In New African Thinkers, young scholars from across Africa discuss their vision for the social, political, and economic future of their continent. A unifying element running throughout their work is the argument that culture-defined broadly as a way of life, system of values and controls, and modes of practice and expression-lies at the heart of a reimagined Africa: a place of prosperity and socioeconomic well-being, integration, and self-determination. The book grew out of the Tenth African Young Graduates and Scholars conference, the theme of which was the African Union's Agenda 2063.

Discovery of Hidden Crime presents a history of the self-report crime survey as a method of criminological inquiry, describing how it was born within a distinct moral framework by pioneers out to show that crime was very prevalent and, therefore, normal. This books recounts how, during the 1930s and 1940s, a handful of US criminologists discovered the method of the self-report delinquency survey - a method used to ask people directly about their crimes. Previously, criminologists had to rely on official statistics produced by the police and other control authorities; their studies were therefore constrained by the 'official control barrier', which perpetuated the notion that crime was linked to the lowest social strata and/or to psychological abnormality. By confronting the domination of psychiatrists and psychologists in the study of crime, criminologists began to challenge the punitive attitudes of society; thus, exposing the so-called white collar offenders and alerting people to see crime as something that could also be found among the middle and upper classes. Expounding both the history of that discovery and its implications for criminological work, past and present, this book offers a fascinating perspective on how criminology has developed, and how it continues to advance amid the twin pressures of facts and policy goals.

In this book, eCoaching pioneer Marcia Rock draws on best-practice research and decades of experience to offer a blueprint for professional development that maximizes teacher and student growth.The eCoaching Continuum for Educators provides teachers, administrators, and other school professionals a step-by-step guide to the four connected, coordinated components of technology-enabled professional development: (1) studying theory and practice to build knowledge of specific content and pedagogy; (2) observing theory and practice to aid in the transfer of new knowledge to classroom practice; (3) one-on-one coaching to give teachers the feedback they need to improve classroom practice; and (4) group coaching to build capacity for identifying and solving problems of professional practice. Rock offers a practical approach for putting professional development where it can do the most good-in the classroom. You'll learn: Why technology is so well suited for authentic, job-embedded professional development. How to cultivate a culture in which the eCoaching continuum can have the greatest impact. Which technologies are the most useful for carrying out eCoaching in a variety of settings. How to capture and evaluate the impact of eCoaching on teachers and students. The eCoaching Continuum for Educators integrates best practice in coaching for professional development with a detailed account of how teachers and other school professionals can use today's technologies to improve their practice and ensure their students are fully engaged and learning.

Capturing years of innovation within contemporary action research, Hilary Bradbury highlights where action research for transformations (ART) is directed: towards responding to climate change and achieving global sustainability goals. Paying particular attention to social justice, the book brings together the human and social sciences, exploring the impact action research can make. Chapters introduce a metamodel and quality choicepoints around which pioneering techniques are displayed. Illustrated with rich personal cases throughout, the book examines agents of change who are also subjects of change. With a strong relational focus, the book also utilizes these cases to show how a broad uptake of ART for policy, health and social care, education, and management looks in practice. This book will be a vital tool for social science researchers looking to better understand social science as a participatory practice, as well as the methods and importance of action research. Community organizers, policy makers and activists seeking to become more active in realizing a more sustainable world will also find this to be an invigorating read.

Unlike ""fix-it"" strategies that targeted teachers are likely to resist, educator-centered instructional coaching-ECIC-offers respectful coaching for professionals within their schoolwide community. Evidence-based results across all content areas, authentic practices for data collection and analysis, along with nonevaluative, confidential collaboration offer a productive and promising path to teacher development. Coaches and teachers implement ECIC through a before-during-after-BDA-cycle that includes comprehensive planning between coach and teacher; classroom visitation and data collection; and debriefing and reflection. Drawing on their extensive experience with ECIC, authors Ellen B. Eisenberg, Bruce P. Eisenberg, Elliott A. Medrich, and Ivan Charner offer this detailed guidance for coaches and school leaders on how you and your school can: Create the conditions for an effective ECIC program. Get buy-in from teachers. Clearly define the role of coach. Roll out a coaching initiative. Ensure ongoing success with coaching. Filled with authentic advice from coaches, Instructional Coaching in Action provides valuable insight and demonstrates how educator-centered instructional coaching can make a difference in teacher learning, instructional practice, and student outcomes.

