Making Space for Consuming Practices

This empirically driven paper is about workplace learning with specific focus on the ‘work’ of consuming practices. By consuming we refer to the eating, and the drinking, and (at times) to the smoking that workers, in most organisations, do on a daily basis. Indeed, it is the quotidian nature of consuming, coupled with its absence from workplace learning research that make them noteworthy practices to explore. In using the term practice we draw on the recent tranche of practice based theorisations: notably Schatzki (1996, Organization Studies, 26(3), 465-484, 2005, Organization Studies, 27(12), 1863-1873, 2006) and Gherardi (Human Relations, 54(1), 131-139, 2001, 2006, Learning Organization, 16(5), 352-359, 2009). The paper frames consuming practices as ‘dispersed’ (general) practices and, illustrated through empirical data from multiple projects, we progressively outline how these contribute to the learning of ‘integrative’ (specialized work) practices. Our overall aim is to (re)position consuming practices from prosaic, to having much relevance for research on workplace learning.     

Individual and Institutional Productivity in Educational Psychology Journals from 2009 to 2014

This article examines the productivity of both individuals and institutions, indexed through an examination of five educational psychology journals (Cognition and Instruction, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, and Journal of Educational Psychology) from 2009 to 2014. These results are discussed relative to four previous studies (Hsieh et al. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29, 333–343, 2004; Jones et al. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35, 11–16, 2010; Smith et al. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23, 173–181, 1998; Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28, 422–430, 2003). Vanderbilt University and Fred Paas replaced the University of Maryland and Richard E. Mayer as the top research institution and author, respectively. Sixteen of the top 19 researchers’ institutions were outside the USA, compared to only 10 of the top 32 during 2003–2008 and three of the top 20 during 1991–1996. Educational psychology research continues the trend of becoming more international.     

From resource to document: scaffolding content and organising student learning in teachers’ documentation work on the teaching of series

We examine teachers’ use of resources as they prepare to teach the topic of numerical series of real numbers, in order to identify how their personal relationship with mathematical content—and its teaching—interacts with their use of a commonly used textbook. We describe this interplay between textbook and personal relationship, a term coined in the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD, Chevallard, 2003), in terms of documentation work (resources, aims, rules of action, operational invariants), a key construct from the documentational approach (DA, Gueudet & Trouche, in Educational Studies in Mathematics, 71, 199–218, 2009). We do so in the case of five post-secondary teachers who use the same textbook as a main resource for teaching the topic. Documentational analysis of interviews with the teachers led to the identification of their aims and rules of action (the what and how of their resource use as they organise their teaching of the topic) as well as the operational invariants (the why for this organisation of their teaching). We describe the teachers’ documentation work in two sets of aims/rules of action: scaffolding mathematical content (series as a stepping stone to learning about Taylor polynomials and Maclaurin series), and organising student learning about series through drill exercises, visualisation, examples, and applications. Our bridging (networking) of theoretical constructs originating in one theoretical framework (personal relationship, ATD) with the constructs of a different, yet compatible, framework (documentation work, DA) aims to enrich the latter (teachers’ documentation work) with the individual agency (teachers’ personal relationships with the topic) provided by the former.     

The Influence of Afrocentric Spirituality on Counselling Stigma and Help-Seeking Perceptions among Nigerian Americans

This empirical study examined the relations between Afrocentric spirituality and psychological help-seeking attitudes, intentions, and stigma among Nigerian adults living in the United States of America (N = 122). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Spirituality Scale (Jagers and Smith in Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 429–442, 1996), the Perception of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Psychological Help Scale (Vogel et al. in Journal of Counseling Psychiatry, 56, 301–308, 2009), the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (Vogel et al. in Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 325–337, 2006), the Intention to Seek Counselling Inventory (Cash et al. in Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6, 111–112, 1975), and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (Fischer and Turner in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1, 79–90, 1970). Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that there was no relation between Afrocentric spirituality and help-seeking attitudes or self-stigma about seeking counselling. However, there was a positive correlation between Afrocentric spirituality and other-perceived stigma, demonstrating that increased Afrocentric spirituality predicted increased perceived stigma from others about seeking counselling services. Contrary to expectations, there was a positive correlation between Afrocentric spirituality and intentions to seek counselling. Implications for counselling practice and theory are presented.     

