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This paper focuses on the authors' experiences teaching on Ohio University's Learning Network (OULN), which uses interactive television and real-time face-to-face interaction as a distance-education (DE) delivery tool. One of the authors is a sociology professor, and the other is her former student and an experienced OULN system operator. The transition to DE from a traditional, less technological approach presents numerous challenges as well as opportunities. This paper compares the semester-long progress of two different sociology courses that used the OULN. It presents an analysis of each class's strengths and weaknesses, along with qualitative data based on interviews with each class's students, as recorded in a diary that the authors kept throughout the semester on the progress of each class. One class experienced more success than the other, which presented numerous teaching challenges. The paper concludes by offering guidance for integrating traditional teaching methods, including group work, into DE environments.

This study concerns how intra-organizational networks affect the implementation of policies and practices in organizations. In particular, we attend to the role of the informal subgroup or clique in cultivating and distributing locally adapted and integrated knowledge, or know-how. We develop two hypotheses based on the importance of intra-organizational coordination for an organization's capacity for change. The first emphasizes the importance of distributing know-how evenly to potential recipient subgroups. The second emphasizes the importance of restricting know-how to flow from high know-how subgroups. We test our hypotheses with longitudinal network data in 21 schools, finding stronger support for the second hypothesis than the first. Our findings can help managers cultivate know-how flows to contribute to organizational change. The following are appended: (1) Technical Appendix; and (2) Multilevel Estimation of Main Models.

This working paper is one in a series of projects initiated by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to improve knowledge for child care researchers and policy makers about parental child care decision making. In this paper, the authors identify three distinct conceptual frameworks for understanding child care decisions--a rational consumer choice framework, a heuristics and biases framework, and a social network framework--and review the major assumptions, contributions, and possible limitations of each of these frameworks. They then discuss an integrated conceptual model, the accommodation model that draws from each of these frameworks. The first three frameworks come primarily from the fields of economics, psychology, and sociology, respectively. It is the authors' sense that most research about child care decision making has been informed by the theories, assumptions, and empirical methods of one or more of these frameworks, either explicitly or implicitly, and they provide some examples and elaborate the basic tenets of each framework. The integrative accommodation model was first presented by Marcia Meyers and Lucy Jordan (2006). They develop and elaborate this model more fully here with explicit attention to its relation to the rational consumer choice framework, the heuristics and biases framework, and the social network frameworks. These frameworks are presented as complementary, rather than mutually exclusive. For a process as complex as parental child care decisions, each can provide a different and useful lens through which to understand unique aspects of the factors, processes and outcomes of parental child care decisions. When considered together, they believe they may inform one another and the development of more integrative models, such as the accommodation model presented here. It is the authors' hope that researchers working primarily within one of the conceptual frameworks discussed here will benefit from learning about other frameworks. In some cases, this may simply suggest additional or new variables to consider when specifying a particular model, while still working from the same conceptual framework. In other cases, it may result in integrative approaches that address multiple dimensions of the decision making process--dimensions that may not be as obvious when working within a single framework. In the concluding section the authors discuss some of the issues and the implications for future research. A goal of this paper is to advance knowledge that can inform public policy efforts. Given that the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) has an explicit goal of supporting parental choice for child care, it is critical that they expand and deepen everyone's knowledge about the processes through which parents make decisions and the consequences for the choices they make (Zaslow, Halle, Guzman, Lavelle, Keith, Berry, & Dent, 2006). The different perspectives offered by each of the three frameworks and the integrative accommodation model may help policy makers identify the policy and program levers that can prove important at different stages of the decision making process. (Contains 7 footnotes.)

Proceedings from the first three History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching Conferences are examined to identify the profile of papers in science content areas. Those papers with a chemistry education emphasis are investigated more closely. Results indicate that papers with physics content dominate. Chemistry and biology content were addressed at about the same frequency. The chemistry topics covered in the papers include air pressure, equilibrium, atomic theory, and periodicity. Student cognition and language in science are the least studied areas among those covered while sociology of chemistry and teacher cognition are examples of domains that have not been addressed. (DDR)

This paper offers a conceptual "map" of issues and approaches in immigration research and illustrates features of the map with the significant contributions of Latino Studies to immigration research. One axis of the map concerns the time line of various waves of immigration. Although research on immigrants and immigration processes was a foundation of American sociology, Latino immigrants were largely ignored until the 1960s. In 1964, two Mexican social scientists published their research on illegal Mexican immigrants and on the "bracero" (migrant worker) program. Since then, Latino scholarship has contributed to the history of Spanish-speaking groups in the United States; the history of regions heavily impacted by Latino immigration; and the development of two major conceptual models of ethnic relations in America--acculturation and internal colonialism. The other axis of the map concerns levels of analysis: micro-level factors that drive individual behavior versus structural perspectives that emphasize major economic or political forces driving migration. The map's "Blue Highways" consist of research themes in Latino scholarship such as the heterogeneity of Latino immigrants, immigrants' involvement in small businesses, impact of migration on sending communities in the underdeveloped world, female labor migrants, and poverty among U.S. Latino immigrants. "Unpaved roads" or research needs are also suggested such as links between micro and macro levels of analysis, the "brain drain" from Third World to First World countries, and the distinctive issues of refugees and exiles. (Contains 69 references.) (SV)

