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Showing papers presented at "Field and Service Robotics in 2012"


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report results from field experiments conducted with a team of ground and aerial robots engaged in the collaborative mapping of an earthquake-damaged building, where the goal of the experimental exercise is the generation of three-dimensional maps that capture the layout of a multifloor environment.
Abstract: We report recent results from field experiments conducted with a team of ground and aerial robots engaged in the collaborative mapping of an earthquake-damaged building. The goal of the experimental exercise is the generation of three-dimensional maps that capture the layout of a multifloor environment. The experiments took place in the top three floors of a structurally compromised building at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan that was damaged during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. We provide details of the approach to the collaborative mapping and report results from the experiments in the form of maps generated by the individual robots and as a team. We conclude by discussing observations from the experiments and future research topics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (This work builds upon the conference paper (Michael et al., 2012).)

97 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The authors investigated the differences in 1,518 parents' online activities by income, age, education, and comfort, and found that comfort with technology emerged as a more salient predictor of both types of online behavior than indicators of socio-economic status or age.
Abstract: In an information-based society, digital inequalities among parents have negative implications for families, yet not much is understood about how socioeconomic status is related to parents’ online activities. Based on ecological systems theory and social capital concepts, this research investigated the differences in 1,518 parents’ online activities by income, age, education, and comfort. Income was a significant predictor of frequency of information seeking activities, but not of frequency of parents’ online social activities. However, comfort with technology emerged as a more salient predictor of both types of online behavior than indicators of socio-economic status or age. This research highlights the need to study differences in parent’s digital use in context. Implications for family life educators, researchers, and policy makers are discussed.

20 citations



BookDOI
31 Jul 2012
TL;DR: This book presents a selection of papers from the first major international conference dedicated to field and service applications of robotics, which describes interesting aspects of robots in the field ranging from mining, agriculture, construction, cargo handling, subsea operations, removal of landmines, to terrestrial exploration.
Abstract: Joe Engelberger, the pioneer of the robotics industry, wrote in his 1989 book Robotics in Service that the inspiration to write his book came as a reaction to an industry-sponsored forecast study of robot applications, which predicted that in 1995 applications of robotics outside factories - the traditional domain of industrial robots - would amount to less than 1% of total sales. Engelberger believed that this forecast was very wrong, and instead predicted that the non-industrial class of robot applications would become the largest class. Engelbergers prediction has yet to come to pass. However, he did correctly foresee the growth in non-traditional applications of robots. Robots are now beginning to march from the factories and into field and service applications. This book presents a selection of papers from the first major international conference dedicated to field and service applications of robotics. This selection includes papers from the leading research laboratories in the world together with papers from companies that are building and selling new and innovative robotic technology. It describes interesting aspects of robots in the field ranging from mining, agriculture, construction, cargo handling, subsea operations, removal of landmines, to terrestrial exploration. It also covers a diverse range of service applications, such as cleaning, propagating plants and aiding the elderly and handicapped, and gives considerable attention to the technology required to realise robust, reliable and safe robots.

13 citations


Proceedings Article
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: How this competition has come to be more than simply a venue where teams compete to find a champion and is now “A League of Teams with one goal: to Develop and Demonstrate Advanced Robotic Capabilities for Emergency Responders” is discussed.
Abstract: The RoboCupRescue Robot League is an international competition that has grown to be an effective driver for the dissemination of solutions to the challenges posed by Urban Search and Rescue Robotics and accelerated the development of the performance standards that are crucial to widespread effective deployment of robotic systems for these applications. In this paper, we will discuss how this competition has come to be more than simply a venue where teams compete to find a champion and is now “A League of Teams with one goal: to Develop and Demonstrate Advanced Robotic Capabilities for Emergency Responders.”

10 citations


Proceedings Article
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The effectiveness and problems of applying the rescue robot in the real disaster sites are discussed and the joint United States-Japanese team for underwater search is established.
Abstract: In this paper, we report our activities in the real disaster areas damaged by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. From March 18–21, 2011, we tried to apply a ground rescue robot to the real disaster sites at Aomori Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture. On March 18, we carried out inspection mission in a damaged gymnasium. From March 19–21, we went to other sites to identify possibility of usage of robots, and we found the potential needs for not only ground robots but also underwater robots. Then, after the first activity we established a joint United States-Japanese team for underwater search. From April 19–23, 2011 the joint team brought four ROVs to Miyagi Prefecture for port inspection and to Iwate Prefecture for searching for submerged bodies. The joint team returned to Miyagi Prefecture October 22–26 with an AUV and two ROVs for cooperative debris mapping needed to assist with resuming fishing. Based on these experiences, we discuss the effectiveness and problems of applying the rescue robot in the real disaster sites.

8 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, a good fit for pedagogy in the family sciences due to the developmental and psychological theories that overlap with key features of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is presented.
Abstract: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a good fit for pedagogy in the family sciences due to the developmental and psychological theories that overlap with key features of PBL. Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and "authentic problem solving" are examples of theories that explain how PBL works. These learner-centered pedagogies increase engagement and motivation by helping students learn to solve real-world problems. Furthermore, PBL has been shown to enhance professional practice and preparation for students as they enter the workforce. Examples of how instructors can apply PBL in family science college classrooms are offered. Furthermore, a graphic organizer is presented to compare and contrast similarities and differences between PBL and ZPD theories. A sample worksheet that can be used in the classroom is also included. The goal of this paper is to give instructors a sufficient understanding of PBL and plausible examples of how it might be used in the classroom.

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: This article found that an information-oriented identity style, commitment to an identity style and religiosity were positively related to adolescents' ability to articulate their religious beliefs. But they did not find that information-and normative-oriented identities were not related to their ability to express their religious belief.
Abstract: Adolescents often struggle with articulating their religious beliefs. This study proposes that identity style may explain why some adolescents have difficulty articulating their religious beliefs. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to predict adolescents’ ability to articulate their religious beliefs. It was found that an information-oriented identity style, commitment to an identity style, and religiosity were positively related to adolescents’ ability to articulate their religious beliefs. Diffuseand normative-oriented identity styles were not related to adolescents’ ability to articulate their religious beliefs.