Mappaemundi,Maps and the Romantic Aesthetic in Children’s Books

This article considers the extent to which medieval mappaemundi are an important precedent for literary cartographies in fiction for children. It connects the notion of embeddedness to Peta Mitchell’s (2011) suggestion that mappaemundi refused to entertain the later, post-Enlightenment cartographic distinction between subject and environment, positing instead the “absorption” of the medieval subject into the religious medieval world space. The article documents some of the visual conventions that maps in children’s literature have appropriated from mappaemundi. In doing so, it articulates the contradictions inherent both to ecological rhetoric and cartographic space and the visual lexicon of maps included with children’s books, which contribute to a rhetoric of ecomimesis. The article argues that maps in children’s literature are invested in a rhetoric of ecomimesis, that we are, as Timothy Morton (2009) has it, “embedded” in Nature, and that this embeddedness conceit threatens to forestall critique in that it reproduces the related oppositions of culture/Nature, subject/object and subject/environment even as it appears to collapse their respective terms. In the process, it considers maps in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (2007/1719), the Alderley Edge books of Alan Garner, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons (2012/1930), and Rosemary Sutcliff’s Outcast (1998/1955).     

The Cartographic Eye in Children’s Picturebooks: Between Maps and Narratives

This article examines the place occupied by maps in children’s picturebooks. After a brief overview of the different roles that are assigned to maps in children’s books, the article considers five French picturebooks—Warja Lavater’s Le petit chaperon rouge (1965), Olivier Douzou and Isabelle Simon’s L’autobus numéro 33 (1996), Véronique Vernette’s Cocorico poulet Piga (1999), Rebecca Dautremer and Arthur Leboeuf’s Le loup de la 135 ^ème (2008) and Kochka and Fabienne Cinquin’s Dans ma ville, il y a… (2011)—in order to focus on how the narrative, whether enclosed, superimposed or linked to the text in some other way, is evoked by the geographic shape of the maps. It is argued that the particular use and function of a map depends on its shape or placement in a book, distinguishing between the incorporation of maps only as a significant picture (its use) from the subject within the whole narrative (its function). Thus the article articulates what uses a map can have within a narrative. It also explores the mechanics of the iconotext, showing that a cartographic picture fulfils a precise, rather than a general, function of spatialisation. Hence three main functions of spatialisation in maps and mapping are distinguished, whereby an author could use maps to help a character discover, conquer, or organise a space.     

“But The Soldier’s Remains Were Gone”: Thought Experiments in Children’s Literature

In this article thought experiments are uncovered as key stimuli of philosophical potential in children’s literature and their presentation and function is examined in a selection of focal texts, including: Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871); Even the Parrot by Dorothy Sayers (1944); Nina Bawden’s Carrie’s War (1974); and A Game of Soldiers (1985) by Jan Needle. The thought experiment is a device common to science and philosophy and has been recognised as an heuristic tool in literature generally, but here children’s literature is drawn into the conversation, revealing that—as a dynamic mechanism of children’s narrative—thought experiments have a long-standing and particular role to play in books for young people. This paper connects with a recent turn in children’s literature discourse toward the conditions of power in books for young readers; it moves on the debate by demonstrating that the apparatus of thought experimentation places the implied child reader in a position of philosophical responsibility and forward thinking. Presenting thought experiments in different ways, formal properties of the thought experiment—such as conversational mode, double engagement and modal positioning—are identified and shown to open up a philosophical space of subsequence in children’s texts.     

The Piagetian <Emphasis Type="Italic">Schème</Emphasis>: a Framework to Study Professional Learning Through Conceptualization

Different theories of learning have been used in vocational education studies and Piaget is a common source of reference. Our intent is to present a specific and original way in which the Piagetian theory of schèmes has been developed since the 1990s in studies called “vocational didactics”. Developed in French-speaking countries and mostly unknown to an international audience, this approach offers a specific use of Jean Piaget’s theory of learning, which has been applied to adult learning and vocational education. We will first develop the theoretical foundation of the theory of schèmes as developed by Vergnaud (1989, Recherches en didactique des mathématiques, 10(2–3), 133–170, 1990, 1996, 2001) and others after Piaget (1947). Then, we will present the methodological perspective of this approach. We will finally present significant research results to illustrate outcomes and practical implications for vocational training.     

Female Participation as Top-Producing Authors,Editors, and Editorial Board Members in Educational Psychology Journals from 2009 to 2016

This article examines top-producing female authors, editors, and editorial board members in five educational psychology journals (i.e., Cognition and Instruction, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, and Journal of Educational Psychology) from 2009 to 2016. Results extend data from four previous studies (Evans et al. Educational Psychology Review, 17(3), 263–271, 2005; Fong et al. Educational Psychology Review, 21(3), 267–277, 2009; Greenbaum et al. Educational Psychology Review, 28, 215–223, 2016; Robinson et al. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23, 331–343, 1998) and also compare top female authors to the top male authors. The top-producing women in the field have, on average, less seniority in the field than do top male authors. Male authors have more publications, on average, and more sole authorships and first authorships, as compared to female authors. No discernible progress has been made by women in terms of editorial board memberships or editorships since 2004.     

