Grand missions of agricultural innovation     

Brian D. Wright 《Research Policy》2012,41(10):1716-1728

This paper discusses three related examples of mission-oriented agricultural institutional innovations associated with substantial crop yield increases in the 20th century. It begins with the implementation of the United States Land-Grant System and then discusses in turn the planning and implementation of the two grand missions that led successively to the yield increases in wheat and rice that heralded the onset of the “Green Revolution.” It notes the remarkable role of the Rockefeller Foundation in identifying these two missions, and selecting personnel developed within the land-grant system to execute them with remarkable effectiveness.  相似文献   

Parental experiences of dealing with disputes in Additional Support Needs in Scotland: why are parents not engaging with mediation?     

Kevin Wright  Joan Stead  Sheila Riddell  Elisabet Weedon 《International Journal of Inclusive Education》2013,17(11):1099-1114

Partnerships with parents, particularly in the field of education, have featured prominently in policy rhetoric for many years, but routes of redress have not had much attention until relatively recently. The development of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the UK reflects the situation in several jurisdictions (e.g. Norway, Germany, the Netherlands) where citizens can choose not to go to court to resolve administrative disputes. Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning [ASL]) (Scotland) Act 2004 local authorities must establish and publicise procedures for identifying and meeting the needs of children requiring additional support for learning. The Act and Code of Practice advocate early intervention to prevent disagreements about the provision for additional support from escalating into more serious disputes, with local authorities required to provide information about, and access to, independent mediation for parents. In Scotland the ASL Act 2004 has resulted in four routes available for redress in the area of Additional Support Needs which include both mediation and litigation type processes: ? Informal mediation

? Formal mediation

? Adjudication

? Tribunal

This article uses case study information from parents in three local authorities in Scotland to explore why independent mediation is being under-used by schools and parents, and what factors influence this. Questions are raised regarding the large numbers of parents who are unaware of mediation, the attitudes towards and use of independent mediation by local authorities and the suitability of independent mediation, particularly when the dispute is over resources.  相似文献   

Exploring the Usefulness of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory in Assessing Student Learning in Science Courses     

Carolin Kreber  Heather Castleden  Nina Erfani  Joan Lim  Tarah Wright 《Teaching in Higher Education》2013,18(3):431-445

We explore the utility of George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, specifically his repertory grid technique, to the assessment of student learning in undergraduate science courses. We provide an in-depth review of the assumptions underlying Personal Construct Theory and how these were reflected in the repertory grid technique Kelly developed. We explain how an adapted version of the repertory grid, sharing some yet not all of Kelly's assumptions, was utilised as a research tool in a recent study involving science instructors and their students. We argue that as well as having applicability as an innovative research tool, an adapted version of Kelly's repertory grid is a useful heuristic for university teachers when used as a classroom assessment technique (CAT) and indicate several features it shares with the more widely-known conceptual mapping technique, which has been used in the study of science teaching and learning for many years. We conclude by highlighting several advantages the use of repertory grids has for both students and instructors.  相似文献   

Using a structural equation modelling approach (SEM) to examine leadership of heads of subject departments (HODs) as perceived by principals and vice-principals,heads of subject departments and teachers within ‘school based management’ (SBM) secondary schools: some evidence from Hong Kong     

Loretta Au  Nigel Wright  Christopher Botton 《School Leadership & Management》2013,33(4):481-498

This article reports the use of a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique as a means of exploring our understanding of the leadership of Heads of Subject Departments within School Based Management (SBM) secondary schools in Hong Kong. Arguments made by Gronn (1999, 2000), Spillane et al. (2001) suggest that studies of leadership need to focus more on a distributed model rather than seeing leadership as residing solely in the titular head of the organisation. Other recent studies (Busher & Harris 1999; Harris 2001) have examined the role of middle managers. This article explores SEM as a means of offering important measurement and insight in this complex area. The structural models generated and presented support a new integrative model of the leadership activities and behaviours of the HODs within SBM secondary schools in Hong Kong. Some initial findings (Au 2003) are reported based on a return rate of 83% from a dataset of 2739 teachers, HODs, school principals and vice- principals taken from a sample of 110 government and non-government SBM secondary schools in Hong Kong.  相似文献   

