The Bunkum Awards are a sort of beauty contest for ugly people. Bestowed by the National Education Policy Center housed at the University of Colorado at Boulder, they reward the most "nonsensical, confusing, and disingenuous" studies of education published each year. Contestants are drawn from reports critiqued by the Think Tank Review…

International Society for Technology in Education's award winners exemplify what it means to be innovative, engaging, and connected. It is not difficult to find excellent educators among ISTE's membership. After all, people who join ISTE tend to be some of the most innovative teachers in the world. What is difficult is selecting the best from the…

From schools across the UK, 250 science subject leaders are taking part in this year's Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) scheme, seeking to achieve an award to celebrate the quality of science teaching and learning in their schools. It is a new award scheme and has attracted lots of interest. The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has…

Few APPA members have contributed as much in as many areas over as many years as the 2010 recipients of APPA's highest individual honor, the APPA Fellow. This article introduces two recipients of the 2010 APPA Fellows, Margaret "Maggie" Kinnaman, who retired as director for business administration for the facilities division at the University of…

An analysis is presented of the varieties of activities that have been recognized in the Nobel Prizes in chemistry. Five different varieties are identified: exploration, description, synthesis, theorizing, and measurement. Prizes in chemistry have been distributed roughly equally among these five categories. The number of awards in each category…

Presents a short biography of one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology. The 2012 winner is Laurie R. Santos for creative and insightful investigations of cognition across a broad range of species and psychological domains, illuminating cognitive…

Students' experience of higher education comprises not only their academic studies but also their extracurricular activities. This article reports on the findings from a mixed-methods research project, exploring in detail the nature and value of extracurricular activity engagement and the significance of institutional schemes encouraging…

The purpose of this case study was to explore with twelve community college professors what they perceived is needed to meet the varied and unique needs of their students. This research attempts to develop a fuller understanding of how professors gain teaching proficiency. The participant sample consisted of 12 faculty members who are recipients…

Support for the Learning and Teaching of English (SLATE) is a vital part of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), serving as the "action wing" for members. Along with providing expert testimony at state and national hearings, SLATE's presence in the intellectual arena has most often taken the form of newsletters and "Starter Sheets,"…

Allusions to culture and religion frequently appear in Hispanic American children's literature. These allusions resonate with those who share the culture and help those students connect with the book. These same allusions inform those who are not of the culture and broaden their understanding. This paper will provide examples of such allusions…

A train barrels directly toward a stone wall. It looks like a disaster is inevitable. Suddenly, a group of railroad workers run to a switch that changes the direction of the train. They reroute the train onto a new track by throwing the switch just in time. Perhaps you had not known what to do, nor were you strong enough to do it yourself, but you…

Most of the colleges and universities that have received U.S. Department of Education Models of Exemplary, Effective, and Promising Alcohol or Other Drug Abuse Prevention Programs on College Campuses grants credit strong presidential leadership for the success of their prevention efforts. With many colleges and universities currently facing budget…

Mere days before the announcement of the new children's book ambassador, speculation was still running wild. However, when the Library of Congress introduced Katherine Paterson as the new kids' book ambassador on January 5, the choice was greeted with unrivaled enthusiasm. A two-time winner of the Newbery Medal (for "Bridge to…

In marketing, as in many other academic disciplines, new scholars are often taught a simple formula for the achievement of professional success: the single-minded pursuit of "A"-level journal publications. Although the goal of producing high-quality research that is ultimately published in top level journals is certainly worthwhile, the attainment…

The impacts and challenges of implementing an NIH/NICHD Extramural Associate Research Development Award (EARDA) at a private Minority-Serving-Institution (MSI) are examined. This article outlines efforts to gain institutional buy-in and challenges encountered in creating a functioning Office of Sponsored Research and implementing research policies…