Understanding narrative relations in teacher education

The use of stories in teacher education is ubiquitous; yet, the question regarding how stories help teachers make sense of their professional lives is more complex than it first appears. The authors draw from Adriana Cavarero's understanding of narrative relations as the political site where one's unique singularity is revealed in the desire to have one's story told. They compare her insights to Judith Butler's resignification of injurious speech, examining both positions as they apply to a beginning teacher's efforts to become the professional she admires. It is suggested to teacher educators that they use stories from practice to foreground the tension between a teacher's life and her life-story. By understanding the irresolvable tension of desire to have one's story told, a teacher has a better chance of recognising her own vulnerability and that of her students, and of teaching at the starting place of ethics.     

Inclusive provision options for pupils on the autistic spectrum

In the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) attending mainstream schools. However, particular concerns have been expressed about their inclusion, focused on an increased risk of peer rejection and lack of staff knowledge about appropriate teaching approaches. Parental views of inclusive placements are consistently more positive where there is an ASD resource base in the school. This study was designed to investigate characteristics of the provision available to pupils with ASD in mainstream schools with and without a specialist ASD resource base. Information was gathered from semi‐structured interviews with staff in 26 schools about levels of inclusion and support, about the strategies used to support pupils with ASD, both at an individual and whole school level, and about changes considered desirable. Interviewees were also asked to describe how they would respond to scenarios depicting situations that are commonly experienced in working with pupils who have ASD. Findings confirmed that the features of mainstream placements identified as important by parents of children with ASD were more likely to be found in schools with ASD resource bases. However, it was found that comparable provision could be made across settings given appropriate staff training. Scope for further development across settings was also identified, particularly in the use of evidence‐based peer‐mediated strategies.     

小说《坎特维尔古堡幽灵》读解

从人物、环境、叙事者、主题、风格、结构等六个方面对小说《坎特维尔古堡幽灵》进行了分析与解读。     

Librarians in the Woods Hole Biomedical Informatics course

What has come to be known as the "Woods Hole course", Biomedical Informatics, is a week-long course sponsored by the National Library of Medicine which has been offered since 1992. Its participants include librarians, clinicians, educators, and administrators. This article discusses the content of the course and its applicability to medical librarians.     

Evaluation of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service for health and social care staff in London and the south-east of England. Part 2: qualitative

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this two-part paper is to identify the main transferable lessons learned from both the quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service of online databases and selected full-text journals for health and social care staff in London and the south-east of England. The objectives of the qualitative evaluation were to assess the enablers and barriers to usage, and to assess the impact of the service on patient care. METHODS: Telephone interviews (n = 65) and a questionnaire survey (n = 296) were conducted with various types of user, in various Trust settings. Some non-users were also contacted. Selection of interviewees and questionnaire recipients was not random, and aimed to cover all groups of users representatively. RESULTS: Results show that policy goals were being delivered, with indications of changes to clinical practice, and improved clinical governance. Promotion, training and support needs to be extensive, and tailored to needs, but users are not always aware they need training. The sharing of passwords cast doubts on the reliability of some usage data. CONCLUSIONS: Digital health library services, delivered at the point of care, are changing the way some clinicians practise. A combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods are needed to assess digital library services.     

Childhood abuse and neglect in body dysmorphic disorder

OBJECTIVE: No published studies have examined childhood abuse and neglect in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). This study examined the prevalence and clinical correlates of abuse and neglect in individuals with this disorder. METHODS: Seventy-five subjects (69.3% female, mean age=35.4+/-12.0) with DSM-IV BDD completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and were interviewed with other reliable and valid measures. RESULTS: Of these subjects, 78.7% reported a history of childhood maltreatment: emotional neglect (68.0%), emotional abuse (56.0%), physical abuse (34.7%), physical neglect (33.3%), and sexual abuse (28.0%). Forty percent of subjects reported severe maltreatment. Among females (n=52), severity of reported abuse and neglect were .32-.57 standard deviation units higher than norms for a health maintenance organization (HMO) sample of women. Severity of sexual abuse was the only type of maltreatment significantly associated with current BDD severity (r=.23, p=.047). However, severity of sexual abuse did not predict current BDD severity in a simultaneous multiple regression analysis with age and current treatment status. There were other significant associations with childhood maltreatment: history of attempted suicide was related to emotional (p=.004), physical (p=.014), and sexual abuse (p=.038). Childhood emotional abuse was associated with a lifetime substance use disorder (r=.26, p=.02), and physical abuse was negatively associated with a lifetime mood disorder (r=-.37, p=.001). CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of individuals with BDD reported childhood abuse and neglect. Certain types of abuse and neglect appear modestly associated with BDD symptom severity and with gender, suicidality, and certain disorders.     

The concerns and interests of expectant and new parents: assessing learning needs

Antenatal education is an important component of antenatal care in the developed world, but research indicates that it may not be meeting consumer needs. This article provides an overview of a needs assessment that aimed to determine the concerns and interests of expectant and new parents and how they prefer to learn during the periods of pregnancy and the early weeks of parenthood. The findings could be used to develop an innovative approach to antenatal education in order to prepare expectant and new parents for the birth experience and the early weeks of parenthood. The current study's results identified that expectant and new parents' concerns and interests during pregnancy, childbirth, and new parenting fall within five interrelated conceptual areas: 1) perceiving achievement or failure; 2) taking on "risk"; 3) riding an emotional "roller coaster" of joy, anxiety, and uncertainty; 4) needing to "know...what is normal"; and 5) needing help to "perform well."     

Understanding disability with children's social capital

This paper reports on a specific event which attempted to facilitate discussions with children and young people about diversity issues, including disability. The concept of social capital was operationalised and used as both a resource to stimulate discussions and as an explicit goal. The paper first reports on the processes involved and the topics identified for discussion by the children and young people and then considers their engagement with disability. Their insights on knowing disability, relationships, and provision and support illustrate a shift from an essentialising of impairment to an articulation of barriers which excluded disabled people and the lessons which teachers might take from these are discussed.     

The impact of storybooks on kindergarten children＇s mathematical achievement and approaches to learning

This paper presents a mixed methods study that explored how storybooks influence kindergarten children＇s mathematical achievement and approaches to mathematics learning. Teachers＇ observations and research stating primary grade children＇s lack of mathematical knowledge and negative attitudes towards mathematics served as the impetus for the study. Three kindergarten teachers taught a mathematics unit using various children＇s storybooks and the characters in the stories as the context for mathematical problems. The results of the study show an impact on students＇ mathematical achievement as well as the identification of four themes that emerged on how students＇ approaches to learning were influenced when storybooks were integrated into the mathematics unit.     

Development of Student Understanding of Outcomes Involving Two or More Dice

Data from 154 interviews with students in grades 3 to 13 were analyzed to suggest a developmental progression of conceptual understanding associated with the sample space for two ordinary six-sided dice tossed simultaneously. The model was then considered in the light of responses to an extension task involving three six-sided dice with four sides painted black and two white. Forty-five of the interviews were longitudinal interviews of students 3 or 4 years after the original interviews, allowing for analysis of change in levels of understanding across time. This study suggests some of the intuitions and understandings that form the intermediate steps to a complete understanding of outcomes for two dice, as well as documenting the conceptual regression likely to occur when a more difficult task is encountered. Links to previous research, including well-known misconceptions, and educational implications of the model are among the discussion points.