Inclusion in education: A step towards social justice

This article discusses the theoretical relationships between inclusion in education and social justice. It draws on Martha Nussbaum's use of the capability approach is given as one of the few philosophical and political theories that places disability/impairment in the social justice debate. The article goes on to present findings from the initial stages of a three-year participatory action research project involving eight primary schools located in Dar es Salaam and Pwani (Coast) regions of Tanzania. The project aims to develop an Index of Inclusion in Tanzania. There are numerous barriers to inclusion at national, community and school levels. Both the literature review and the emerging findings of the project suggest some progress has been made towards inclusive, just and quality education in Tanzania but there is still a long way to go.     

Leon Cooper’s Perspective on Teaching Science: An Interview Study

The authors of this paper portray the perspective of Professor Leon Cooper, a theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate, active researcher, and physics textbook author, on teaching science and on the nature of science (NOS). The views presented emerged from an interview prepared by the authors and responded to in writing by Professor Cooper. Based on the gathered data and the subsequent interpretation of it, the authors identified several educational implications and drew the following conclusions: (a) science should be taught within an historical perspective; (b) textbook authors generally have an empiricist epistemology which makes their presentation of science difficult to understand; (c) an historical perspective inevitably involves comparing, contrasting, and scrutinizing different historical accounts of the same events; (d) varying interpretations of observations do not undermine the objective nature of science; (e) new ideas in physics comprise an imposed vision of the world, and these ideas are then slowly accepted by the scientific community; (f) the current view in any science is almost always a mixture of data, hypotheses, theoretical ideas, and conjectures; (g) since experiments are difficult to perform and understand, scientists rely on their presuppositions to guide the integration of data, theory, and conjectures; (h) inconsistencies in the construction of theories can facilitate new theoretical ideas; and (i) case studies based on various experiments show that scientists use intuition which is guided by facts, conjectures, and speculations.     

Calibration of reading self-concept and reading achievement among 15-year-olds: Cultural differences in 34 countries

Self-concept is linked to student achievement in many domains. In this study, we examined reading self-concept's (RSC) and RSC calibration accuracy's links to reading achievement across different contexts via multi-level analyses of 34 countries' 158,848 fifteen-year-olds' reading tests and questionnaire responses. Students with higher RSC, higher calibration accuracy (of RSC to their reading scores) or underconfidence (relative to their reading scores) had higher reading scores. RSC was more strongly linked to reading scores in countries that were richer, less equal, more collective, less uncertainty averse, less hierarchical, or less rigid regarding gender roles. Calibration accuracy was also more strongly linked to reading achievement in more hierarchical, individualistic, or uncertainty-tolerant countries. In more individualistic countries, underconfident students were more likely to have above average reading achievement. Hence, excessive confidence does not necessarily benefit students, especially in more individualistic countries.     

The Construction and Analysis of a Science Story: A Proposed Methodology

Science educators are beginning to establish a theoretical and methodological foundation for constructing and using stories in science teaching. At the same time, it is not clear to what degree science stories that have recently been written adhere to the guidelines that are being proposed. The author has written a story about Louis Slotin, which deals with the beginnings of radiation protection, to serve as a case study. In this paper, the story is dissected and evaluated with the view to begin to establish a method of literary criticism for science stories. In addition, student responses to the story are investigated and interpreted.     

Identifying and Addressing Student Difficulties with the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment

The Millikan oil drop experiment has been characterized as one of the ‘most beautiful’ physics experiments of all time and, certainly, as one of the most frustrating of all the exercises in the undergraduate physics laboratory. A literature review reveals that work done on addressing student difficulties in performing the oil drop experiment has, to date, not achieved a significant measure of success. The historical background of the oil drop experiment is well established in the literature from the perspective of historians of science, but not so from the perspective of teachers and students of science. A summary of historical details surrounding the original experiment suitable for use in revising the instructional approach is presented. Both Millikan and his graduate student, Fletcher, are featured with the view to emphasizing details that humanize the protagonists and that are likely to raise student interest. The issue of the necessary reliance on presuppositions in doing speculative research is raised, both from the historical account and from the insights of university physics students who heard the historical account and performed the experiment. Difficulties current students have in performing the experiment are discussed from the perspective of Hodson (Stud Sci Educ 22:85–142, 1993) framework and the students’ own observations. Last, further historical materials are outlined that may be used to encourage student insight into the fundamental nature of electricity. It is proposed that these aspects are essential as a basis for identifying and addressing student difficulties with the Millikan oil drop experiment.

