It's a Nice Idea,but it's not actually Real: Assessing the Objects and Activities of Design

This paper begins with an overview of the debate between the ideas of ‘art’ and ‘industry’ in design education, and the relationship of this debate to liberal and vocational pedagogic approaches in the education of designers. These debates are investigated with supporting examples drawn from tertiary level design education assessment conversations (known as critiques, or ‘crits’) using techniques drawn from Conversation Analysis. The analysis reveals how expectations and perceptions of design activity are articulated and reproduced within design and design education. In addition, the role of interaction in design education is briefly considered in relationship to ethical issues in design and design education.     

Variation indexes of marks due to continuous assessment. Empirical approach at university / Índices de variación de la nota debidos a la evaluación continua. Contrastación empírica en la enseñanza universitaria

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has required continuous assessment at university in Spain. The goal of this paper is to analyse how continuous assessment modifies the subject’s final mark, to ascertain whether it improves or lowers the final exam score and to determine whether other variables also affect this relationship. To accomplish this, we have created a database with the marks earned by students who took the final exam in the Financial Accounting class at university in the last three academic years. A variation index of the exam score was constructed as a consequence of continuous assessment, and it was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results obtained from the marks and the index were analysed using contingency tables, ANOVA, regression analyses and a contrast of differences in mean. The main conclusions allow us to state that continuous assessment has an important direct effect on the learning process as well as on the final exam score and the overall class mark, and that other variables also influence them.     

Daycare Staff Emotions and Coping Related to Children of Divorce: A Q Methodological Study

This Q methodological study explores emotional experiences and coping of daycare staff when working with children of divorce and their families. Two main coping strategies among daycare staff were identified: 1) Confident copers, and 2) Non-confident copers. Interviews exemplify the two main experiences. Both groups may struggle with coping in this work. Still, Non-confident copers seem to experience more problems than do Confident copers. Both Confident and Non-confident copers find it difficult to work with parents who argue in front of the children. Accordingly, we suggest tailored education and counseling in this field to increase knowledge and coping among staff, to help them in their work with children of divorce.     

Teachers’ professional development through university–school partnerships: theoretical standpoints and evidence from two pilot studies in Chile

This paper presents a teacher professional development programme, based on a university–schools partnership and a collective reflection model, addressing the needs of in-service teacher education in Chile. First, the main challenges faced by both teachers and teacher education in Chile are summarised. Then, the foundations of this model are presented. Finally, an illustration of the model is provided by presenting two pilot studies implemented in Chile. A qualitative analysis of interviews showed that the programme was successful in promoting teacher reflection, leading to reported changes in their practices. Finally, the advantages and the challenges arising from this study, and the educational possibilities of this model of professional development, are discussed.     

Teachers' Attitudes Towards Children's Behaviour Problems in Nursery Classes in Greece

The study was undertaken in Greece to investigate teachers' perceptions of children's behaviour problems in nursery classes in Greece. A questionnaire developed in an earlier study was applied to a female teacher sample of 154, selected from nursery schools in cities, small towns and rural areas in three distinct geographic locations in Greece. The total sample of pupils in the study was.3.091 (boys N:1.568, girls N:1.523)

The overall prevalence rate identified by teachers for all behaviour problems was 14.3 percent, with 2.1 percent perceived as ‘very serious’ and 5.8 percent ‘serious’ and ‘very serious’. More boys than girls were perceived to have behaviour problems in general (ratio 2:1) and conduct problems in particular. However, almost equal percentage of boys and girls were perceived as showing serious emotional problems. Gender, age, children's academic achievement teachers' teaching experience were found to be significant factors, but the socio‐economic status of the child was insignificant in this study.     

Probing transient protein-mediated DNA linkages using nanoconfinement

We present an analytic technique for probing protein-catalyzed transient DNA loops that is based on nanofluidic channels. In these nanochannels, DNA is forced in a linear configuration that makes loops appear as folds whose size can easily be quantified. Using this technique, we study the interaction between T4 DNA ligase and DNA. We find that T4 DNA ligase binding changes the physical characteristics of the DNA polymer, in particular persistence length and effective width. We find that the rate of DNA fold unrolling is significantly reduced when T4 DNA ligase and ATP are applied to bare DNA. Together with evidence of T4 DNA ligase bridging two different segments of DNA based on AFM imaging, we thus conclude that ligase can transiently stabilize folded DNA configurations by coordinating genetically distant DNA stretches.