Verbal inactivity in tutorial groups,under conditions of varying preparation and leadership

The effects of variations in preparation and leadership on verbal inactivity in tutorial groups were investigated in a field-experimental setting. A factorial, randomized, longitudinal design was employed, with controls imposed over many of the identifiable extraneous effects. Four groups (n = 15) discussed problematic case study material under conditions of varying preparation (prepared vs. unprepared) and leadership (emergent vs. assigned leadership), for eight consecutive weekly sessions of one hour's duration. The principal hypotheses were tested by Chisquare analysis, and a cautious approach was adopted to the interpretation of statistically significant results, in that preparation or leadership effects were only taken as being of any theoretical or practical significance if they reached significance in at least three of the eight discussion sessions. Both preparation and leadership influenced verbal inactivity in groups. The obtained leadership effects were explained in terms of interaction-expectation theory, and behaviour modelling.     

Maximizing Learning From Engaging Across Difference: The Role of Anxiety and Meaning Making

This study explores college students’ reactions to engaging in experiences with diverse others that students found uncomfortable, interactions that disrupted students’ current beliefs or values. Our examination of these experiences was grounded in theory and research on intergroup contact and anxiety and developmental models of self-authorship leading to intercultural maturity. We found three types of reactions to these experiences: Some students were “stuck,” unsure of how to respond; some were prone to continue exploring; and some reframed their perspectives to reflect capacities associated with advanced intercultural maturity. We offer recommendations for managing intergroup anxiety and scaffolding learning to support reframing one's perspectives to maximize learning from engaging in difference.     

A Comparison of Dome and Computer Planetaria in the Teaching of Astronomy

The learning of pupils from Years 5 and 6 (9-and 10-year-olds) when taught with the aid of dome and computer planetaria was investigated. The two kinds of planetarium were found to be equally effective, although the learning was confined to female pupils. It is suggested that the use of planetaria might enable females to catch up with males in areas of astronomy which make heavy demands on spatial ability. Substantial learning also took place in the pre-service education students who led the planetaria sessions.     

Industrial relations techniques

A study (involving 466 high school and college students) comparing women's and men's ratings of their own and ideal speech showed that a greater number of speech characteristics of males differed from the speech characteristics of the ideal speaker. The results of the study combined with material from the writings of women who have made a conscious effort to change their language indicate that before women continue to try to alter their speech by such means as assertiveness training they should consider the desirable characteristics associated with female speech.     

Development and validation of scales to measure environmental responsibility,character development,and attitudes toward school

This investigation examines the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures to develop and validate scales to measure environmental responsibility, character development and leadership, and attitudes toward school for environmental education programs servicing middle school children. The scales represent outcomes commonly of interest to environmental education programs and also to after‐school and positive youth development activities. First, we developed the scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and then we used multi‐group longitudinal CFA to cross‐validate the model with data collected before participation in the environmental education program, immediately after the program, and three months later. The results support a three‐factor model, producing three scales that appear to be valid and reliable.     

Linking to the infosphere: The telecommunications in Primary Science project

This article reports on the Telecommunications in Primary Science (TIPS) project. A central aim of the TIPS project was to explore the feasibility of tackling problems associated with some primary teachers' lack of confidence and competence in the physical sciences through a computer network linking together a small number of schools and a university. In the course of the project, teachers became convinced of the potential of using the Internet in the classroom and also valued the electronic delivery of pedagogical guidance.     

Pandemic,a catalyst for change: Strategic planning for digital education in English secondary schools,before during and post Covid

Following lockdowns in 2020 owing to Covid-19, schools needed to find a way to ensure the education of their pupils. In order to do this, they engaged in digital learning, to varying extents. Innovations emanated from all school staff including, for example, teachers, leaders and teaching assistants. Some were already innovating in this area and brought forward and implemented digital strategies, while others engaged with digital learning for the first time. While research is emerging about the effects of the pandemic restrictions on pupils and staff in relation to key issues such as mental health and educational attainment, very little is known about the impact on school leaders' strategic planning processes. To address this gap, this paper draws on a UK Research and Innovation funded study adopting a strategy as learning approach to report on 50 qualitative interviews with school leaders to examine digital strategy in English secondary schools, before, during and after July 2021, when restrictions were lifted in England. It draws on strategy as learning literature to evaluate if schools have changed their strategic planning for digital learning, as a direct response to having learned and innovated during the pandemic. The paper concludes that there is evidence that digital innovations during the pandemic have changed the ways in which leaders think about their digital strategy, thus supporting a strategy as learning approach. However it also concludes that although there is ample evidence that the pandemic has changed the way many schools view digital learning, for some schools, there remain persistent barriers to digital integration and planning. These emanate both from material and cultural considerations, as well as leader vision and belief in digital learning.     

Lesbians Play Football Too: widening the gender debate

The gender debate works with an analysis based on stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. These stereotypical gender roles are enforced by labelling those who step outside of them as having a non‐conventional sexuality. Thus, the cultural perception of lesbians and gay men as ‘bad’ is pivotal in the enforcing of gender roles. So, until heterosexism is dismantled sexism cannot effectively be countered. Much work to tackle gender inequalities actually reinforces heterosexism and thus sexism. The equal opportunities agenda must include acknowledgement and exploration of the interrelationship between sexuality and gender, in order to be effective.     

Contradictions of interaction for wives of elderly husbands with adult dementia

The researchers used a dialectical framework to examine interviews with wives whose elderly husbands experienced adult dementia from Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD), centering on how wives coped communicatively with their husbands' illness. These "married widows" experienced a primary contradiction between their husbands' physical presence and cognitive/emotional absence. Interwoven with the presence-absence contradiction were three additional contradictions: certainty-uncertainty, openness-closedness, and past-present. Results describe the ways these wives communicatively negotiated the web of contradictions as they interacted in the present with husbands they once knew. Applications for practitioners and caregivers working with ADRD patients and their wives, including formal and informal support, understanding, and managing contradictions, and ways to more effectively interpret ADRD patients' communication, are discussed.