Alternative inquiry and its potential contributions to gifted education: A commentary

There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy. All information is imperfect. We have to treat it with humility” (Bronowski, 1973, p. 353).     

Teacher Influence on Pupil Autonomy in Primary School Design and Technology

Primary school design and technology in the UK is taught, in the main, by non-specialists. This paper considers the influence of teachers on pupil autonomy in primary school design and technology lessons. Teacher interviews and lesson observations provide illustration in this consideration of pupil autonomy. What might at first appear to be a simple cause and effect relationship between teacher direction and pupil autonomy is questioned and a number of possible distinctions considered.     

Whiteness in the academy: using vignettes to move beyond safe silences

This point of departure presents the writings of a White, female teacher educator’s experiences in the academy. Through the use of vignettes, the author discusses how four recent experiences – and her writing about those experiences – reveal the insidiousness of silence and Whiteness in the academy.     

Handling of artificial membranes using electrowetting-actuated droplets on a microfluidic device combined with integrated pA-measurements

Artificial membranes, as a controllable environment, are an essential tool to study membrane proteins. Electrophysiology provides information about the ion transport mechanism across a membrane at the single-protein level. Unfortunately, high-throughput studies and screening are not accessible to electrophysiology because it is a set of not automated and technically delicate methods. Therefore, it is necessary to automate and parallelize electrophysiology measurement in artificial membranes. Here, we present a first step toward this goal: the fabrication and characterization of a microfluidic device integrating electrophysiology measurements and the handling of an artificial membrane which includes its formation, its displacement and the separation of its leaflets using electrowetting actuation of sub-μL droplets. To validate this device, we recorded the insertion of a model porin, α-hemolysin.     

Effects of swing-weight on swing speed and racket power

Measurements are presented of the speed at which six different rods could be swung by four male students. Three of the rods had the same mass but their swing-weight (i.e. moment of inertia) differed by large factors. The other three rods had the same swing-weight but different masses. Our primary objective was to quantify the effects of mass and swing-weight on swing speed. The result has a direct bearing on whether baseball, tennis, cricket and golf participants should choose a heavy or light implement to impart maximum speed to a ball. When swinging with maximum effort, swing speed (V) was found to decrease as swing-weight (Io) increased, according to the relation V = C/Ion, where C is a different constant for each participant and n = 0.27 when Io > 0.03 kg x m2. Remarkably similar results were obtained previously with softball bats (where n = 0.25) and golf clubs (where n = 0.26). Swing speed remained approximately constant as swing mass increased (when keeping swing-weight fixed). The implications for racket power are discussed.     

Science teachers' social conscience and the role of controversial issues in the teaching of science

The increasing number and variety of controversial scientific and technological issues with which citizens are confronted has led, in recent years, to calls for a schooling of science which prepares future citizens for participation in resolving such issues. We examined the social conscience of science teachers as it bears on the teaching of controversial issues. The study was conducted by interviewing teachers in two widely different English-speaking locations, Scotland and the United States. The research explores the perceptions of teachers with regard to the teaching of controversial issues, the problem of handling personal value positions when dealing with issues, and the tension that exists between the teaching of controversial issues and traditional value-free science curricula. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Exciting nonfiction

Nonfiction for children and young adults long suffered from a reputation for dullness in both content and presentation. In recent years, however, the genre has been re-created with entertaining writing, focused treatment of subjects, supplementary backmatter, and an emphasis on design and illustration. In this article, a nonfiction writer describes some methods for making such books exciting and readable. James Cross Giblin is the author of eleven, nonfiction books for young readers, many of which have won awards and honors. His two most recent titles areThe Truth About Unicorns andThe Riddle of the Rosetta Stome: Key to Ancient Egypt. Mr. Giblin is also contributing editor at Clarion Books, and he lectures frequently at conferences of librarians, teachers, and writers.