scholarly journals People, Means, and Activities: A Conceptual Framework for Realizing the Educational Potential of Makerspaces

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avneet Hira ◽  
Morgan M. Hynes

Makerspaces are environments where individuals use technologies to make physical artifacts within a community of fellow Makers. There has been growing interest in the educational potential of Making activities which has resulted in many schools procuring tools and technologies to set up their Makerspaces. However, there is scant research investigating the efficacy of Making these newly emerging Makerspaces intended for learning. In our work, we narrow this gap in knowledge between the claimed educational potential of Making and its attainment. By synthesizing prior work and publically available data on Makerspaces, we introduce a framework to situate the educational considerations for Makerspaces and recommend directions for future research on educational Makerspaces. Being cognizant of the Maker culture having emerged outside of the academic literature, we synthesize publically available data from 53 untraditional but relevant sources. These sources include definitions of Making forwarded by 3 well-established Maker initiatives (Makerspace, Hackerspace, and Fab Lab), 18 relevant sites of Making activities across the United States, 17 sites from other countries (namely, China, India, Morocco, and Spain), and 15 Maker initiatives at schools in the United States. After proposing and detailing the framework, we recommend directions for future research to attain the potential of educational Making.

2021 ◽  
pp. 089484532110373
Author(s):  
Haley M. Sterling ◽  
Blake A. Allan

Maternity leave includes the time that mothers take off from work to care for their baby and heal after childbirth. The United States’ maternity leave provisions lag behind other industrialized countries, resulting in poor quality maternity leave (QML) for many mothers. Accordingly, scholars have begun examining QML, a new construct that captures mothers’ subjective experiences of their leave, including dimensions like time off and flexibility. However, researchers know little about predictors and outcomes of QML. Therefore, in this literature review, we will integrate societal-, work-, and individual-level predictors as well as well-being and work-related outcomes of maternity leave into a testable conceptual framework for QML. This review has important implications for U.S. policy makers and organizations regarding their support of mothers. Future research should continue to build this framework to ensure that mothers and parents in the United States and internationally are provided the QML they need to thrive.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Giselle Martinez Negrette

The accelerated growth of the Latin@ population in the United States in the last few decades represents one of the most significant demographic changes in the nation. Alongside this population shift, some other trends have started to emerge: the Latin@ population, especially Mexican-origin people, has begun to move and settle outside traditional large cities (Murillo & Villenas, 1997; Stamps & Bohon, 2006). The numbers of Mexican-origin Latin@s concentrated in so-called “gateway” states, such as California and Texas, have started to decline and populations of immigrants settling in non-traditional destinations are now growing (Passel & Zimmerman 2001; Zuñiga & Hernandez-Leon, 2005). This demographic flow has been referred to in academic literature as the new Latino diaspora (Murillo & Villenas, 1997) or new Latino destinations (Suro & Singer, 2002). Against this background, this essay explores the literature with a focus on the history of Mexican-origin Latin@ presence in the Midwest, as well as the more recent immigration trends of this population in the region. The essay aims to extend current understandings of Latin@ immigration patterns in the Midwest, analyze their implications for education and policy, and offer additional questions and considerations for future research in the field. A nuanced examination of these facts will help us to better understand the significance of the Mexican-origin Latin@ presence in the Midwest, the vulnerable status of this group over the years, and the need to recognize this population as an asset, not a liability, in the present and future considerations of the United States as a nation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-46
Author(s):  
Marcella Alsan ◽  
Amitabh Chandra ◽  
Kosali Simon

We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, preexisting biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of disease. In addition to the elderly, Hispanic, Black and Native American communities were disproportionately affected by the virus, particularly when assessed using the years of potential life lost metric. We provide a conceptual framework and initial empirical analysis that seek to shed light on contributors to pandemic-related health inequality, and we suggest areas for future research.


Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
John R Phillips

The cover photograph for this issue of Public Voices was taken sometime in the summer of 1929 (probably June) somewhere in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Very probably the photo was taken in Indianola but, perhaps, it was Ruleville. It is one of three such photos, one of which does have the annotation on the reverse “Ruleville Midwives Club 1929.” The young woman wearing a tie in this and in one of the other photos was Ann Reid Brown, R.N., then a single woman having only arrived in the United States from Scotland a few years before, in 1923. Full disclosure: This commentary on the photo combines professional research interests in public administration and public policy with personal interests—family interests—for that young nurse later married and became the author’s mother. From the scholarly perspective, such photographs have been seen as “instrumental in establishing midwives’ credentials and cultural identity at a key transitional moment in the history of the midwife and of public health” (Keith, Brennan, & Reynolds 2012). There is also deep irony if we see these photographs as being a fragment of the American dream, of a recent immigrant’s hope for and success at achieving that dream; but that fragment of the vision is understood quite differently when we see that she began a hopeful career working with a Black population forcibly segregated by law under the incongruously named “separate but equal” legal doctrine. That doctrine, derived from the United States Supreme Court’s 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, would remain the foundation for legally enforced segregation throughout the South for another quarter century. The options open to the young, white, immigrant nurse were almost entirely closed off for the population with which she then worked. The remaining parts of this overview are meant to provide the following: (1) some biographical information on the nurse; (2) a description, in so far as we know it, of why she was in Mississippi; and (3) some indication of areas for future research on this and related topics.


