Postdoctoral scholars constitute a sizeable population within the academic workforce. Given the intended role of a postdoc position as a time of advanced training and professional development for a future academic career, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, it is important to understand whether and how well the career-related needs of postdocs are being met. The purpose of this research was to understand STEM postdoctoral scholars’ career trajectories, with particular attention to the influences on their career-related decision making, by applying the Life Experiences and Role Negotiations (LEARN) model to qualitative data from interviews with 19 STEM postdocs. Findings reveal the multiple influences on postdocs’ career-related decisions and how these shape postdocs’ career trajectories. Based on our findings, we offer three suggestions for how institutional and national policies and programs can best support the career development of postdocs

Early career teachers (ECTs) are situated in a dynamic contextual landscape that both influences their development and practice and dictates professional expectations for instruction and professional learning. This systematic review of international research literature sought to establish the understanding of teacher induction and mentoring program support of ECTs through the following research questions: 1) which nations and regions are represented in research literature that details formal or programmatic support of ECTs? 2) what international research evidence is there to describe various contextual factors that affect experiences of ECTs? and, 3) how do teacher induction and mentorship programs respond to the various contextual factors affecting ECTs? Upon detailing our review method and sampling procedures, we synthesize the convergences and divergences of the findings within each of the contextual factors. The conceptualization of contextual factors in this review included social, political, cultural, organizational, and personal forces that influence the professional practices of ECTs. Finally, we summarize the review findings in a heuristic model that offers a visual representation of the implications of our findings, and discuss the implications for policy, practice, and future research.

Complex Problem Solving (CPS) can be defined as those psychological processes that enable a person to achieve goals under complex conditions, which are characterized by their complexity, connectivity, dynamics, lack of transparency, and polytely. Although many hypothesized influences have previously been tested concerning their relevance for the process of solving complex problems (e.g., general intelligence), results were often found to be rather heterogeneous. As this was found to be partially caused by fundamental differences between measurements of CPS, a new operationalization was used in the present study: Following the Microworld approach, CPS was assessed in the simulation game Cities: Skylines, as its aptitude as a Microworld could be justified from a theoretical perspective. A parameter for CPS performance was defined to investigate the following hypotheses: Both reasoning and achievement motivation were expected to be positively correlated to CPS performance. Furthermore, a gender difference favoring male participants was expected. Participants in the present study (N = 27) first provided demographic information, then subsequently completed a short test of reasoning and an objective personality test of achievement motivation, and finally were given a mission in a complex scenario implemented in Cities: Skylines. The results supported all three hypotheses, indicating significant small to moderate positive relationships of both reasoning and achievement motivation with CPS performance, and a significant gender difference favoring male participants in CPS performance. Furthermore, significant gender differences favoring males were also found for reasoning and achievement motivation. Results are discussed and the Microworld operationalization is evaluated.

The Reggio Emilia approach offers children a unique experience of self-exploration embedded in the arts. This has strong links with multimodal teaching and learning. This is based on the argument that they both offer children the opportunity to communicate in multimodal ways such as drawing, drama play, gestures, music and speaking whilst placing children at the centre of their learning. This paper focuses on the concept of multimodal learning and discusses the Reggio Emilia approach and the arts approach in an effort to create links with the contents of multimodal learning. Furthermore, it compares and contrasts both approaches and identifies similarities and differences.

Responsible, respectable, and successful engagement in research and scholarship in academia requires adherence to certain basic professional ethical principles to sustain the fidelity of academic work and the integrity of the researcher-scholar. This is more so for works which are intended for dissemination, information, attention, and consumption of audiences beyond the researcher-scholar’s proximal academic habitat. Ethical principles in research and scholarship apply whether the intended work, to be made public, is a conceptual scholarly narrative of ideas and thoughts or a narration of actual scientific-process-based research. This paper explores some of the key ethical principles in research and scholarship, their applications, and implications. Emerging ethical requirements, based on the 2018 updates to the Common Rule for Institutional Review Board, are explored. Criteria for meeting international ethical requirements and processes in research and scholarship are outlined with guidelines for authorship. Implications for current and future need for fidelity, integrity and trustworthiness in the academic enterprise are stressed.

This paper considers the relationship between education and hospitality in the specific context of moments of incivility in classrooms, with special attention to racial/white resentment. The authors reflect on the extent to which nurturing intellectual candor with interpretive charity (Callan, 2011) can be extended to incivility shaped by white resentment. They contend there is a need to approach hospitality as responsibility (Levinas, 1969, thereby suggesting conditions for student agency. The relationship between the educator as host and giver of hospitality and the students as guests and respondents is discussed (Ruitenberg, 2011b). The paper argues the role of the teacher is key to ensuring those at the receiving end of the perceived attack are able to reclaim hospitality by being given the space and the means to respond to the offense with agency. This paper discusses the need for parameters balancing free speech and teaching moments with restoring agency to the marginalized others. Finally, the study proposes responding to racial resentment requires framing teaching moments within an ethic of responsibility which aims to restore agency for those on the receiving end of racial incivility.