Shakespeare and Performance Pedagogy: Overcoming the Challenges

Although performance-based pedagogy has clearly given new life to the study of Shakespeare, with ‘performance’ or ‘active’ approaches becoming increasingly dominant as a method, acquiring the status of the ‘proper’ way to teach Shakespeare, it is important to examine the limitations of this method. This article will begin by surveying the theoretical basis for performance pedagogy and the spectrum of performance methods available and will then go on to address three issues: limitations of time, deficient student acting and lack of teacher expertise. The issue of time can be addressed by the cost–benefit analysis of methods, the use of alternative approaches, the incorporation of film and desk-based performance. Poor acting can be improved through the acting exercises of Cicely Berry. Teachers can compensate for a lack of theatrical expertise by taking courses and studying the materials recommended in the article.     

Adolescents’ interest experience in daily life in and across family and peer contexts

This study examined daily experiences of interest in and across the social contexts of family and in- and out-of-school peers. Forty-two Dutch adolescents, aged 13–15 years, provided us with 2 weeks of experience sampling data on their engagement in interesting topics and activities throughout their daily lives. Findings show that adolescent daily life included a diverse range of parallel interests. School-related interests made up a substantial part of adolescents’ daily lives, challenging the idea of mere disengagement of secondary school students in academics. Findings also show that some interests are strongly bound to a specific context, while others appear across family and peer contexts. This indicates how multiple contexts can simultaneously feed interests, something that calls for further across-context research of interest development.

     

An exploratory study of the relationship between the use of the Learning Commons and students' perceived learning outcomes

This study proposes and empirically tests a model explicating the impact of the Learning Commons on university students' learning behaviors and skills development. Adapting the information literacy instruction model that is based on expectation disconfirmation theory, a series of hypotheses were developed, and data were collected through an online survey at a Hong Kong university. Responses from 388 students were subjected to a partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis. The results suggest that expectation disconfirmation theory can be applied in the domain of the Learning Commons, and that the degree to which students' expectations are confirmed affects their degree of perceived quality of and satisfaction with the Learning Commons. Perceived quality in turn influences satisfaction. Both perceived quality and satisfaction lead to psychological outcomes that produce behavioral changes and possible benefits, including time savings, effort reduction, better grades, advanced problem-solving skills, and improved learning outcomes.     

Secondary teachers’ knowledge of elementary number theory proofs: the case of general-cover proofs

In light of recent reform recommendations, teachers are expected to turn proofs and proving into an ongoing component of their classroom practice. Two questions emerging from this requirement are: Is the mathematical knowledge of high school teachers sufficient to prove various kinds of statements? Does teachers’ knowledge allow them to determine the validity of an argument made by their students? The results of this study, in which 50 secondary school teachers participated, point to a positive answer to the first question in the framework of elementary number theory (ENT). However, the picture is more complex with respect to the second one. Results indicated that some teachers may over-value the generality of symbolic mode of representation and under-value the generality of verbal ones. Possibly, the verbal representation of an argument is less transparent and more difficult to understand.     

Failure to review STAT clinical laboratory requests and its economical impact

Background

Failure to follow-up laboratory test results has been described as one of the major processes contributing to unsafe patient care. Currently, most of the laboratories do not know with certainty not only their rate of missed (or unreviewed) requests but the economical cost and impact that this issue implies. The aim of our study was to measure that rate and calculate the resulting costs.

Material and methods

In January 2015, we checked in our Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for every emergency request from 1^st July 2011 to 30^th June 2014, if they had been reviewed by any allowed user or not. 319,064 requests were ordered during that period of time. Results were expressed as “ordered requests”, “missed requests” and its percentage. Additionally, total cost of missed requests was calculated in euros (€). “Non-productive days” were theorised (as the days producing requests that were not reviewed) based on these results.

Results

7924 requests (2.5%) were never reviewed by clinicians. This represented a total cost of 203,039 € and 27 “non-productive” days in three years. Significant differences between inpatients, outpatients and emergency department as well as different emergencies units were found after application of statistical analysis.

Conclusions

In terms of resources, never reviewed or missed requests appear to be a not negligible problem for the clinical laboratory management. Electronic result delivery, with electronic endorsement to indicate follow-up of requests along with better systems of electronic requesting should be investigated as a way of improving patient outcomes and save unnecessary expenses.Key words: quality indicators, health care, extra-analytical phase, total quality management, clinical laboratory information systems     

Mathematics education in a time of crisis—a viral pandemic

Educational Studies in Mathematics -     

Evaluation of the teaching guide as an instrument for adaptation to the new European credit system： Case analysis

This paper presents the evaluation of the teaching guide application for the subject of management control in the Business Management and Administration Degree. The evaluation began with the analysis of a questionnaire which aimed to collect the perceptions of learners who have studied this subject in two groups （morning and afternoon） during the first semester of the current academic year. The intention of this analysis was to obtain information that would meet two objectives： to continue upgrading the teaching-learning process and to revise and improve all the components in the teaching guide. There is an analysis of the degree of difficulty involved in the activities proposed and the degree to which specific objectives for different competencies have been attained. Likewise, we have carried out a global assessment of the different methodologies applied in the teaching-learning process, and an assessment of the evaluation system as well as of other aspects that could have hindered reaching the objectives stated in the guide. Furthermore, the relevance of this questionnaire has been vindicated for obtaining the information necessary to adjust the learner＇s workload to the European credit.     

Introduction: Linguistic processes in reading across orthographies

Reading and Writing -     

Maximizing production values in a dramatic television series production

The paper uses empirical data from an ethnographic study of the production of a dramatic television series to explore the calculative practice of the production team. In its focus on three distinct calculative spaces – estimates, schedules, and the production floor – the analysis draws on a broadened conception of calculative practice that integrates (non)numeric calculation and judgment. This conception of calculative practice provides the basis for exploring how both economic and non-economic forms of calculation are integrated into the routines of the production team and manifest in the concept of ‘production values’ deployed by industry insiders. In doing so, this paper outlines the role of calculative practice in shaping the emergence of the final product.