1265: An examination of some of the management implications of directed time     

Bryan J. Cowan  Nigel Wright 《School Leadership & Management》2013,33(3):301-314

This enquiry seeks to establish how some secondary school headteachers have directed their DEs‐prescribed allocation of 1265 hours. Investigations focus particularly on those management processes used to determine the budget, the measures employed to ensure a flexibility in a budget once it has been defined, and some effects of budgeting on meetings. The allocation of hours to specific school tasks is scrutinized and the authors conclude with recommendations and suggestions for improving budgeting decisions in the future.  相似文献   

Forces affecting change in small rural schools     

Earle Newton  Ruth Wright 《School Leadership & Management》2013,33(3):357-366

Selected curriculum changes were studied in two rural shcool‐community contexts. Both qualitative and quantitative data indicated that implementation was at a low level of use and that factors related to isolation were particularly powerful influences in the change process. A major implication of the study is demonstrated need for detailed curriculum implementation plans that account for local school community factors.  相似文献   

Microstructural analysis of negative anticipatory contrast: A reconsideration of the devaluation account     

Rebecca L. Wright  Gary Gilmour  Dominic M. Dwyer 《Learning & behavior》2013,41(4):353-359

An animal’s appetitive behavior is not a fixed response to current stimulation but can be affected by the anticipation of future events. For example, rats regularly given access to a moderately valued solution followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 32 % sucrose) consume less of the initial solution than in control conditions where the initial solution is not followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 4 % sucrose). Previous analyses have suggested that this negative anticipatory contrast effect does not depend on the “expectation” of a valuable stimulus producing a functional devaluation of a currently available stimulus of lesser value. In a within-subjects anticipatory contrast procedure, this study revealed that both consumption and the mean size of licking clusters were smaller for a 4 % sucrose solution on days when it preceded 32 % sucrose than on days when 4 % preceded 4 %. Since lick cluster size typically bears a positive monotonic relationship with the concentration of palatable solutions, this reduction is indicative of a decrease in the palatability/hedonic value of the solution subject to contrast. As such, we provide direct evidence that negative anticipatory contrast does produce a functional devaluation of the solution, thus challenging prevailing theoretical assumptions.  相似文献   

Right or Wrong? Toward a Theory of IRBs’ (Dis)Approval of Research     

Scott Jacques  Richard Wright 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2013,24(1):42-59

No one would disagree that scientific research has been unethical—even criminal—at times. Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a fundamental role in protecting people from unethical criminological research. At the same time, IRBs, as social entities, are subject to a wide range of influences that may affect their decisions regarding the ethicality of research. This research note draws on the paradigm of pure sociology and the logic underpinning Black’s theory of law to propose a preliminary theory of IRBs’ (dis)approval of research. Specifically, it suggests that IRBs apply less social control to criminological research involving higher status researchers and lower status research participants and, therefore, those persons are more often involved in research. The paper concludes with theoretically situated, practical advice for how (1) IRBs can reduce their discrimination, and (2) criminological researchers can reduce IRBs’ disapproval of their projects and thereby increase their research output.  相似文献   

Lombroso's Legacy: The Miseducation of Criminologists     

John P. Wright  Kevin M. Beaver  Matt DeLisi  Michael G. Vaughn  Danielle Boisvert  Jamie Vaske 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2013,24(3):325-338

This study examines the extent to which criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. students are exposed to contemporary biological and genetic findings associated with aggression and violence. Drawing on multiple sources of information, we find little evidence showing that Ph.D. students are exposed to any biological research on crime and offending. We examine the consequences for this “trained incompetence” and offer suggestions for remedying this deficiency.

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. (John Stuart Mill)  相似文献   

Teaching Biosocial Criminology I: Understanding Endophenotypes Using Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Self‐Control Construct     

Matt DeLisi  John Paul Wright  Kevin Beaver  Michael G. Vaughn 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2013,24(3):360-376

Criminology is experiencing a paradigm shift in theory and research that articulates a more interdisciplinary, biosocial mode of inquiry. Unfortunately, however, graduate‐level criminal justice education rarely encompasses biosocial training. The current review is the first in a series of works that seeks to fill this biosocial training void by providing instruction on concepts in the biological sciences and neurosciences that have direct relevance to criminal justice education and criminology. Here we introduce endophenotypes and demonstrate their relevance to the study of crime using the self‐control construct from Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory. Because biosocial criminology is in its nascent stage, it is critical that biosocial criminologists provide service and instruction to their social science‐trained colleagues.  相似文献