Learning to argue as a biotechnologist: disprivileging opposition to genetically modified food

In the public discussion of genetically modified (GM) food the representations of science as a social good, conducted in the public interest to solve major problems are being subjected to intense scrutiny and questioning. Scientists working in these areas have been seen to struggle for the position of science in society. However few in situ studies of how the debate about science appears in learning situations at the university level have been undertaken. In the present study an introductory course in biotechnology was observed during one semester, lectures and small group supervision concerning GM food were videotaped and student’s reports on the issue were collected. The ethnographic approach to Discourse analysis was conducted by means of a set of carefully selected and representative observations of how a group of students learn to argue and appropriate views held in the Discourse they are enculturated into. While socio-scientific issues (SSIs) are often associated with achieving scientific literacy in terms of “informed decisions” involving “rational thought and Discourse” this study shows that SSI in practice, in the context studied here, is primarily concerned with using scientific language to privilege professional understandings of GMOs and discredit public worries and concerns. Scientific claims were privileged over ethical, economical and political claims which were either made irrelevant or rebutted. The students were seen to appropriate a Discourse model held in the biotechnological community that public opposition towards GMO is due to “insufficient knowledge”. The present study offers insights into biotechnology students’ decision making regarding socio-scientific issues, while also demonstrating the utility of Discourse analysis for understanding learning in this university context. Implications for reflection on the institutional Discourse of science and teaching of controversial issues in science are drawn and the study contributes to the investigation of claims of scientific literacy coupled to SSIs and argumentation     

Politics of complexity: Conceptualizing agency,power and powering in the transitional dynamics of complex adaptive systems

This paper seeks to bridge the gap between socio-material and complex adaptive systems approaches in conceptualizing the politics of transformation. Our contribution in particular is a further clarification of the relational nature of power, and the role of non-humans in transitional dynamics of complex adaptive systems. We explore and operationalize the role of non-humans and relationality in (1) agency and (2) power, and the implications thereof for processes of (3) powering, through which power relations shape resource distributions and associated macro-scale dynamics. We consider agency as an embedded and temporal capacity for reorientation. This also entails attributing agency to entangled networks of humans and non-humans. Such a capacitive conception of agency follows from our understanding that agents and structures consist of comparable ontological building blocks, both being (networks of) components in complex adaptive systems. Power we understand as a productive and relational phenomenon that emerges from interactions between components and that structures their agency. We argue that such a ‘force-field’ understanding of power enables the observation of different types of power relations. Finally, we consider six different mechanisms through which power relations can result in a (re)distribution of resources and with that, contribute to self-reproducing or transformative systemic dynamics. With this conceptualization, we hope to advance the debate on the different facets of the politics of transformation, and to help further urgently needed transitions towards a more sustainable future.     

A resourcification manifesto: Understanding the social process of resources becoming resources

In times of major global interconnectedness and environmental change, the pressure to identify, create, and exploit new resources is certain to intensify. Given that there are unavoidable trade-offs, conflicts, and arenas for violence involved when increasingly more material and immaterial things are turned into resources, we call for explicit research on the very process – a process that we label resourcification. The concept of resourcification shifts attention from essentialist queries about the nature of resources to a focus on the social processes through which things are turned into resources. In search of a better understanding of resources in the Anthropocene and, in particular, an understanding about the way resources emerge and are used, resourcification offers a new conceptual framework that allows for a systematic search for knowledge about the diversity of contexts, conditions, modes, and temporalities of resourcification. This Resourcification Manifesto offers a theoretical and empirical framework for a radical and disruptive approach to innovation, sustainability, and management studies and policies.     

Recommendations for the application and follow-up of quality controls in medical laboratories

This is a translation of the paper “Recommendations for the application and follow-up of quality controls in medical biology laboratories” published in French in the journal Annales de Biologie Clinique (Recommandations pour la mise en place et le suivi des contrôles de qualité dans les laboratoires de biologie médicale. Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 2019;77:577-97.). The recommendations proposed in this document are the result of work conducted jointly by the Network of Accredited Medical Laboratories (LABAC), the French Society of Medical Biology (SFBC) and the Federation of Associations for External Quality Assessment (FAEEQ). The different steps of the implementation of quality controls, based on a risk analysis, are described. The changes of reagent or internal quality control (IQC) materials batches, the action to be taken in case of non-conform IQC results, the choice of external quality assessment (EQA) scheme and interpretation of their results as well as the new issue of analyses performed on several automatic systems available in the same laboratory are discussed. Finally, the concept of measurement uncertainty, the robustness of the methods as well as the specificities of near-patient testing and rapid tests are described. These recommendations cannot apply for all cases we can find in medical laboratories. The implementation of an objective alternative strategy, supported with documented evidence, might be equally considered.     

In Early Education, Why Teach Handwriting Before Keyboarding?