4 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: This article reflects on my journey as a junior faculty member and certified family life educator who teaches in the field of family science, and describes my teaching philosophy based on my teaching experiences and personal reflections.
Abstract: This article reflects on my journey as a junior faculty member and certified family life educator who teaches in the field of family science. Effective and constructive teaching is more than just delivering information to students. It is a dynamic and complex process of stimulating students’ desire to learn, facilitating their intellectual and emotional growth, and preparing them to become competent professionals. My main goal in teaching is to prepare my students to become (a) able to apply appropriate theories to research and practice in the area of family science; (b) sensitive to cultural diversity as it relates to their work; and (c) able to collaborate effectively with community members, their families, and other family professionals. In order to support each of my students’ active learning and to approach teaching in an integrative fashion, I utilize a servicelearning option in teaching a course that develops skills to work with diverse families and children. More specifically, I discuss the course requirements, learning outcomes, and challenges it presents. Through a continuous journey of practicing effective and constructive teaching, I devote myself to supporting my students’ active learning and becoming a more effective teacher in family science. During the first five years of my faculty career, I have taught courses related to the impact of dynamic interactions between the community and its members on individual, family, and community well-being; cultural diversity with global perspectives; and family life education program development and evaluation. How did it all begin? My interest in teaching these courses is strongly linked to my education and careers at Seoul National University, Virginia Tech, the University of New Mexico, and Montclair State University, which were focused on the primary areas specified in the Certified Family Life Education (CFLE) standards by the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) (2011). My teaching goals and strategies are also strongly tied to my own multicultural research experiences regarding the issues of community and families. More specifically, my main research interest is family diversity within a larger community context and building communities to support families and their member’s well-being. I have paid particular attention to how individual community members and their families identify their needs within a community, develop problem-solving strategies, and implement actions as a group in order to deal with these issues grounded in community capacity theory (Bowen, Martin, Mancini, & Nelson, 2000; Mancini, Bowen, & Martin, 2005; Mancini, Martin, Bowen, 2003). This is a theoretical framework that promotes community well-being by utilizing community members’ competences in, and responsibility for, collective efforts in order to confront challenges. Direct correspondence to Dr. Soyoung Lee at leeso@mail.montclair.edu. Teaching in Family Science 37 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. Another research interest I have is improving the understanding of adult learning and decision making. I am interested in understanding how individual adults and their families make important life decisions, and how relationships with significant others influence their decisions throughout decision making processes. I am also interested in gaining insight on how family professionals can support individuals and families within diverse community settings to make decisions that advance the quality of their lives (Creamer, Lee, & Laughlin, 2006; Meszaros, Creamer, & Lee, 2009). All these research and teaching experiences have led me to focus my teaching on supporting my students’ learning in the context of family life education by incorporating active learning in diverse community settings. In the following section, I describe my teaching philosophy based on my teaching experiences and personal reflections. Teaching Philosophy My main goal in teaching is to prepare my students to become competent professionals in the field of family science. They must be (a) able to apply appropriate theories to research and practice in the area of family science; (b) sensitive to cultural diversity as it relates to their work; and, (c) able to collaborate effectively with community members, their families, and other family professionals. Transformation of Knowledge into Practice Effective and constructive teaching goes beyond instructing students. It is a dynamic and complex process of transforming knowledge that students acquire into beneficial applications in the real world (Bain, 2004). Students actively work with material and absorb it in different ways depending on their individual information processing and learning strategies (Powell & Cassidy, 2007). However, they must all be able to translate the conceptual information into practical actions in their professional and everyday lives. As a teacher, I believe in providing a safe environment in which to practice the integration and application of all the knowledge and skills that my students have gained. Appreciation of Diversity As someone who has lived in several countries, including the United States, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, I have gained an appreciation for being sensitive to diversity with a global perspective. As future professionals in the field of family science, students must be open to the many similarities and differences among various people, families, and communities while working with them. They must be comfortable with differences and be able to make culturally sensitive decisions during their practice. To do so, first, students must understand their own biases, values, and attitudes toward diversity. Then, they must understand how their own value systems will impact their professional judgments. Finally, they must gain insight into how complex professional judgments must be in order to support families and their members when working within different cultural contexts (Hollinger, 2007). I believe that providing different types of learning opportunities that encourage students to actually interact with people who have different backgrounds helps students to develop their sensitivities to diverse families and to become more respectful of diverse views and experiences in various families and cultures. They also gain insight on how influential their value systems are when they Teaching in Family Science 38 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. make professional judgments to support families and their members in practice. Collaboration In order to best produce individual, family, and community well-being, effective collaboration is needed among the many professionals working with diverse families and children (Doherty, 2003). Students in the field of family science must learn to utilize their knowledge and skills in a collaborative way with colleagues, other professionals, organizations, and those who seek their expertise. I believe it is very important for teachers to encourage and provide opportunities for students to practice collaborative working relationships with others through diverse group projects both inside and outside of the classroom. Through these experiences, I believe that my students learn effective and professional communication and problem solving skills and gain a better understanding of the dynamics of working relationships. In addition, I emphasize building a learning partnership with students rather than just imparting information to them. Understanding students and learning about them through discourse is a primary way to build strong learning partnerships. Constructive learning partnerships between students and the teacher results in reflecting students’ individual and group experiences and their concerns regarding course materials (Bain, 2004). I believe that this learning partnership process is one of the most effective ways of stimulating and sustaining intellectual growth among students. Overall, I believe collaborative experiences in class lay the foundation of students’ future careers and lead them to carry out their work more effectively. Teaching Practice I exercise my teaching philosophy through various exercises, such as in-class, hands-on activities, writing assignments, discussions, small group projects, and individual and group presentations. What makes my practice unique is that in one senior level course that I teach, students actually develop family life education programs based on the needs of the community and offer a workshop to the public. More specifically, based on my training with one of my teaching mentors at Virginia Tech and teaching experiences at a previous institution, I currently offer a course that teaches different strategies for working with diverse families and children, which specifically focuses on developing skills to organize and implement family conferences in human service, community, and educational settings (Montclair State University, n.d.). My goal as the teacher in this specific course, FCST 418 Working with Diverse Families, is to develop a course that enhances practical learning environments to prepare students to become competent family professionals in diverse career settings. To achieve this goal, I have been utilizing a service-learning option, as well as traditional lecture and discussionand reflection-based teaching. Course Requirements The benefits of service-learning have been widely recognized by many teachers (Berke, Boyd-Soisson, Voorhees, & Reininga, 2010; Jacobson, Oravecz, Falk, & Osteen, 2011; Toews & Cerny, 2005). The service-learning component is especially important in my teaching. While developing and evaluating family life education programs, servicelearning experiences are extremely helpful for students to identify the actual felt needs of Teaching in Family Science 39 Family Sci

4 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: A design and development for the ASOC-driven omnidirectional mobile robot in rough terrain are described and a control scheme that takes into account a kinematics of the omnid directionally mobile robot is presented.
Abstract: Omnidirectional vehicles have been developed and widely applied in several areas, but most of them are designed for the case of motion on flat, smooth terrain, and are not feasible for outdoor usage. This paper presents an omnidirectional mobile robot that possesses high mobility in rough terrain. The omnidirectional robot employs four sets of modules called active split offset caster (ASOC). The ASOC module has two independently-driven wheels that produce arbitrary planar translational velocity, enabling the robot to achieve its omnidirectional mobility. Each module is connected to the main body of the robot via a parallel link with shock absorbers, allowing the robot to conform to uneven terrain. In this paper, a design and development for the ASOC-driven omnidirectional mobile robot in rough terrain are described. Also, a control scheme that takes into account a kinematics of the omnidirectional mobile robot is presented. The omnidirectional mobility of the robot regardless of ifs heading direction is experimentally evaluated based on a metric called omnidirectional mobility index.

