Studies in mindfulness: widening the field for all involved in pastoral care

Abstract

Since 2010, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, has offered an MSc in studies in mindfulness degree programme within its School of Education. The programme has attracted over 200 students from multiple professional contexts, providing the authors with the opportunity to gather and analyse demographic data, as well as data regarding student motivations and expectations, both personal and professional. The paper initially creates a picture of the current UK ‘studies in mindfulness’ landscape by describing the established programmes at UK universities. Data from an entry questionnaire completed by three cohorts of students on the ‘Aberdeen’ programme and data collected from students throughout their studies is then presented, analysed and discussed. The authors argue that, in their professional roles, graduates from programmes and courses at Universities in the UK are introducing an ever-increasing number of people to mindfulness. They are implementing and integrating mindfulness into diverse social, business contexts as well as into all sectors of education. The University of Aberdeen’s programme, based in the School of Education, perhaps represents a move towards more holistic, pastoral and multi-professional applications of mindfulness. This contrasts with the clinical, pathological settings for mindfulness to date.     

ICT, Education, and Visual Impairment

This paper provides an overview of developments in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the education of children with a visual impairment. The context is set by summarising the population of children with a visual impairment in this country, and presenting World Health Organisations classification of disability as a criteria by which the relevance of ICT can be measured. Case-studies of the use of different types of educational and access technology are presented and it is argued that information and communications technology has a valuable role in providing opportunities for children with a visual impairment to participate more fully in education.     

The Effect of Pupil Cognitive Style and Position of Prose Passage Title on Recall

A replication of Bransford and Johnson's (1972) experiment on contextual prerequisites was carried out with the additional inclusion of cognitive styles as independent variables. A total of 77 10‐ and 11‐year‐old subjects (year 6, primary school) were asked to read a short prose passage on the topic of washing clothes. Half of the subjects were told the title of the passage before reading it and half after. All subjects attempted to free recall the passage. They had also completed the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) (Riding, 1991), thus providing their position on the two fundamental cognitive style dimensions: Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery. It was found that the Wholist‐Analytic cognitive style and title‐passage order interacted in their effect on recall (p < 0.05). Whilst Wholists performed best when the title was presented before reading the passage, the order made no difference for other individuals. This suggested that this cognitive style reflects the way individuals organise information.     

Electromyographic analyses of the erector spinae muscles during golf swings using four different clubs

The purpose of this study was to compare the electromyography (EMG) patterns of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the erector spinae (ES) muscle during the golf swing whilst using four different golf clubs. Fifteen right-handed male golfers performed a total of twenty swings in random order using the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge. Surface EMG was recorded from the lead and trail sides of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle (T8, L1 and L5 lateral to the spinous-process). Three-dimensional high-speed video analysis was used to identify the backswing, forward swing, acceleration, early and late follow-through phases of the golf swing. No significant differences in muscle-activation levels from the lead and trail sides of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle were displayed between the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge (P > 0.05). The highest mean thoracic and lumbar ES muscle-activation levels were displayed in the forward swing (67–99% MVC) and acceleration (83–106% MVC) phases of the swing for all clubs tested. The findings from this study show that there were no significant statistical differences between the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge when examining muscle activity from the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle.     

Robots in the AI Classroom: What Smart Machines Can Teach Smart Students

The design and implementation of autonomous robots provides experience with engineering problems as well as with hard problems in artificial intelligence. Our aims in this article are fourfold: First, we describe how the use of robots complements traditional classroom lectures for the teaching of important concepts in a graduate‐level AI class. Second, we discuss the use of robots as a multimedia tool for capturing student interest and facilitating the self‐guided exploration of AI concepts. Third, we relate readings and robots in the curriculum and show how the robots aid understanding of philosophical issues in AI. Finally, we describe the robot kits and the organization of the class, present several completed projects by student teams, and report some of the feedback given by students who completed the course. We also analyze the successes and failures of the first two courses offered and describe the changes made for the recently completed second course.     

The cosmopolitan city and its Other: the ethnicizing of the Australian suburb

Abstract

In this article I argue that there has been a significant cultural change in the meanings attached to two specific sites in the Australian cultural imaginary—the city and the suburb. I see this change as the product of opposing versions of multicultural Australia. In several Australian cities, particularly Sydney, although the combination of multiculturalism and economic globalization has helped to create increasingly cosmopolitan inner city suburbs, it has also contributed to the development of an antithetical but perhaps more politically significant version of the middle or outer suburb. This new version of the suburb is defined by minority ethnic or racial identities; it is increasingly represented as criminalized; and its development runs against the grain of the traditional conception of the suburb in the Australian national imaginary, as well as the globalizing rhetoric endorsing a cosmopolitanizing transnational citizenship. The context for the discussion is given particular force by the series of ‘race riots’ which occurred in the Sydney beach suburb of Cronulla in December, 2005. These events raised serious concerns about the fate of multiculturalism in Australia and highlighted the tensions that lie beneath what is often regarded as a successful set of social policies.     

Participation and provision in arts & culture – bridging the divide

ABSTRACT

Successive policies and efforts to increase participation in a range of arts and cultural activities have tended to focus on the profile and attitude of individuals and target groups in order justify public – and therefore achieve more equitable – funding. Rationales for such intervention generally reflect the policy and political regime operating in different eras, but widening participation, increasing access and making the subsidised arts more inclusive have been perennial concerns. On the other hand, culture has also been the subject of a supply-led approach to facility provision, whether local amenity-based (“Every Town Should Have One” – Lane, 1979. Arts centres – every town should have one. London: Paul Elek), civic centre or flagship, and this has also mirrored periodic growth in investment through various capital for the arts, municipal expansion, urban regeneration, European regional development and lottery programmes. Research into participation has consequently taken a macro, sociological, “class distinction” approach, including longitudinal national surveys such as Taking Part, Target Group Index, Active People and Time Use Surveys, whilst actual provision is dealt with at the micro, amenity level in terms of its impact and catchment. This article therefore considers how this situation has evolved and the implications for cultural policy, planning and research by critiquing successive surveys of arts attendance and participation and associated arts policy initiatives, including the importance of local facilities such as arts centres, cinemas and libraries. A focus on cultural mapping approaches to accessible cultural amenities reveals important evidence for bridging the divide between cultural participation and provision.