We have all, at some point, seen science in action on television. Whether it was a show about disasters or weather, nature or the universe, a science commentator, even a crime show depicting forensic evidence — we have all gleaned tidbits of scientific information while being entertained by our televisions. Or have we? From science channels and documentaries to fictional and children’s programming, television brings a myriad of scientific discoveries and theories into the homes of people around the world. But how accurately do these programs represent science? In Media Mediocrity, television producer and broadcaster Richard Zurawski argues that the science we learn on television is inaccurate, misleading and sometimes even dangerous. Dealing with issues such as tobacco consumption, global warming and Intelligent Design — and a host of pseudoscientific pursuits like UFOs, ghosts and the afterlife, Media Mediocrity examines how television producers’ pursuit of ratings and profit trump any desire to provide the audience with an accurate knowledge of science — and argues that there are real consequences for this lack of knowledge. Four out of five viewers gather the bulk of their scientific knowledge from television, making television an important intermediary between society and its understanding of science. If television gives us misleading — or blatantly false — scientific information, how can we hope to make informed decisions about scientific issues? Equally importantly, who is it that is feeding us this false science? And what do they gain from doing so? If you think your TV has made you an expert, then read this book — and think again.

Edited by Kris Rutten, Stefaan Blancke, and Ronald Soetaert, Perspectives on Science and Culture explores the intersection between scientific understanding and cultural representation from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributors to the volume analyze representations of science and scientific discourse from the perspectives of rhetorical criticism, comparative cultural studies, narratology, educational studies, discourse analysis, naturalized epistemology, and the cognitive sciences. The main objective of the volume is to explore how particular cognitive predispositions and cultural representations both shape and distort the public debate about scientific controversies, the teaching and learning of science, and the development of science itself. The theoretical background of the articles in the volume integrates C. P. Snow's concept of the two cultures (science and the humanities) and Jerome Bruner's confrontation between narrative and logico-scientific modes of thinking (i.e., the cognitive and the evolutionary approaches to human cognition).

The late Edward Said remains one of the most influential critics and public intellectuals of our time, with lasting contributions to many disciplines. Much of his reputation derives from the phenomenal multidisciplinary influence of his 1978 book Orientalism. Said's seminal polemic analyzes novels, travelogues, and academic texts to argue that a dominant discourse of West over East has warped virtually all past European and American representation of the Near East. But despite the book's wide acclaim, no systematic critical survey of the rhetoric in Said's representation of Orientalism and the resulting impact on intellectual culture has appeared until today. Drawing on the extensive discussion of Said's work in more than 600 bibliographic entries, Daniel Martin Varisco has written an ambitious intellectual history of the debates that Said's work has sparked in several disciplines, highlighting in particular its reception among Arab and European scholars. While pointing out Said's tendency to essentialize and privilege certain texts at the expense of those that do not comfortably it his theoretical framework, Varisco analyzes the extensive commentary the book has engendered in Oriental studies, literary and cultural studies, feminist scholarship, history, political science, and anthropology. He employs "critical satire" to parody the exaggerated and pedantic aspects of post-colonial discourse, including Said's profound underappreciation of the role of irony and reform in many of the texts he cites. The end result is a companion volume to Orientalism and the vast research it inspired. Rather than contribute to dueling essentialisms, Varisco provides a path to move beyond the binary of East versus West and the polemics of blame. Reading Orientalism is the most comprehensive survey of Said's writing and thinking to date. It will be of strong interest to scholars of Middle East studies, anthropology, history, cultural studies, post-colonial studies, and literary studies.

The book presents high-quality research papers presented at the 1st AUE International research conference, AUEIRC 2017, organized by the American University in the Emirates, held on November 15th-16th, 2017 in Dubai. The book is broadly divided into three sections: Media and Smart Cities, Creative Technologies and Innovation, and Security Risks and Strategic Challenges. The areas covered under these sections are cyber-psychology and digital forensics, cloud RAN architecture, networking functions virtualization, e-Governance and IoT semantic interoperability, ERP security, web-based application and problem-solving skills, smart technologies and advertising, smart technologies for smart cities, smart adaptable navigation systems, turbo codes for security key generation, technology advanced student learning and mobile devices, big data security and privacy, multi-channel buffer enabled technique, physiological signal acquisition in electro-oculography, blockchain and donation-based crowdfunding, smart city and framework development approach, news channel and media education, UAE foreign policy, China-GCC relations, diplomacy in the Internet age, intelligent cyber-security strategies, industry securities and strategic challenges, hybrid alliances and corporate security, security and privacy in smart cities, human computer interaction and e-learning solution, complexity of smart cities governance. The papers included in this book present insightful information on the most recent and relevant research, theories and practices in the field, which aim for a sustainable future.

Between 1633 and 1642, the French physician and philanthropist Théophraste Renaudot sponsored a series of public conferences in Paris. These conferences offered an open forum for wide-ranging discussions of a variety of topics, including science, medicine, gender, politics, and ethics. No matter the topic, participants consistently used scientific reasoning as a new standard of evidence. The conferences thus recast the rhetorical traditions of the Renaissance and prefigured the social sciences of the Enlightenment. They provide a candid snapshot of intellectual life at the dawn of the scientific revolution in France. In Making Science Social, Kathleen Wellman uses the published conference proceedings to develop a broadly conceived, revisionist interpretation of the intellectual history of seventeenth-century France and of the roots of modern culture and science. Volume 6 in the Series for Science and Culture

Critical Issues in Education examines three questions that are at the core of the education debate in the United States: What interests should schools serve? What knowledge should schools teach? How do we develop the human environment of schools? When answering these queries the authors advocate the use of critical thinking, which includes dialogue and dialectic reasoning. Dynamic and interactive, dialogue requires listening and assessment, while dialectic stimulates the development of a creative response that encompasses both sides of an issue. When applied, these approaches engender an informative and stimulating discussion. In order to explore the depth of current educational issues, the Ninth Edition considers 15 topics, providing supporting evidence and reasoning for two divergent views. These issues include violence in schools, the role of technology, gender equity, multiculturalism, inclusion and disability, and school choice. Both civic and professional discussions regarding improvements will have consequences for students, teachers, and society. As a result, educational views and the social landscape in which they reside deserve critical study.

Discusses current issues with the American public school system. Analyzes the performance of American schools. Provides information about education reform efforts and alternative schooling options, including charter schools, voucher programs, Educational Management Organizations, private schools, and home schooling.