Functional analysis of the communication between the young child and his father or mother when reading an illustrated book

Our research is concerned with the observation of communication between the child and his parents (mother-baby vs. father-baby). The children are aged from 30 to 36 months old. Communication was analysed according to utterances functions and social aims. 14 French children, 7 boys and 7 girls were filmed with each of their two parents in their home environment. 5 minutes of verbal interactions were entirely rewritten and analysed according to categories adapted from the speech acts theory. The results indicate that mothers generate more expressive utterances and fathers more commissive ones. Mothers also tend to ask more information requests. The children generate more assertive utterances with the mothers and are more directive with the fathers. Concerning parental feedback functions (approval, reformulation, clarification requests), there is no significant difference between mothers and fathers. These results are being discussed from a pragmatic and differential point of view.     

Libraries and Financial Literacy: Perspectives From Emerging Markets

The article uses conceptual correlations between information literacy and financial literacy as a basis for arguing that financial literacy services have a place in library settings. The article discusses the general requirements, profile of services, and various challenges related to the introduction of financial literacy programmes in public libraries. An intensified interest in financial literacy matters may be assigned to the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2009. The interdependencies between financial crisis, financial literacy, and the potential of public libraries is illustrated by the example of one South-Eastern European country whose economic transformations and developments reflect the importance of financial literacy.     

Musculoskeletal Anatomy Knowledge Retention in the Macquarie University Chiropractic Program: A Cross-Sectional Study

Attrition of anatomy knowledge has been an area of concern in health professions curricula. To ensure safe and effective clinical practice, the study of chiropractic requires a good knowledge of musculoskeletal anatomy. In this study, musculoskeletal limb knowledge retention was investigated among students in the 5-year chiropractic program at Macquarie University, Australia. A test of 20 multiple-choice questions, categorized into low-order (LO) and high-order (HO) cognitive ability according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, was developed. Students enrolled in the program were invited to participate with 257 of the 387 choosing to participate, (response rate ranging 56%–72% per year level). No attrition of knowledge across the years was observed, instead, a significant increase in knowledge, measured by total LO and HO scores (P < 0.0005), throughout the program. There were significant increases in both low and high cognitive scores which were not uniform, with high-order scores increasing significantly in the last two year levels. The increase of knowledge, may be explained, at least partially, by the vertical and horizontal integrated curriculum. Retrieval of knowledge, especially in clinically applied formats, may have led to an enhanced ability to apply anatomy knowledge and account for the increased scores in the high-order knowledge seen in the later clinical years. Evaluating anatomy knowledge retention at different cognitive levels seems to provide a better assessment and is worth considering in future anatomy educational research.     

Validity of E-Advice: The Evaluation of an Internet-Based System for Career Planning

The paper provides data on the evaluation of an Internet-based system for self-directed career planning that has been developed in Croatia. Rich in occupational information and career-management advice, this application also contains an interactive questionnaire tapping the client's personal skills and interests. Based on the client's answers, the computer proposes an e-advice– a limited set of occupations that match the users' individual characteristics. The evaluation utilized data gathered from a self-selected sample of users (N = 2,064) and two smaller student samples. Apart from the users' satisfaction, the analyses explored various aspects of e-advice validity: factor structure of users' self-assessments and expert occupational ratings, differences in e-advice given to different groups of users, congruence with the classifications based on Holland's Self-Directed Search, and congruence with the advice given by expert human counsellors. The analyses supported the validity of e-advice. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Teachers’ reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia

The study explores how teachers perceive and go about students’ thinking in connection to particular mathematical content and how they frame the notion of applied mathematics in their own classrooms. Teachers’ narratives are built around two released PISA 2012 mathematics items, the ‘Drip rate’ and ‘Climbing Mount Fuji’ (will be referred to as the Fuji item). Teachers show concordance as to the reasons that could make either of the items difficult for students and are able to provide more examples justifying their reasoning for the ‘Fuji’ item. Suggestions linked to making the items more familiar to the students mostly relate to de-contextualization of the items’ content towards a more formal mathematical record. The teachers agree that students need only basic mathematical knowledge, at a level learned during elementary school, in order to solve these problems. Yet, at the same time, many teachers have difficulty clearly verbalising which procedures students are expected to follow to be able to solve the tasks. Disagreement among the teachers is noticeable when labelling the most difficult part(s) of each of the selected items. Mathematics teachers show openness for learning on how to create math problems we examined in this study, but question the purpose and meaning in incorporating more such problems in their own teaching.