This report discusses evaluation and measurement of the quality of school teachers, emphasizing the problem of assessing competence, performance, and effectiveness through large-scale national sample surveys. Part 1 outlines types of issues and questions surrounding teacher quality that must be addressed, highlighting conventional and new approaches to teacher assessment. Part 2 provides an interpretive and critical review of the predominant approaches to assessing competence, performance, and effectiveness of teachers. Part 3 offers an alternative, sociological approach to assessment. This view presents employee and organizational assessment as social phenomena, suggesting that all evaluation is shaped by social context, is value-laden and purposeful, and is based on particular norms of appropriate behavior. In this view, the role of research should be to uncover viewpoints, interests, criteria, and values underlying and shaping any particular theory and assessment method in order to illuminate its strengths and limits. The goal of research should be to help develop a range of complementary methods representing a range of viewpoints. Part 4 draws out implications of these approaches for large-scale national survey assessments of teacher quality. Part 5 lists sources and examples of existing survey measures of teacher quality (self-assessment, and administrator and peer assessment). (Contains 58 references.) (SM)

This study investigated how academic norms, expectations and rules affect the experiences of graduate students, particularly in regards to reported academic misconduct at disciplinary and departmental levels. The study used a hierarchical linear analysis with data from a nationwide survey of 2,000 graduate students in chemistry, civil engineering, microbiology, and sociology. The survey asked participants about their doctoral programs, academic and social experiences in their departments, their mentors, and experiences with ethical issues and research misconduct. The analysis suggests that the most localized contexts in which graduate students live, the discipline and department, have a great impact on their exposure to misconduct, which appears to be a profound socialization experience. Rates of observed misconduct appear to be department and discipline specific, and alterable characteristics of departmental environments condition the exposure of graduate students to a wide array of different forms of behavior that conflict with the image of "the good scientist." Two appendixes present additional technical information about the survey. (Contains 36 references.) (JB)

The interrelatedness of the fields of nursing and sociology is discussed in this paper in an effort to encourage a sympathetic symbiosis between these two fields and between technical and general education. First, an overview is provided of recent trends in sociology, citing the influences of anthropologists and cultural historians on current views of U.S. society. Next, changes in the delivery of health services are examined, with focus on the implications of these changes for health services education. The need for health services personnel to understand and get along with people is underscored, and several key factors in this understanding are explored, including the importance of a patient's motivation, background, behavior, and involvement in the effective delivery of health services; organizational characteristics of hospitals, such as limited resources, a racial and cultural caste system, work pressures, and management policies; and interpersonal relationships with colleagues, patients, and patients' families. The paper then suggests that learning experiences on such sociological topics be developed and integrated into existing technical courses. After suggesting steps for the development of such modules, a series of concepts are discussed around which learning experiences could be developed. These include power and authority, values and the process of socialization, ethnicity, religion, the aged, language, and wellness. Eight learning activities related to these topics are appended. (AYC)

This paper addresses the problem of faculty members being confronted, in or out of the classroom, with students' personal reactions to some of the subject matter, especially sex and gender material, found in today's college sociology courses. The paper suggests some ways in which sociologists view student sharing of personal reactions and discusses how faculty can respond. Also discussed are the sociological courses and topics that are especially likely to spark student reactions and sharing behavior; some faculty reactions when such occurrences have taken place; ideas for coping with this behavior in the classroom; and observations from faculty on handling students' personal problems that come to them out of the classroom setting. It is suggested that faculty should think about the content of the materials that they will be presenting, the structural and organizational approaches they should use, and the goals of the course prior to content presentation in order to anticipate students' reactions and better meet their academic and personal needs. Contains 11 references. (GLR)