Building a better data culture can be the path to better results and greater equity in schools. But what do we mean by data? Your students are not just statistics. They aren't simply a set of numbers or faceless dots on a proficiency scale. They are vibrant collections of experiences, thoughts, perspectives, emotions, wants, and dreams. And taken collectively, all of that information is data-and should be valued as such. Equity in Data not only unpacks the problematic nature of current approaches to data but also helps educators demystify and democratize data. It shows how we can bake equity into our data work and illuminate the disparities, stories, and truths that make our schools safer and stronger-and that help our students grow and thrive. To this end, the authors introduce a four-part framework for how to create an equitable data culture (along with a complementary set of data principles). They demonstrate how we can rethink our approach to data in the interest of equity by making five shifts: Expand our understanding of data. Strengthen our knowledge of data principles. Break through our fear of data. Decolonize our data gathering processes. Turn data into meaningful, equitable action. We have an opportunity to realign school data with what students want out of their educational experiences. When we put equity first, we put students first.

A groundbreaking, flexible approach to computer science anddata science The Deitels' Introduction to Python for ComputerScience and Data Science: Learning to Program with AI, Big Data and the Cloudoffers a unique approach to teaching introductory Python programming,appropriate for both computer-science and data-science audiences. Providing themost current coverage of topics and applications, the book is paired withextensive traditional supplements as well as Jupyter Notebooks supplements.Real-world datasets and artificial-intelligence technologies allow students towork on projects making a difference in business, industry, government andacademia. Hundreds of examples, exercises, projects (EEPs) and implementationcase studies give students an engaging, challenging and entertainingintroduction to Python programming and hands-on data science. The book's modular architecture enables instructors toconveniently adapt the text to a wide range of computer-science anddata-science courses offered to audiences drawn from many majors.Computer-science instructors can integrate as much or as little data-scienceand artificial-intelligence topics as they'd like, and data-science instructorscan integrate as much or as little Python as they'd like. The book aligns withthe latest ACM/IEEE CS-and-related computing curriculum initiatives and withthe Data Science Undergraduate Curriculum Proposal sponsored by the NationalScience Foundation.

From the winner of the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize, a thrilling and thought-provoking account of the rise and fall of humankind.

For the first time in over ten millennia, the rate of human population growth is slowing down. The global population is forecast to begin declining in the second half of this century, and in 10,000 years’ time, our species will likely be extinct.

In The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire, Henry Gee shows how we arrived at this crucial moment in our history, beginning his story deep in the palaeolithic past and charting our dramatic rise from one species of human among many – teetering on the edge of extinction for more than a hundred millennia – to the most dominant animal to ever live on Earth.

But rapid climate change, a stagnating global economy, falling birth rates and an unexplainable decline in average human sperm count are combining to make our chances for longevity increasingly slim. There could be a way forward, but the launch window is narrow.

Gee argues that unless Homo sapiens establishes successful colonies in space within the next two centuries, our species is likely to stay earthbound and will have vanished entirely within another 10,000 years, bringing the seven-million-year story of the human lineage to an end.

Drawing on a dazzling array of the latest scientific research, Gee tells the extraordinary story of humanity with characteristic warmth and wit, and suggests how our exceptional species might avoid its tragic fate.

We live in a multilingual, transforming society in which language plays a dynamic and central role. We use it every day for communication and it is not possible to imagine life without it - it is generally recognised as a mark of what makes us human. But how often do we think about exactly what language is and how we actually use it? Language, society and communication introduces established and new linguistic concepts and theories, and links these to contemporary issues in society and the media, including new social media, with a particular focus on southern Africa. Language, society and communication explores how language is intricately bound up with issues of power, status and identity. It explores the tension between the diverse nature of everyday language practices, on the one hand, and the societal pressures towards managing and containing this diversity, on the other. It also demonstrates the relevance of linguistic study (e.g. phonology and syntax) to real world problems (e.g. analysis of a child's acquisition of language), within a southern African context. Study questions and case studies, which relate the theoretical ideas discussed to current research, are provided at the end of each chapter. Language, society and communication is aimed at undergraduate students studying linguistics, language and communication and related fields such as language education.