3 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The course was changed so that a minimum of 40% of topics directly addressed students’ major fields, and the principles of the change process can be broadly adopted and/or adapted to multiple programs.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe the change process for an undergraduate family studies course (HDFS 3320: Contemporary Family). As the course was required for students in majors (e.g., food & nutrition, fashion & interior design) outside of the family studies field, it was necessary to increase the cross-disciplinary relevance of the course. The change process involved (a) collaboration with other faculty members, (b) responding to student feedback and (c) refining the course model so that it could be used by more than one instructor. The course was changed so that a minimum of 40% of topics directly addressed students’ major fields. The lessons learned from this course transformation might be valuable for instructors/administrators who face the demands of an evolving student population. Some instructors have the freedom to teach courses as they wish. They might teach with little consideration of how well the course (a) fits into the departmental vision (e.g., LeBlanc, 2007), (b) serves the needs of various constituencies, such as students or college administrators (Boretz, 2004; Howell, Williams & Lindsay, 2003), (c) facilitates deep learning (the application of course concepts across multiple courses/environments – e.g., Hooyman, 2008) and/or (d) keeps pace with important family/developmental trends (Price & Brosi, 2006). This approach does not inherently imply that they are ineffectual or apathetic colleagues. To the contrary, such instructors might be quite dedicated to their courses. However, these instructors do not engage actively in issues outside of the classroom that are germane to the (a) course, (b) department curriculum, or (c) anticipated professional skill needs for students (e.g., Shell, 2001). Some instructors might consider such issues to be insignificant, but this attitude is not without consequence. For example, lack of sufficient engagement in curricular issues can create or expand fissures in family studies education (Davis & Sandifer-Stech, 2006). ____________________________________________________________________________ Direct correspondence to Dr. Jacki Fitzpatrick at Jacki.Fitzpatrick@ttu.edu Highlighting Cross-Disciplinary Relevance 92 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. Allen, Few, Roberto, Blieszner, Meszaros & Henderson, 2006; Busch, Powers, Metzger, Behroozi, Siegel & Cournoyer, 2001), (b) transform educational experiences for students (Blaisure & Koivunen, 2003; Sanders & Armstrong, 2008), and (c) be responsive to administrative/field-based issues in curriculum management. For such instructors, courses are not permanent or inflexible structures. Rather, classrooms are active environments of reflection, openness and refinement (Smith, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the change process for an undergraduate course (HDFS 3320: Contemporary Family). Although the specific course changes might not be particularly salient to other programs, the principles of the change process can be broadly adopted and/or adapted to multiple programs. Course Issues/Challenges At the time that I became involved in the course, prior instructors had taught the course in a manner that was consistent with a standard family studies textbook. The course followed a family developmental lifecycle model, and added a few topics about family problems, such as violence (see Table 1). This format might be a good design if (a) an Introduction to Family Science/Studies course is being taught and (b) there are few (if any) other family studies courses being offered in a department. This design might fit quite well in a community college or Department of Social Sciences. However, this was not the context for this specific course. It was an upper-level undergraduate course and one of many family courses in the department (Human Development and Family Studies, HDFS). Some course topics (e.g., marriage) were addressed (and repeated) in multiple courses. Indeed, the HDFS Department had separate courses that focused on research methods, gender roles, dating/marriage, parenting, aging families and family problems. Under these conditions, there were some questions as to whether the extent of course overlap was necessary or helpful. In addition, the course was a requirement for students in multiple majors (e.g., family studies, food & nutrition, hotel & restaurant management, fashion & interior design) in the College of Human Sciences. 1 So, instructors were challenged to meet the needs of (a) family studies students who might have high familiarity [based on other HDFS courses] and (b) all other students [from diverse majors] who might have low familiarity with course concepts. In my capacity as Associate Chair for the HDFS Department, I was asked by a Department Chair to address the challenges associated with the course. More specifically, the Department Chair reported that (a) faculty outside of Family Studies complained that the course was not sufficiently relevant to their students, (b) course instructors reported that students were resistant (in the classroom) because they did not see the applicability of course topics for them, and (c) course instructors felt challenged to balance student engagement with addressing the topics that were listed in the textbook. Highlighting Cross-Disciplinary Relevance 93 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. Theoretical Foundation for Course Change The theoretical foundation for this course change was engagement theory (e.g., Kearsley & Schneidermann, 1998). According to engagement theory, instructors have a responsibility to maximize the value of the learning environment for students. Instructors do not have to abandon academic standards to create an environment that students enjoy. Rather, instructors maintain standards as they focus on conveying information to create meaning for students (Fitzpatrick, Boden & Kostina-Ritchey, 2010). Engagement theory recognizes that instructors, students and colleagues are co-creators of the class. So, students have some rights to input in the course process. According to engagement theory, students will be more active learners if they have the opportunity for input (e.g., Kearsley & Schneidermann, 1998). Instructors are responsible for bringing their expertise and general structure to the classroom (Giordano, 2007), but engaged instructors understand that they can also be learners (Wong, 2007). The information that they can gain from colleagues and students can generate improvements that instructors might not have considered from their own perspective (e.g., Allen, Floyd-Thomas & Gillman, 2001). Through such collaboration, there is shared ownership (by all parties) of the educational value of the course. Change Procedures based on Engagement Theory Principles My first step was to identify the ways in which this course might make a unique educational contribution for (a) family studies majors and (b) students in other major fields who were also enrolled in the course. This required a willingness to reduce/eliminate topics (e.g., marriage, parenting) that were addressed typically in other courses offered by the Human Development and Family Studies Department. Second, I focused on fulfillment of the course title. If the course truly focused on contemporary families, then it was necessary to more fully address the diversity of family structures (e.g., childfree/childless couples, adoptive families, gay/lesbian families). After I completed these two tasks, I recognized that I could create more “space” to address relevancy issues. So, the third step was to meet with faculty in four different programs/departments. These programs represented other major fields/specialties in the College of Human Sciences (e.g., fashion & interior design, food & nutrition, personal/family financial management, hotel & restaurant management). During each meeting, I explained (a) my efforts to revise the course design, and (b) the essential family topics that could not be eliminated from the course. Then, I asked the faculty to identify topics that were (a) pertinent to their fields and (b) could be integrated into a family studies course. I explained that the instructors for this course were never going to have their level of expertise (e.g., in fashion, nutrition, finance). However, I did state that family studies instructors could draw more direct linkages between the course topics and the other Human Sciences fields/specialties. If faculty from other Highlighting Cross-Disciplinary Relevance 94 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. fields/specialties asked that a specific topic be added to the course, then I requested that they provide a value-added rationale. For example, some faculty who specialized in hotel & restaurant management asked that the topic “Work & Family” be addressed in the course. They explained that when students graduated and entered the profession, it was not uncommon for them (as new employees) to face long work shifts (of more than 60 hours per week). The faculty noted that there were important issues about work-family balance and/or work-family conflict that could be discussed. They noted that when students became full-time employees, they would face these issues for themselves and other staffmembers (whom they would supervise). These faculty asked that both workplace policies (e.g., Family and Medical Leave Act, flextime) and family strategies (e.g., tag team parenting) be discussed. Based on this rationale, I agreed that the topic of “Work & Family” could be addressed in the course. 2 However, I emphasized that the topic would be addressed from a ‘family studies’ approach (e.g., empirical research on work-family issues, public policy/practice-based literature) rather than from a ‘family advice’ approach (e.g