Literary sociology is a multifaceted process of analyzing texts. It moves beyond traditional literary criticism to incorporate such varied approaches as: appreciating literary schemata; textual analysis; seeking form, sound, and content regularities; examining the lasting values of the work; and contemplating the reader's own authentic life-world and experience. This paper seeks to provide a literary sociology about growing up Turkish in light of the contents of five works of recent fiction. The titles of the books (with English translation) are: "Korku'nun Bedeli" (The Price of Fear), Ibrahim Ulvi Yavuz, 1983; "Aile Savaslari" (Family Struggles), Bekir Yildiz, 1984; "Yalcin Nereye Kosuyor?..." (Where's Yalcin Running?), Emin Colasan, 1985; "Koca Ren" (Great Rhine), Fakir Baykurt, 1986; and "Geriye Donenler" (Those Who Go Back), Gulten Dayioglu, 1986. A central theme running throughout these works is the cultural conflicts of growing up Turkish. These conflicts take on three dimensions: a fundamental clash between adhering to traditional Islam or adopting modern Turkish behavior; the tension in the socio-political arena between ideologies of the right and left; and the struggle of Turkish guest workers in West Germany and other European countries between the rural Anatolian root values of the older generation and the European values of their children. According to the five books, the 1980s were turbulent times for Turkish youth. Economic fluctuations at home and abroad as well as changing dynamics in the relationships between today's Turkish parents and their children were among the sources of upheaval. Two charts and two figures supplement the text and an 11-item bibliography is included. (DB)

The task of transforming the undergraduate curriculum to reflect feminist concerns should involve a consideration of the way existing curricula are structured. This paper pursues the question of structure and considers two existing and separate courses: the sociology of work (or occupational sociology) and the sociology of the family. Alternative ways of structuring these courses are discussed, including one that would focus on the two spheres of life (work and family) together and the design of a course that has as its core the area where the spheres overlap. An outline for a course on work and families is presented and includes lists of readings for several different topics within the larger concepts. (DB)

The origin of Latino Studies is grounded in the experiences and status of U.S. Latinos. Ethnicity, culture, community, empowerment, and power relationships are intertwined themes in the discipline. Latino Studies has integrated an interdisciplinary approach to establish its corpus of knowledge and theories to explain and understand Latino experiences. The significant demographic growth of Latinos in the United States has created greater visibility and awareness of Latinos in this country, resulting in increased public discourse on policy issues such as: the urban concentration of Latinos; immigration patterns and impact; social status and mobility; labor force participation; language, culture and integration; and political development and incorporation. More specific to the discipline of political science, topics such as political participation or its lack, political incorporation, cultural maintenance and mobilization, organizational resource development, and coalition formation are contributing dialogues offered by Latino Studies scholars. Latino scholars challenge the prevailing paradigms as completely applicable to Latino populations, and press for wider inclusion and analysis of Latinos and their experiences in the American society. Latino Studies has established itself as an important area of inquiry, and the newer generation of Latino Studies scholars should build upon that legacy. (Contains 60 references.) (TD)

Published in order to further a better understanding of how work in the field of rural sociology is carried on in various places, the six papers describe pedagogical and research activities relating to the sociological concern for rural people in West Africa, Brazil, Iran, the Middle East, Japan, and India. Each paper describes the evolution of rural sociology in one of the six areas, the nature of that area's rural society, the institutions in the area which can or do teach and/or undertake pertinent social research, and the current status of rural sociology in the area. In addition, "The Development of Rural Sociology in West Africa" and "Position of Rural Sociology in India" note problems with personnel training and "Rural Sociology in Japan: Milestones in Development" critically compares contemporary Japanese rural sociology with the discipline in other countries. "Rural Sociology in Brazil" notes a trend toward urban studies, while "History and Development of Rural and Peasant Studies in Iran" outlines many early village studies. "State of Agricultural Social Science and Related Fields in Selected Countries of the ECWA Region" assesses the related but generally insufficient academic offerings of 42 national universities and other educational institutions in 12 Middle East countries. (SB)

This paper presents aspects of a study that aims to describe and make sense of changes over time in the intellectual field of mathematics education research. Drawing on the work of B. Bernstein, especially his essay on intellectual fields and knowledge structures, the paper seeks to raise questions about the fields standing in the wider field of intellectual knowledge production, the position of the fields actors in their own field, and their positioning vis-a-vis the official and public discourses and everyday school practice. Underpinning these questions is the view that changes in power relations are inscribed in the form of research activity that shapes the field, and that such changes are expressed in the mode of regulation that affects the identities of actors in the field. To study changes in the form of specialization of research activity and to give a systematic yet critical account of the field, researchers produced an empirical description and at the same time attempted to generate a language capable of showing the effects of that which it describes. The method of working was to look at a representative sample of published papers in the field to develop a tool for recording and analyzing these texts, and to create a model to help interpret the data. As well as presenting and demonstrating the usefulness of the analytical tool in the resulting description of the data, the paper sketches a provisional picture about the state of the field that captures the changing nature of its discourse, and depicts the positions it creates for the actors in the field, through the resources it makes available to them. This provides evidence to argue that researchers identities in mathematics education research bear the mark of a historical turn in educational studies, the knowledge structure of teacher education, toward its technologizing," and also the marks of the current mode of its regulation, which tends to produce identities with products that have an exchange value either in their own field or the field of supposed application. Three appendixes contain supplemental information in table form. (Contains 11 tables and 32 references.) (SLD)

