Archives,accessibility, and advocacy: a case study of strategies for creating and maintaining relevance

Question/Objective:

How can a special collection maintain or increase its profile in its parent institution, when that parent institution emphasizes scientific and clinical learning?

Setting/Context:

The Waring Historical Library, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), preserves and promotes the history of health sciences at MUSC and in South Carolina. As a state entity, MUSC has suffered significant budget cuts for the past several years. In this climate, the Waring had to find ways to maintain relevance in the MUSC community.

Methods:

The Waring partnered with the MUSC College of Nursing to explore new ways to build institutional allies. By combining traditional archival administration with innovative uses of digital collections aimed at institutional promotion and outreach, the Waring''s digital library became an advocacy tool that led to the Waring''s enhanced value to its parent institution.

Outcomes:

The Waring Library is a resource for MUSC development and alumni relations. Tangible outcomes include additional funding from grants, increased staff, no loss of institutional funding, increased access to collections, increased accessions, cultivation of institutional allies for long-term support of the Waring, and development of a template for future partnerships.     

Why Does Infant Stepping Disappear and Can It Be Stimulated by Optic Flow?

Two independent experiments (n = 22 and n = 22) showed that 2‐month‐old infants displayed significantly more stepping movements when supported upright in the air than when supported with their feet contacting a surface. Air‐ and surface‐stepping kinematics were quite similar (Experiment 2). In addition, when data were collapsed across both experiments, more air steps and more donkey kicks were seen when infants were exposed to optic flows that specified backward compared to forward translation. The findings challenge the currently accepted heavy legs explanation for the disappearance of stepping at 2 months of age and raise new questions about the visual control of stepping.     

Relevance in pedagogy and the problem of educational quality in Latin America

The educational reforms implemented in various Latin America countries at the end of the 60's and early 70's shared a common desire to ruralize rural primary schooling in the search for relevance. Some reforms promoted differentiated content for rural areas while others, notably the Mexican, emphasized the adaptation of standard material to the local context through the use of a progressive methodology of teaching.Questions are raised as to whether the Mexican approach is any the less dualist for adopting standard material and whether it represents a viable strategy for the improvement of the quality of education in rural schools. The progressive model of teaching proposed is seen to be based on a number of assumptions of unproven validity, especially with regards to its ability to promote social and political awareness. In practical terms it is seen to depend for its success on types of teachers and pupils that are largely unknown in rural areas, and on a type of school organization that should precede any such reform of methods.More a philosophy than a practical plan of action, the progressive methodology is unlikely to act as an adequate substitute for more expensive but more determined policies designed to tackle the basic problems of truancy, drop-out and poor pupil performance.     

EMPLOYING SERVICE-LEARNING TO TEACH RESEARCH METHODS TO GERONTOLOGY STUDENTS

Undergraduate student interest in aging was examined in relation to age, gender, and contact with older adults. Interest in aging is conceived of along a continuum, ranging from initial interest-taking an aging course-to substantial interest as evidenced by academic and career interest. Undergraduate students who have taken an aging course (n = 189) and a stratified random comparison group (n = 261) self-assessed their interest in aging. Background information, including the frequency and duration of contact with older family and non-family individuals, was reported. Being female (p < 001) and having frequent contact with older family members (p < .01) significantly explains initial interest in aging. Initial interest in aging (i.e., taking an aging course) significantly contributes to substantial interest in aging (p < .0001) i.e., taking more aging courses, majoring in gerontology, working or planning to work with older adults. Contact with older adults positively affects undergraduate interest in aging. Interest in aging proceeds along a continuum, from preceding factors to initial interest in aging and then to substantial interest in aging. Aging courses and opportunities for interaction with older adults should be offered at the undergraduate level.     

Reading, Reasoning, and Literacy: Strategies for Early Childhood Education From the Analysis of Classroom Observations

Researchers have posited that children generally learn to read in environments that are trusting, comfortable, and offer small group or one-to-one adult support, all of which are characteristics of a high quality early childhood education program. This evaluation research study examines the Pre-Kindergarten Incentive Program, an early childhood demonstration program in Washington, DC designed to study several urban community-based sites. The authors facilitate a discourse on how all early childhood education programs can become high quality programs through standardized observations, evaluations, and constructive feedback. The article describes the demonstration program, highlights general findings from standardized classroom observations, discusses areas needing improvement, and presents strategies for addressing areas of challenge. It will reveal to early childhood educators how evaluation findings can improve teaching and learning techniques and environments in early childhood programs. The goal is to promote overall improvement in reading, reasoning, and literacy for children enrolled in early childhood programs and thereby better prepare them for kindergarten.     

Higher educational impact on student objectives: Longitudinal change in Clark-Trow “educational philosophies”

This study explores the impact of higher education on 3,942 arts and sciences students as measured by change in their freshman and senior ratings of four Clark-Trow educational philosophies: vocational, academic, collegiate, and nonconformist (Clark and Trow, 1966). A repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to each of the four philosophies, controlling for sex, entering year, major, parents' educational background, scholastic aptitude, and academic motivation. As expected from Clark-Trow theory, students showed significant increases in academic and nonconformist philosophies, and decreases in vocational and collegiate philosophies. Relationships between independent variables and freshman-senior change suggested post hoc reinterpretation of the dimensions underlying the Clark-Trow phenotypes: i.e., from identification with the college and involvement with ideas to social interests and academic interests (the latter suggested by Terenzini and Pascarella, 1977).