A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education is the US report on the curriculum analysis component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which was sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The report summarizes data from the TIMSS curriculum analysis and integrates it with teacher questionnaire data from the US, Japan, and Germany on science and mathematics topic coverage and instructional practices. The authors of A Splintered Vision discuss and provide evidence of the unfocused nature of US mathematics and science curricular intentions, textbooks, and teacher practices. They offer the premise that producers of US textbooks and curriculum guides have attempted to answer calls for curricular reform by adding new content to already existing materials instead of devoting time to restructuring the materials. The authors also suggest that US teachers, inundated with a myriad of competing visions, are attempting to cover all the topics they confront in their resource documents and to meet all the instructional demands placed on them by those with a stake in education. In keeping with the `incremental assembly line' philosophy in American society, US teachers also tend to lean toward a piecemeal approach to education. The authors speculate on what such practices may mean for the mathematics and science achievement of US students. The work is sure to spur discussion among educational researchers, policy makers, and others concerned about the future of mathematics and science education in the US.

J. R. R. Tolkien is perhaps best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it is in The Silmarillion that the true depth of Tolkien's Middle-earth can be understood. The Silmarillion was written before, during, and after Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A collection of stories, it provides information alluded to in Tolkien's better known works and, in doing so, turns The Lord of the Rings into much more than a sequel to The Hobbit, making it instead a continuation of the mythology of Middle-earth. Verlyn Flieger's expanded and updated edition of Splintered Light, a classic study of Tolkien's fiction first published in 1983, examines The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning. Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's use of Barfield's concept throughout the fiction, showing how his central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-earth.

Facing the Consequences presents a perspective on US mathematics and science education that is developed from data gathered as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). TIMSS is the most extensive and far-reaching cross-national comparative study of mathematics and science education ever attempted. It includes comparing official curricula, textbooks, teacher practices, and student achievements for many countries (from 20 to 50 countries, depending on the particular comparison). Thousands of official documents and textbooks were analyzed. Thousands of teachers, principals, and other experts responded to survey questionnaires. A sample of mathematics teachers in three countries had their lessons videotaped. Hundreds of thousands of children in almost 50 countries were tested in mathematics and science. This report presents a closer look at US mathematics and science education through careful examination of TIMSS data. The authors believe this investigation shows how deceptive many often unquestioned assumptions about American education can be. Drawing upon many new analyses not previously reported and integrating these with previous analyses of TIMSS data, the authors develop and illustrate the argument that what happens to American students is the consequence of American beliefs that shape educational practice and the accretion of a myriad educational choices made in mathematics and science education.

This volume includes 16 papers from the National Academy of Engineering's 2005 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) Symposium held in September 2005. USFOE meetings bring together 100 outstanding engineers (ages 30 to 45) to exchange information about leading-edge technologies in a range of engineering fields. The 2005 symposium covered four topic areas: ID and verification technologies, engineering for developing communities, engineering complex systems, and energy resources for the future. A paper by dinner speaker Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is also included. The papers describe leading-edge research on face and human activity recognition, challenges in implementing appropriate technology projects in developing countries, complex networks, engineering bacteria for drug production, organic-based solar cells, and current status and future challenges in fuel cells, among other topics. Appendixes include information about contributors, the symposium program, and a list of meeting participants. This is the eleventh volume in the USFOE series.

This book brings together up-to-date, research-based evidence concerning summer learning and provides descriptions and analyses of a range of summer school programs. The chapters present theory and data that explain both the phenomenon of summer learning loss and the potential for effective summer programs to mitigate loss and increase student achievement. Summer Learning: Research, Policies, and Programs: *presents evidence describing variations in summer learning loss and how these learning differences affect equality of educational opportunity and outcomes in the United States; *discusses the development, characteristics, and effects of the most recent wave of summer programs which are designed to play key roles in the recent standards movement and related efforts to end social promotion; *examines the impact of three of the most widespread, replicable summer school programs serving students across the United States; and *considers the characteristics and effects of alternative programs and practices that are designed to combat the problem of summer learning loss head on. Intended for education researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students, this volume is particularly relevant to those interested in social stratification, equity-minded policies, implications of the current standards movement and high stakes testing, and the development of programs and practices for improving education.