the relationship between African American children and their teachers; instead, students of color encounter an ethic of uncaring. Not intending to paint a dismal picture, Smith finds solace in the hope that the transformation of public education for urban children can result in an ethic of caring. Utilizing culturally relevant pedagogy leads to education systems that embrace caring. Futrell expands the discussion of culturally responsive pedagogy to include the children of recent immigrants to America. Stressing the correlation between education and globalization, the author asserts the necessity of preparing educators who can help the United States compete in a global economy that is knowledge-based, and far removed from the industrial model that was the historical basis of public education. Interdisciplinary instruction, in addition to restructuring the use of class time, can help achieve the implementation of a model of education more responsive to current global realities. Futrell argues that the transformation of our system of education is necessary because we cannot afford to educate future generations by ways and means of the past. In the final essay, Wise and Leibbrand remind us that improvements in teacher quality lead to improvements in academic outcomes. Their chapter recounts the progress of the last two decades in the licensing, alignment of accreditation with education standards, and advances in assessment for new teachers in effort to enhance professional development. Despite progress in these areas, the U.S. Department of Education pronounced teacher education a failure. This allowed not only for the entry of under-prepared and for unqualified persons into the ranks of pubic educators, but also helped to create competing and sometimes conflicting agencies involved in the regulation of teacher credentials. The impact on pubic education is chaotic; many states follow dual routes to securing teachers, which has contributed to deprofessionalization of teaching (p. 196). Wise and Leibbrand call upon states and systems of education to make a choice regarding what constitutes qualified and professional teachers, and adhere to professional standards. Indeed, it is the only way to ensure that all children have access to qualified teachers. The remainder of the chapter discusses the advantages of the infrastructures embedded in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Professional Development Schools (PDS) to meet this goal. Strengths and Criticisms The essays presented in this book contribute to an understanding of the historical and social contexts that shaped public education in America. From the discussion in the first chapter of the parallels between the migration imposed by hurricane Katrina and earlier migrations of African Americans, the authors challenge readers to think about the state of public education not just as it applies to New Orleans, but also as it applies to any urban school in the Unites States. We are challenged to consider not just P-12 education, but also the inequities in higher education that continue to plague HBCUs in New Orleans and elsewhere. Beyond framing the context for what we observe in New Orleans, the book includes specific suggestions for structural and procedural changes to both educational infrastructure and teacher training. The message of transformation, and not merely reformation, is the most salient and consistent note throughout the text. As informative as I found this book, I do have a few criticisms. First, I would have liked more discussion about how the opportunities from hurricane Katrina could be operationalized. It would mean a longer volume, but I think expanded analysis would have contributed to a fuller discussion of educational transformation. For example, Lit and Snyder suggest that conflicts in education can be solved constructively (p. 92). Some adherents of the conflict perspective posit that the nature of discord in education is rooted in a power struggle, and those in power are not prone to constructive resolution (for example, see Bowles & Gintis, 1977; Collins, 1971). More discussion relating improvements in urban education to existing political, economic, and social constraints would provide a needed anchor in what is truly doable, and not just desirable. In another example, Futrell cites two studies recently undertaken by the federal government as evidence of the national focus on education. The context of her argument is clear—the federal government has turned attention towards education, as evidenced by the legislation that enabled the No Child Left Behind Act. However, what the disaster in New Orleans illuminated, as other essayists in this book clearly indicate, is that the attention is woefully inadequate. The impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita uncovered the continuing struggle of too many children of color to obtain a decent education; a struggle that the country has ignored for far too long. Futrell acknowledges that fragmentation besieges the debates concerning education, and that the discussions have not resulted in comprehensive transformation. I concur, and submit that the efforts of transformation demanded in this book will take much more than anything we have seen to date. The placement of political, social, and economic frameworks to support the requisite transformation remains unclear. Secondly, with the emphasis on school transformation, professional development, and community context, I anticipated additional recommendations for culturally responsive pedagogy and cultural competence training. Smith’s essay addressed some of the issues attendant to cultural responsiveness. Additionally, there was brief discussion of these ideas in other essays (e.g., Fleener, et al., pp. 110-112; Distad, pp. 121-122). However, given the pivotal role culturally responsive pedagogy plays in the transformation of urban education, there was not enough inclusion of how culturally sensitive educators could help achieve some of the goals outlined. For example, Kea, Campbell-Whatley, and Richards (2004) highlight the critical importance of understanding the social and cultural context of students, and applying