Informationen/Meinungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungZiel dieser Rubrik ist die Förderung der informellen fachlichen Kommunikation durch Nachrichten, Kurzberichte, Interviews und Kommentare zu aktuellen fachlichen Themen. Auch Leserbriefe, die sich mit bereits veröffentlichten Beiträgen befassen, können hier veröffentlicht werden. Die Betreuung der Rubrik obliegt den Hauptherausgebern.     

Incivility and Dysfunction in the Library Workplace: Perceptions and Feedback from the Field

Issues associated with lack of civility, less than ideal functionality, and employees that may not self-reflect as much they should are all challenges in the modern workplace and libraries are no exception. The purpose of this study was to determine which issues associated with a lack of civility such as mobbing, bullying, workplace dysfunction, and lack of abilities regarding self-reflection were found in the library workplace and to what extent. The data represents the feedback of 4,168 library employees through a self-reporting survey instrument designed by the authors with the help of the American Library Association. Data is both quantitative and qualitative and seeks to examine the issues addressed across all types of libraries. While useful for all library employees, this study and report are especially relevant to the modern library administrator.     

Student participation in learning environment improvement: analysis of a co-design project in a Finnish upper secondary school

The present educational design research involved analysing Finnish upper secondary school students’ participation in the improvement of their psychosocial and technology-enhanced physical learning environment (LE). It examined which LE characteristics students considered important when redesigning their LE, and whether they felt that their ideas for improvement had been taken into account in the LE change process and if there was an improvement in these characteristics. A Learning Environment Design (LED) framework balancing the various LE dimensions, namely, communality and individuality, comfort and health, novelty and conventionality, was utilised in the analysis for four sets of data collected for four cycles: (a) co-design activities (students, n = 11) and (b) student feedback (n = 175); (c) professional design evaluation (students, n = 2); and (d) student satisfaction survey (n = 83). Students considered all LE dimensions important. In addition, they felt that their wishes were generally taken into account in the redesign and also they perceived an improvement in most of the LE characteristics. Student involvement helped to avoid overly radical changes, fostered a participatory culture, and contributed to understanding what students view as important to their learning and wellbeing. The study demonstrated the usefulness of the LED-framework for LE design and suggests content-related design principles to serve as a starting point in LE improvement projects involving learners.     

Young people mobilizing the language of citizenship: struggles for classification and new meaning in an uncertain world

This paper presents research findings from an ethnographic study carried out with 24 low‐income youths (ages 14–16) living on the economic fringes of urban inner‐city Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Our primary aims are: to expose the stratified subcultural articulations of citizenship as they are expressed, through language and symbol, by the young people within our study; and to demonstrate how critiques of (neo‐)liberalism in political thought, when combined with a cultural sociology of youth, might alter our subcultural reading of young people's conceptions of citizenship under the dynamics of radical social change. Our ultimate goal is to develop a more nuanced sociological examination of the ways in which young people deploy and utilize the language of citizenship as part of their own cultural struggles, exacerbated in times of state retrenchment, to classify themselves and others as one method of achieving visibility and legitimacy in urban concentrations of poverty.     

Promoting ‘relational equity’ and high mathematics achievement through an innovative mixed‐ability approach

Equity is a concept that is often measured in terms of test scores, with educators looking for equal test scores among students of different cultural groups, social classes or sexes. In this article the term ‘relational equity’ is proposed to describe equitable relations in classrooms; relations that include students treating each other with respect and responsibility. This concept will be illustrated through the results of a four‐year study of different mathematics teaching approaches, conducted in three Californian high schools. In one of the schools—a diverse, urban high school—students achieved at higher levels, learned good behaviour, and learned to respect students from different cultural groups, social classes, ability levels and sexes. In addition, differences in attainment between different cultural groups were eliminated in some cases and reduced in all others. Importantly, the goals of high achievement and equity were achieved in tandem through a mixed‐ability mathematics approach that is not used or well known in the UK.     

Collaborative action research to develop the use of solution‐focused approaches

This collaborative action research project involves two educational psychologists (EPs) working with teachers from four primary schools to develop the use of solution‐focused approaches. The project illustrates a way in which EPs might make a distinctive contribution to improving outcomes for children and young people. Realist interviews were used to identify mechanisms responsible for encouraging change in practice and many of these can be linked to action research or solution‐focused approaches. The project will be funded for two years and this report is based on the first year. Progress has been encouraging and findings suggest that solution‐focused action research is a successful model for introducing a new initiative.     

Learning to learn in informal science settings

Visits to museums and science centres are a part of most school science programs- but are they really learning experiences? By accompanying classes on visits and talking with the teachers and students during and after these visits, information has been gathered on the ways in which school groups currently use visits to two informal science learning settings in Sydney- a science education centre and a large museum. Comparison of the teacher and student behaviours on these visits with current views on good teaching/learning practice, reveals considerable anomalies. At the same time, reported studies of museum visitors suggest that family groups use museums for learning in ways which are quite different from the way most school groups do. Can these apparent mismatches be translated into a pathway for developing new approaches to learning in informal settings?     

Differential effects of omitting comparison stimuli on symbolic and identity matching to sample: Evidence for altered instructional processes in pigeon short-term memory

Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of omitting the comparison stimuli in a matching-to-sample task. In Experiment 1, birds were trained initially on both symbolic and identity matching to sample. Comparison stimuli were then omitted following the presentation of a particular sample stimulus, and this decreased the number of sample (observing) responses. The reintroduction of the comparison stimuli on subsequent probe trials revealed that the accuracy of symbolic matching was reduced to chance levels, while identity matching accuracy was significantly below chance. In Experiment 2, a similar procedure was employed; however, observing responses to the comparison-omitted samples were maintained by direct reinforcement (fixed ratio 20). Matching accuracy during probe trials was again at chance levels for symbolic matching but, contrary to Experiment 1, was significantly above chance for identity matching. The differential effects of omitting comparison stimuli on symbolic and identity matching trials in these two experiments were interpreted within a framework which assumes that instructional processes are altered by comparison-omission procedures.     

Making the Case for Budget Reductions: Pierce County Library’s FY2013 Budget

This article features a discussion about how Pierce County (Washington) Library’s 2013 budgeting process and budget document explain budget cuts and service changes to users and taxpayers within the context of the library’s continuing effort to improve operational efficiency and maintain valued core, customer, and community services. Pierce County Library is an independent municipal corporation established by state law and is funded from a separate property tax levy as a junior taxing district.