Children with epilepsy: a review of the international literature using a quality of life lens

Epilepsy affects between 0.3 and 0.6% of Canadian children aged 18 years and younger, and is one of the most frequently diagnosed neurological disorders among children in Canada as well as Europe. As such, it is likely that teachers will experience having a child with epilepsy in the classroom. Understanding how best to support children with epilepsy can contribute to their positive adaptation and quality of life. This article, written by Jillian Roberts and Cheryl Whiting‐MacKinnon of the University of Victoria, British Columbia, reviews literature examining the social, emotional, physical and academic effects of epilepsy on children's lives, and explores the implications of these effects for their quality of life and school experiences.     

Training Teachers to Teach Statistics

This is a report on the International Statistical Institute's Round Table Conference, 23rd-27th July, 1988, held in Hungary, and convened by Anne Hawkins.     

Integration of programmable microfluidics and on-chip fluorescence detection for biosensing applications

We describe the integration of an actively controlled programmable microfluidic sample processor with on-chip optical fluorescence detection to create a single, hybrid sensor system. An array of lifting gate microvalves (automaton) is fabricated with soft lithography, which is reconfigurably joined to a liquid-core, anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) silicon chip fabricated with conventional microfabrication. In the automaton, various sample handling steps such as mixing, transporting, splitting, isolating, and storing are achieved rapidly and precisely to detect viral nucleic acid targets, while the optofluidic chip provides single particle detection sensitivity using integrated optics. Specifically, an assay for detection of viral nucleic acid targets is implemented. Labeled target nucleic acids are first captured and isolated on magnetic microbeads in the automaton, followed by optical detection of single beads on the ARROW chip. The combination of automated microfluidic sample preparation and highly sensitive optical detection opens possibilities for portable instruments for point-of-use analysis of minute, low concentration biological samples.     

Teacher counternarratives: transgressing and ‘restorying’ disability in education

This inquiry aims to explore the disconnect between the disability studies in education (DSE) perspectives on inclusive schooling held by a group of dually certified inclusive educators and the everyday, lived experiences of these same teachers who find themselves teaching students with labelled disabilities within the confines of the special education bureaucracy. Through a collaborative inquiry circle (with a teacher educator who is a faculty member in a dual-certification programme informed by a DSE perspective and seven teachers who are graduates of this teacher education programme), this study aims to: (1) articulate the dominant narratives or storylines about disability in education that may ‘discipline’ teachers' practice within the special education bureaucracy; (2) illustrate some of the ways in which teachers do resist and transgress the discursive structures of schooling in ways that enable them to ‘restory’ disability in education; and (3) explore the implications of this work for preparing teachers to be dually certified, inclusive educators of all children in public schools.     

Answering the Call: How Group Mentoring Makes a Difference

Mentoring programs answer the call for social justice for many students who are in success-inhibiting environments. This study employed a case study design to investigate the perceived benefits from a group mentoring program. Data was collected from pre- and post-assessments focus groups, and artifacts. Four participant benefits were revealed: comfort, non-academic support, academic support, and safety. This study argues that group mentoring offers a viable option to traditional mentoring approaches. Additionally, recommendations include further exploration into benefits from other types of group mentoring programs. Schools with scarce volunteers and monetary resources could benefit from the implementation of this mentoring approach.     

Antecedents of children's comprehension of television advertising

This study compared the importance of role taking and logical operations stage in predicting children's understanding of the purpose of television advertising. Role taking was found to be the more critical variable.     

Unraveling Uses and Effects of an Interactive Health Communication System

By developing a number of measures distinguishing amount, type of content, and when and how that content is used, the current study revealed effective patterns of use that are associated with quality of life benefits during an eHealth intervention. Results generally suggest that the benefits depend on how a patient uses the system, far more than on sheer amount of exposure or even what type of content is chosen. The next generation of eHealth system should focus on providing new and varying content over time, but even more on encouraging intensity of use and long-term commitment to the system.     

The complexities of participatory action research and the problems of power,identity and influence

This article highlights the complexity of participatory action research (PAR) in that the study outlined was carried out with and by, as opposed to on, participants. The project was contextualised in two prior-to-school settings in Australia, with the early childhood professionals and, to some extent, the preschoolers involved in this PAR project seen as co-researchers. This article explores the author’s journey to PAR, which she considered a socially just mode of inquiry. However, it is not without its complexities and challenges. This article makes transparent these complexities and explores issues of ‘power’, identity and influence in collaborative research. Questions often reflected upon by researchers are re-visited in this article: What theoretical underpinnings align with the investigation? Why undertake such a demanding research design as PAR? What does this research design involve? Where does the university researcher fit? How does a PAR team ‘work’ when there are so many different personalities involved? What are the challenges that are faced by participatory action researchers and how might these be overcome? While these challenges are not new to PAR researchers, the solutions and discussion put forward in this article may generate further reflection and debate.