‘He's behind you!’: Reflections on Repetition and Predictability in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

This article offers a reflection on the recent success of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It considers what has contributed to the popularity of the series and questions whether its 13-volume length is a reflection of the need to tell the story over the duration it demands, or the decision to exploit a lucrative publishing opportunity.     

The Rhetoric of Junk Science

In this article, a biochemist and a rhetorician collaborate to define “junk science.” They apply that definition as they rhetorically analyze a book that makes strong claims about endocrine disruption (Our Stolen Future) and a website developed to embarrass those claims (Our Swollen Future). This article argues that junk science and accusations of junk science evince ideologicaVeconomic motives and pronounced efforts to construct, or assail, scientific ethos.     

Toward a Two‐Factor Theory of One Type of Mathematics Disabilities

A two‐factor theory is proposed in an attempt to explain the difficulty that children with math disabilities have in mastering the basic number facts. The theory is based on the premise that weak cognitive representations lead to poorer retrieval of information from long‐term memory. Two groups of children with disabilities are discussed: those with math disabilities alone (MD) and those with co‐morbid math and reading disabilities (MD/RD). It is proposed that weak phonological processing abilities underlie the learning difficulties of MD/RD children, and that weak number sense is a causal factor in the math‐fact learning difficulties of MD only and some MD/RD children.     

Should child protection services respond differently to maltreatment, risk of maltreatment, and risk of harm?

Objective

To examine evidence available in large-scale North American datasets on child abuse and neglect that can assist in understanding the complexities of child protection case classifications.

Methods

A review of child abuse and neglect data from large North American epidemiological studies including the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS), the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), and the National Incidence Studies of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS).

Results

The authors of this paper argue that recent evidence from large North American epidemiological studies examining the incidence of child abuse and neglect demonstrate that children and families identified as being at risk of maltreatment present with as many household and caregiver concerns as investigations that are substantiated.

Conclusions

In order to continue to develop appropriate services and policies for vulnerable children the authors urge continue definitional clarity for research in child maltreatment that considers the exemplars or indicators of categories, in tandem with parental and child characteristics which can provide one source of evidence-basis to meaningful child protection case classifications. Continued monitoring, refined by the dilemmas faced in practice, are critical for a continued public health investment in children's well-being, predicated upon upholding children's rights.     

The importance of respect in teaching and learning: perspectives of final year pre-service teachers in a regional university in Ireland

This article aims to address the lack of attention given to respect as an important relational construct for pre-service teachers. It seeks to inform teacher educators on how to better understand its practice and the implications for teaching and learning. This study examined second level pre-service teachers’ perceptions and experiences of respect. A qualitative design was employed and 12 undergraduate pre-service teachers in their final year of study were interviewed twice (pre and post practicum) about their perceptions of respect and their experiences of respectful teaching and learning. The emerging data indicate that the relational component of respect was identified by the pre-service teacher participants as being important to feeling respected as a teacher. Recommendations are made, in light of these findings, to help teacher educators support pre-service teachers gain a greater understanding of the relational nature of respect.