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, two female professors described their perspectives and experiences as two female instructors teaching courses on family diversity and used a feminist lens to discuss the teaching goals and strategies used in their courses, including self-awareness of the instructor, reducing hierarchy in the classroom, empowering students and caring for the individual student.
Abstract: In this paper, we narratively describe our perspectives and experiences as two female professors teaching courses on family diversity. We begin by outlining our subjectivities, including an explicit identification of the ways in which our identities are privileged versus not privileged. We then use a feminist lens to discuss the teaching goals and strategies used in our courses. The teaching goals discussed in this paper include: self-awareness of the instructor, reducing hierarchy in the classroom, empowering students, and caring for the individual student. Our strategies include: promoting dialogue, encouraging respect, and creating a class environment in which individuals feel safe enough to disagree. The paper concludes with a discussion of how instructors can use self-disclosures and personal experiences in their classes to help reduce the power hierarchy and facilitate learning. We recommend that every classroom in higher education be inclusive and respectful of diversity, which would perhaps increase the retention of all students.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: For example, the work of G. Randall as discussed by the authors has been used to teach a course focusing on personal, familial, and professional relationships across the life span, and provide opportunities for students to discover and interact with classical and current literature related to such concepts as the numerous theories regarding mate selection and relationship formation.
Abstract: Parker Palmer (1998) said it well: “We did not merely find a subject to teach – the subject also found us” (p. 25). In this brief article, I want to share with others what my subject has taught my students and me. Over the past 20 years, three particular assignments or practicums, as I call them in class, have consistently earned high commendations from my undergraduate students, students whose academic majors vary across the campus from engineering and technology to liberal arts and sciences. These three assignments, focusing primarily on the family of origin, interpersonal communication, and forgiveness, are the applied backbone of the course, Family Relations, an upper-level undergraduate course. Parker Palmer (1998), in his chapter on “The Heart of a Teacher,” reflected on the subjects that chose us and commented: We did not merely find a subject to teach – the subject also found us. We may recover the heart to teach by remembering how that subject evoked a sense of self that was only dormant in us before we encountered the subject’s way of naming and framing life. (p. 25) I grew up as an only child of older parents, experienced the death of my father three days after my fifteenth birthday, cared for my aging grandmother and mother (both of whom lived with my wife and me prior to their deaths) and together with my wife, raised/launched four children. Thus, it’s not a wonder to me that in my mid-life, I did not just decide to earn a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies with an emphasis on aging. Rather, as Palmer quipped, my subject certainly found me and I was privileged to respond. My first encounter with the naming and framing as Palmer calls it the theorizing and conceptualizing of patterns and constructs in adult and relationship development across the life span generated a renewed self; I immediately found very helpful and practical application for my own life experiences and that of my students. Now, years later, I continue to find renewal in reading, researching, and guiding others in the discovery of such applied science to their own lives and relationships. As the recipient of such positive influence in my own relationships personal, familial, and professional I am committed to raising the academic challenge for my students; my discipline is not trivial, it is foundational to their well-being. In fact, my own program of etiological and applied research, investigating the mechanisms that enhance life’s quality (and ultimately positive mental and physical health outcomes) across the life span, provides Direct correspondence to G. Kevin Randall, CFLE, Ph.D. at krandall@bradley.edu. Sharing My Journey With My Students 73 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. for my students (Bain, 2004; Light, 2001). As a result of captivation by my discipline, my natural response is to share the wealth with others, my students of course, and for the purpose of this paper, my colleagues and perhaps – hopefully – their students as well. Over the past 20 years, continuing refreshment, “fuel” for my teaching “fire,” and an academically challenging model three particular assignments or practicums, as I call them in class, have consistently earned high commendations from my undergraduate students, students whose academic majors vary across the campus from engineering and technology to liberal arts and sciences. These three assignments are the applied backbone of the course, Family Relations, an upper-level undergraduate elective for most students. The course focuses on personal, familial, and professional relationships across the life span, and provides opportunities for students to discover and interact with classical and current literature related to such concepts as the numerous theories regarding mate selection and relationship formation (White & Klein, 2002), the definition and development of love (Holman, 2001; Reiss, 1960), and the life-long influence of the family of origin (Conger, Lorenz, & Wickrama, 2004; Hendrick & Hendrick, 2000). However, the three practicums focus primarily on the family of origin, communication, and forgiveness and are designed to engage students for maximum learning. Fink’s (2003, p. 30) Taxonomy of Significant Learning includes six interactive dimensions: (a) foundational knowledge – understanding and remembering information and ideas; (b) application – skills, creative and critical thinking skills and the ability to manage projects; (c) integration – connecting ideas, people, and realms of life; (d) human dimension – learning about oneself and others; (e) caring – developing new feelings, interests, and values; and (f) learning how to learn – becoming a better student by inquiring about a subject and becoming a self-directed learner (p. 30). These applied assignments are designed to incorporate components from Fink’s dimensions furthering student engagement and ultimately, learning. Fink writes, “. . . achieving any one kind of learning simultaneously enhances the possibility of achieving the other kinds of learning as well” (p. 32). The first practical or applied project titled, “Family Ties,” introduces the students to stories or narratives as powerful tools for creating personal and familial identity accomplishing a number of purposes by addressing particular functions (e.g., answering questions such as “How did this family come to be?” or “How does this family support its members?”); my colleague Peter Martin and I wrote about this previously and included the “Family Ties” assignment as an appendix (see Randall & Martin, 2003). Students are encouraged to connect with a family member by explaining the assignment using Appendix A 1 and to develop their own unique family story addressing one or more of the functions of stories or narratives. This assignment encourages interaction with parents, grandparents, and other family members that often are either unstated or misunderstood. One student told me she “found her home” for the first time in over 20 years. Over the years, as a certified PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program; see www.prepinc.com) instructor, I’ve required students to read Markman, Stanley, and Blumberg’s (2010) work, Fighting for Your Marriage. In addition to their emphasis on use of the speaker-listener technique when couples encounter conflict-laden topics, the authors introduce other helpful tools such as the X-Y-Z statement (pp. 175-176). This tool forces the speaker to address the specific behavior of the other person (X), the specific situation (Y) in which the behavior occurred, and how the speaker feels as a result (Z). After working through examples with the class and having them develop statements of their own, I then introduce the second Sharing My Journey With My Students 74 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2011 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. assignment as an extension of the X-Y-Z statement (see Appendix B). It is based on the very practical communication book by Gary Smalley and John Trent (1992), The Language of Love, and in addition to teaching students about the value of emotional word pictures for interpersonal communication, the assignment has them construct one for their own use. In addition to the assignment itself, I provide examples from my own life and previous student examples. My students have used these to begin repair of broken relationships with significant others, parents, roommates, professors, and many other close relationships at home and at work. Often, once exposed to the concept in class through this assignment, students then choose to purchase the work by Smalley and Trent for deeper understanding and further application. Research on the highly salient and relational topic of forgiveness (Enright, 2001; Enright & North, 1998; McCullough, Pargament, & Thoresen, 2000) has grown in the past two decades to include family science topics such as relationships after divorce (Rye, Pargament, Pan, Yingling, Shogren, & Masako, 2005), health and well-being (Bono, McCullough, & Root, 2008; McCullough, 2000), marriage (Fincham, Hall, & Beach, 2006; Olmstead, Blick, & Mills, 2009), and close relationships (Eckstein, Sperber, & McRae, 2009; Tsang, McCullough, & Fincham, 2006). While some textbooks include sections on this important field of study (Bradbury & Karney, 2010; Knox & Schacht, 2010), few applied tools exist for use in the college classroom (see O’Neil, Davison, Mutchler, & Trachetenberg, 2005). After brief classroom orientation to the forgiveness research base and an overview of the process model (Enright, 2001), students are required to follow the steps in Appendix C. Over the years, students have found this assignment to be perplexing at first, but once engaged, extremely helpful. I do make a caveat when explaining the assignment that I’m not asking students to address anything that may require professional help and if there is a concern, the student should check with their counseling professional at home or at the university. However, quite a few times, students under a counselor’s direction have received permission to use the assignment as part of their interaction with the counselor. I find that not requiring a certain number of pages opens the doors for those students who wish to “open up” and reflect deeply – a 20 page paper is not unusual! Others, if they wish, may create a “fictitious” scenario and work through the model accordingly; it is the student’s choice. Regardless, they do engage with the process model and many report it is a truly liberating exercise. Father Martin Jenco (1995), a former hostage in Lebanon, now deceased, wrote: I don’t believe that forgetting is one of the signs of forgiveness. I forgive, but I remember. I do not forget the pain, the loneliness, the ache, the terrible injustice. But I do not remember it to inflict guilt or some future retribution. Having forgiven, I a

