Gender,toys and learning

In spite of continuing patterning of curriculum subject preference and choice by gender, there has been little recent attention to the argument developed in the 1970s that children play with different toys according to their gender, and that these provide girls and boys with (different) curriculum‐related skills. The article describes a small‐scale empirical study that asked parents of 3–5 year old children to identify their child’s favourite toys and viewing material, and analysed responses according to children’s gender. The most frequently identified toys and viewing materials were subjected to content and discourse analysis, with the intention of identifying both educative aspects of content, and the gender discourses reflected. The article explores conceptual issues around categorisations of ‘education’ within toys and entertainment resources, positing the notion of ‘didactic information’ to delineate between overtly educational content and other social discourses. Analysis reveals toy preferences to be highly gendered, with boys’ toys and resources concentrated on technology and action, and girls’ on care and stereotypically feminine interests. Didactic information, and aspects developing construction and literacy skills, were identified in the selected toys and resources for boys, and were lacking in those for girls. All the toys and resources could be read as implicated in ‘gendering’: the various gender discourses, and other discourses around aspects of social identity reflected in the toys and resources are identified and analysed. The analysis presented suggests the value of reinvigorated attention to children’s toys and entertainment resources in terms both of the education they afford, and their role in the production of social identities.     

Preparing Elementary Pre-Service Teachers from a Non-Traditional Student Population to Teach with Technology

This article documents the development of a two-stage curriculum intended to improve elementary teacher candidates’ understanding of technology integration. Most students in the program came from low-income districts and lacked technology experience. The first stage of the curriculum consisted of a prerequisite basic technology skills course offered by the Computer Science Department. This was then followed by an online educational technology course offered by the College of Education. The objectives of the authors in this article are twofold. The first is to describe the rationale, procedures, and design of a two-stage curriculum, as a pedagogical model for teaching elementary teacher candidates to teach with technology, with the goal of preparing a new generation of teachers who are capable and comfortable applying a broad range of advanced technologies to meet the learning needs of their students. The second objective is to share the authors' findings from the evaluation, which employed mixed methodologies, after the students completed the online educational technology course. The results showed that an online educational technology course contributed to the candidates’ development of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and improved their attitudes and beliefs on their technology integration practices.     

Frugal innovation and design changes expanding the cost-performance frontier: A Schumpeterian approach

This paper redefines “frugal innovations”, particularly for physical products with relatively complex designs, by using a multidimensional framework that covers design, technological, and economic aspects of innovations, refining and broadening its initial definition as “low-cost innovations” for the unserved lower end of the mass market (ULM). By applying our framework, this paper clarifies and broadens the concept of frugal innovation. The applicability of this broadened concept is demonstrated by using this framework to illustrate two cases of radical frugal innovations in the automobile industry, Tata Motors Nano and Citroën 2CV, from an emerging country and an advanced country respectively.The study shows that frugal innovation may improve (rather than decrease) performance of the products deliverable to the ULM under extreme budget constraints by extensive architectural changes and creation of technological knowledge, that integral architectures may be adopted more frequently in frugal radical innovation of relatively complex products such as automobiles, and that such products may not be destructive for producers in the higher price segments.The study shows that the existing concepts of frugal innovation that emphasize “low cost/good enough” innovation of “simple products” need to be re-examined, because frugal innovation can also be treated as technological product innovation in the sense that it may improve the performance of relatively complex products deliverable through their architectural changes and creation of technological knowledge. This study shows that there is a domain of innovation policies and strategies activating frugal innovations that calls for integrative and strategic approaches, not only to R&D, but also to other value-adding functions of firms and industries.     

Automated impact device with non-synchronous impacts: a practical solution for modal testing during operation

Previous study has shown that synchronization of phases between impacts and the cyclic load component should be avoided to improve the effectiveness of operational modal testing, i.e. impact-synchronous modal analysis in obtaining a cleaner frequency response function (FRF) estimation with fewer number of averages. However, avoiding the phase synchronization effect is rarely achievable with the current manual impact hammer because of the lack of control of the impact timing. We investigate how to improve FRF estimation in the presence of harmonic disturbances, such as those present in operating rotating machines. An auto impact device is therefore introduced to replace the manual impact hammer. This device ensures that impact intervals can be applied at non-synchronous instances with respect to the harmonic disturbance. We demonstrate that this new device is a viable option for operational modal testing. It allows significant improvement in FRF estimation and shows good correlation of modal extraction data with benchmark experimental modal analysis results.     

