Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: The Role of Music in Breaching the Barriers of the Box

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the United States national museum. Folkways pairs with the Smithsonian's annual Folklife Festival in honoring and bringing to public attention the keepers of intangible cultural heritage traditions from many parts of the world. At the Folklife Festival, which takes place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. each summer, the culture bearers speak for themselves in a presentational environment designed to promote interaction among the participants and audience members. In 2011, Folkways recordings of regional music from Colombia sparked an entire Folklife Festival program.     

青南地区牲畜营养与草地畜牧业可持续发展的探讨

分析了青南地区草地资源和繁殖母畜营养状况，指出人口的持续增长及对资源日益膨胀的需求与草地资源的有限性之间的矛盾是制约草地畜牧业可持续发展的首要因素。当前，应开展草地健康评价，平衡草畜营养，大力推进产业结构调整，走具有民族特色的草地畜牧业可持续发展道路。     

Morphing images: a potential tool for teaching word recognition to children with severe learning difficulties

Children with severe learning difficulties who fail to begin word recognition can learn to recognise pictures and symbols relatively easily. However, finding an effective means of using pictures to teach word recognition has proved problematic. This research explores the use of morphing software to support the transition from picture to word recognition. Morphing software was used to teach word recognition to a group of eight children who were previously unable to recognise words. At the end of 16 teaching sessions, in a related design, the morphing technique was more effective than a word‐alone approach ( p < 0.05, one‐tailed). These results support the use of techniques such as symbol accentuation ( Miller & Miller, 1971 ) and challenge the concept that the use of pictorial information is inherently detrimental to learning in this context, in comparison to the repeated presentation of words alone. The recent advent of accessible morphing software removes previous barriers to this type of approach. The investigation highlights several useful avenues for future research, in particular, the use of mnemonic elements within morphing teaching methods.     

How is technology seen in young people’s visions of future education systems?

This research captured the views of young people regarding their views of ‘how learning should be in the future’. Four focus groups were run with different groups of school‐age pupils. The ways in which technology was seen within these discussions were analysed. The findings noted that the explicit use of technological innovations, and predicted innovations, was rarely seen as having a significant impact on learning, rather that the technology was used in line with the models of learning derived from the participant’s best current experiences of learning and education. Technology was, therefore, seen as something which could make current learning practices more efficient but did not transform the learning process.     

A cross‐sectional study of prosodic sensitivity and reading difficulties

In this cross‐sectional study, we explore the relationship between prosodic sensitivity (suprasegmental phonology) and phonological awareness (segmental phonology) and investigate whether a group of poor readers display significant suprasegmental phonological deficits in comparison to chronological age‐matched controls and younger, reading age‐matched controls. Phonological awareness assessments were administered along with a battery of prosodic sensitivity assessments drawn from recent literature. The results showed that poor readers were outperformed by their chronological age‐matched counterparts on all measures of prosodic sensitivity. A significant main effect of group was found on the revised stress mispronunciations task and the stress assignment task from the prosodic assessment battery, the former of which remained even after controlling for individual differences in receptive vocabulary and measures of phonological awareness. Significant relationships were also found between measures of prosodic sensitivity and phonological awareness (especially phoneme awareness). These findings emphasise the importance of both segmental and suprasegmental phonological skills in children's reading development.     

Sharing personalised stories on iPads: a close look at one parent–child interaction

Little is known about how specific iPad applications affect parent–child story‐sharing interactions. This study utilises a case‐study approach to provide an insight into the patterns of interaction, which emerge when a mother and her 33‐month‐old daughter share a self‐created, audio‐visual ‘iPad story’. Multimodal analysis allowed us to gain insights into the complex interaction patterns orchestrated in this new, personalised story‐sharing medium. We found that the app‐mediated story‐sharing context produced a harmonious and smooth interaction, achieving a coherence that is typical of ‘happy’ oral stories. We suggest that the observed interaction resembles that of experiencing a piece of art, and we highlight the need for a holistic approach to understanding the implications for research and practice of children's interactions during multimedia story sharing.     

The Pedagogic Beliefs of Indonesian Teachers in Inclusive Schools

This research explores, for the first time, the pedagogical orientations of Indonesian teachers in the context of inclusive education. A mixed-method approach was used for an analysis of questionnaire data from 140 teachers and qualitative interviews from 20 teachers in four inclusive schools. The findings suggest that, in general, the implicit orientation of teachers is social constructivist. This orientation is also reflected in their reported classroom practices. Although less common, more directive pedagogical approaches appear to have an impact upon the flexibility of roles within two teacher inclusive classrooms. Whilst the number of disabled pupils within each class was a significant issue for interviewees, no pupils were deemed unteachable in their classrooms. Furthermore, what is described by the teachers as a “special pedagogy” typically entailed additional teaching time and modified assessments, and consequently could be framed as “good teaching for all”. The questionnaires also contained responses from student and special school teachers and support the view that teachers’ beliefs about inclusive pedagogy are mediated by experience and occupation.     

An appropriate curriculum for 4–5‐year‐old children in Northern Ireland: comparing play‐based and formal approaches

This paper reports on an investigation into the quality of the learning experiences for 4–5‐year‐old children in Northern Ireland schools in the context of the debate about play‐based and formal approaches to learning and teaching. Detailed observations were carried out in 70 Year 1 classes: 38 in traditional Year 1 classes where the Northern Ireland National Curriculum is being delivered, and 32 in Enriched Curriculum classes, where a more developmentally appropriate, play‐based and child‐centred curriculum is being piloted. The quality of the learning experience in each class was assessed using a structured observation schedule, i.e. Walsh and Gardner's Quality learning instrument. Overall the Enriched Curriculum appears to be providing 4–5‐year‐old children in Northern Ireland with a higher‐quality learning experience. The children are given more opportunities to act independently, are engaged in more challenging activities and are more learning disposed, and they show higher levels of emotional, social and physical well‐being. The findings are discussed in terms of what constitutes an appropriate curriculum for this age group.     

A participatory approach to the evaluation of participatory museum research projects

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we will describe, justify and critique a participatory approach that we have developed in order to evaluate the success of a participatory research project that was exploring ways of making museum learning experiences more inclusive for adults who have a diverse range of access preferences. Because we were researching in a unique space at the intersection of inclusive museum education, inclusive technologies and participatory research, we have needed to develop an original evaluation approach, informed by methods and frameworks derived from other fields. We present examples of the kind of evaluation information that the framework elicited and use this as a basis to critique the strengths and weaknesses of the framework. Our experience of using creative methods for eliciting evaluation data suggest that useful information about participation can be revealed but that further improvements can be made in order to make the research experience more participatory.