Between Fiction and Reality: Maps and Cartographic Logic in the Works of Peter Sís

This article examines the use of maps in the works of Czech author- illustrator Peter Sís in order to consider the role that cartography plays in the construction of four of his biographical picturebooks: Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus (2003/1991), Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei (1996), The Tree of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist and Thinker (2003), and The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (2013). The profusion of maps found in Sís’s biographical picturebooks expresses an understanding that the exploration of identity is intimately linked with the exploration of the spaces in which that identity is formed. The maps represent three basic functions for Sís: first, he uses maps to situate the reader in a specific time and place; second, maps are elements that initiate adventure; and third, the profusion of maps, combined with other textual elements, raises a question that runs through all of Sís’s work regarding the limits of representations of reality. The article illustrates the three functions by presenting a walk through the pages of the four chosen picturebooks, describing and analysing the different types of maps that Sís uses.     

Development and Evaluation of Turkish Language Versions of three Positive Psychology Assessments

This study reports the development and evaluation of a Turkish-language version of three positive psychology assessments for use in clinical, education and research settings with Turkish-speaking individuals. A multistage translation of the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al. in International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15, 194–200, 2008), the General Mattering Scale (GMS; Marcus 1991) and the Short Grit Scale (GS; Duckworth & Quinn in Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166–174. doi:10.1080/00223890802634290, 2009) is detailed, as well as the procedure used to evaluate the internal structure of the translated assessments. The results yielded from data of 268 participants indicated factor structures ranging from acceptable to robust model fit for the BRS, GMS, and GS. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.     

Cross-Cultural Validation of Four Positive Psychology Assessments for Use with a Ghanaian Population

This study reports the evaluation of four positive psychology assessments for use in clinical, education, and research settings with individuals in Ghana, Africa. The analyses attempted to identify validity evidence for internal structure and relationships with related variables for the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS; Diener et al. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75, 1985), General Mattering Scale (GMS; Marcus 1991), Short Grit Scale (GS; Duckworth and Quinn Journal of Personality Assessment, 9, 166–174, 2009), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15, 194–200, 2008). The data yielded from 657 Ghanaian participants indicated factor structures ranging from a strong model fit (SLS and GMS) to an acceptable fit following modifications to factor structure (GS and BRS), while evidence based on relationships to related variables was convincing. Implications for use of these assessments and for future research are discussed.     

Shopping for Shoes: Teaching Students to Apply and Interpret Mathematics in the Real World

This article reports the findings of classroom research exploring the potential of posing challenging mathematical problems situated in real-world financial contexts to activate mathematical knowledge, skills and reasoning. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 mathematical literacy assessment framework (OECD, 2013) provided theoretical framing for the study, which examined the use of a “financial dilemma” titled Shopping for shoes in a Year 5/6 composite class in a suburban Australian primary school. The social and mathematical dimensions of the task, together with a particular lesson structure, successfully engaged 10 to 12-year-old students in exploring mathematics through a financial problem-solving experience. The findings reveal that students’ notions of friendship and fairness guided the way they formulated the problem and employed mathematics. Strategies intended to encourage students to interpret the alignment and reasonableness of their social and mathematical thinking against the problem context were critical to the lesson.     

Surviving the “School of Slavery”: Acculturation in Sharon Draper’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Copper Sun</Emphasis> and Joyce Hansen’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Captive</Emphasis>

Although children’s literature has long alluded to cultural connections between Africans and African Americans, very few texts establish clear lines of influence between particular African ethnic groups and African American characters and communities. Joyce Hansen’s The Captive (1994) and Sharon Draper’s Copper Sun (2006) stand out in portraying protagonists Kofi’s and Amari’s reliance on their past upbringing as Ashanti and Ewe, respectively. As Kofi and Amari endure the traumas of the Middle Passage and slavery in eighteenth-century America, they adapt by relying on their past socialization in traditional West African societies. The two novels challenge the idea of cultural erasure promoted in Elizabeth Yates’ Amos Fortune, Free Man (1950), which is still a fixture on multicultural reading lists for middle school students. The Captive and Copper Sun do provide sharply contrasting visions of their protagonist’s relationships to American society. Copper Sun indicates that a black girl’s concerns, including her need for subsistence and protection, and her desire for creative expression and personal autonomy, can complement the economic and military interests of the state. By contrast, The Captive insists on the necessity for its emancipated protagonist to maintain an adversarial role within a stratified, white-dominated U.S. culture. The novels thus highlight the very different messages about social identity and participation that recent multicultural children’s literature can convey.     