The fast development of information and communication technologies (ICT) improves greatly education quality. E-learning is an important education component at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) and, in addition, it is obligatory for all our teachers and students. In this paper, the development process of course "Sociology" shall be described. During the course development 11 standards were used, that is to say, statical, dynamical and administrative ones. We shall pay special attention to dynamical standards, that is to say, to online quizzes and closed student-student and teacher-student discussions. The obtained quality of the e-learning course and evaluations on the satisfaction of students with lectures shall be also taken into account. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.) [This paper was published in: "Proceedings of the 7th WSEAS International Conference on Education and Educational Technology (EDU'08)," p135-140. ISBN: 978-960-474-029-1. ISSN: 1790-5109.]

This paper discusses the impact of World War II on the lives of U.S. home-front children--that is, the boys and girls born between 1933 and 1945 who were children during the war and were still preadolescents when the war ended. The paper proceeds by discussing, first, the topical approach to the subject used in this essay; second, the ways in which sociology has guided the research and analysis it contains; and third, by suggesting collaborative efforts that could be undertaken by interdisciplinary research groups of social historians and social scientists. Finally, it is suggested that in studying U.S. children on the Second World War homefront, the historian should explore topics that were not only important at the time, but have had significant developmental consequences throughout the lives of these children. The most important topics appear to be: wartime migration of families and children; family formation: the sharp increase in marriages and births between 1940 and 1945; children's health during wartime; war separation and the rearrangement of family roles; children's homefront participation in wartime; war's psychological and emotional effects; nonwhite children's experiences during the war; war's effect on child-rearing advice and practices; the scope and effect of wartime governmental policies regarding children; and readjustments for family members due to fathers returning from military service and mothers from wartime jobs. (DB)

Demonstrating how race is socially constructed has been a core sociological objective, yet many individuals continue to hold essentialist and other concepts of what races are and how to account for group differences. These conceptualizations have crucial consequences for intergroup attitudes, support for social policies, and structures of inequality, all of which are key sociological concerns; yet much of the research in this area has emerged outside of sociology. Our review of this interdisciplinary scholarship describes the range of views people hold, the attitudes and behaviors associated with them, and what factors contribute to these views. We focus primarily on essentialism and constructivism, although we describe the greater variety of beliefs beyond this dichotomy, as well as fluidity in how people use these concepts. We conclude by presenting research on strategies for reducing essentialist belief systems and identifying key areas for future research. [This paper will be published in "Annual Review of Sociology."]

This paper describes a project that examined the use of common case studies across undergraduate special education, psychology, sociology, and health sciences classes to promote a common understanding of the needs of students with learning and behavior problems and to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration among future school professionals. During the project, participating instructors met prior to the beginning of each quarter to determine which courses within the participating departments or programs offered the best "blend." The syllabi for the courses were reviewed to determine where in the quarter the case studies would be presented and participating instructors met again to share cases that might lend themselves to specific course objectives. Once the case was chosen, each instructor suggested additions and subtractions to provide enough information for their discipline-specific questions. When the case study was sufficiently multidimensional, each instructor contributed one discipline-specific question that students were required to address and presented the case to his or her class. In addition to answering discipline-relevant questions, students were given the opportunity to participate in cross-disciplinary, problem-solving meetings. Future project goals are identified and a post-collaboration evaluation form is attached. (Contains 17 references.) (CR)

Most youth in America have a good chance of becoming productive members of adult society. However, for a particular group of young people, at-risk youth, the probability of maturing into responsible adulthood is less certain. "At-risk youth" is a term commonly used to describe those adolescents for whom there is a high probability (risk) of negative life events, because their demographic, individual, economic, or social characteristics predict that they are vulnerable. This paper reviews research on risk and resilience from two primary disciplines--developmental psychology/psychopathology and social demography/sociology. The paper is one piece of a larger research endeavor, "Pathways to Achievement Among At-Risk Youth," that focuses on socioeconomic achievements among disadvantaged adolescents. The review briefly summarizes research approaches, operationalizations, and key findings from the two research traditions. The goal of the review is to highlight consistencies across disciplines in hopes of developing a coherent framework that can be used to study resilient behavior among at-risk youth. From this interdisciplinary perspective, the paper attempts to extract a more comprehensive list of both risk and protective factors, and a sense of the range of options in operationalizing these variables. The paper concludes by integrating these findings into a new conceptual framework for understanding resilience among disadvantaged youth. (Contains 51 references.) (EV)