PUSH(ing) Limits: Using Fiction in the Classroom for Human Behavior and the Social Environment

The use of fiction and autobiography in social science course work has been shown to enhance students' learning experience. Using the novel PUSH, by Sapphire, we designed a curriculum supplement for the social work course, human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) that encourages students to integrate course content in an innovative way and enables them to apply the material to life-like situations. The HBSE supplement allows students to explore poignant and problematic issues that push them past intrapersonal and interpersonal limits. Classes are infused with energy and the critical consciousness of the students. Final projects are a systematic case study of a chosen character (or characters) in the book and are a testament to student critical thinking and creativity. Methods, assignments, and student experiences in an introductory BSW course are described.     

Patterns of response to an approaches to studying inventory across contrasting groups and contexts

The development of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) is reported, which incorporates a revised version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. This questionnaire was completed by three separate samples; 1284 mainly first-year students from six British universities, 466 first-year students from a Scottish technological university; and 219 students from a ‘historically disadvantaged” South African university. Analyses of these data were designed to explore the patterns of response found in sub-groups which varied in terms of their levels of attainment and contexts. Maximum likelihood analysis of the largest sample confirmed the expected three factors of deep, surface apathetic, and strategic approaches to studying, and almost identical patterns were also found in the other two samples, and in students having contrasting levels of attainment. There were, however, some interesting minor differences in the South African sample. K-means relocation cluster analysis was then carried out on the largest sample and produced clusters with generally coherent patterns of response. However, one persistent low attainment cluster showed unexpected, dissonant patterns of response, combining moderately high scores on the sub-scales of both deep and surface apathetic approaches, associated with low scores on the strategic approach.     

Modeling IQ change: evidence from the Texas Adoption Project

An analysis of genetic and environmental contributions to intellectual change was carried out by means of a path model applied to IQ data from the Texas Adoption Project, an adoption study in which children were measured on 2 occasions approximately 10 years apart. Included in the model were assortative mating, selective placement, genotype-environment correlation, a measure of socioeconomic status, and alternative hypotheses about cross-generation environmental transmission and the persistence of a trait over time. Some form of environmental transmission across generations was necessary, but either of the 2 forms tested was sufficient. The data were best fit by considering persistence over time to occur at the level of the developed trait. The effect of both genes and family environment was significant at the time of the first measurement, but only the genes made an additional contribution between the first and the second, suggesting the necessity of revising some popular stereotypes about development.     

Walk-In Triage Systems in University Counseling Centers

To meet the complex mental health needs of students, some university counseling centers (UCCs) have implemented walk-in triage intake systems, which have not yet been empirically investigated. This study compared client and clinician differences (N = 5564) between a traditional scheduled intake system (Year 1) and a walk-in triage system (Year 2) at a large, southeastern UCC. Results showed a significant increase in clients’ attendance rates and clinicians’ caseloads, a significant decrease in no-show rates, and no change in students’ symptom severity at intake between Years 1 and 2. Clinicians’ number of scheduled appointments were unchanged, indicating that clinicians were already at maximum capacity for appointments in Year 1. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits and challenges that walk-in triage systems present to students, universities, and UCCs.     

IRUS-UK: Improving Understanding of the Value and Impact of Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories (IRs) are important research management tools that can give increased visibility to the institution’s scholarly outputs. Although statistics were previously available through the various repository interfaces, without an agreed standard it was not possible to measure usage across a range of IRs accurately. IRUS-UK is a national aggregation service, containing details of all content downloaded from participating IRs in the United Kingdom. Through collecting raw usage data and processing them into item-level usage statistics IRUS-UK provides comparable and authoritative standards-based data and also acts as an intermediary between UK repositories and other agencies.     

The Contemporary Art of Collaboration

Predetermined assessment criteria and target levels threaten to constrain and limit teachers’ desire to provide a balanced and innovative curriculum for their pupils. Through the collaborative production of annual installations, the fine art department at Trinity Catholic School has attempted to confound the effects of a comprehensive school's limitations. These installations allow hundreds of participants of all ages to collaborate in a partnership ethos exploring contemporary issues and modes of practice and enable both pupils and teachers to engage with art as a creative process. The installation is used as a gallery resource centre both in‐house and by the local community. The recent installation entitled ‘Laboratories’, analysing links between art and science, becomes a case study to examine the avoidance of limitations imposed by exam‐driven targets. Instead an environment was fostered that actively promoted a ‘learning for all’ philosophy including teachers and mature students.     

Tutoring primary trainee teachers through E-conferencing

This article explores issues for developing primary teacher trainee mathematics subject knowledge from a tutor perspective, and ways of working together in an e-environment that can promote quality learning. It focuses on the design of the e-environment, the methods of working and the advantages and disadvantages for developing mathematics subject knowledge through an e-environment from a tutor perspective.