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: My starting points shifted to offering a view of what it means to be human—what humans are capable of, and how change can alter the authors' ideas of how change is possible and what the roots of fulfilling relationships are grounded in.
Abstract: To become effective as a family life educator, I didn't foresee the possibility of eventually rethinking the very foundations of my approach. I knew the task could not be limited to teaching about families (providing knowledge grounded in research and theory), but to teach for families (showing the roots of quality relationships and how to nourish them). But my search to understand why some people benefitted from family life classes (or from marriage and family therapy) and why some seemed immune to the knowledge I was offering led me to examine philosophy and theory more carefully. The result was a focus on something more fundamental than knowledge or skills. My starting points shifted to offering a view of what it means to be human—what humans are capable of. Our view of what it means to be human can alter our ideas of how change is possible and what the roots of fulfilling relationships are grounded in. As a consequence, I found myself more realistic and more confident about how family life education (FLE) can make a difference in the quality of relationships people long to experience.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Organized around three course objectives are six activities/assignments the author has found useful in promoting affective learning outcomes in introductory courses on aging to address particular postures toward aging and the aged often displayed by students in their late teens and early twenties.
Abstract: Organized around three course objectives are six activities/assignments the author has found useful in promoting affective learning outcomes in introductory courses on aging. The intent in developing these approaches was to address particular postures toward aging and the aged often displayed by students in their late teens and early twenties. In addition to describing these activities and assignments, the author reflects on student feedback in terms of the promise these activities and assignments hold for enabling students to more clearly discern their personal futures as older adults, and for motivating them to make changes in their present lives that will ensure successful aging in the future. Compared to the experience of teaching human development courses where the content centers on the first two decades of life, faculty who teach introductory undergraduate courses on aging often encounter student postures that require special pedagogical approaches. The term ―postures‖ refers collectively to a host of beliefs and attitudes about aging and the aged. In this paper, I share some of these approaches in the form of class activities and assignments that students have said in retrospect were thought-provoking and impactful. These activities and assignments are organized around three course objectives: Future time perspective and personal futurity, ageism and expectations about aging, and life course variability resulting from socio- historical influences. Admittedly, these are not the only course objectives undergirding an introductory course on aging, but they represent objectives designed to promote affective learning outcomes and address particular postures held by many students who have not yet celebrated their 25th birthday. Course Objective #1: Fostering a Sense of Personal Futurity

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored 35 undergraduates' experiences with collaborative activities designed to promote breadth and depth of students' understanding of developmental theories and found that they applied theory to practice, strengthened their own understanding of theory, experienced personal growth, and were engaged in the class as a result of the collaborative learning activities focused on developmental theories.
Abstract: Four collaborative learning activities were implemented in a lifespan development course. We explored 35 undergraduates’ experiences with collaborative activities designed to promote breadth and depth of students’ understanding of developmental theories. The findings of this study attest to students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning experiences. Five themes emerged from the study: application of theory, learning/teaching one another, personal growth, engagement, and theory acquisition. The undergraduates’ positive accounts suggest that they applied theory to practice, strengthened their own understanding of theory, experienced personal growth, and were engaged in the class as a result of the collaborative learning activities focused on developmental theories.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Reflections on Teaching Online Family Life Education 55 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association.
Abstract: Delivery of information and advice through the Internet has transformed the ways in which family life educators can teach about the important issues facing families. In this article I reflect on the lessons I have learned as a result of trying to use online delivery systems to conduct family life programs. These reflections highlight the opportunities and challenges faced by family life educators as they attempt to use new delivery systems and educational tools. In 1994 I had over a decade of experience as a family life educator. Little did I know that my work was about to dramatically change. That year I started a new job as Extension Family Life Specialist at The Ohio State University. When the computer technician installed my new computer he told me that he had included a new program called Mosaic that would allow me to access the World Wide Web. Although I had heard about the WWW, I knew very little about the Web, so over the next few months I began an exploration that continues to this day. I began trying to understand how it worked including reading books and articles about the Web. One particularly influential book was The Mosaic Handbook (Dougherty & Koman, 1994) which explained how the Web worked and provided basic instruction about how to create a website. For the next few months I taught myself website development. In those early days there was almost nothing on the Web that was related to children and families. Most of the material was about science and technology because these were the people who knew how to use this technology and had access to it. I thought that the web held much promise for family life education. Reflection: During my career as a family life educator there have been many changes and many new opportunities. It has been important to continually learn new skills and knowledge so that I can be a more effective family life educator. Professional Development Using the Internet My first attempt at using the Internet in my role as a family life educator was to conduct professional development via email and the use of a listserv. I knew that all of the county offices in Ohio had email and that by 1996 this technology was being used to communicate between the campus and county offices. Using email and a listserv seemed like a good way to teach county extension educators about family life. In 1996 I conducted an e-mail in-service course about issues related to children and divorce. (See Hughes, 1996a). The participants subscribed to an electronic listserv that allowed everyone to jointly discuss information. The course consisted of a series of six e-mail sessions about the effects of divorce on children and program strategies to address those issues. Following each email family life lesson, county educators were sent discussion questions and were encouraged to reply to the listserv with their ideas, questions and reactions to the lesson content. A panel of experts in divorce research and intervention also were enrolled on the listserv to discuss the ideas presented in each session. Direct correspondence to Robert Hughes, Jr. at hughesro@illinois.edu. Reflections on Teaching Online Family Life Education 55 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. During the first week that I sent the email lesson I spent much of my time on the phone with secretaries from county extension offices who were trying to understand how to use email software, how to subscribe to a listserv and how to deal with other technical problems related to the Internet. This first week I began to realize that most county extension professionals at that time were not reading their own email. Often a secretary managed the email, printed copies for staff and typed replies based on notes from staff. In the follow-up evaluation of the program, only about half of the participants used email themselves. Needless to say this level of Internet access and email usage did not make it easy for participants to actively participate in the discussion on the listserv. Reflection: Don’t assume that just because the technology tools exist and some people are using these tools that your audience is using the tools or using them in the way that

