Classroom to Communities of Practice: Benefits for English Learners and Teacher Candidates Through Partnerships

This study investigates a service-learning program for university students seeking teacher certification examined through the lens of sociocultural theory. Data was collected from teacher candidates (TCs) in the form of surveys and an open-ended writing assignment. Administrators from the partner schools were also interviewed to provide their perspectives of the service learning. Findings show that the service-learning program allowed TCs and their English learners (ELs) to form communities of practice that were mutually beneficial. Teacher candidates reported numerous opportunities to apply the strategies learned in their methods course, as well as an increase in their sense of preparation for teaching ELs. Administrators provided positive feedback about the service-learning program in terms of the relationship between the partner school and the university. Difficulties arose in terms of TCs' accountability and the level of participation afforded to the TCs by the classroom teacher. Implications highlight the importance of negotiating expectations that address the needs of both parties equally in order to support a strong community of practice that prepares TCs to meet the needs of ELs.     

Stretching and Challenging the Boundaries of Law: Varieties of Knowledge in Biotechnologies Regulation

The paper addresses the question of adaptation of existing regulatory frameworks in the face of innovation in biotechnologies, and specifically the roles played in this by various expert knowledge practices. We identify two overlapping ideal types of adaptation: first, the stretching and maintenance of a pre-existing legal framework, and second, a breaking of existing classifications and establishment of a novel regime. We approach this issue by focusing on varieties of regulatory knowledge which, contributing to and parting of political legitimacy, in principle enable the making of legally binding decisions about risks and benefits of technologies. We base the discussion around two case studies, one of animal biotechnology ethical regulation, the other of ‘advanced therapy’ medicinal product regulation, both in the context of European Union frameworks. Specifically, we explore the knowledge configurations constituting expert committees and other institutional formations of expert regulatory knowledge in their political context. We show that where sectoral and moral boundaries are challenged, different modes of regulatory knowledge beyond scientific forms – legal, procedural, moral, economic and industrial – can shape regulatory innovations either by maintenance of regimes through commensuration and stretching, or through differentiation and separation creating new frameworks. We conclude that establishing an essential techno-scientific difference between pre-existing and novel technologies does not in itself require new regulatory structures, and that the regulatory strategy that is followed will be determined by a combination of different forms of knowledge.     

Islamic Historians of the Ayyūbid Era and Muslim Rulers from the Early Crusading Period: A Study in the Use of History

This article examines the presentation of Muslim rulers from the early crusading period, 490–540/1097–1146 in six of the main chronicles written during the first half of the seventh/thirteenth century. It discusses the themes, ideas and topoi in each, demonstrating that the historians appear to have been divided into two ‘camps’ over their presentation of these rulers, based on their personal views of the rulers of their time. The article also examines why this division may have occurred, and considers its ramifications for modern scholarship of Arabic historiography, Islamic history and the history of the Crusades, in both the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries.     

The “Other” in the Crusading Period: Walter the Chancellor's Presentation of Najm al-Dīn Il-Ghāzī

This paper examines ideas surrounding the presentation of the Muslim “other” in Latin writings of the early period of the Crusades. Using a case-study approach of the views of one chronicler, Walter the Chancellor, in his work Bella Antiochena, on one individual Muslim, Najm al-Dīn Il-Ghāzī, the paper studies aspects of the image of Il-Ghāzī, the reasons for them, how and why they develop throughout the chronicle, and whether, from the other information given in the chronicle, it would be possible to interpret the information in other ways. The conclusions reached demonstrate that the reason for the vitriol in Walter's presentation was his wish to justify the Crusades and suggest that the writers of Outremer started to develop their own cross-cultural responses to Islam, independent of mainstream European thought, because of their situation.     

Effects of an Early Family Intervention on Children's Memory: The Mediating Effects of Cortisol Levels

Developmental psychologists have long been concerned with the ways that early adversity influences children's long-term outcomes. In the current study, activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis of medically at-risk (e.g., preterm) infants was measured as a result of maternal participation in a novel cognitively based home visitation program (versus a Healthy Start home visitation program). Maternal participation in the cognitive intervention predicted lower basal cortisol levels among infants—with reduced levels of maternal avoidance/withdrawal serving as a mediator of this relation. Lower cortisol levels in infancy, in turn, predicted higher verbal short-term memory (STM) at age 3. STM represents a cognitive ability that has importance for children's later educational outcomes. Findings provide experimental evidence concerning the pathway by which an early intervention may produce hormonal changes that can, in turn, influence children's learning outcomes.     

Teachers' Perceptions of Their Pupils' Views on Rewards and Punishments

Although sabbatical leave for teachers was suggested in the James Report more than 25 years ago, it remains as much of an unattainable ideal as ever—a sad fact in the light of the message of this paper. What Les Summers tells us clearly illustrates the potential value that sabbaticals might have for teachers: how they might return to school both refreshed and with new and innovatory ideas. The chance to study some schools in Australia enabled Summers to do just this, and he was able to see issues of disaffection here from a new perspective as a result of his experiences. He then went on to develop the idea of a programme which responds to the needs of young school leavers.