Child Readers and the Worlds of the Picture Book

Children as readers of picture books and the ways they respond to, and make meaning from, such texts are the focus of this article, which reports on a small-scale study undertaken in Norway and Wales, UK. The theoretical framing of the research draws on concepts of the multimodal ensemble in picture books and of the reading event as part of a social practice. The research design was developed from the team’s analysis of two texts, Pappa by Svein Nyhus (1998) and What does Daddy Do? by Rachel Bright (2009). Twenty-four children, who were 7 and 8 years old, took part in the study. This was built around two reading events for each book, staged as an immediate response and as a guided response. The data subsequently collected were analysed according to three overarching organisational principles, as book world, real world and play world. For both Daddy and Pappa, the first reading event showed the children’s responses were mainly directed towards exploring the book world. On the second reading event, references to the real world predominated for Daddy, while for Pappa the book world was again dominant. Across both reading events and for both books, the playworld revealed those occasions when the children expanded the meaning of the story, demonstrating an inventive ability to play with the text. Overall, the children’s responses moved fluidly across the three worlds, showing them to be energetically making connections between the reading, their experience of books and their own lives.     

Investigating a case of hidden misinterpretations of an additive word problem: structural substitution

According to numerous studies (Barrouillet & Camos 2002; Brousseau 1988; Chevallard 1988; Riley et al. 1984; Schubauer-Leoni & Ntamakiliro, Revue Des Sciences de L’éducation, 20(1): 87–113, 1994; Vergnaud 1982; Xin, The Journal of Educational Research, 100(6):347–360, 2007), a combination of many factors, including curriculum, didactic contract and task design, can potentially lead to students experiencing difficulties in developing of a full understanding of addition and subtraction and their relationship in problem solving. Few studies (Conne, Recheche En Didactique Des Mathématiques, 5, 269–332, 1985; DeBlois, Éducation et Francophonie, 25(1), 102–120, 1997; Giroux & Ste-Marie, European Jornal of Psychology of Education, 16(2), 141–161, 2001) describe the misinterpretations of problems as a factor related to learning difficulties. We have studied how and why elementary school students misinterpret the mathematical structure of a simple additive word problem and what kind of possible (hidden) misinterpretation may occur. We analysed possible mechanisms of misinterpretations in word problem solving, discussing various examples of correct and incorrect solutions resulting from the misinterpretation of a problem. We gave the elementary school students a word problem, which could potentially be misinterpreted, and observed their solving strategies. Our results show how the particular form of mathematical misinterpretation—structure substitution—may help students obtain a correct answer and thereby hinder the development of their mathematical reasoning. We further discuss different ways of addressing this phenomenon in teaching practice.     

Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale: Re-Exploration and Refinement

This study refined the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS; Ponterotto et al. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 30, 153–180, 2002) in response to concerns in the literature (e.g., Constantine et al. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(4), 334–345, 2002) focusing on original sample representation, factor structure, and constructs of interest within this scale. For this refinement study, a total of 176 participants from various counseling fields in the United States completed an online survey. The results of an exploratory factor analysis presented a 28-item 2-factor refined version of the MCKAS (MCKAS-R). The preliminary MANOVA analysis indicated that this refined scale differentiated multicultural counseling competencies of participants who were counselors, counseling students, and counselor educators. Implications of this scale for counselor training, practice, and future research are provided.     

Unstable Space: Mapping the Antarctic for Children in “Heroic Era” Antarctic Literature

This article examines the Antarctic landscape as one of the last places in the world to be explored and mapped, and as one of the most changeable landscapes in the world. The mapping exercises involved in the early, heroic-era Antarctic expeditions, helped to reduce a once mysterious and unknown landscape into a known entity, something that could be contained and restrained through visual representation. These maps focus on the limits of landscape, on the outer edges and the upper peaks and so mapping minimises and places limits upon landscapes, creating an image of the landscape which is static, re-presented for human consumption. The article will, therefore, look at the use of maps in a cross-section of six heroic-era Antarctic non-fiction narratives for children written within the last twenty years, and which recount the early Antarctic expeditions, recreating and re-presenting heroic-era maps as a means of enforcing stasis on this dynamic landscape. The children’s stories, such as Michael McCurdy’s Trapped by the Ice! (1997), Meredith Hooper’s Race to the Pole (2002), and Dowdeswell, Dowdeswell & Seddon’s Scott of the Antarctic (2012), show that the stultifying effect of maps is exacerbated in the children’s heroic-era narratives as they seek to fix the landscape geographically, as well as temporally, in the early twentieth century. The article will examine the way in which the maps in the modern retellings of heroic-era narratives seek to undermine the mutable nature of the Antarctic in order to present the child reader with an image of the continent, which is dominated by stasis.