Proceedings Article
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, a method to classify urban scenes based on a super-voxel segmentation of sparse 3D data obtained from Lidar sensors is presented, where the 3D point cloud is first segmented into voxels which are then characterized by several attributes transforming them into supervoxels.
Abstract: Classification of urban range data into different object classes offers several challenges due to certain properties of the data such as density variation, inconsistencies due to holes and the large data size which requires heavy computation and large memory. A method to classify urban scenes based on a super-voxel segmentation of sparse 3D data obtained from Lidar sensors is presented. The 3D point cloud is first segmented into voxels which are then characterized by several attributes transforming them into super-voxels. These are joined together by using a link-chain method rather than the usual region growing algorithm to create objects. These objects are then classified using geometrical models and local descriptors. In order to evaluate the results, a new metrics is presented which combines both segmentation and classification results simultaneously. The proposed method is evaluated on standard datasets using three different evaluation metrics.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The Implicit Theories of the Marital Institution (ITMI) framework distinguishes beliefs about how fixed or malleable marriage is, and might assist in investigating how such beliefs are formed and influence premarital and marital behavior.
Abstract: The Implicit Theories of the Marital Institution (ITMI) framework distinguishes beliefs about how fixed or malleable marriage is, and might assist in investigating how such beliefs are formed and influence premarital and marital behavior. An initial study identified two distinct ITMI among a large, unmarried sample (n = 1,490). The ITMI were differentially predicted by a variety of background factors and other marital beliefs, and also served to moderate association between parents’ marital variables and young adults’ perspectives on getting married. ITMI also moderated the association between positive beliefs about marriage and perspectives on getting married.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Weisskirch et al. as discussed by the authors investigated a pedagogical approach in which students directly read and write about common misconceptions to see if this approach addresses their misconceptions and changes their understanding.
Abstract: Students often enter courses with prior knowledge that includes misconceptions about human development and behavior. Generally, curriculum is constructed to present research-based information that may serve to ameliorate these misconceptions. However, these misconceptions persist, which may require more direct intervention. In this study, we investigated a pedagogical approach in which students directly read and write about common misconceptions to see if this approach addresses their misconceptions and changes their understanding. In total, 75 undergraduate (females = 64, males = 11) students participated in the study, with 34 students in the experimental group and 41 students in the control group. Using a repeated-measures ANOVA, there were few significant changes in the students’ ratings of the truthfulness of the misconceptions. Revisions to the pedagogical approach examined in this study are suggested to strengthen its effectiveness. Students often come into courses on Human Development and Family Studies with some “truths” or “beliefs” about human behavior and development. It has been argued that human beings have natural capacities for developing early understandings within core domains of knowledge (Keil, 2008), and from these core domains of knowledge they have developed “folk, naïve, lay, or commonsense theories” based on their everyday experiences and understandings (Wellman & Gelman, 1992, p. 338). One key aspect is folk psychology, which consists of predisposed understandings of self, other individuals, and social groups (Geary, 2008), which research suggests develops early in life (Miller & Aloise, 1989). These folk systems of knowledge can be fraught with misconceptions because they have “embodied biases and heuristics” that, on the one hand, allow humans to “easily process useful forms of information and act on that information,” but, on the other hand, can lead to the tendency to draw misleading conclusions that are based on intuitive understandings rather than careful study of scientific evidence (Keil, p. 197). Indeed, Swami, Steiger, Pietschnig, Nader, and Voracek (2012) found that belief in human-related myths was significantly associated with antiscientific attitudes. Kowalski and Taylor (2009) noted that many college students not only enter classrooms with a wide variety of misconceptions but also leave those classrooms with the same erroneous beliefs intact, as evidenced by the Introduction to Psychology students in their study. ______________________________________________________________________________ Direct correspondence to Dr. Robert S. Weisskirch at rweisskirch@csumb.edu Evaluating a Pedagogical Strategy 80 Family Science Review ©2011 by the Family Science Association, All rights reserved. In order to bring about the conceptual change necessary to overcome these misconceptions, one key strategy instructors use is the engagement of students in reading, lectures, and discussions to directly refute their misconceptions (Vaughan, 1977). To evoke conceptual change, some instructors may build curriculum to provide authoritative, evidencebased content, which may “correct” these perceived truths or beliefs. These perceived truths or beliefs may provide organic heuristics for understanding the world but may not be as functional in the face of academic tasks that focus on evidence-based argumentation rather than those that are experience-based or traditional beliefs. Geary (2008) argued that human beings have the ability to “inhibit folk systems and engage in controlled problem solving,” and an important role of educational institutions is to leverage these inhibition systems to override the intuitive folk systems that students have developed (p. 182). However, Keil (2008) counters this position, having argued that schooling is “surprisingly ineffective at overriding some of the outputs of folk systems” and suggested that a primary goal of education is to generate explanatory gists that are at just the right level of detail, [and achieving this goal requires] knowing what students know, knowing what they could know after a reasonable period of instruction, and knowing what kinds of new knowledge would do them the most good at expanding their understanding of the world, enabling them to make informed decisions and more effective actions in relevant contexts. (p. 198) Both Keil and Geary argued that students must have educational opportunities to examine the misconceptions that emerge from their folk understandings, and that either “controlled problem solving” (Geary) or “explanatory gists” (Keil) in educational contexts will allow students to incorporate newly learned evidence and information to correct their misconceptions. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of the pedagogical strategy of engaging students in the task of exploring their commonly held misconceptions (or myths) about human development by providing them with scientific evidence and explanations that question the beliefs that they hold as “truths” with the goal of revising and expanding their understanding of human development. Using misconceptions embedded in students’ intuitive understanding as a pedagogical tool is a strategic teaching approach supported by Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development [ZPD].” This “social situation of development” through which a teacher can carefully construct a learning activity that leads to a “structural reorganization of a child’s [in this case, students’] psychological functions” thus advances the student’s own thinking and problem-solving processes to promote learning (Chaiklin, 2003, pp. 47-48). Keil (2008) argued that instructors should view folk understandings as assets rather than limitations, suggesting that “formal education often needs to build on intuitive knowledge systems rather than inhibit them [in order to] help students appreciate the limits of their understanding, [and] to outsource understanding to other minds” (p. 196). However, when misconceptions persist, they may inhibit learning. For example, Arntzen and his colleagues found that even with formal training, psychology undergraduate students, masters’ students, and even college professors held misconceptions about psychological concepts relevant to behavioral analysis (Arntzen, Lokke, Lokke, & Evaluating a Pedagogical Strategy 81 Family Science Review ©2011 by the Family Science Association, All rights reserved. Eilertsen, 2010). Misconceptions, therefore, can be resistant to change, even with the benefit of scientific knowledge. Retaining misconceptions may hamper students’ overall performance in a specific course (Kuhle, Barber, & Bristol, 2009), making addressing students’ misconceptions an important and necessary teaching goal for educators. Counterattitudinal advocacy is a pedagogical strategy for advancing student thinking that provides students with the opportunity to argue their own opinions (Miller, Wozniak, Rust, Miller, & Slezak, 2002), and thus may decrease the number of misconceptions held. Guzzetti (2000) supported the approach of offering students an opportunity to read refutational text that addresses a misconception and refutes the misconception with information supporting the truth. Using refutational text has been found to be more effective than just using a standard text that does not address the misconception (Hynd, Alvermann, & Qian, 1997). Refutational text may be more likely to induce cognitive dissonance in students by challenging their existing beliefs or knowledge with discrepant information and evidence. Through cognitive dissonance, students actively try to make sense out of what is puzzling them. Jonassen and Land (2000) argued that learning is a process of meaning making, and this process involves “dissonance between what we know and what we want or need to know,” thus pushing the learner to take ownership of his or her knowledge by actively constructing one’s own understanding to resolve the puzzlement and perturbation experienced by cognitive dissonance (p. vi). Kowalski and Taylor (2004) noted that the greatest change in misconceptions for introductory psychology students took place when instructors targeted the preconceived notions that were incorrect, and then provided counterevidence to support the correct information. In this study, instructors of an upper division human development course supplemented the course textbook with readings and written assignments using Mercer’s (2010) Child Development: Myths and Misunderstandings. By offering students opportunities to reflect on, and question, common misconceptions of human development (some of which may be their own), and structuring opportunities to learn about evidence from the field of family science that contradicts those misconceptions, we hypothesized that these students would be more likely to revise their understandings than students in other human development classes who did not directly address myths and misunderstandings using a refutational text (i.e., Mercer’s book).

