Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

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The commitment to improving scientific literacy is voiced by governments throughout the world. One of the main objectives is the development of an informed and active citizenry able to participate in decision-making processes concerning socio-scientific issues (SSIs). There is a growing literature which suggests that engaging with the complexity of SSIs demands a high level of critical-thinking skills. These skills include: open-mindedness, independence, and scepticism. This three-year long study attempted to develop an intervention which will, in particular, provide subjects with an ability to be more open-minded, evaluate counter opinions, and respect those holding such opinions. The importance of developing an ability to value the ‘other' emerged from years of teaching academic English within an Israeli university, where initiating fruitful classroom discussion was problematic. The lack of dialogue resulted from individuals voicing strongly held opinions and seeming to be unable to acknowledge, and evaluate opposing views. This project was designed as an action research study. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected, and analysed within an interpretive framework. As both the researcher and researched, many of my teaching methods were modified during the course of this study, including the introduction of pair-work in class. The study was conducted in three cycles over three consecutive years, primarily with two classes (one humanities and one science) in the pre-academic, mechina, program of an Israeli university. The mechina is a year-long programme and the students I taught had a single semester of English. This meant that three different cohorts of students were studied, (there were always 25-30 students in each class, so about 50 students were studied each year). The classes I taught were proficient in English, and were required to do a research project as part of the course. This project became my intervention. I developed a project based on devil's advocate which required them to choose an SSI that interested them, write a statement of their opinion, and then, much to their astonishment, find evidence to support the counter opinion. I gave a lesson on how to evaluate sources available on the internet. Although the project was set up as a standard research exercise, which is what they expected, the majority of students identified that this project made them more aware of the value of counter opinions – more ‘open-minded'. The primary method for collecting feedback on the project, and on other aspects of my course, utilized a projective technique – students wrote their views anonymously on a piece of paper; these are then analysed by coding the responses. This study also employed questionnaires, which were given to all students. These showed that the majority had little or no science education in high school, and yet registered high levels of interest in science and technology on a three-level Likert item. These findings add support to research that shows the more science studied in high school the lower the interest in the subject. Furthermore, by including a standard VOSTS (Views On Science-Technology-Society) I was able to show that my students believed the general public should participate in governmental decisions relating to SSIs. Responses to open-ended questions showed that most students, including those in the humanities, believed everyone should take science courses at university, and should have science classes in school (though not the current curriculum). In conclusion, this research indicated that interest in science was not related to studying the current school science curriculum. And feedback from the intervention demonstrated that students could be aware of a change in their cognitive skills, and independently acknowledge the importance of being open-minded – an important step towards promoting an active, informed, scientifically literate society.

archives@tulane.edu / This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive description of sulha practices in Northern Israel while analyzing the cultural context of sulha as a Muslim ADR model and as a conflict reduction tool used within the state of Israel. Inspiration for examining this ADR model came from reviewing scholars’ suggestions to use elements of sulha to “upgrade” American ADR techniques that are already being employed to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. These suggestions followed others who advocated for the importance of using indigenous ADR methods when addressing conflicts in the Middle-East. This paper begins with an introduction to the sulha process. Sulha’s components, uses (traditional and nontraditional), objectives, and the ideologies that undergird it are also discussed, in addition to its advantages and disadvantages. One of this dissertation’s goals is to expand on current literature on sulha in order to address several understudied aspects of sulha. Specifically: different uses of the process, especially in non-violent contexts; potential jaha biases; sulha’s success rates; the downsides of the model; sulha’s status within civil legal proceedings; and its interactions with Israeli state agencies. This dissertation then goes on to present the cultural context of sulha as an Islamic conflict reduction tool. It does so by reviewing the historical background of Islamic ADR processes, presenting the main dispute management models in Islam and comparing them with sulha and with common American ADR models. It also analyzes the role of sulha in light of cultural changes the Arab-Israeli community is going through. In the third chapter, the main American ADR mechanisms are discussed and compared with sulha. The last chapter compares sulha and Jewish and Israeli ADR models and discusses sulha’s interactions with the Israeli state to address the unique environment it operates within. While sulha is usually practiced in Arab countries, the intention here is to explore the implications of practicing sulha in a non-Arab country, such as Israel. Additionally, sulha’s relationship with the formal legal system is also examined. Lastly, this chapter considers if there exists sufficient support for considering the utilization of sulha to address the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. / 1 / Evian Mugrabi

