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Administrators, librarians, parents, teachers, and teacher educators need to be familiar with quality multicultural children's literature as a means of helping children develop an understanding of others as well as affirming their own diverse backgrounds. In this study, 31 fictional picture books identified as containing representations of ethnic Chinese or their culture were examined for literary quality and cultural authenticity. Six reviewers (three Chinese and 3 American) independently evaluated each book using a revised 10-item version of the Multicultural Children's Literature Evaluation Tool (Higgins, J. J. (2002). Multicultural children's literature: creating and applying an evaluation tool in response to the needs of urban educators. New Horizons in Education. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/multicultural-education/multicultural-childrens-literature/index.html) with the highest possible score being 30. Results indicated good interrater reliability with the mean score of the Chinese and American reviewers differing by less than 5 points for 24 books (80 %). Three books received a mean score of 30 by at least one group of reviewers, and three books received a mean score of below 19 by at least one group of reviewers. With results of studies such as this one at their disposal, adults are better prepared to select quality, culturally authentic literature to share with children.

This paper explores the use of big data in understanding population movements in the context of environmental change, with particular attention to publicly available information from social media and newspapers. After discussing causal factors, the paper discusses the benefits and challenges of using big data, and mathematical models that may help capture the complexity of human mobility in the context of environmental change. We conclude that big data can be an important part of a toolkit in discerning drivers of migration and displacement. It is no panacea, however; the paper discusses potential problems in its use, particularly if big data are analysed to prevent people from moving out of harm's way. Therefore, partnerships between computer scientists and subject matter experts and practitioners are essential to ensuring that what is gathered from big data is usable, credible, and protects the privacy and rights of those who may be displaced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study summarizes the results of a survey administered to 48 elementary schools in the largest school district in a southeastern U.S. state, conducted by university faculty to evaluate the use of SMART Boards and hands-on experiences, the objectives of which were to identify preparedness of elementary classroom teachers in teaching elementary Science, in using SMART Boards and in using manipulatives for teaching in the elementary Science classroom, as well as to identify frequency with which elementary classroom teachers use SMART Boards and/or manipulatives and reasons for using or not using SMART Boards and/or manipulatives in the elementary Science classroom. Results of the survey will be used to address areas of needed improvement among pre-service teachers, to identify areas in which early career teachers need additional training or information and how best to improve the quality and training of the Elementary Science component of the education degree.

They Saved the Crops: Labor, Landscape, and the Struggle over Industrial Farming in Bracero-Era California. By Don Mitchell. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012. 576 pp. Photos, maps, tables, and [...]

Elizabeth Ferris' review of research on environmental change and human mobility in this colloquium points to the important role that development actors play in identifying potential solutions for affected persons. She mentions in particular the work of the World Bank's Climate Change Group and the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD). Such mobility is indeed a critical issue from a development perspective, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. Goals 10.7. and 13 encourage states to 'facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people' and demand 'urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts', with a focus on enhancing mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction practices. The World Bank's development goals of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity further recognize the need to build capacity in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of global reforms to speed up local integration in protracted refugee settings, refugees and host communities need more capacity-building support around natural-resource management and resource-sharing. This article presents the findings of research conducted in Ethiopia and Djibouti focused on refugees and environmental resource management. Using remote sensing and land cover change analyses, as well as qualitative interviewing of refugees and local host community members in two protracted refugee camps, a multidisciplinary research team assessed the environmental impact of the camps as well as the perceptions of the two groups of these impacts. The open-ended interviews also proved useful in exploring concerns about the integration of refugees more generally. The findings suggest a set of understandings among both communities about the need for more information exchange, greater education and human-capacity-building and livelihoods development. These are all objectives shared by national governments of the region and the international community as laid out in recent global policy documents and require more coordination and new funding priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]