The Design of Writing: Unfolding systems of meaning

This article explores the findings of a small research study that asked writers to describe a meaningful, personal incident using first narrative and then poetic forms. The poetry raised many anxieties about writing, including the revelations of subjectivity and the risks in sharing such work with a group. To understand some of the complexities of these responses, the researchers thought of writing as an ecology with interdependent systems influencing the writing. Rereading the research texts, they traced some of those systems that affect students' writing and understanding of poetry.     

Exergames ‘as a teacher’ of movement education: exploring knowing in moving when playing dance games in physical education

Background: A fundamental dimension of school physical education (PE) is arguably movement and movement activities. However, there is a lack of discussion in the context of PE regarding what can be called the capability to move in terms of coordinative abilities, body consciousness and educing bodily senses.

Purpose: This article explores and articulates what there is to know, from the mover's perspective, when knowing how to move in specific ways when playing exergames (dance games). Taking different ways of moving as expressing different ways of knowing as a point of departure, the following questions are the focus of this article: (i) How do students move when imitating movements in a dance game, and what different ways of knowing the movements can be described in the student group? (ii) What aspects of the movements are discerned simultaneously through the different ways of knowing the movements? (iii) What aspects seem critical for the students to discern and experience in order to know the movements in as complex a way as possible?

Design and analysis: The theoretical point of departure concerns an epistemological perspective on the capability to move as knowing how with no distinction between physical and mental skills, and also knowing as experiencing aspects of something to know. The data in this study comprise video recordings of students playing Nintendo Wii dance games in PE lessons in a compulsory school (for children aged between 7 and 16 years) in a small Swedish town. There were three PE lessons with four different stations, of which one was Nintendo Wii dance games (Just Dance 1 and 2). In total, the videoed material covers three 60-minute PE lessons, recorded during the autumn of 2012 and in which just over twenty students participated. In the study, we have used video observation as a data collection method. Jordan and Henderson maintain that video observation removes the gap between ‘what people say they do and what they, in fact, do’ (51). To conduct a systematic and thorough analysis of how the students experienced the avatar's movements, we looked for moments where all the students and the avatar could be simultaneously observed. Two video sequences were chosen, showing four students imitating two distinct and defined movements which constituted the basis for a phenomenographic analysis.

Conclusion: The result of the phenomenographic analysis shows different ways of knowing the movements as well as what aspects are discerned and experienced simultaneously by the students. In other words, these aspects also describe knowing in terms of discerning, discriminating and differentiating aspects of ways of moving. By examining a certain exergame's role ‘as a teacher,' we have emphasized the capability to move, from the mover's perspective, as an intrinsic educational goal of PE while highlighting the need for systematically planning movement education.     

Observing preschool storytime practices in Aotearoa New Zealand's urban public libraries

This study explores how preschool storytimes in public libraries in Aotearoa New Zealand incorporate practices which have been identified as beneficial for children's early literacy skills. The results of observations of storytimes in four public library services are reported, focusing on whether they included activities that foster six key literacy skills: print motivation; phonological awareness; vocabulary; narrative skills; print awareness and print concepts; and letter awareness. The results indicate that the storytimes observed focused strongly on techniques to increase children's print motivation, and other skills, such as the development of letter awareness, did not feature as frequently. It is suggested that the librarians leading the sessions were wary of introducing more formal instructional elements into the storytimes because they felt it might detract from the main aim of the sessions, which was to encourage children to enjoy books and reading.     

The development of children at familial risk for dyslexia: Birth to early school age

Children at risk for familial dyslexia (n = 107) and their controls (n = 93) have been followed from birth to school entry in the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD) on developmental factors linked to reading and dyslexia. At the point of school entry, the majority of the at-risk children displayed decoding ability that fell at least 1 SD below the mean of the control group. Measures of speech processing were the earliest indices to show both group differences in infancy and also significant predictive associations with reading acquisition. A number of measures of language, including phonological and morphological skill collected repeatedly from age three, revealed group differences and predictive correlations. Both the group differences and the predictive associations to later language and reading ability strengthened as a function of increasing age. The predictions, however, tend to be stronger and the spectrum of significant correlations wider in the at-risk group. These results are crucial to early identification and intervention of dyslexia in at-risk children.     

The somatic marker as a “short cut” to verbal immediacy

This study examined the relationships between the somatic‐marker hypothesis, developed by Damasio (1994) as it relates to homophily and verbal immediacy in the classroom. Damasio has hypothesized that when particular events occur in one's life, there is a “memory” of that event in the brain. As a result, when a similar event occurs, the somatic marker recreates that first event. Students were provided three different scenarios about the first day of a communication class. In the scenarios, the instructor presented information about himself. One instructor provided only autobiographical, demographic data (the control). Another provided information hozu he had had difficulty with public speaking (the selfish marker). The third provided information about how the instructor had helped someone else who had difficulty in public speaking (the altruistic marker). The results indicated that while homophily differences were not significant, there was a significant difference between the control group and the altruistic marker.     

All About Demand-Driven Acquisition

This article reports on a talk delivered at the Mississippi State University Libraries eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit. The author introduces the concept of Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) for e-books and explains how it works. The author discusses predicting and controlling costs, as well as other implementation decisions. Finally, the author discusses the possibility of removing books from a DDA program and speculates on some of the effects of DDA on libraries and scholarly publishing.     

Promoting early literacy through the professional development of preschool teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a professional learning program on the emergent literacy skills of preschool children. Building Blocks for Literacy^® is a program consisting of training supported by mentoring designed to teach early childcare providers how to promote the development of early literacy skills. A previous investigation found positive effects of the program on the pre-literacy skills of children in Vermont. The current study extended their work by replicating the training for Head Start teachers (n?=?27) in another state. Teachers were divided into three groups. One group received the training and live mentoring; a second group received training and distance mentoring; and a third group of teachers served as controls. The results indicate that children (n?=?97) served by teachers who received the training (n?=?18) made higher gains on a measure of early literacy skills than those children (n?=?36) served by control teachers. The gains made by children in the treatment groups were consistent for teachers who received either live or distance mentoring. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Connecting to nature at the zoo: implications for responding to climate change

Societal response to climate change has been inadequate. A perception that the issue is both physically and temporally remote may reduce concern; concern may also be affected by the political polarization surrounding the issue in the USA. A feeling of connection to nature or to animals may increase personal relevance, and a supportive social context may counteract political tensions. Zoos may provide opportunities for both sense of connection and social support. We surveyed over 7000 zoo and aquarium visitors to examine the ways in which a feeling of personal connection among zoo visitors may encourage concern about climate change. Results show that feeling connected to animals at the zoo is significantly associated with cognitive and emotional responses to climate change, as well as with other social groupings and social responses. Overall, the zoo seems to present a supportive social context for considering the topic.