Meaning Making and “The Learning Paradigm”: A Provocative Idea in Practice

Amidst the considerable literature published on institutional change in undergraduate teaching and learning, an article co-authored by Robert Barr and John Tagg in 1995 stands out. The authors offered a vision and —perhaps most importantly—gave it a memorable name, the Learning Paradigm. From Teaching to Learning—A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education is the most frequently cited article in the history of Change. In this article, Barr blended his voice with colleagues who helped initiate Learning Paradigm programs at a public university and in a liberal arts college setting. Through multiple forms of inquiry, including discourse and metaphor analysis, they interpreted the shift from teaching to learning and speculate about its future.     

Developing curriculum evaluation research in higher education: Process, politics and practicalities

Demands for greater accountability, globalcompetition, and concern about standards have allcontributed to the increasing interest in evaluationin universities in the UK. At the same time, bothpedagogic research and teacher development in highereducation are gaining prominence.This paper describes the initial development of aprogramme of systematic curriculum evaluation researchwithin a `new' university. The focus of the research is a newundergraduate curriculum which emphasises graduateoutcomes and incorporates the development of core`capabilities' within the subject context. Our taskhas been to develop a longitudinal programme ofresearch that will combine both a summative evaluationof educational outcomes with formative evaluation oflearning processes to inform continued curriculumdevelopment.Questions of performance indicators, measurement, andeducational outcomes all come under scrutiny in acontext of multiple purposes and stakeholders, themicropolitics of the university and wider debatesabout the purpose and effectiveness of undergraduateeducation. This paper explores these issues and theirimplications for the development of a curriculumevaluation strategy, describing the initial stages ofthe multi-level longitudinal design that is emerging.     

The Effect of Early Intervention Services on Maternal Well-Being

In this investigation we examine the relation between intensity, duration, and comprehensiveness of early intervention (EI) services and changes in three aspects of maternal well-being: parenting stress, social support, and family cohesion. Data on the hours, length, and types of services received by a sample of 133 children and families from EI programs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire were gathered from the point of entry into EI to the point of discharge around the child's third birthday. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to determine which measure of EI service intervention contributed significantly to the explained variance in changes in maternal well-being, over and above aspects of the child's functioning and prior levels of maternal well-being. Results indicated that, although greater service intensity was associated with improved family cohesion overall, mothers of children without motor impairment reported greater increases than mothers of children with motor impairment. Service intensity and comprehensiveness predicted significant increases in social support levels. EI services did not have a significant impact on parenting stress. Three practice and policy implications are discussed: building flexibility into EI service provision to be responsive to individual family needs; attending to the accommodations required of families raising a child with a motor impairment; and incorporating other aspects of family functioning into future studies of EI effectiveness.     

Introducing Iranian Primary Children to Atoms and Molecules

Research in Science Education - In common with many other countries, the Iranian science curriculum does not introduce primary children to atoms and molecules but instead leaves the teaching of...     

EndNote and Reference Manager Citation formats compared to "instructions to authors" in top medical journals

The study compared citation format in EndNote version 7 and Reference Manager version 11 with the citation format for references found in the instructions to authors from the most significant medical literature. The resulting information should be very useful to those who depend on citation management software to format and organize their references for publication in medicine, and librarians and others who teach the use of citation management software.     

Infantile amnesia across the years: a 2-year follow-up of children's earliest memories

Although infantile amnesia has been investigated for many years in adults, only recently has it been investigated in children. This study was a 2-year follow-up and extension of an earlier study. Children (4-13 years old) were asked initially and 2 years later for their earliest 3 memories. At follow-up, their age at the time of these memories shifted to several months later, with younger children unlikely to provide the same memories. Moreover, when given cues about memories recalled 2 years previously, many were still not recalled. In contrast, older children were more likely to recall the same memories, and cues to former memories were successful. Thus, older children were becoming consistent in terms of recalling very early memories.