links for 2008-12-20

It's possible there are other solutions than EFCA. But it needs to be solved, one way or the other. EFCA has its problems, but pretending that it's somehow a perversion of workplace democracy as compared to a world in which 25 percent of organizing campaigns see a worker fired is absurd.

Is a Newbery winner right for every kid? No--but what book is? Some kids will give the tougher tomes a try and come away with a richer vocabulary and a deeper appreciation of a world beyond their experience. Other kids will ditch them and dig right back into R.L. Stine (which, after all, is reading, too).

Finding the science in Christmas dinner

"I'd also like to forward some of your questions about the administration and science and technology to Steven Chu, John P. Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco. They may not be able to answer right away, but I'll make sure they get to the list soon."

The official policy of using torture has done enormous damage to this country in a number of important ways. We like to say that we are a nation of laws and not of men, but if that phrase means anything it must mean that we do not just allow such violations to be "put behind us." We enforce the law. We hold our leaders accountable for their actions. We don't allow those who set the policy to escape justice while those who carried them out are prosecuted. This is a matter of honor.

A review of what's so interesting about condensed matter physics.

Much of the rhetoric about diversity is based on ideas about what happens when students are exposed (or are hardly ever exposed) to people who are from different backgrounds than they are. A new study that tracked 2,000 students at the University of California at Los Angeles attempts to move beyond the rhetoric by documenting exactly what does happen when students interact with different kinds of fellow students.

"James A. Rudd, II, one of the survey's authors and a chemistry professor at Cal State Los Angeles, said that most science education research and development is traditionally conducted by faculty from education schools. Though these individuals understand the pedagogy of instruction, he said they sometimes do not understand the content of the sciences well enough to make their work beneficial. He said it is imperative for science faculty to bridge the gap between the study of education and that of science."