The purpose of this study was to construct an instrument which would enable administrators and teachers to evaluate selected parts of vocational education programs in post-primary schools in Israel. The study also involved ascertaining the extent to which administrators perceived the proposed instrument as differentiating between effective and ineffective vocational education programs.The evaluation instrument was constructed by using several checklists employed at the time of the study by accrediting agencies in the United States for evaluating vocational education. In order to ascertain how administrators in Israel perceived the proposed instrument, a questionnaire based on the proposed instrument was prepared and administered.The total population was defined as administrators in post-primary vocational schools in Israel employed during the school year 1981-82.From among the administrators who responded, a sample of sixty administrators was randomly selected. This sample included twenty supervisors, twenty principals and twenty heads of vocational departments.Major findings of the study were as follows:1. Seventeen out of the twenty-three statements in parts I to V of the questionnaire were identified by more than 70 percent of the respondents as differentiating between effective and ineffective vocational education programs.Review of the data led to the following conclusions:1. At least those items that have been identified as differentiating by over seventy percent of the respondents may be included in an evaluation instrument for use in Israel.2. The statements that were identified as differentiating by no fewer than eighty percent of the respondents seem to show the most important indicators of effective vocational education programs.3. Humanities are not perceived by many administrators in vocational education as an integral part of a comprehensive vocational education program.Depending on the ranking of the statements and on comments and suggestions by respondents a modified instrument has been prepared.

This dissertation demonstrates how changes in spatial boundaries map on to changes in the boundaries of national belonging through an ethnography of linguistic and spatial practice in a divided landscape. In Israel, as in many places around the globe, new forms of segregation have emerged in recent years, as violence and the fear of violence become increasingly bound up with the production of social difference and exclusion. In Wadi Ara, a valley in the north of the country where my fieldwork was based, segregation between Jewish and Palestinian citizens has dramatically increased since the fall of 2000, as the place of Palestinians in a Jewish state is being reconfigured. In this dissertation I focus on the changing movements and interactions of Jewish Israelis in Wadi Ara as they articulate with changes in the ways difference, belonging, and citizenship are organized on a national scale. I examine how increased hostility, fear, and distrust have become spatialized; how narratives of the past shape contemporary geographies; how competing ways of interpreting and navigating the landscape are mediated; and how particular forms of encounter are framed. My central argument is that through daily linguistic and spatial practice people in Wadi Ara do more than just make sense of shifting boundaries; they bring these boundaries into being and, in the process, they enact both self-definition and exclusion, reflecting and circumscribing the changing place of Palestinians in Israel. The dissertation is based on 19 months of fieldwork between 2002 and 2006.

This dissertation demonstrates how changes in spatial boundaries map on to changes in the boundaries of national belonging through an ethnography of linguistic and spatial practice in a divided landscape. In Israel, as in many places around the globe, new forms of segregation have emerged in recent years, as violence and the fear of violence become increasingly bound up with the production of social difference and exclusion. In Wadi Ara, a valley in the north of the country where my fieldwork was based, segregation between Jewish and Palestinian citizens has dramatically increased since the fall of 2000, as the place of Palestinians in a Jewish state is being reconfigured. In this dissertation I focus on the changing movements and interactions of Jewish Israelis in Wadi Ara as they articulate with changes in the ways difference, belonging, and citizenship are organized on a national scale. I examine how increased hostility, fear, and distrust have become spatialized; how narratives of the past shape contemporary geographies; how competing ways of interpreting and navigating the landscape are mediated; and how particular forms of encounter are framed. My central argument is that through daily linguistic and spatial practice people in Wadi Ara do more than just make sense of shifting boundaries; they bring these boundaries into being and, in the process, they enact both self-definition and exclusion, reflecting and circumscribing the changing place of Palestinians in Israel. The dissertation is based on 19 months of fieldwork between 2002 and 2006.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, Aug. 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 262-280). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Political Science, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

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