Primary teachers’ self‐perceptions concerning implementation of the National Curriculum for science in the UK

This paper reports on selected aspects of data, with special reference to science, derived from a survey of primary school teachers as part of the Leverhulme Primary Project at the University of Exeter.

A national sample of teachers (N = 901) across 152 schools was surveyed in order to ascertain teachers’ perceptions of competence and needs with respect to the new National Curriculum in the UK. Initially, data were collected in relation to ten subject areas and generic teaching skills, with provision made for free‐form responses concerning National Curriculum implementation.

Selected aspects of these data, principally related to the National Curriculum core area of science, were subjected to detailed further analysis and are reported. Variables identified from the survey findings, and of concern to science educators, included early subject specialism, years of teaching and gender. These were probed for relationships and significance. The tension between competing National Curriculum requirements for specialist subject knowledge and generalist teaching skills was explored.

Findings have implications for innovation in approaches to staff development to cater for perceived needs, teacher educators and curriculum alignment.     

Filmed in Front of a Live Studio Audience: Laughter and Aggression in Political Entertainment Programming

Shows blending humor and information are on the rise, and many such shows incorporate live studio audiences. Using two separate experimental studies, we test whether audience laughter on humorous political talk shows affects audience perceptions. We find that the effects of audience laughter depend on context, boosting perceptions of host and program credibility when a host is unknown, while reminding viewers of the comedic intentions and appeal of a known comedic host. If humor allows the hosts of comedic political talk shows more freedom to pointedly question their guests without turning off viewers, it may better engage and inform audiences.     

History of the Film: Coffee-Table Books

Richard Griffith and Arthur Mayer The Movies (Simon and Schuster, $19.95)

Larry Carr's Four Fabulous Faces (Arlington House, $40.00, available from Nostalgia Book Club at $19.95)

David Shipman's The Groat Movie Stars: The Golden Years (Crown, $10.00 which with 450 pictures covers the history of Hollywood stars from the 1920s to 1945— just before the system began to come apart

Alan G. Barbour's Days of Thrills and Adventure (Macmillan, $6.95, also available in Collier paperback, $3.95)

Richard Gertner of Films In America: 1929-1969 (Golden Press, $12.95, but $9.95 before January 1st)

Raymond Lee's Not so Dumb: Animals in the Movies (A.S. Barnes, $8.50)

Charles Higham's Tho Films of Orson Welles (University of California Press, $10.95)     

Library and Informatics Skills Competencies Statements from Major Health Professional Associations

Every major health profession now provides competency statements for preparing new members for their respective professions. These competency statements normally include expectations for training health professions students in library/informatics skills. For purposes of this article, searches were conducted using various sources to produce a comprehensive 32-page Compendium <https://repository.unm.edu/handle/1928/15363> that inventories library/informatics-related competency statements. This compendium should aid readers in integrating their library/informatics skills training into various health professions education curricula.     

Stay Behind the Yellow Line: Young Children Constructing Knowledge from an Art Exhibition

Studies exploring very young children visiting museums and art galleries are few. The majority of research about museum and gallery visitors explores family group interactions. This paper examines the findings of a study involving three‐ and four‐year‐old children visiting an art exhibition in a national museum on more than one occasion. The children's construction of knowledge about being a museum visitor and exhibitor indicates their ability to develop an appreciation of art and an understanding of the purposes of museums and art galleries.     

Let me Count the Ways. Analysing the Relationship between the Learner and Everyday Technology in Early Childhood

The first part of this paper outlines four ways in which the relationship between the learner and everyday technology might be analysed, using early childhood studies as examples. The four different individual-technology relationships are described as: affording, anchoring, distributing or appropriating. They are associated with four different learning outcomes: skills and problem-solving strategies, working theories or schemas, personal style and abilities, and membership of a learning community. Each succeeding example describes an increasingly complex model of the relationship between a learner and everyday technology that departs from a focus on the individual as the site for learning. The second part of the paper then sets out a fifth example in which the relationship is analysed as a combination of all four processes: affording, anchoring, distributing and appropriating. In this fifth example the learning outcomes are described as learning narratives (a combination of learning dispositions).     

The influence of tennis court surfaces on player perceptions and biomechanical response

This study aimed to examine player perceptions and biomechanical responses to tennis surfaces and to evaluate the influence of prior clay court experience. Two groups with different clay experiences (experience group, n = 5 and low-experience group, n = 5) performed a 180° turning movement. Three-dimensional ankle and knee movements (50 Hz), plantar pressure of the turning step (100 Hz) and perception data (visual analogue scale questionnaire) were collected for two tennis courts (acrylic and clay). Greater initial knee flexion (acrylic 20. 8 ± 11.2° and clay 32.5 ± 9.4°) and a more upright position were reported on the clay compared to the acrylic court (P < 0.05). This suggests adaptations to increase player stability on clay. Greater hallux pressures and lower midfoot pressures were observed on the clay court, allowing for sliding whilst providing grip at the forefoot. Players with prior clay court experience exhibited later peak knee flexion compared to those with low experience. All participants perceived the differences in surface properties between courts and thus responded appropriately to these differences. The level of previous clay court experience did not influence players’ perceptions of the surfaces; however, those with greater clay court experience may reduce injury risk as a result of reduced loading through later peak knee flexion.     

PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN EDUCATION AND TEACHING: A VIRTUE ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRACT:  This paper sets out to explore apparent contradictions between claims or assumptions to the effect that: (i) teaching is a profession; (ii) good teaching involves the cultivation of positive personal relationships with pupils; (iii) professional relationships should be of an essentially formal or impersonal nature. It is argued that the very real contradictions to which teaching as a professional occupation is prone are a function of fundamental tension between the essentially deontic character of professional principle and regulation, and the inherently 'virtue ethical' nature of teaching as a form of pre-theoretical and non-technical moral association. The paper concludes by identifying and offering some comment on three such areas of tension.