Legible written communication is essential for students to share knowledge (Rogers and Case-Smith 2002). If students lack proficiency in written communication, their composition skills will suffer, which can affect their self-esteem and grades. Whether or not this proficiency is in handwriting or keyboarding is a question worthy of discussion. In this article the authors define motor learning, examine the overlapping principles of motor learning in handwriting and keyboarding skill development, and discuss the need for fluency. The principles of motor learning indicate that handwriting precedes keyboarding when comparing skills and time needed to gain competency. Also discussed are correlations between handwriting and keyboarding skills and the impact of teacher attitudes toward each. As occupational therapists, the authors’ recommendations are based on the review of literature and evidence their combined with their extensive experience as school-based occupational therapists. Using a school-based consultative model of occupational therapy at the continuing education or university educational level can facilitate the sharing of this knowledge with early childhood education teachers.     

How Big is Your Effect Size: Doing Research in the Classroom

It would be impossible to preface what follows with one of those ‘disclaimers’ that insist ‘the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of…’ This would not only be disingenuous, it would deny the history that I draw on to make an argument about teaching, learning and research. Twenty-five years ago I came to the Institute of Education to do an MA in Language and Literature. My tutors were Jane Miller and Tony Burgess. Since 1989 I have been working at the Institute as a member of what used to be called the English department, largely as a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and MA tutor. My ideas about classrooms as places where creativity and cultural making are defining characteristics have grown out of my work here, the time I’ve spent in classrooms and working with trainee teachers and MA students. As important have been the conversations I have had with colleagues in the Institute and the writing I’ve done with them. This history has its roots in the work of James Britton and Harold Rosen and their insistence that we have no choice but to ‘begin from where the children are’ (Britton, J. [1970 Britton, J. [1970] 1975. Language and Learning. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [Google Scholar]] 1975 Britton, J. [1970] 1975. Language and Learning. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [Google Scholar]. Language and Learning. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 134), to see the linguistic and cultural resources that pupils bring with them to the classroom as the foundation for learning. John Yandell’s work is part of this history, particularly his many studies of the ways in which students illuminate and make sense of the literature they encounter in the classroom. ‘The text, the classroom and the world outside’ is the sub-heading of Chapter 6 of his book The Social Construction of Meaning: Reading Literature in Urban English Classrooms (Yandell, J. 2013 Yandell, J. 2013. The Social Construction of Meaning: Reading Literature in Urban English Classrooms. Abingdon: Routledge.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. The Social Construction of Meaning: Reading Literature in Urban English Classrooms. Abingdon: Routledge.) and it signals a clear link between John’s work and the Bullock Report of 1975, with its insistence that no child should be expected to ‘cast off the language and culture of the home as he crosses the school threshold, nor to live and act as though school and home represented two totally different cultures which have to be kept firmly apart’ (Bullock, A. (Chairman). 1975 Bullock, A. (Chairman). 1975. A Language for Life. The Bullock Report: HMSO. [Google Scholar]. A Language for Life. The Bullock Report. HMSO, 286).     

The Medical School Learning Environment Survey: an examination of its factor structure and relationship to student performance and satisfaction

The Medical School Learning Environment Survey (MSLES) was used with a sample of 311 undergraduate medical students in British Columbia, Canada, to assess the seven scales of Medical Breadth of Interest, Personal Breadth of Interest, Emotional Climate, Flexibility, Meaningful Learning Experience, Organization, Nurturance and Student–Student Interaction. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to support the validity of the MSLES when used with this sample.     

‘Technological me’: young children’s use of technology across their home and school contexts

Research into children’s learning with digital technologies is represented by a growing body of literature examining the relationship between home–school technological practices. A focus of this work is on the notion of a ‘digital-disconnect’ between home and school. This argument suggests that children are such native users of technologies they struggle to connect with commonly used technologies in school. This paper examines how the ‘digital-disconnect’ is experienced in children’s lives. Drawing on a data set investigating the digital experiences of 12 children aged 2–12 years, we consider the experiences of one family attending the same school. Three siblings aged 5–12 years recorded their home and school technology use for one week. The findings suggested some difference in use across both settings, but also similarities associated with information retrieval, rote learning and entertainment. We use Bulfin and North’s and Dyson’s ideas about the permeability of social boundaries to explain why technology use might be more similar than disconnected in each context. We consider the extent to which each setting influences the other as the basis for moving away from binary conceptualisations of the digital-disconnect informed by generational assumptions about children and technologies.     

Copyright information queries in the health sciences: trends and implications from the Ohio State University

Objective:

This paper presents the results of data gathered on copyright questions asked at an academic health sciences library.

Methods:

Collected data include questioner''s status or discipline, the subject of the questions, the types of activities that the questioners were engaged in, the communication mode, and the length of time it took to answer the questions.

Results:

Overall results showed most questions were about permissions. Staff asked the most questions, followed by faculty and students.

Conclusions:

Copyright education is needed at universities, and further analysis of queries will determine the direction of the education.