White Thugs & Black Bodies: A Comparison of the Portrayal of African-American Women in Hip-Hop Videos

The continued appearance of African-American women as performers in rap and/or hip-hop videos has called attention to the male gaze1 and the ways in which young African-American women negotiate their sexuality. The most popular music videos of Caucasian and African-American hip-hop artists from 2003-2005 were analyzed and compared to determine the levels of sexism between the two cultures. With these videos, this study replicated a qualitative content analysis from another study that identified three prominent characteristics: (1) the level of sexism; (2) the presence of intimate touch and/the presence of alluring attire; and (3) which race portrayed women in a more sexist manner. From those distinctions, it was discerned that the majority of videos featuring both races possessed low levels of sexism, if any at all. Regarding sexual iconography, barely half of the Caucasian sample depicted women wearing alluring attire, and approximately a quarter of them revealed women engaged in intimate touching scenes with men and women. It was concluded that African-American rappers portray African-American women in a more sexist manner than their white counterparts in the name of hip-hop

Touch Arithmetic: A process-based Computer-Aided Assessment approach for capture of problem solving steps in the context of elementary mathematics

Technology today offers many new opportunities for innovation in educational assessment and feedback through rich assessment tasks, efficient scoring and reporting. However many Computer-Aided Assessment (CAA) environments focus on grading and providing feedback on the final product of assessment tasks rather than the process of problem solving. Focusing on steps and problem-solving processes can help teachers to diagnose strengths and weaknesses, discover strategies, and to provide appropriate feedback. This study explores a method that uses trace links on an interactive touch-based computing tool for the capture and analysis of solution steps in elementary mathematics. The tool was evaluated in an observational study among 8 and 9 year old primary school children (N=39). The approach yielded similar performance scores as compared to paper-and-pencil tests while providing more explicit information on the problem-solving process. The output data was useful for scoring intermediate and final answers as well as feedback information on types and time efficiencies of strategies used. An implication of this study for teachers and researchers is that they can more accurately assess students’ understanding of important concepts, and be in a better position to provide rich and detailed feedback while motivating students with interactive tasks