The Science Of Diversity

The Science of Diversity uses a multidisciplinary approach to excavate the theories, principles, and paradigms that illuminate our understanding of the issues surrounding human diversity, social equality, and justice. The book brings these to the surface holistically, examining diversity at the individual, interpersonal, and international levels. Shedding light on why diversity programs fail, the book provides tools to understand how biases develop and influence our relationships and interactions with others.

"Using a multidisciplinary approach, The Science of Diversity reveals the theories, principles, and paradigms that illuminate people's understanding of the issues surrounding human diversity, social equality, and justice. Noted psychologist and educator Dr. Mona Weissmark assembles a rich array of research from anthropology, biology, religious studies, and the social sciences to write a scholarly diorama of diversity. This book contextualizes diversity historically, tracing the evolution of ideas about "the other" and about "we" and "them" to various forms of social organization-from the "hunter-gather," face-to-face, shared resource model to the anomie of megacities. Moreover, it explicates the concept of diversity, analyzing its meaning over time, place, and polity-from ancient Greece to the time of Donald Trump, from biblical parables to United Nations pronouncements. Ultimately, drawing on the author's groundbreaking research work with the children of Nazis and the children of holocaust survivors, the book suggests that one potential antidote to ethnic strife lies in the pursuit of Immanuel Kant's mandate, sapere aude (dare to know), combined with the development of compassion"--

Reflecting the very latest theory on diversity issues in science education, including new dialogic approaches, this volume explores the subject from a range of perspectives and draws on studies from around the world. The work discusses fundamental topics such as how we conceptualize diversity as well as examining the ways in which heterogeneous cultural constructs influence the teaching and learning of science in a range of contexts. Including numerous strategies ready for adoption by interested teachers, the book addresses the varied cultural factors that influence engagement with science education. It seeks answers to the question of why increasing numbers of students fail to connect with science education in schools and looks at the more subtle impact that students’ individually constructed identities have on the teaching and learning of science. Recognizing the diversity of its audience, the book covers differing levels and science subjects, and examines material from a range of viewpoints that include pedagogy, curricula, teacher education, learning, gender, religion, and ICT, as well as those of in-service and trainee teachers at all levels.

The updated Third Edition of this best seller presents a highly readable examination of diversity from a unique psychological perspective to teach students how to understand social and cultural differences in today’s society. By exploring how individuals construct their view of social diversity and how they are defined and influenced by it, author B. Evan Blaine and new coauthor Kimberly J. McClure Brenchley present all that psychology has to offer on this critically important topic. The new edition features chapters on traditional topics such as categorization, stereotypes, sexism, racism, and sexual prejudice, in addition to chapters on nontraditional diversity topics such as weightism, ageism, and social stigma. Integrated throughout the text are applications of these topics to timely social issues.

This book provides an introduction to the role of diversity in complex adaptive systems. A complex system--such as an economy or a tropical ecosystem--consists of interacting adaptive entities that produce dynamic patterns and structures. Diversity plays a different role in a complex system than it does in an equilibrium system, where it often merely produces variation around the mean for performance measures. In complex adaptive systems, diversity makes fundamental contributions to system performance. Scott Page gives a concise primer on how diversity happens, how it is maintained, and how it affects complex systems. He explains how diversity underpins system level robustness, allowing for multiple responses to external shocks and internal adaptations; how it provides the seeds for large events by creating outliers that fuel tipping points; and how it drives novelty and innovation. Page looks at the different kinds of diversity--variations within and across types, and distinct community compositions and interaction structures--and covers the evolution of diversity within complex systems and the factors that determine the amount of maintained diversity within a system. Provides a concise and accessible introduction Shows how diversity underpins robustness and fuels tipping points Covers all types of diversity The essential primer on diversity in complex adaptive systems

Worries about scientific objectivity just won t go away, but by now, it s safe to say, no one who reflects on the appropriate role of values and interests in scientific research thinks it is or could be free of them. It now seems obvious that social, political, and economic values and interests influence research on weapons, for example, or health and the environment. Yet the dominant late twentieth-century philosophies of science have tended to conceptualize the reliability and predictive power of the results of research as damaged by such values and interests, and they continue to do so in spite of powerful analyses of how sciences operate in practice and in spite of the rise around the globe in the last four decades of various forms of participatory action research and citizen science, both of which take their research agendas from the concerns of disadvantaged groups. Why are the epistemic/scientific norm of objectivity and the social/political norm of diversity still perceived as inevitably in conflict with each other? Why aren t they perceived as in conflict only sometimes, but many times as providing valuable resources for each other? How can we promote science that is both more epistemically adequate and socially just? Sandra Harding probes these questions with clarity and concrete cases, and in doing so puts severe pressure on conventional philosophies of science and points to intellectually sounder and politically more progressive ways to think about them. She proposes a new way to relink sciences and their philosophies to democratic social relations, even while these are themselves undergoing transformations. A must read for anyone interested in how to think about the politics of science globally."

Two leading science educators provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-field analysis of current trends in the research, policy, and practice of science education. This book offers valuable insights into why gaps in science achievement among racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic groups persist, and points toward practical means of narrowing or eliminating these gaps. Lee and Buxton examine instructional practices, science–curriculum materials (including computer technology), assessment, teacher education, school organization, federal and state policies, and home-school connections. Book features: A synthesis of the emerging body of research in the field of science education and its application to practice and policy. A description of effective practices for narrowing science achievement gaps among demographic subgroups of students. A focus on the unique learning needs of English language learners. An analysis of major science education initiatives, interventions, and programs that have been successful with nonmainstream students.

All people are equal but, as Human Diversity explores, all groups of people are not the same -- a fascinating investigation of the genetics and neuroscience of human differences. The thesis of Human Diversity is that advances in genetics and neuroscience are overthrowing an intellectual orthodoxy that has ruled the social sciences for decades. The core of the orthodoxy consists of three dogmas: - Gender is a social construct. - Race is a social construct. - Class is a function of privilege. The problem is that all three dogmas are half-truths. They have stifled progress in understanding the rich texture that biology adds to our understanding of the social, political, and economic worlds we live in. It is not a story to be feared. "There are no monsters in the closet," Murray writes, "no dread doors we must fear opening." But it is a story that needs telling. Human Diversity does so without sensationalism, drawing on the most authoritative scientific findings, celebrating both our many differences and our common humanity.

Are our personalities and capabilities predetermined by our genes? Human Diversity answers that question with a resounding 'No'. Using tools of population genetics, Richard Lewontin makes the case that biological differences are only a small part of what makes individuals unique-anyone, regardless of race, class or sex, has the potential to develop virtually any identity within the spectrum of humanity.

The Psychology of Diversity presents a captivating social-psychological study of diversity, the obstacles confronting it, and the benefits it provides. Goes beyond prejudice and discrimination to discuss the personal and social implications of diversity for both majority and minority group members Considers how historical, political, economic, and societal factors shape the way people think about and respond to diversity Explains why discrimination leads to bias at all levels in society – interpersonal, institutional, cultural, and social Describes proven techniques for improving intergroup relations Examines the brain's impact on bias in clear terms for students with little or no background in neuroscience Includes helpful study tools throughout the text as well as an online instructor’s manual