Despite the efforts of researchers and national science organizations to recruit more women and minorities into the science and engineering workforce, these fields are still largely dominated by White males. Research suggests that children's mental prototypes of the scientist include a variety of negative and stereotypical features that may contribute to decisions not to pursue a career in science among underrepresented groups. This study examines 1,656 images of scientists in children's nonfiction trade books, which are often used in classrooms and are many children's first introduction to science, to determine the extent to which these depictions perpetuate the stereotypical standard image of the scientist. Results indicate that while many elements of the stereotypical scientist image are not prevalent in these titles, gender and race are causes for concern.
Educating black males Comments? Like Kappan at www. facebook.com/pdkintl V93 N5 kappanmagazine.org 17 Librarians form a bridge of books to advance literacy A group of school librarians enlisted in an effort to raise literacy among black males by reaching out to them with books and programs aligned with their interests and culture.
Both the teaching profession and the school library profession emphasize collaboration as a way to improve teaching and learning. However, K-12 school librarians rarely collaborate with science teachers. This article reviews publications related to collaboration between science teachers and school librarians. Themes that emerged from the literature included barriers to collaboration as well as opportunities to collaborate in four areas: traditional literacy instruction, information literacy instruction, classroom technology integration, and connecting science to students' daily lives. Gaps in the research and suggestions for future study are also included.
The field of school librarianship continues to grapple with the twin concerns of a gap between research and practice and a shortage of usable, middle-range theories generated within the discipline. Design-based research (DBR), a methodology developed over the past two decades in the education field, offers a promising means of addressing both of these concerns simultaneously by placing research, design, practice, and theory generation into a real-world context. This article addresses the need for such a methodology in the school library field, provides an overview of design-based research, summarizes some of the benefits and criticisms of this methodology, and suggests specific ways in which the school library field might make use of this approach.
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