this knowledge to what is taught and pedagogical approach. Richards, Brown, and Ford (2004) also stress the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy: effective teaching and learning occur when the strengths that students bring to school are identified, nurtured, and utilized to promote their achievement. My foregoing criticisms are perhaps only desired extensions of the book. After all, the authors did not omit the issues I raise; I just think they warrant fuller discussion. However, I believe one area of omission to be that of parental and/or family involvement. One could argue that essays concerning cultural responsiveness implicitly address this topic, but a more explicit discussion is necessary. Discussions about educating children need to include references to ways in which their families will be included in the process. The importance of connections between families and schools is well documented (e.g., Ryan et al. (1995); Epstein (1989, 1983). Additional research highlights the importance of parental involvement with respect to the academic achievement of African American students in particular (e.g., Brook-Gunn & Markman, 2005; Bean et al., 2003). Discussion pertaining to how to strengthen communication and connectivity between parents, families, and schools must be included in the discourse about transforming urban education, as well as how to facilitate parental and family involvement in children’s formal education. Despite my criticisms, I found this book to be highly readable, passionate, and engaging. I recommend it to anyone concerned about transforming education. The authors enhance understanding of the historical and social contexts preceding the current state of urban education, and provide provocative suggestions for ways in which to move forward. I close by quoting Smith and Williams-Boyd: Educating is an act that touches the core of humanity’s center. To be an educator is to be a moral participant, to develop an ethical frame, to center the heart around the community while supporting the individual, to see the whole as well as the part, and to know that the work done in the classroom is fundamentally a way of working not only with society’s people but with society itself. If one accepts attainment of Smith and Williams-Boyd’s definition of educating as the end, then The Children Katrina Left Behind helps to map a path to that goal. References Ancheta, A.N. (2006). Brief of the American Educational Research Association as Amicus Curiae in support of respondents. Paper Nos. 05-908 & 05-915. Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association. Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J.C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. London, England: SAGE. Bowles, G., and Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. New York: Basic Books. Collins, R. (1971). Functional and conflict theories of education stratification. American Sociological Review 35, 6, 1002-19. Bean, R.A., Bush, K.R., McKenry, P.C., Wilson, S.M. (2003). The impact of parental support, behavioral control, and psychological control on the academic achievement and self-esteem of African American and European American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 18, 5, 523-541. Brooks-Gunn, J. & Markman, L.B. (2005). The contribution of parenting to ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness. The Future of Children, 15, 1, 139-168. Epstein, J.L. (1983). Longitudinal effects of family-school-person interactions on student outcomes. Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 4,101-127. Epstein, J.L. (1989). Family structures that promote student motivation and achievement A developmental perspective. In Ames, C. and Ames, R. (Eds.). Research on motivation in education, vol. 3 (pp. 259-95). New York: Academic Press. Hill, P. & Hannaway, J. (2006, January). The future of public education in New Orleans. Retrieved July 9, 2007 from http://www.urban.org/publications/900913.html Jencks, C. and Phillips, M. (Eds.). (1998). The Black-White test score gap. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution Press. Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G.D., & Richards, H.V. (2004). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt). Richards, H. V., Brown, A. F., & Forde, T. B. (2004). Addressing diversity in schools: culturally responsive pedagogy. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt). Ryan B.A., Adams, G.R., Gullotta, T.P., Weissberg, R.P., and Hampton, R.L (Eds.). (1995). The family-school connection: Theory, research, and practice. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society. Vols. 1 & 2 (G. Roth & C. Wittich, Eds. & Trans.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. About the Reviewer Victoria Rankin Marks holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Virginia, and is an AERA/AIR postdoctoral fellow at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. Dr. Marks’s areas of research are early childhood education, the achievement gap, family-school connections, and the correlation between language development and mathematic achievement

Kuhn, Deanna (2005). Education for Thinking. Reviewed by Eric Jabal, OISE

Kuhn, Deanna (2005). Education for Thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.     ISBN 0-674-01906-7 Reviewed by Eric Jabal Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto November 14, 2007 "Why go to school?"