A New Tool for Collection Assessment: One Library's Response to the Calls to Action Issued by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

ABSTRACT

The University of Manitoba's Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library is a recognized leader in Indigenous and circumpolar health for establishing the Aboriginal Health Collection in 1997, the first discrete collection of materials on the health of Indigenous peoples located in an academic health sciences library in Canada. This article describes the history, development, and scope of what is now known as the Indigenous Health Collection. In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued the calls to action as part of its mandate to gather information and document the history of Indian Residential Schools and their legacy for all Canadians. The ninety-four calls to action provide clear guidance to governments, institutions, and people to initiate changes to address the legacy in a spirit of true reconciliation. The Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library was uniquely positioned to respond to the TRC calls to action. The enduring legacy of the residential schools and other discriminatory government policies is one that continues to impact the health status of many people in Canada who identify as Indigenous, First Nations, Metis, Inuit, or Aboriginal. The Indigenous Health Collection includes materials on the health, wellness, and lived experience of Indigenous peoples, the determinants that impact health, and publications documenting community-based and academic research and knowledge. This article provides an example of how an academic health sciences library used the seven TRC calls to action related to health as a framework to assess the resources and collections relied on by educators and students in the health professions.     

‘Shoot for the moon!’ Students' identities as writers in the context of the classroom

A study of students' identities as writers was carried out in the classroom of a New Zealand primary teacher who had been formally identified by a national body of teachers as having excellent practice in supporting literacy acquisition. The researchers, Professor Janice Wearmouth, from the University of Bedfordshire, Mere Berryman, from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and Lisa Whittle, from the Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand, aimed to compare high and low literacy achievers' identities as writers within the context of this teacher's pedagogy and the learning environment of her classroom. The researchers concluded that all students, both high and low achievers, were developing very positive writing identities in a context where the teacher's method of supporting her students' writing was very well planned through a process‐writing approach. This teacher had a very high degree of subject and pedagogical content knowledge and an acute awareness of her students' literacy learning needs. Her approach had an immediacy of responsiveness in relation to every student's learning and, above all, had recognition of the overwhelming importance of positive relationships in the classroom, teacher to student and peer to peer.     

The gifted child with attention deficit disorder: An identification and intervention challenge

Studies of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often emphasize the problems, diagnosis and treatment, but rarely consider the characteristics which are remarkably similar to those of creativity. This study reviews the literature on ADHD traits, their similarity to gifted and creative behaviors, and the implications for educational interventions. A case study of a boy identified with ADHD provides the focus for our discussions. The conclusions point to the need for more varied instructional interventions, emotional and social support, and collaboration between educators and parents.     

Evidenced Based Practices that Promote Transition to Postsecondary Education: Listening to a Decade of Expert Voices

As increasing numbers of students with disabilities access postsecondary education, research studies and literature reviews have investigated the needs of these students who chose to pursue postsecondary education. These articles included studies that (a) asked students with disabilities to identify needs and (b) summarized needs in literature reviews about students with disabilities in postsecondary education. This article summarizes needs and recommendations from college students with disabilities and authors who reviewed related literature from 1995–2006. The summary includes needs in five areas: self-determination, social skills, academic preparation, accommodations, and assistive technology (AT). Each of these areas of need is described and recommendations for practice are discussed. The purpose of this article is to identify a set of evidence-based transition practices that will address these needs and increase the likelihood of success for students who enroll in postsecondary education institutions.     

Establishing the need for health communication research: best practices model for building transdisciplinary collaborations

The benefits of transdisciplinary collaboration for addressing complex health problems are widely accepted; however, acknowledging the bumps and twists along the road that are inherent in those collaborations is often considered taboo. Academic norms that prevent open discussion of these challenges can have counter-productive results. This essay describes the major education efforts, milestones, and footfalls in the development of an effective partnership between communication-trained researchers in a College of Journalism and Communications and medical researchers in a College of Medicine. We hope it can serve as “best practice” for understanding the value of team science and interdisciplinary research collaborations.     

A typology of causal models for plate tectonics: Inferential power and barriers to understanding

Forty-seven fifth grade students (40 group-tested and 7 individually interviewed) read a text describing plate tectonics. At four points they drew diagrams of the spatial, causal, and dynamic processes inside the earth. These diagrams along with students' corresponding explanations, think-aloud protocols (for those individually interviewed), and answers to inference questions were analysed in order to characterize students' models of the interior of the earth, and models of its causal and dynamic processes. Types and characteristics of models, and reasoning associated with them are presented. Additionally, data from two exemplary students are presented as case studies. One student has considerable misunderstandings regarding both her understanding of the spatial layout of the interior of the earth and its causal mechanisms. The second student is more typical in terms of his initial models, but makes large gains in revising his understanding about the causal and dynamic processes inside the earth. In both cases, data are used to infer how each student used their diagrams as artefacts for externalizing knowledge, inference making, and model-revision.     

Numeracy Abilities of Children in Grades 4 to 6 with Mild Intellectual Disability in Singapore

Mathematics is an important aspect of daily life. Basic numeracy skills are needed to accomplish everyday tasks. However, research regarding the relationship between cognitive ability, mental age, and basic numeracy skills for children with intellectual disability (ID) is scarce. This research study investigated the correlation between intellectual ability and the development of number sense and arithmetic abilities in individuals with ID. Thirty-two students from a special school for individuals with ID in Singapore participated in this research study. Based on the results, basic numeracy is more closely correlated to the mental ages of the students than their intelligence quotient. This finding will be discussed and suggestions for future research will be provided.