Telling the Tale and Living Well: Adolescent Narrative Identity,Personality Traits,and Well‐Being Across Cultures

This study explored links between narrative identity, personality traits, and well‐being for 263 adolescents (age 12–21) from three New Zealand cultures: Māori, Chinese, and European. Turning‐point narratives were assessed for autobiographical reasoning (causal coherence), local thematic coherence, emotional expressivity, and topic. Across cultures, older adolescents with higher causal coherence reported better well‐being. Younger adolescents with higher causal coherence instead reported poorer well‐being. Personal development topics were positively linked to well‐being for New Zealand European adolescents only, and thematic coherence was positively linked to well‐being for Māori adolescents only. Negative expressivity, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness were also linked to well‐being. Implications of these cultural similarities and differences are considered for theories of narrative identity, personality, and adolescent well‐being.     

Documenting the Aspiration Gap in Institutional Language About Undergraduate Research,Scholarship, and Creative Work

We conducted a content-analysis of the websites of 100 institutional members of the Council of Undergraduate Research in order to examine the relationship between messages communicated on websites as compared to messages expressed within institutional procedures and policies. Findings show that public research institutions were more likely than baccalaureate institutions to have an Office of Undergraduate Research. Further incentives and supports provided by such offices are predominantly directed to students. Lastly, our analysis of promotion and tenure policies reveals that only 14 institutions out of the 100 in our sample explicitly mentioned mentoring undergraduate researchers in the evaluation criteria for faculty members. We offer implications for research and practice.     

Teaching neuroanatomy using computer‐aided learning: What makes for successful outcomes?

Computer‐aided learning (CAL) is an integral part of many medical courses. The neuroscience course at Oxford University for medical students includes CAL course of neuroanatomy. CAL is particularly suited to this since neuroanatomy requires much detailed three‐dimensional visualization, which can be presented on screen. The CAL course was evaluated using the concept of approach to learning. The aims of university teaching are congruent with the deep approach—seeking meaning and relating new information to previous knowledge—rather than to the surface approach of concentrating on rote learning of detail. Seven cohorts of medical students (N = 869) filled in approach to learning scale and a questionnaire investigating their engagement with the CAL course. The students' scores on CAL‐course‐based neuroanatomy assessment and later university examinations were obtained. Although the students reported less use of the deep approach for the neuroanatomy CAL course than for the rest of their neuroanatomy course (mean = 24.99 vs. 31.49, P < 0.001), deep approach for CAL was positively correlated with neuroanatomy assessment performance (r = 0.12, P < 0.001). Time spent on the CAL course, enjoyment of it, the amount of CAL videos watched and quizzes completed were each significantly positively related to deep approach. The relationship between deep approach and enjoyment was particularly notable (25.5% shared variance). Reported relationships between deep approach and academic performance support the desirability of deep approach in university students. It is proposed that enjoyment of the course and the deep approach could be increased by incorporation of more clinical material which is what the students liked most. Anat Sci Educ 10: 560–569. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Making death,compassion and partnership ‘part of life’ in school communities

Death can be considered a social taboo, a common source of fear and public avoidance. School communities are not immune to this, as the topic of death is constantly avoided. It is vital to understand how we can socially and culturally cultivate a positive regard for death, dying and bereavement in our school communities. Community members need to discuss these difficult issues and use strategies to enhance compassion, connectedness and support. In this literature review we reason that death is specifically not ‘part of life’ in school communities. Due to the dearth of school community-based literature on this issue and the progressive literature residing in palliative care, we aim to coalesce palliative care and school-based research, evaluate it and highlight compassion and partnership as a way forward for school communities. Essentially, our societal attitudes about death and dying have been profoundly altered and our community ownership of these normal life events has largely disappeared. This is demonstrated for example, by palliative care moving from the social grass roots ‘modern hospice movement’ formed in the 1960s and being reintegrated into the mainstream health care system by the end of the 1990s, resulting in an overall medicalised morphing of death, dying and bereavement issues. Therefore, we recommend that further research be conducted in how to develop compassionate schools to inform us how death may be continually made ‘part of life’ in school communities, for the benefit of students, teachers and families alike.     

Safe or unsafe? The paradox of action learning

Business Driven Action Learning (BDAL), as a learning philosophy that attempts to create real value for business is often used by executive education providers in their management development programmes. As the action learning facilitator, I found that the learning that took place during such a management development programme resulted in participants experiencing stress, anxiety and high levels of frustration, which threatened the learning process. The resulting paradox in the learning environment is that the same anxiety that is necessary to ensure that learning took place has the propensity, if too high to hamper learning. Utilising the findings from this research, this account of practice makes recommendations for the action learning facilitator to consider while guiding action learning sets (groups). The facilitator can alleviate many of the fears by emphasising that anxiety is necessary in the learning process. The facilitator can mediate the learning relationship between the individual participant and the learning environment as depicted in the model at the end of the article.     

电泳沉积固体氧化物燃料电池关键参数研究综述（英文）

目的:电泳沉积是一种简单且具有成本效益的涂层技术。其出色的形态特征控制,适用于制造需要每个组件层都具有其独特属性的固体氧化物燃料电池。本文旨在综述电泳沉积的最新进展、制备稳定悬浮液所需的关键因素以及通过电泳沉积技术制造固体氧化物燃料电池所涉及的相关参数。创新点:1.分析了维持悬浮液稳定性的关键参数,包括粒径和固体载荷等胶体相关参数以及介电常数和电导率等悬浮介质相关参数。2.讨论了这些参数对粒子流动性、电动电位和电泳沉积技术于固体氧化物燃料电池应用的综合效应。方法:1.对以往的研究进行综述,并总结电泳沉积技术制造固体氧化物燃料电池组件层的发展(表1),包括稳定悬浮液的制备以及电泳沉积工艺关键参数的优化。结论:鉴于每个固体氧化物燃料电池组件层都涉及不同类型的材料,且每种材料都需要特定的参数来实现有效沉积,因此,为了获得各组件层所需要的性能,制备悬浮液配方的正确性和电泳沉积工艺的优化显得至关重要。     

Assessment Data-Informed Guidance to Individualize Kindergarten Reading Instruction: Findings from a Cluster-Randomized Control Field Trial

The purpose of this cluster-randomized control field trial was to was to examine the extent to which kindergarten teachers could learn a promising instructional strategy, wherein kindergarten reading instruction was differentiated based upon students' ongoing assessments of language and literacy skills and documented child characteristic by instruction (CXI) interactions; and to test the efficacy of this differentiated reading instruction on the reading outcomes of students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The study involved 14 schools and included 23 treatment (n = 305 students) and 21 contrast teacher (n = 251 students). Teachers in the contrast condition received only a baseline professional development that included a researcher-delivered summer day-long workshop on individualized instruction. Data sources included parent surveys, individually administered child assessments of language, cognitive, and reading skills and videotapes of classroom instruction. Using Hierarchical Multivariate Linear Modeling (HMLM), we found students in treatment classrooms outperformed students in the contrast classrooms on a latent measure of reading skills, comprised of letter-word reading, decoding, alphabetic knowledge, and phonological awareness (ES = .52). Teachers in both conditions provided small group instruction, but teachers in the treatment condition provided significantly more individualized instruction. Our findings extend research on the efficacy of teachers using Individualized Student Instruction to individualize instruction based upon students' language and literacy skills in first through third grade. Findings are discussed regarding the value of professional development related to differentiating core reading instruction and the challenges of using Response to Intervention approaches to address students' needs in the areas of reading in general education contexts.