22 out of the 26 Chapters are available Open Access on Elgaronline under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. The complete Handbook containing all 26 chapters is available on Google Play (guide price GBP10) see link in 'More Information' below. The Handbook of Sociological Science offers a refreshing, integrated perspective on research programs and ongoing developments in sociological science. It highlights key shared theoretical and methodological features, thereby contributing to progress and cumulative growth of sociological knowledge. Reflecting 'unity in diversity', chapters explore a wide variety of research fields, ranging from cultural capital, migration, social networks, gender inequality, historical sociology and ethnography to the intersection of sociology and the life sciences. Examining basic methodological standards for theory construction and empirical research, the Handbook exemplifies commonalities between research programmes within these fields. The contributors also explore rigorous sociology related to theory construction, empirical research, and methods, including statistical modelling and the integration of theoretical and empirical research. Forward-thinking and original, the Handbook concludes by illustrating the common core of rigorous sociology, how it can contribute to understanding societal problems and to policy making, and how research into sociological science can continue to thrive in the future. Accessible and engaging, this Handbook will be invaluable for scholars and researchers of sociology and sociological theory, research methods in sociology and social policy, and comparative social policy. Exploring new developments and applications, it will also act as a useful reference guide for policy makers. The Handbook will likewise be an important resource for teaching advanced courses and training graduate students.

Across the social welfare and human services fields, interest is growing in how to apply research to influence policy and practice; simultaneously, with globalization's advance, it is clearer than ever that an international perspective is vital in understanding how social, political, and institutional contexts affect research and dissemination practices. This volume, with contributions from an array of eminent researchers and practitioners, provides valuable insight into effective research practice and the factors involved in putting research findings to use. Leading with experience - narratives of six child welfare case studies from the UK, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, and the US - the book frames those cases in the context of relevant literatures to build up a cross-case analysis that distills lessons, throws enduring questions into relief, and lays a foundation for informing future practice. It mines the cross-national experience to develop perspective for a better understanding of the importance of different policy and cultural environments, while nonetheless emphasizing issues that are applicable across borders. The ground prepared by the case studies allows the volume to tease out themes and lessons, placing the empirical findings against relevant theoretical frameworks and developing guidelines for improving research practice in this arena.

This major new work from the well-known team of Heath, Jowell and Curtice explores the emergence of New Labour from the ruins of old Labour's four successive defeats at the hands of the Conservatives. Based on the authoritative British Election Surveys the book explores some of the key questions about contemporary British elections and the social and political factors that decide their outcomes.

Approaches to Ethnography illustrates the various modes of representation and analysis that typify participant observation research. In contrast to the multitude of ethnographic textbooks, handbooks, and readers on the market, this book is neither a "how-to" guide nor a catalogue of substantive themes such as race, community, or space; it also avoids re-hashing epistemological debates, such as grounded theory versus the extended case method. Instead, this volume concisely lays out the predominant analytic lenses that ethnographers use to explain social action-for instance, whether they privilege micro-interaction or social structure, people and places or social processes, internal dispositions or situational contingencies. Each chapter features a prominent ethnographer delineating a distinct approach to the study of everyday life and reflecting on how their approach shapes the way they analyze and represent the field. Taken together, the collection is a practical guide that spells out how different styles of ethnography illuminate different dimensions of everyday social life. As such, Approaches to Ethnography complements and augments-but not duplicate-existing ethnographic methods and logic of inquiry texts for undergraduate and graduate courses on qualitative research methods.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction provides a critical review and discussion of research concerning spatial statistics, differentiating between it and spatial econometrics, to answer a set of core questions covering the geographic-tagging-of-data origins of the concept and its theoretical underpinnings, conceptual advances, and challenges for future scholarly work. It offers a vital tool for understanding spatial statistics and surveys how concerns about violating the independent observations assumption of statistical analysis developed into this discipline. Key Features: A concise overview of spatial statistics theory and methods, looking at parallel developments in geostatistics and spatial econometrics, highlighting the eclipsing of centography and point pattern analysis by geostatistics and spatial autoregression, and the emergence of local analysis Contemporary descriptions of popular geospatial random variables, emphasizing one- and two-parameter spatial autoregression specifications, and Moran eigenvector spatial filtering coupled with a broad coverage of statistical estimation techniques A detailed articulation of a spatial statistical workflow conceptualization The helpful insights from empirical applications of spatial statistics in agronomy, criminology, demography, economics, epidemiology, geography, remotely sensed data, urban studies, and zoology/botany, will make this book a useful tool for upper-level students in these disciplines.