―a question I often asked as I laboured through my own high school days. Though I relished the company of my peers and the sports I played, I cannot say the same for life in the classroom: too much content to cover, too little time spent talking about it, and too many rote tasks to complete. Paradoxically, it is largely because of this experience that I returned to schools more than a decade ago as a teacher, administrator, and now scholar-practitioner-leader, working with a network of international schools in Hong Kong to understand better and enhance students’ academic and social engagement. "Why go to school?" is the question that Deanna Kuhn opens with in Education for Thinking. A Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, she argues that getting children to think well is a key educational imperative, a leitmotif that can be traced through her corpus of work in development, cognition, and pedagogy. In this latest instalment, Kuhn combines the power of scientific rationality (i.e., coordinate theory and evidence to address a hypothesis) (Kuhn, Amsel et al., 1988) with the utility of argumentative reasoning (Kuhn, 1991) to call for their development as part of a “thinking curriculum.” For Kuhn, “Inquiry and argument are competencies of value to students from all segments of society. Even more than competencies, they are ways of knowing the world and of acting on and within it…. that we would equally like to see develop in young people from the most and the least privileged segments of society” (p. 197). The book is Kuhn’s “road map” and destination guide to achieve education for thinking and/as education for life. In Chapter 1, Kuhn presents and debunks four alternative purposes of education (i.e., to instil knowledge; to develop skills; for selection; and for citizenship). She then offers the eponymous title “education for thinking” as the fifth and most defensible imperative, which she casts in terms of two specific sets of intellectual skills: inquiry (i.e., enable students to seek answers to questions they find worth asking) and argumentation (i.e., enable them to support their claims and to judge those of others). Her contribution to the debate, Kuhn suggests, is an empirically-grounded education-for-thinking case that is developmental in nature. Further, she seeks to enhance our understanding and direct our teaching of the “thinking skills that are exercised in everyday, non-academic settings,” and to which educators ought to attend if they are to “equip students for life’s demands and opportunities” (p. 13) beyond the classroom. Chapter 2 rounds off the book’s introduction by contextualising Kuhn’s main empirical proven grounds: two public middle schools in New York City at “opposite ends on a continuum of perceived quality” (p. 17). Over a semester, she conducted classroom observations of a seventh- and eighth-grade Social Studies class, student and teacher interviews, and survey work. Despite the marked differences in the culture, academic achievement, and socio-economic status of their inner-city and suburban populations, as well as resources and climate, two convergent findings to emerge were: the mismatch between the intended instructional goals, in terms of inquiry and argument skills development, and the actualised learning; and the absence of “activities that have clear, readily discernible intrinsic value” (p. 27), which “students will readily be able to see for themselves are worth doing” (p. 30). Kuhn concludes that students at the “struggling” inner-city school “could not buy into school”; those at the “best-practice” suburban school “could not see their way beyond school”; and students at neither were really sure “how or why school learning connects to life beyond school” (p. 24). The latter half of Chapter 2 moves from the obstacles to the opportunities to cultivate “effective thinking” skills. Kuhn characterises this process within a four-step typology of epistemological understanding: realist (pre-school), absolutist, multiplist/relativist (adolescence), and evaluativist. Integrating qualitative and quantitative data points, she posits that while “transitions from realist to absolutist to multiplist… do not require a great deal of tending…. helping young people climb out of the multiplist well… requires the concerted attention of parents and educators, especially as it is this progression that is critical to the development of intellectual values” (p. 35). This conceptual backdrop sets up the interventions Kuhn conducted at the “struggling” and “best-practice” schools, which were designed to nurture students’ values and skills for inquiry and argumentation and move them towards the evaluativist level, where “thinking and reason [are] recognised as essential support for beliefs and actions. Thinking is the process that enables us to make informed choices between conflicting claims. Understanding this leads a person to value thinking and to be willing to expend the effort that it entails” (p. 33). The rest of the book defines, exemplifies, and offers suggestions for teachers on how to scaffold this core set of intellectual skills and values, drawing on numerous vignettes to demonstrate how cognitive development through inquiry (Part II) and reasoned argument (Part III) can be cultivated in the classroom. In Part II, Kuhn focuses on inquiry skills, understanding, and values as a necessary foundation for life and, backward-mapping, as an integral part and process of schooling. Inquiry learning is seen to be a superior educational goal than traditional instruction because students pursue “authentic investigation of real phenomena” and use “intellectual skills like those practised by professional scientists in generating new knowledge” (p. 39). Its social-constructivist premise draws on Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky to argue that formal schooling ought to build on children’s natural curiosity about, and tendency to act on, the world around them as they make sense of it. Whilst inquiry learning is widely embraced by educators, Kuhn’s fieldwork suggests that a disconnect persists between “executing the activity and developing the skills” (p. 41). Students tend to produce outcomes, which often merely illustrate prior beliefs, rather than analyse and understand the contributing factors that lead to these outcomes; they take an “engineering” rather than a “scientific” focus. In Chapter 4, Kuhn presents two analytic frameworks – i.e. thesis/evidence and cause/effect – as generative approaches to inquiry learning that get students to assert and justify claims and to explore and explain patterns and relationships. Her interventions demonstrate the enhanced understanding that can be achieved as students are forced to consider inferences that derive from their existing beliefs, on the one hand, and inferences that emerge from the evaluation of new evidence, on the other. In Chapter 5, Kuhn