Robust mixed H2/H∞ model predictive control for Markov jump systems with partially uncertain transition probabilities

This paper addresses the control problem for a class of discrete-time Markov jump linear systems with partially unknown transition probabilities using model predictive controller subject to external disturbances and input constraints. Our focus is on the design of a model predictive controller to stabilize the system with a given mixed H₂/H_∞ performance index. Sufficient conditions are derived in terms of a set of linear matrix inequalities. Examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller design method.     

Pre-movement and during-movement visual search behaviours vary depending on expertise and anxiety levels in ten-pin bowling

This study investigated the pre-movement and during-movement visual search behaviour (VSB) and quiet eye (QE) of 11 elite versus 10 sub-elite ten-pin bowlers, performing under high-anxiety and low-anxiety conditions. Pre-movement and independent of expertise, bowlers had more fixations and directed them to more locations when performing under high-anxiety compared with low-anxiety. Elite bowlers fixated at more locations closer to the pins in pre-movement than during-movement, with pre-movement QE occurring mostly at the breakpoint and middle arrows. During movement however, bowlers fixated closer to the foul-line at the middle and right dots and arrows, with during-movement-QE occurring at the middle dots and right arrows. Elite bowlers recorded longer QE durations during-movement rather than pre-movement, albeit a later onset during the longish five-step approach prior to ball release compared with sub-elite bowlers. Our results suggest that QE during-movement instead of pre-movement could be more pertinent in differentiating expertise during sporting tasks with a long movement phase and far-aiming target. The relevance of pre-movement or movement-QE in characterising expertise and performance could therefore be sport-dependent. This should be considered when investigating skilled action and developing training programs for skill acquisition.     

The effects of part-task and whole-task instructional approaches on acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill

This study was designed to investigate the effects of two instructional approaches (whole-task versus part-task) and two levels of learner prior knowledge (lower versus higher) on learner acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill. Participants were 51 undergraduate pre-service teachers. In the part-task condition, a complex skill (preparing a grade book using Excel) was decomposed into a series of smaller tasks, each of which was demonstrated and practiced separately. In the whole-task condition, which was based on the 4C/ID-model (van Merriënboer 1997), learners were exposed to the entire complex skill from the beginning of the instruction and were required to practice performing a series of whole tasks throughout the unit. Results indicated that the whole-task group performed significantly better than the part-task group on a skill acquisition test and a transfer test. Possible reasons for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Unpacking the hidden efficacies of learning in productive failure

This paper describes a framework for learning where learners undergo experimentations with the phenomena at hand according to progressive and staged goals. Bowling is used as a case study in this paper. The premise for experimentations is that learners can experience hidden efficacies, including the formation of “bad habits.” A distinction is made between productivity in learning and performance in terms of learning outcomes. In other words, productivity in learning may not necessarily manifest in successful performance, hence the term productive failure. To emphasize the need for self-regulation during problem-solving process, we discuss the movements within the productive–unproductive and success–failure dimensions through three-staged self-regulatory processes and draw implications to learning and instruction.     

Designing Blended Inquiry Learning in a Laboratory Context: A Study of Incorporating Hands-On and Virtual Laboratories

This article reports on the development of a methodology that integrates virtual and hands-on inquiry in a freshman introductory biology course. Using a two time × two order-condition design, an effective combination (blend) of the two environments was evaluated with 39 freshman biology participants. The quantitative results documented no significant effect of presentation order but demonstrated a significant effect of the combined learning experience. The qualitative results showed a strong preference by students for the virtual work preceding the hands-on laboratory. The study provides practitioners an effective alternative to traditional instructional practices by combining virtual and hands-on inquiry learning.

Lads,Lasses and (New) Labour: 14-16-year-old students' responses to the 'laddish behaviour and boys' underachievement' debate

The responses of secondary-school students to the claims of ex-Education Minister Stephen Byers concerning 'laddish behaviour' on the part of boys are examined. The data is drawn from an ESRC-funded study of 14-16-year-old students' constructions of gender, learning, and future educational and occupational pathways. The extent to which boys' classroom behaviour was constructed as 'laddish' by students is discussed, and the discourses pervading these constructions are analysed. It is reported that the majority of students supported Byers' argument that boys' 'laddish' behaviour is impeding their learning, and that girls and boys drew on different gender discourses to support their arguments.