Leaving the classroom: a didactic framework for education in environmental sciences

In Continuous Education curricula in Spain, the programs on sciences of the environment are aimed toward understandings of sustainability. Teaching practice rarely leaves the classroom for outdoor field studies. At the same time, teaching practice is generally focused on examples of how human activities are harmful for ecosystems. From a pedagogic point of view, it is less effective to teach environmental science with negative examples such as catastrophe, tragedy, and crisis. Rather, teaching environmental sciences and sustainable development might be focused on positive human-environment relationships, which is both important for the further development of students and educators. Within rural settings, there are many such examples of positive relationships that can be emphasized and integrated into the curriculum. In this article, we propose teaching environmental sciences through immersion in rural cultural life. We discuss how fieldwork serves as a learning methodology. When students are engaged through research with traditional cultural practices of environmental management, which is a part of the real and traditional culture of a region, they better understand how positive pedagogy instead of pedagogy structured around how not-to-do examples, can be used to stimulate the interactions between humans and the environment with their students. In this way, cultural goods serve as teaching resources in science and environmental education. What we present is authentic cases where adults involved in a course of Continuous Education explore ‘environmentally-friendly’ practices of traditional agriculture in Asturias (north of Spain), employing methodologies of cultural studies.     

Reconstituting the ADHD girl: accomplishing exclusion and solidifying a biomedical identity in an ADHD class

In this study, we explore what happens to young people labelled as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after they have been excluded from mainstream class and placed in a special class. More specifically, we focus on how a specific disability identity is locally accomplished and ascribed to a girl placed in an ADHD class containing only boys. Data are drawn from the communication books that regularly passed between the parents and teachers, and from ethnographic work in a special class for children aged 7–12 years diagnosed with ADHD, during a period of one school year. We draw on ethnomethodology, especially membership categorisation analysis, when investigating unfolding trajectories of shifting identifications during a school year. The detailed analysis reveals that the girl is accomplished as capable of managing her life in school at the beginning of the year, but by the end is constructed as disabled and identified as a typical ADHD girl in very subtle ways in the teacher's communication with the parents. Furthermore, our analysis highlights how the process of exclusion and social identification of the girl as a typical ADHD girl is mutually constructed and achieved across classroom activities in everyday schooling contexts.     

The Mindful Teacher: Translating Research into Daily Well-being

This article features a stress management approach that is becoming increasingly influential in schools: mindfulness-based stress reduction. The authors describe what it is, provide research-based evidence of its usefulness, and highlight mindfulness resources that educators can use to manage stress and improve their well-being (including coursework, daily practices, books, apps, and online audio recordings).     

Coarse synchronization of UWB signals in the dense multipath channel based on the golden section

In this paper we address the problem of coarse synchronization of ultra wideband signals in the dense multipath channel, following the widely used hypothesis testing approach in which the uncertainty region for the timing offset is divided into a certain number of cells. We propose a novel strategy for the search of the correct cells, within the constant increment perspective. We show that under a simple model the proposed strategy achieves practically the minimum possible mean acquisition time, independently of the length of the channel impulse response, as opposed to previous constant increment approaches. A comparative analysis of the proposed strategy and another convenient one reveals that, strictly speaking, none of them can be considered optimum from the point of view of the mean acquisition time. The proposed method is advantageous from the point of view of computational complexity in the general case. Simulations with a realistic channel model confirm that the proposed strategy is very appropriate for the problem of coarse synchronization of UWB signals.     

What ensues from emotional distress? Implications for competence estimation

Although much is known about what precedes emotional distress, less is known about what follows such distress. The goal of this research was to examine the process by which emotional distress contributes to competence estimation. Children 9 to 13 years of age in fourth through sixth grade (N = 932) participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study spanning 12 months. Their emotional distress, views of themselves and their world, and competence estimation were assessed. Emotional distress predicted negative beliefs about the self and the world over time; these beliefs in turn predicted decrements in competence estimation over time. Negative views of the self and the world mediated the path from emotional distress to competence underestimation. The findings suggest that the experience of emotional distress has negative implications for children's development.     

Supporting Pupils in Finnish and Swedish Schools—Teachers’ Views

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the different support systems used by teachers in compulsory education. Class and subject teachers and special educators from Finland (N?=?57) and Sweden (N?=?57) participated in the study, in which both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Participants completed an electronic questionnaire to identify the supports and methods they use when working with pupils who have special educational needs. The findings indicate both similarities and differences between the two countries. One of the most common forms of support was individualisation, including pedagogical modifications. Methods of supporting academic skills such as reading differed from those used to support behavioral issues. Positive pedagogy and structuring the environment were used ways of supporting pupils with behavioral challenges. Results for both countries are compared and support needs are discussed.     

An examination of some difficulties in integrating Western science into societies with an indigenous scientific tradition

Few would argue that science and technology have had an impact throughout the world. When we speak about such impacts we are implicitly talking about Western science. Historians of science (especially in science textbooks) tend to place the beginnings of modern science at the time of Bacon, with a slight nod to Greek influences. There is little or no recognition of the scientific traditions of Eastern societies (such as China, India, and the Islamic world) and other indigenous cultures. Although there is no argument that science did not develop in the same manner in these societies, it is argued that they have a scientific tradition that should be considered when incorporating modern science into those societies. The difficulties in doing that are discussed, as is the question of the universality of science. The universality of science as a systematized set of processes for learning about the world is supported, but the culture that has arisen around it, resulting in a certain arrogance, is not. It is argued that the benefits of science and technology can be incorporated without the loss of cultural integrity if the society takes over its own research agenda and paradigms and maintains pride in its own traditons. The role of science education in this process is discussed.     

Absence of males in maltreatment research: A survey of recent literature

This paper provides a review of research in the area of physical maltreatment with respect to the degree to which males are represented in research samples. The systematic, comprehensive review includes 126 articles published between the years 1989 and 1994 in nine primary journals. Results show that adult males are dramatically underrepresented in this research. Specifically, males were included in fewer than one-half (47.7%) of the 77 articles reviewed and the total number and percentage of males in research samples was significantly less than the number and percentage of females. Only three studies included males exclusively, yet 40 studies involved solely female participants. Of the studies that did include men, only 37.5% provided an evaluation of gender differences. Research involving abused children showed a much greater representation of male subjects than research with adult participants. Only four of 49 studies of abused children were based exclusively on girls; a full 62.8% included an equal representation of boys and girls.     

Challenges Faced by Canadian Social Work Field Instructors in Baccalaureate Field Supervision

ABSTRACT

This article examines the challenges faced by social work field instructors in two Canadian provinces. The results are based on the responses from 239 field instructors to a questionnaire survey. Findings highlight student difficulties, administrative issues with the social work schools, and practicum setting challenges. These demands hinder the optimal implementation of social work field education, reveal the concerning gatekeeping role of schools of social work, and discourage some social workers from taking on (or continuing) as field instructors. Implications for social work student placements, supervision of students, academic programs, and directions for future research are presented.