Neuroimaging Studies of Reading Development and Reading Disability

Converging evidence from a number of neuroimaging studies, including our own, suggest that fluent word identification in reading is related to the functional integrity of two left hemisphere posterior systems: a temporo-parietal system and a ventral occipito-temporal system. These posterior systems are functionally disrupted in developmental dyslexia. Reading disabled, relative to nonimpaired, readers demonstrate heightened reliance on both inferior frontal and right hemisphere posterior regions, presumably in compensation for the LH posterior difficulties. We propose a neurobiological account suggesting that for normally developing readers the temporo-parietal system predominates at first, and is associated with aspects of processing critical in learning to integrate orthography with phonological and lexical-semantic features of printed words. The occipito-temporal system, by contrast, constitutes a fast, late-developing, word-identification system that underlies fluent word recognition in skilled readers.     

Information needs of specialist healthcare professionals: a preliminary study based on the West of Scotland Colorectal Cancer Managed Clinical Network

OBJECTIVES: Funded by Research in the Workplace Award (RIWA) 2001, the study investigated the information needs and use of NHS library services by members of the West of Scotland Colorectal Cancer Managed Clinical Network (MCN), a single subject, cross boundary, multi-professional organization. METHOD: A postal questionnaire sent out in October 2002 was returned by 100 members and follow-up interviews were held in March 2003 with 11 of the respondents. The questions related to access to resources, library services such as literature searches, current awareness and training. They also explored the use of electronic resources and the Internet. RESULTS: Respondents were mainly hospital doctors and a few nurses from across five health boards. Most had access to a library, although not all made use of it, possibly an indication of the need for improved communications between librarians and health-care staff. Generally, research and professional development were reported as reasons for needing cancer information, but on further investigation the motivation to conduct literature searches was more related to patient care. Examples included treatment of unusual cases, locating information for patients and identifying guidelines. There are indications of unmet needs for local contact information and evaluated patient information. CONCLUSION: Development of a cancer portal within the NHS Scotland e-Library available from May 2004 based on the Managed Knowledge Network (MKN) concept is attempting to address many of the issues raised in the survey, including inequities of access to services and signposting to a variety of types of information.     

Invisible and Indispensable: Parttime Teachers in California Community Colleges

Abstract

Although parttime instructors constitute a substantial portion—often a majority—of community college faculties, they are accorded a low status on campus, with less than half the salary and none of the benefits of fulltime faculty members. This study points up a number of misconceptions that administrators have been using to justify discriminatory treatment of parttime teachers.     

CHARACTER, CIVIC RENEWAL AND SERVICE LEARNING FOR DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION

ABSTRACT:  This article explores the civic republican conception of citizenship underlying the Labour government's programme of civil renewal and the introduction of education for democratic citizenship. It considers the importance of the cultivation of civic virtue through political participation for such developments and it reviews the research into how service learning linked to character education can lead to the civic virtue of duty or social responsibility.     

Neoliberalism,internationalisation and higher education: connections,contradictions and alternatives

ABSTRACT

We explore the role of neoliberalism within portrayals of internationalisation in higher education (HE). Through an analysis of four features of internationalisation, we suggest that they embody a complex entanglement of neoliberal categories and assumptions with other, primarily progressive humanitarian ideals. This framing of internationalisation has three affects. One, humanitarian ideals coupled with neoliberal categories normalise inequalities, turning internationalisation into a meritocratic global race, focusing on celebrating the possibility of the few who can achieve, instead of the embedded inequalities within the system, which disadvantage the many. Two, this allows neoliberal practices to be advanced through the discourse of internationalisation and its association with progressive humanitarian values. Three, this neoliberal framing does not explain the nature of internationalisation of HE in many nations; we demonstrate this by analysing internationalisation in China, Israel and Cuba. We suggest that internationalisation in HE cannot be adequately explained by analyses which rely on neoliberalism.     

Factors that prevent learning in electrochemistry

Electrochemistry plays an important role in curricula, textbooks, and in everyday life. The purpose of the present study was to identify and understand secondary‐school students' problems in learning electrochemistry at an introductory chemistry level. The investigation covered four areas: (a) electrolytes, (b) transport of electric charges in electrolyte solutions, (c) the anode and the cathode, and (d) the minus and plus poles. Written tests were given to high‐school students in five cycles. The population from which random samples were drawn totalled 15,700 subjects. Students were asked to select the correct answers and to justify their choices. It was found that students based their reasoning on four alternative concepts: (a) During electrolysis, the electric current produces ions; (b) electrons migrate through the solution from one electrode to the other; (c) the cathode is always the minus pole, the anode the plus pole; and (d) the plus and minus poles carry charges. The results suggest a teaching strategy in which students first experience and learn about electrochemistry concepts. In the second step, appropriate concept terms are added, and students then are confronted with the alternative concepts described in this article. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 258–283, 2007