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: I recount my career as a family scientist through a relationship lens, describing important career paths and turning points substantially influenced by my colleagues.
Abstract: I recount my career as a family scientist through a relationship lens, describing important career paths and turning points substantially influenced by my colleagues. My self- described life of privilege in family science began with schooling in individual psychology, and experiences with youth in an adolescent psychiatric setting. My early family science career was spent as a graduate student in Kansas and in North Carolina, and continued with faculty appointments at Virginia Tech and The University of Georgia. Along the way I have collaborated with a collection of excellent family scholars, who also are equally excellent as people. This has resulted in a career centered on the resilience and vulnerabilities of families, and one enriched by relationships, connections, and networks.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: This essay describes how the author has used researchand theorybased concepts to inform her instructional practice, as well as the ways they facilitate critical thinking processes such as complexity, flexibility, multiple perspectives, self-reflection, insightfulness, and systemic analysis.
Abstract: The journeys of being a family science educator, researcher, and parent are arguably intertwined. This essay describes how the author has used researchand theorybased concepts to inform her instructional practice. Three interrelated instructional devices—a conceptual model, cooperative learning teams, and a classwithin-a-class format—are described as they have been implemented in an undergraduate course on parent-child relations. The strength of these devices seems to lie in the way they utilize processes that also underlie effective parenting, such as synchrony, attunement, and scaffolding. The essay describes how these instructional methods play out in the classroom, as well as the ways they facilitate critical thinking processes such as complexity, flexibility, multiple perspectives, self-reflection, insightfulness, and systemic analysis. I began formally teaching and researching parenting the same year I became a parent. That child recently turned 21, and I have been reflecting on my journey as a parent. I’ve also been reflecting on my journey to becoming an effective educator and researcher. What I’ve realized is that these three roles are inextricably intertwined for me. As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by children. At a recent reunion, a friend recalled how, when I was 14, we visited a commune in the hills of Tennessee. I jumped out of the van and began playing with the little kids, running through the fields and barns with them. One of the hippie moms apparently proclaimed, ―She’s juicy!‖ So I’ve always had that ―juicy passion‖ for children. I decided I wanted to be a pediatrician because I was interested in children and wanted to help families, and also because I wanted to do something challenging and non-traditional for females. I went to a year of medical school and decided it was not for me; the way we were to learn about children and families, at least in the first year medical curriculum, was through rote memorization. After a bit of an identity crisis, I got permission to take three graduate courses in Child and Family Studies as a special student. I had never had a family science or human development class and knew nothing about the field. But I came home the night after my first class and told my husband, ―This is it; this is what I want to do! You get to read these research articles and decide for yourself whether they are finding something worthwhile. And you get to study theories and use those ideas to figure out what needs to be studied next, and then you get to design your own studies!‖ I was thrilled with the opportunity to use both creative and analytic thinking to study children and families. I couldn’t sleep that night, and I have been excited about the field ever since. Direct correspondence to Amanda Harrist at amanda.harrist@okstate.edu. Doing What I Teach 63 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. Flash forward ten years. In the research arena, I had established my field of study as parent-child interaction—specifically parent-child synchrony and the attunement and scaffolding involved in that—and its relation to the development of young children’s social competence. As an instructor, I had developed and taught regularly an undergraduate course on parent-child relations through the lifespan. I had received no ―teacher training‖ in my doctoral program (I guest lectured twice as a graduate student; that was the extent of my training) but had tried lots of varying approaches over the years. Through trial-and-error learning, I thought I knew what made for good undergraduate instruction and had made a good-faith effort to develop and implement a strong parenting course. However, I needed to do something more to better facilitate student learning. As it turned out, the secret was in applying what I knew about ―good parenting‖ to my instructional approach. Teaching an undergraduate course in parent-child relations: What I tried and what wasn’t working. I had been allowed to design the parenting course, and because of my research program, was especially excited about teaching it. I had the additional benefit of having taught our required introductory human development course for years, so was familiar with what the students would—or at least should—know coming into the parenting class. Because it was an upper-division course, students were expected to complete written assignments and essay exams, not just take multiple-choice tests. Enrollment was almost 100 students each semester. I put together what I considered to be a strong syllabus. I did not ―lecture from the book‖ but chose topics that were supplementary, and never lectured without attempting to elicit student comments. I presented current research in an accessible way. I included a good dose of the kind of ―practical application‖ students tended to be interested in (e.g., ―Should babies be put on a sleep schedule?‖). I showed interesting video clips. I tied what they had learned in their intro class to what we were talking about in this class. I was enthusiastic and committed to actively engaging the students in learning. In short, I was giving everything I had to this class. Their test scores seemed to indicate the students were learning something in the course. I always felt pretty good about how the class was going... until the end of the semester. I assigned an end-of-semester project that students were to complete and present to the class. The project required choosing a parenting book written for the lay public and critiquing it based on what we’d learned across the semester. As I listened to the presentations and read their reports, I realized that many students had internalized relatively little of what I thought they had been learning in the class. I sought to determine where I had failed, and ultimately decided that the weakness of the class was at the level of integration: Students were not making connections. I now believe this failure to make connections was occurring at several levels: (1) Students were not connecting ideas across each section of the course. After taking an exam, that material was compartmentalized or forgotten. For example, when we discussed autonomy-granting in adolescence, students gave no indication that we had learned about autonomy-granting in toddlerhood. I had thought that these connections would occur naturally, simply because of the way I’d structured the course. (This false assumption reminds me of a startling discovery I made the first semester I taught: I Doing What I Teach 64 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. believed my lectures were organized in such a clear and logical manner that students would easily discern the main points and sub-points. I thought their notes would look a lot like mine. This illusion was shattered when I found a notebook a student accidentally left in the classroom. Her notes from the day’s lecture were written as one long paragraph, sort of a jargon-seasoned word salad. After that, I posted an outline at the beginning of each class and referred explicitly to each new heading as we moved through the period.) (2) Students were not connecting theory to research. They could not talk about how the developmental changes in adolescence might impact the family as a system, for example, even though they had been able to write about Family Systems Theory on the first exam when we had reviewed theories relevant to parenting. (3) Students were not connecting research and theory to applied issues. When a religiouslyoriented parenting book suggested parents need to ―change the child’s heart,‖ students could not tell me what psychological variable we had learned about that was the equivalent of a child’s ―heart‖ (much less why it didn’t need to be changed). My challenge, therefore, was to find instructional approaches that would help students make these connections. My mistake had been assuming students were making these connections themselves; my goal was to find a way to scaffold the connections for the students throughout the semester, so that the connections remained for them at the end. I subsequently have developed and incorporated approaches that I believe have accomplished this purpose, or at least moved us closer to it. I have tried a lot of different things, but have identified three interrelated methods that seem to be the most effective for me and my students: the use of (a) a conceptual model, (b) cooperative learning teams, and (c) a class-within-a-class. I turned to these methods after experiencing a classic ah-ha moment (or, rather, a series of mini ah-has, if that’s possible): I realized that I could use what I knew (and taught) about parenting to become a better teacher. Teaching What I Do: Researching and Teaching about Parenting Concepts Synchrony refers to mutually focused, balanced, reciprocal interactions (see Brazelton & Als, 1979; Field, Healy, Goldstein, & Guthertz, 1990). It refers to the style rather than the content of interaction (Harrist, Pettit, Dodge, & Bates, 1994; Pettit & Mize, 1993). In developmental science, synchrony has typically been studied among parent-child dyads. This research suggests that children from dyads who engage in high rates of synchrony benefit in multiple ways, including better homeostatic regulation in infancy, easier compliance in toddlerhood, and more competent peer relations in early childhood (see Harrist & Waugh, 2002, for a review). Although synchrony is dyadic, when the child is young, there is arguably a greater burden on the parent for facilitating and maintaining synchrony. Two key processes used by parents who do this successfully are attunement and scaffolding: Attunement is the process of reading or sensing another's state and adjusting one’s behavior accordingly (Dombrowski, Timmer, Blacker, & Urquiza, 2005; Stern, 1985; Strand 2000); scaffol