Patterns of boredom and its relationship with perceived autonomy support and engagement

The impact of academic boredom on learning and achievement has received increasing attention in the literature; however, the questions of how academic boredom changes over time and how the change relates to antecedents of boredom and student engagement during a course of study remain unexplored. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to: (a) examine the patterns of change in two types of academic boredom (i.e., learning-related and class-related) and in four types of student engagement (i.e., vigor, absorption, dedication, and effort regulation); (b) to examine how the trajectories of boredom and student engagement relate to one another; and (c) to investigate the relationship between perceived autonomy support and the pattern of change in boredom, in a sample of 144 university students. Results of latent growth curve analysis showed that learning-related boredom, vigor, and absorption remained relatively stable over time, whereas both class-related boredom and effort regulation showed a linear change, a pattern of increase and a trend of decrease, respectively. Interestingly, students’ dedication decreased at the beginning and increased when approaching the end of the course. Our results also revealed the fact that changes in boredom in class were linked with changes in both effort regulation and dedication, and the inverse association between perceived autonomy support and class-related boredom experience.     

Teachers’ Psychological Characteristics: Do They Matter for Teacher Effectiveness,Teachers’ Well-being,Retention, and Interpersonal Relations? An Integrative Review

Educational Psychology Review - This integrative review aims to render a systematic account of the role that teachers’ psychological characteristics, such as their motivation and personality,...     

Self-efficacy from the perspective of adolescents with LD and their specialist teachers

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a priori and 3 inductive themes: self-efficacy, calibration and levels of self-efficacy, students' self-awareness, attributions for failure, and problems and solutions. The students viewed themselves as low in self-efficacy and generally accurate in the calibration of their efficacy and performance, whereas the teachers viewed the students as overconfident about academic tasks. In contrast to the teachers, the students viewed verbal persuasion as a valued source of self-efficacy. Students attributed their failures to lack of effort, whereas their teachers attributed student failure to uncontrollable deficits. Problems and solutions related to student motivation were discussed from student and teacher perspectives.     

An Analysis of the Effects of Communication Skills Training Provided to the Mothers of Six-Year-Old Children on the Social Skills of Children

This study aims to analyze the effects of communication skills training program provided to the mothers on the social skills of their children. The study uses pre- and post-tests control group design. Experiment and control groups consisted of a total of 30 six-year-old children who were enrolled in nursery school. Experiment group consisted of 15 children; control group consisted of 15 children. The mothers of the children in experiment group were provided communication skills training for 13 weeks. SSES （social skills evaluation scale） was administered to the children before and after the training. The results of pre- and post- tests were compared and the effects of mothers＇ training program on the social skills of the children were investigated.     

Specimen rejection in laboratory medicine: Necessary for patient safety?

Introduction

The emergency laboratory in Hacettepe University Hospitals receives specimens from emergency departments (EDs), inpatient services and intensive care units (ICUs). The samples are accepted according to the rejection criteria of the laboratory. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sample rejection ratios according to the types of pre-preanalytical errors and collection areas.

Materials and methods

The samples sent to the emergency laboratory were recorded during 12 months between January to December, 2013 in which 453,171 samples were received and 27,067 specimens were rejected.

Results

Rejection ratios was 2.5% for biochemistry tests, 3.2% for complete blood count (CBC), 9.8% for blood gases, 9.2% for urine analysis, 13.3% for coagulation tests, 12.8% for therapeutic drug monitoring, 3.5% for cardiac markers and 12% for hormone tests. The most frequent rejection reasons were fibrin clots (28%) and inadequate volume (9%) for biochemical tests. Clotted samples (35%) and inadequate volume (13%) were the major causes for coagulation tests, blood gas analyses and CBC. The ratio of rejected specimens was higher in the EDs (40%) compared to ICUs (30%) and inpatient services (28%). The highest rejection ratio was observed in neurology ICU (14%) among the ICUs and internal medicine inpatient service (10%) within inpatient clinics.

Conclusions

We detected an overall specimen rejection rate of 6% in emergency laboratory. By documentation of rejected samples and periodic training of healthcare personnel, we expect to decrease sample rejection ratios below 2%, improve total quality management of the emergency laboratory and promote patient safety.Key words: clinical laboratory services, total quality management, patient safety, preanalytical phase, preanalytical error