The Demography of New England: Policy Issues for the Balance of this Century

New England\u27s rapidly aging population, its traditionally low fertility rate, and the fact that net migration from other regions and abroad should continue to be close to zero means that only very slow population growth will characterize the region for the balance of this century. Nevertheless, New England\u27s demographic metabolism is exceptionally dynamic: (1) the numbers of different age groups are growing at very different rates; (2) a redistribution of population is occurring from the southern to northern tier states; (3) within each state population is dispersing into non-metropolitan areas; and (4) metropolitan areas, both central and suburban, are quickly changing their demographic composition. Each of these trends has different public policy implications

Using eye tracking data to compare models of numerical estimation

People accurately compare and estimate means without using formal calculations, however, little is known aboutthe cognitive processes underlying these behaviors. We used objective, behavioral data (e.g., eye fixation patterns), which arecompatible with multiple representations, to compare cognitive models. Specifically, we compared seven cognitive modelsincluding working memory activation (weighting values as a function of the number of and duration of fixations), workingmemory constraint (e.g., recency + primacy, last four), or Bayesian models (e.g., first fixation set as prior).Our task presented sets of 5 to 10 3-digit numbers (framed as the result of a home run derby) and asked participants to predicthow far the next ball would be hit. The same fixation data were loaded into each model to create a unique estimate, which wasthen compared to the participant’s actual prediction. The difference between the model and actual was calculated to create anaccuracy index

Careers ‘from’ but not ‘in’ science: why aspirations to be a scientist are challenging for minority ethnic students?

The importance of science to the economy and for the progression of society is widely acknowledged. Yet, there are concerns that minority ethnic students in the UK are underrepresented, and even excluded, from post-compulsory science education and careers in science. Drawing on an exploratory study of 46 semi-structured interviews with British young people (aged 11-14) from Black Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Chinese ethnic backgrounds, this paper explores why careers in science are not popular aspirations among minority ethnic students, while careers from science are highly sought after. Using sociological theories of identity, this paper argues that gender and ethnic identities can operate in multifaceted ways to influence students’ careers aspirations. Being a scientist is constructed by students as a highly gendered and racialized profession, which may reflect popular discourse of scientist as typically for ‘white men’. Careers from science, particularly in medicine, appeared popular among some, but not all, minority ethnic groups, as being a medical staff is considered intrinsically and extrinsically rewarding. Implications of the findings for the science education of minority ethnic students are discussed