The computer as a mediating influence in the development of pupils’ understanding of variable

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Within a Logo environment, pupils routinely use the notion of variable. However, the process by which they come to develop understandings is more...     

Some Implications of a Diversifying Workforce for Governance and Management

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper suggests that as university missions have adapted to accommodate major developments associated with, for instance, mass higher education and...     

The pupil's view of mathematics learning

This article reports an exploratory study which set out to examine how 14-year-old pupils perceive good and bad learning experiences in school. In particular, it describes the significant features in learning experiences which were associated with mathematics. Eighty-four pupils were asked, in semi-structured interviews, to tell stories about times when they had felt particularly good or particularly bad when learning. A story consisted of a critical event actually experienced by the pupil and what the pupil had felt at the time. The structure of the interview used and the means by which the qualitative data were analysed are discussed, as well as the main findings of the research.     

Referring and Reporting Research Participants at Risk: Views from Urban Adolescents

Researching developmental risks of urban youth raises ethical concerns when an investigator discovers a participant is in jeopardy. This study collected data on 147 seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders' views of 3 investigator options: (1) taking no action and maintaining confidentiality, (2) reporting the problem to a concerned parent or adult, and (3) facilitating adolescent self-referrals. Participants judged these options within the context of 5 risk domains: substance abuse, child maltreatment, life-threatening behaviors, delinquency, and shyness. Judgments of reporting options were related to grade and ratings of risk severity, but not to moral reasoning. Confidentiality was viewed favorably for risk behaviors of low perceived severity or for which the consequences of adult discovery might introduce greater risk. Confidentiality was viewed unfavorably and reporting to adults favorably for child maltreatment and threats of suicide. Self-referral was viewed favorably across all grades and risk behaviors. Implications of adolescent perspectives for research ethics are discussed.     

Peer Social Skills in Toddlers: Competencies and Constraints Illustrated by Same-Age and Mixed-Age Interaction

One important aspect of social competence is the ability to accommodate social behavior to different contexts. Can children who are just beginning to acquire peer interactional skills adjust their social behavior to the age of their partner? 18- and 24-month-old children were paired in same-age or mixed-age dyads, and their spontaneously occurring peer interactions were observed. Previously documented age differences in peer skills were replicated. Additionally, toddlers in mixed-age dyads adjusted both the behavioral content and the complexity of their social behavior to the age of their partners. For initiations the effects were interactive. That is, children's adjustments in social behavior were a function of both the child's age and the partner's age. There also were age-related constraints on the accommodations that children made to one another. Speculations are offered about potential contributions to these developments during the second year. Results support arguments for the uniqueness of the mixed-age context, and show that by the second year children possess rudimentary skills to permit functional accommodations to this context.     

Building strategy

This issue's editorial is by Tony Rich, Registrar and Secretary of the University of Essex and a long‐time supporter of AUA. He draws out themes arising from the major funding and policy changes affecting higher education, and implications for the services provided by administrators and managers to the academic community. Ed.     

“I Fell into Librarianship”: Experiences of Post-Soviet Librarians at the National Academic Library in Astana,Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the attitudes of librarians in post-Soviet Kazakhstan regarding their roles at the new National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAL). Using ethnographic observation, interviews, and surveys of library staff (n = 24), we find that Kazakhstani librarians either sensed a “calling” to librarianship or “fell into” library careers given life circumstances, and value their library for its contribution to cultural preservation and digital access on a national scale. This pilot project presents NAL to an international community, sharing the voices of Russian- and Kazakh-speaking librarians to highlight the role of libraries in the development of the post-Soviet nation.     

“An inescapable network of mutuality”: Building Relationships of Solidarity in a First Grade Classroom

This case study of a first grade teacher enacting a social action curriculum is based on the understanding that schools can be sites where even young children can work toward the common good. This paper examines the way a first grade teacher (Paula Rogovin Rogovin, P. 2004. Why can't you behave? The teacher's guide to creative classroom management, K-3, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.  [Google Scholar]) and her students built solidarity with a community member and in turn adopted a new social concern as their own. We identify, detail, and analyze the building of ties of solidarity as a practice enacted within a social action curriculum.