Interview with Princess Dusdi of Thailand

Abstract

This article focuses on the possibilities that information technology and mass media offer to learning environments of children and grown‐ups, and in what way they are different from the reality a decade ago, inside and outside school. It takes into consideration the norms valid in learning in schools, including the teachers’ role, and looks into how they coincide with or contradict the modern technological possibilities. In the rapid changes of society and values, the school should serve many ages, children and adults, which would require a greater variety of jobs than at present. Understanding the value of one's own language and culture does not come through isolation; it comes through learning about different societies and cultures, through considering, comparing and categorizing. The article discusses several practical examples from the recent experiences of Iceland.     

ENSO and Southeast Asian biomass burning modulate subtropical trans-Pacific ozone transport

Trans-Pacific transport of enhanced ozone plumes has been mainly attributed to fossil fuel combustion in Asia in spring, but less attention has been paid to vegetation fires in Asia. Here we show that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-modulated fires in Southeast Asia, rather than Asian fossil fuel plumes, dominate the interannual variability of springtime trans-Pacific transport of ozone across the entire North Pacific Ocean. During El Niño springs, the intensified fires from both the Indochinese Peninsula and Indonesia, together with large-scale circulation anomalies, result in enhanced ozone plumes that stretch over 15 000 km in both the lower-middle and upper troposphere. This enhancement is also observed in the in situ measurements of ozone concentration, with an almost 10% increase at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, a unique site to monitor the long-distance transport over the North Pacific. This study reports an unexpectedly strong influence of vegetation fires, linked with climate variability, on global tropospheric chemistry and proves once more how complex the interactions in the climate system are.     

Speech and language therapy and the Knowles Edge Standards Fund Project: an evaluation of the service provided to a cluster of primary schools

In 2000, 25 speech and language therapy projects were established in schools in England, funded through the Standards Fund. An evaluation commissioned by the Government reported positive results and gave an overview of all the projects at a point approximately six months after their inception. Although there were common themes, it was quite clear that the projects differed widely in their structure and interpretation of the original brief.
In this article, Sue Roulstone, Professor of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of the West of England, and Rosalind Owen and Lucy French, both specialist speech and language therapists working for the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust, provide an in-depth report of one of the projects and its evaluation after 18 months.
The project, based on a systems analysis approach, targeted its interventions at the individual child, the parents, the teachers and therapists, the classrooms and schools, and more strategic levels in the health and education services. The article gives details of the 'interventions' for each component. An independent evaluation gathered qualitative and quantitative data that suggest that the new service had a positive impact on all aspects of the system. Children made gains in their speech and language; parents were informed and involved; therapists and teachers were more satisfied about their knowledge base; and systems changed within the schools to reflect and support the collaboration. The outcomes of the project led to a rolling out of the model to two more cluster groups of schools. A number of organisational structures were identified which support the ongoing collaboration. Details given in this article will enable others to identify whether or not this model might suit their local circumstances and be replicable in their context.     

The future for licensing: an academic publisher’s viewpoint

Considers the factors affecting licensing policy, both for translations and for English–language reprints, and the copyright implications, in various countries.     

The Centre for Academic Services University of Sussex,England

Audio-visual techniques in educational technology are receiving unusually close attention at the University of Sussex. A new department known as the Centre for Academic Services has been established there, charged with the task of co-ordinating the use of audio-visual media throughout the university. The aim is to experiment with and develop appropriate teaching techniques.