Author(s):  
James L. Gibson ◽  
Michael J. Nelson

We have investigated the differences in support for the U.S. Supreme Court among black, Hispanic, and white Americans, catalogued the variation in African Americans’ group attachments and experiences with legal authorities, and examined how those latter two factors shape individuals’ support for the U.S. Supreme Court, that Court’s decisions, and for their local legal system. We take this opportunity to weave our findings together, taking stock of what we have learned from our analyses and what seem like fruitful paths for future research. In the process, we revisit Positivity Theory. We present a modified version of the theory that we hope will guide future inquiry on public support for courts, both in the United States and abroad.


Author(s):  
Gilles Duruflé ◽  
Thomas Hellmann ◽  
Karen Wilson

This chapter examines the challenge for entrepreneurial companies of going beyond the start-up phase and growing into large successful companies. We examine the long-term financing of these so-called scale-up companies, focusing on the United States, Europe, and Canada. The chapter first provides a conceptual framework for understanding the challenges of financing scale-ups. It emphasizes the need for investors with deep pockets, for smart money, for investor networks, and for patient money. It then shows some data about the various aspects of financing scale-ups in the United States, Europe, and Canada, showing how Europe and Canada are lagging behind the US relatively more at the scale-up than the start-up stage. Finally, the chapter raises the question of long-term public policies for supporting the creation of a better scale-up environment.


Author(s):  
Travis D. Stimeling

This chapter offers a historiographic survey of country music scholarship from the publication of Bill C. Malone’s “A History of Commercial Country Music in the United States, 1920–1964” (1965) to the leading publications of the today. Very little of substance has been written on country music recorded since the 1970s, especially when compared to the wealth of available literature on early country recording artists. Ethnographic studies of country music and country music culture are rare, and including ethnographic methods in country music studies offers new insights into the rich variety of ways in which people make, consume, and engage with country music as a genre. The chapter traces the influence of folklore studies, sociology, cultural studies, and musicology on the development of country music studies and proposes some directions for future research in the field.


Author(s):  
Phil Zuckerman ◽  
Kyle Thompson

Despite widespread suspicion to the contrary, secular living can and does serve as an adequate, or even excellent, context for moral development. In this chapter, the authors present the contours of contemporary anti-atheist prejudice, with an emphasis on the United States. Next, they explore the empirical data showing that individual atheists and highly secularized societies, such as Sweden and Denmark, are often quite moral, which serves to counter and debunk anti-atheist prejudice. Then, the authors move to a philosophical discussion centering around secular morality itself, outlining general merits of atheistic morality specifically while simultaneously pointing out various problematic assumptions of theistic morality. Finally, the authors conclude and make recommendations for future research.


Author(s):  
Manjul Gupta ◽  
Carlos M. Parra ◽  
Denis Dennehy

AbstractOne realm of AI, recommender systems have attracted significant research attention due to concerns about its devastating effects to society’s most vulnerable and marginalised communities. Both media press and academic literature provide compelling evidence that AI-based recommendations help to perpetuate and exacerbate racial and gender biases. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the extent to which individuals might question AI-based recommendations when perceived as biased. To address this gap in knowledge, we investigate the effects of espoused national cultural values on AI questionability, by examining how individuals might question AI-based recommendations due to perceived racial or gender bias. Data collected from 387 survey respondents in the United States indicate that individuals with espoused national cultural values associated to collectivism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance are more likely to question biased AI-based recommendations. This study advances understanding of how cultural values affect AI questionability due to perceived bias and it contributes to current academic discourse about the need to hold AI accountable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ianita Zlateva ◽  
Amanda Schiessl ◽  
Nashwa Khalid ◽  
Kerry Bamrick ◽  
Margaret Flinter

Abstract Background In recent years, health centers in the United States have embraced the opportunity to train the next generation of health professionals. The uniqueness of the health centers as teaching settings emphasizes the need to determine if health professions training programs align with health center priorities and the nature of any adjustments that would be needed to successfully implement a training program. We sought to address this need by developing and validating a new survey that measures organizational readiness constructs important for the implementation of health professions training programs at health centers where the primary role of the organizations and individuals is healthcare delivery. Methods The study incorporated several methodological steps for developing and validating a measure for assessing health center readiness to engage with health professions programs. A conceptual framework was developed based on literature review and later validated by 20 experts in two focus groups. A survey-item pool was generated and mapped to the conceptual framework and further refined and validated by 13 experts in three modified Delphi rounds. The survey items were pilot-tested with 212 health center employees. The final survey structure was derived through exploratory factor analysis. The internal consistency reliability of the scale and subscales was evaluated using Chronbach’s alpha. Results The exploratory factor analysis revealed a 41-item, 7-subscale solution for the survey structure, with 72% of total variance explained. Cronbach’s alphas (.79–.97) indicated high internal consistency reliability. The survey measures: readiness to engage, evidence strength and quality of the health professions training program, relative advantage of the program, financial resources, additional resources, implementation team, and implementation plan. Conclusions The final survey, the Readiness to Train Assessment Tool (RTAT), is theoretically-based, valid and reliable. It provides an opportunity to evaluate health centers’ readiness to implement health professions programs. When followed with appropriate change strategies, the readiness evaluations could make the implementation of health professions training programs, and their spread across the United States, more efficient and cost-effective. While developed specifically for health centers, the survey may be useful to other healthcare organizations willing to assess their readiness to implement education and training programs.


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