illustrates how these frameworks can undergird a systematic approach to inquiry. As the middle-school students worked through the three phases of inquiry (i.e. identify purpose: Is there something to find out that is distinguishable from what is already known?), analysis (i.e. to represent, examine, and interpret evidence with respect to a theory), and inference (i.e. What can I know? How do I know?), they had to contend with claims (theory – what makes sense to me?) and evidence (data – a source of knowing). In the process, the students began to appreciate the different epistemological status of knowledge as facts and opinions versus knowledge as judgements informed by evidence and deliberation. Operationalising this distinction is both the journey and the desired destination that Kuhn’s inquiry learning “road map” takes us on. In Part III, Kuhn turns to argumentative reasoning as a complementary intellectual capacity and necessary process and product of schooling-for-life. Reasoned discourse, individual and dialogic, is offered as “the most powerful means of evaluating competing ideas and constructing shared understanding” (p. 173). In Chapter 6, Kuhn’s fieldwork shows how “weaker” argumentation prevails because “in neither classroom did students direct their remarks to one another…. Each student’s utterance was a new, and isolated, communication to the teacher” (p. 123). Kuhn contrasts such “consecutive self-expression” to “genuine discourse,” which “students engage in as soon as they leave the classroom and enter the schoolyard. One student makes a claim, another challenges it, and others may join in; strict reciprocity between any pair of participants is not expected, but still a speaker addresses the claim that has just been made, with the goal of reaching a resolution” (p. 124). It is this interactive dynamic, in which the focus is on both what one thinks and why one thinks it (i.e. claim, counter-claim, arguments for/against each), that Kuhn believes can be facilitated when “serious, value-laden issues” are used to engage students as part of a meaningful and purposeful “thinking curriculum.” In Chapter 7, Kuhn clarifies the specific skills of argument. She starts by focusing on the crucial tripartite relationship between evidence, the self’s perspective and knowledge, and the/(an) other’s perspective and knowledge. Drawing on her own data and the empirical work of others, Kuhn shows the importance of getting students to understand and avoid “identity fusion” – i.e. to be able to step back and look at a writer’s text as an object of cognition and not to conflate it with their own perspective and knowledge. Appreciating this distinction is a necessary and vital first step to evaluating an argument. Kuhn then uses more data to illustrate how teachers can guide students to evaluate the epistemic strengths of the two argument types (i.e. evidence- and explanation-based). In Chapter 8, Kuhn marries her rationale on the centrality of argument with the skills to map out the activities and associated cognitive goals that constitute her comprehensive “argument curriculum”: Generating reasons (goal: reasons underlie opinions; different reasons may underlie the same opinion) Elaborating reasons (goal: good reasons support opinions) Supporting reasons with evidence (goal: evidence can strengthen reasons) Evaluating reasons (goal: some reasons are better than others) Developing reasons into an argument (goal: reasons connect to one another and are building blocks of argument) Examining and evaluating opposing side’s reasons (goal: opponents have reasons too) Generating counterarguments to others’ reasons (goal: opposing reasons can be countered) Generating rebuttals to others’ counterarguments (goal: counters to reasons can be rebutted) Contemplating mixed evidence (goal: evidence can be used to support different claims) Conducting and evaluating two-sided arguments (goal: some arguments are stronger than others) Kuhn’s selection and discussion of fieldwork data on capital punishment show that while giving students a reason to inquire and argue may lead naturally to dialogue, dialogic argumentative discourse does not readily ensue. However, the scaffolded dialogic exercises used in her intervention get students to engage the claims of others with the goal of weakening them, while advancing arguments that strengthen their own position. These are the very education-for-life skills and values that make Kuhn’s “thinking curriculum” central to what students ought to be doing in schools. In sum, Kuhn has much to offer educators who are against fact-heavy, discussion-light, test-centric schooling and for cultivating students’ courage to think, question, and act. Conceptually, its lucid treatment of argument and inquiry in education will enrich the thinking of practitioners and pre-service teacher educators alike; pedagogically, the empirically-derived and field-tested strategies will enhance their instructional repertoire needed to promote these sets of intellectual skills. Teachers and curriculum designers in a pinch ought to read the book-ends, Chapters 3 (Learning to learn), and 8 (Developing argument skills). The visuals used throughout and transcriptions of student exchanges, in particular, can be readily integrated into in-service programmes to develop teachers’ practical understanding of the higher-order cognitive skills of inquiry and argumentative reasoning and approaches to develop them. In short, Kuhn’s inquiry and argument educational “road map” is a recommended guide for those who are serious about readying students to think and to learn in academic and everyday, non-academic settings. References Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kuhn, D.; Amsel, E.; O'Loughlin, M.; & Beilin, H. (Eds.) (1988). The development of scientific thinking skills. San Diego: Academic Press. About the Reviewer Eric Jabal is a PhD candidate in educational administration at OISE-University of Toronto. His research interests focus on the relationship between culture, identity, and international schooling. He has recently accepted a new position as Post-15 Learning Director at an international secondary school in Hong Kong.