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: Feistman as mentioned in this paper found that an educator can better manage the fluidity that makes families unique by fostering a safe and open learning environment, working through power hierarchies, and appreciating student context.
Abstract: This reflection focuses on the career path and teaching philosophy of a family educator in the middle of his career. Varied experiences within schools and universities in multiple countries produced a teaching philosophy that revolves around the perspectives and needs of the student. The author finds that an educator can better manage the fluidity that makes families unique by fostering a safe and open learning environment, working through power hierarchies, and appreciating student context. “Everyone sucks their first year of teaching; it takes 5 years to become good, 10 years to become great, and 20 to become a Master.” – My first teaching mentor While time alone does not make a good teacher, I feel the heart of what my mentor expressed was that experience matters. According to the quote above I have the potential to be a great teacher (I am in my 10 th professional year of teaching) and am still a while away from reaching the ranks of master. There is a reason someone survives for decades in a high turnover field such as education. Over time, experience builds a teaching philosophy. While building my philosophy I have found the experiences of the families I interact with to be more important than my own experiences as a family educator. Putting the experiences of the family above my own has helped me to negotiate the fluidity and variety that makes each family unique. Working as an educator in contexts ranging from the middle schools of New York, the universities of Cambodia and China, and the communities of the American Midwest has taught me that an educator benefits from incorporating the background of the target audience as well as respecting the audience themselves. This is accomplished by fostering a safe and open learning environment while also transcending the power hierarchies between teacher and student. While a teacher cannot eliminate all the power hierarchies in the environment they work in, they can at least negotiate those hierarchies for the betterment of their students. Female and other marginalized perspectives are particularly important to acknowledge because of their history of being ignored and oppressed by the dominant power structures that influence education (e.g., politics, government). My future career will be centered on integrating the domains of education and research; however, for the purposes of this reflection, I look back on my limited, but colorful career as an educator who works with and teaches about families. Fostering a Safe and Open Learning Environment Creating an environment that is conducive for learning is a skill that took some time for me to develop. My first major step in the development of my educational philosophy came in the middle school classrooms of Washington Heights in northern Manhattan. When I entered the New York public schools, I was idealistic and wide-eyed in my search to help children. I joined a program called the Columbia Urban Educators (CUE). This program, similar to the model of Teach for America and the Peace Corps, took undergraduates with freshly printed bachelors‟ degrees and placed them in the most underserved, hard to staff classrooms in the United States. Direct correspondence to Richard Feistman at richardfeistman@mail.missouri.edu. Reflections of a Good, but Aspiring to be Great Teacher 18 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. CUE specifically took undergrads from Columbia University, promised them a master‟s degree from Teachers College, and more importantly, gave them the opportunity to serve those who were in need. For a new, young teacher it was the perfect opportunity. My experiences during those five years as a middle school teacher were varied and intense. The school building was four stories tall and took up nearly a city block, not counting the annex across the street. Nearly every student in the school qualified for free lunches. Over 90% of the student body spoke English as a second language (most of which had cultural roots in the Dominican Republic), and 30% of the student body spoke little or no English. The school was fraught with problems such as high teacher turnover; multiple positions were vacant and the school was desperate for teachers to accept leadership roles. This gave me ample opportunities to try on different roles and responsibilities within the school. Officially, I taught social studies, but unofficially I taught nearly every subject while „covering‟ other classrooms. Covering was a term used when a teacher would teach classes that were missing teachers due to teacher illness or when no actual teacher was in place for that position; this was relatively common because of high teacher turnover. I worked on the school leadership councils, learning how the district level edicts were enforced and how schools created their plans for curricula, known as the comprehensive education plan. I helped to develop a track team, a sports league, and a student government, none of which existed when I arrived at the school. A hefty amount of my disposable income went into buying supplies for these endeavors that the school would support, but could not fund. I even became what the school termed a Team Advocate after my 2 nd year of teaching, which meant I was a teacher who also lead an academy of other teachers and students and supported the assistant principal in supervision duties. This is where I learned how to simultaneously move, feed, organize, and discipline 1000 students ranging in age from 10-17 in a 45 minute lunch period, a fire drill, or an assembly. I was the overambitious, workaholic that teacher recruitment programs love. The first two years of my teaching career involved watching my peers quit in rapid succession. By my 4 th year, only 1 of the other 13 new teachers that started the program with me remained. My first years of teaching were a trial by fire that involved making a mistake and then correcting that mistake. With the help of a support network of other teachers, I was able to learn from those rookie mistakes and maintain enough sanity to stay in the profession. Over my time as an educator I have found that before I can figure out what I learned from an experience, it is essential for me to identify where I failed. One of the reasons I consider myself a quality educator is that I have made so many mistakes. Things that I tried, but found not to work in fostering an open environment include:  Poor organization – Once I started writing my lessons the summer before the semester began I was able to focus on classroom environment and individual student needs at night instead of scrambling to figure out what I was doing with the content.  Inflexibility Those lesson plans are important, but in real life situations students‟ emotional states, classroom retention of material, and school time constraints are what truly determine the length of a project.  Misplaced expectations A wise, older teacher once saw me in the hall calling the assistant principal‟s office looking for help with a student; she smiled and calmly said „They ain‟t coming honey,‟ and kept walking.  A lack of follow through – I once told students they will sit there until they finish their assignment and when the bell rang in 5 minutes, I looked pretty stupid as they all left the classroom to go to their next class. Reflections of a Good, but Aspiring to be Great Teacher 19 Family Science Review, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2012 © 2012 by the Family Science Association. All rights reserved. Educators have a short period of time to establish themselves as someone worthy of attention; and organization, flexibility, realistic expectations, and follow-through are what establish that attention. This is something I have found to transcend age, race, and class; students might be sitting there and even enjoy you as a person, but that does not mean they are paying attention. Unfortunately, I have found that some educators take this need to control a classroom too far and this results in an abuse of their power as educators. Educators must be very careful about how they manage the power relationships between themselves and their students or they could potentially be repeating some of the power abuses that are so pervasive outside the classroom (e.g., presenting one perspective as the only „true‟ perspective). Working Through Power Hierarchies As my teaching philosophy has developed, I have become more concerned about the interactions within families and the power relations between family professionals and the families they serve. The first time I was responsible for the actions of others was as a teenaged athletic team captain or Boy Scout leader in Los Angeles. This was a time before I had concerns about power relationships and student development. In fact, at that time all I really wanted was for the person I was talking with to do what I was telling them. In retrospect this was not the best way to pass knowledge; however, it is a form of education I still notice when I observe other educators. I believe the view of students as empty vessels that need to be filled is a naïve, but powerful perspective that presents itself in many of the troubles faced by educators. While my philosophy on education was not built much in these early experiences, I discovered an essential trait about myself that many educators probably share I enjoy being the one who gives directions and I like being looked to for the answers. It took me a little longer before I learned how to help people answer questions for themselves. Having answers is one source of a teacher‟s power. It is an important aspect of being a teacher, but it can also lead to the mistaken assumption that the teacher should be the only one with the power in the student-teacher relationship. Over time I found that methods that introduce student input into the classroom help to work around rigid teacher-student power dynamics. An educator wi