The papers in this collection address a set of important issues facing our discipline. These issues cross national boundaries, and indeed are important far beyond the sociological…
Abstract
The papers in this collection address a set of important issues facing our discipline. These issues cross national boundaries, and indeed are important far beyond the sociological sphere. My brief comments here will use these papers as a springboard for noting several important curricular challenges and trends for sociology, in particular, and academia, more generally, as we enter the next century.
Bernard Harris, Roderick Floud and Sok Chul Hong
In The Changing Body (Cambridge University Press and NBER, 2011), we presented a series of estimates showing the number of calories available for human consumption in England and…
Abstract
In The Changing Body (Cambridge University Press and NBER, 2011), we presented a series of estimates showing the number of calories available for human consumption in England and Wales at various points in time between 1700 and 1909/1913. We now seek to correct an error in our original figures and to compare the corrected figures with those published by a range of other authors. We also include new estimates showing the calorific value of meat and grains imported from Ireland. Disagreements with other authors reflect differences over a number of issues, including the amount of land under cultivation, the extraction and wastage rates for cereals and pulses and the number of animals supplying meat and dairy products. We consider recent attempts to achieve a compromise between these estimates and challenge claims that there was a dramatic reduction in either food availability or the average height of birth cohorts in the late-eighteenth century.
Turgut Var, William W. Swart and Charles E. Gearing
Although this is a survey of research techniques, it has become increasingly apparent, as the study has progressed, that our investigation of research methods for use in tourism…
Abstract
Although this is a survey of research techniques, it has become increasingly apparent, as the study has progressed, that our investigation of research methods for use in tourism and travel studies, without prior consideration of the nature and scopes of tourism and travel themselves, would he inadequate. At the outset it would be imperative to distinguish three interrelated terms. These are recreation, tourism, and travel.
Edward J. Fuller and Lindsey Schrott
Policymakers have focused on improving STEM outcomes for US high school students for over 50 years. Much of this focus has centered on improving the quality of STEM teachers…
Abstract
Policymakers have focused on improving STEM outcomes for US high school students for over 50 years. Much of this focus has centered on improving the quality of STEM teachers, particularly in poor and minority schools. Few, if any, of these efforts have considered the importance of the content knowledge of those providing instructional leadership in schools – namely, principals and assistant principals. This chapter examines the percentage of school leaders with teacher certification in mathematics or science and the degree to which teacher and school leader turnover interrupts the leadership–teacher relationships. The study concludes relatively few school leaders have the content knowledge to provide deep instructional leadership. Moreover, the study finds combined teacher and school leader turnover greatly diminishes the sustained relationships between instructional leaders and teachers, particularly in lower-performing schools.
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Friendships, an important form of people’s everyday relationships with others, have been studied by many scholars from different disciplines. However, there is limited research on…
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Friendships, an important form of people’s everyday relationships with others, have been studied by many scholars from different disciplines. However, there is limited research on friendship in the context of childhood, particularly that of Chinese rural children. This chapter presents findings from an in-depth study on Chinese children’s understandings and experiences of friendships with peers in the context of a rural primary boarding school. Data for this research were collected through an intensive five-month study, using an ethnographic approach, in a rural primary boarding school (given the pseudonym ‘Central Primary School’) in the western area of China in 2016. This chapter discusses parents’ influences on children’s selection of friends, particularly their ‘good’ friends, and their understandings of the functions of making friends in the context of rural China. It unpacks parents’ interventions on children’s friendships by discussing the moralised hierarchical relationship between children and their parents – children are expected to show obedience to parents. Then, it argues that the Confucian-collectivist values construct a relationship between a child’s individual achievement and their family’s collective good, which makes friendship not only an individual issue but also a collective one too.
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Dorine M. Mattar and Rim M. El Khoury
This chapter examines whether students’ perceptions of learning, attitudes, and performance are affected by the use of multimedia technology. Both traditional and multimedia…
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This chapter examines whether students’ perceptions of learning, attitudes, and performance are affected by the use of multimedia technology. Both traditional and multimedia methodologies were used in the financial accounting II course offered at one of the leading universities in Lebanon, using data collected from a sample of 110 students. In order to eliminate faculty-specific characteristics, the same professor taught all sections, thereby minimizing the effect different instructors might have had on student evaluations. Results indicate that students perceived the use of multimedia, specifically PowerPoint (PPT) lectures, as being more entertaining and organized than the traditional method; however, the latter methodology demonstrated more efficiency in terms of explaining theories, enhancing problem-solving abilities, and allowing for greater interaction. The two methodologies, however, did not demonstrate a significant statistical difference in terms of student learning and comprehension. Despite the positive student perception of PPT lectures, results suggest that the systematic approach of traditional methodologies exceeds PPT in emphasizing course materials and enhancing problem-solving abilities. As measured by their final grade, PPT methodologies affected student performance negatively, especially for below-average business students.
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Kirsten de Beurs, Kyle Harper and Le Wang
The European Marriage Pattern (EMP) was characteristic of preindustrial northwestern Europe and, in recent years, has been proposed as an important factor in the rise of the West…
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The European Marriage Pattern (EMP) was characteristic of preindustrial northwestern Europe and, in recent years, has been proposed as an important factor in the rise of the West. Yet, the origins and ultimate causes of the EMP remain obscure. We examine a novel hypothesis that the EMP can emerge in geographic environments with a lighter infectious disease burden. We overcome significant challenges facing empirical analysis of premodern societies. Using a large, individual-level database of marriages from the county of Kent, England, as well as a spatial regression discontinuity approach, we demonstrate a robust association between physical ecology and female age at first marriage (FAFM). We also find that the two potential channels proposed in the literature play starkly different roles in explaining our finding. Specifically, we fail to find that pastoralism plays any significant role in explaining the EMP, while the mortality rate channel accounts for a significant portion of the observed relationship between the disease environment and FAFM.