The Complexity of Measuring the Impact of Books

The purpose of this study was to discover whether there are scholarly evaluation metrics that can be applied to a wide range of books’ types and contents. We analyzed over 70,000 books and collected various metrics per each title including traditional and altmetrics measures. The analysis in this paper depicts the top books showing the highest rates of citations, reviews, readership, downloads, twitter and more. Our results show that books display different impact in each of the measurements and vary by types and content. There isn’t one measure that captures the impact of books across the board. We conclude that books should be evaluated by types and contents while using different measures per each.     

Juridification of examination systems: extending state level authority over teacher assessments through regrading of national tests

Since 2009, the Swedish Government uses an ‘audit’ agency – the Swedish Schools Inspectorate – to monitor and assess the accuracy with which teachers grade student responses on national tests. This study explores the introduction and subsequent establishment of the Inspectorate’s regrading programme as an example of political management of the tensions between competition and equity inherent in neoliberal regulatory regimes. The programme is considered a case for examining contemporary policies and discourses on fairness and government actions undertaken to resolve issues of unfair assessment and safeguard students’ rights. Work of Carol Bacchi forms part of the theoretical background for the investigation of problem representations around and within the programme. The article demonstrates how discursive practices in the fields of government, audit and media have worked to frame teachers’ assessments as incorrect, unfair and as jeopardizing the credibility of the grading system, thus justifying increased central control and authority over teacher assessments. As such, the regrading programme contributed to increased mistrust in teacher professionalism. A legal discourse is identified, and we argue the examination system is being juridified where the abundance of control over knowledge risks turning into a deficit of that same knowledge.     

Transfer of control between causal predictive judgments and instrumental responding

Four experiments were conducted to explore outcome-specific transfer from causal predictive judgments to instrumental responding. A video game was designed in which participants had to defend Andalusia from navy and air force attacks. First, they learned the relationship between two instrumental responses (two keys on a standard keyboard) and two different outcomes (destruction of the ships or destruction of the planes). Then they learned to predict which of two different stimuli predicted which outcome. Finally, they had the opportunity of making either of the two instrumental responses in the presence of either stimulus. Transfer was shown as a preference for the response that shared an outcome with the current stimulus. The presentation of the stimulus during the test produced a decrease in the overall rate of response. Responding to a neutral stimulus in Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that this overall decrease in responding was due to a combination of the time needed to process the meaning of the stimulus and the activation of the representation of the outcome in the presence of the stimulus during the test. Transfer between predictive judgments and instrumental responding mirrors the outcome-specific Pavlovian instrumental transfer observed in conditioning studies with rats.     

Appropriating Mathematical Practices: A Case Study of Learning to Use and Explore Functions Through Interaction with a Tutor

This case study uses a sociocultural perspective and the concept of appropriation (Newman, Griffin and Cole, 1989; Rogoff, 1990) to describe how a student learned to work with linear functions. The analysis describes in detail the impact that interaction with a tutor had on a learner, how the learner appropriated goals, actions, perspectives, and meanings that are part of mathematical practices, and how the learner was active in transforming several of the goals that she appropriated. The paper describes how a learner appropriated two aspects of mathematical practices that are crucial for working with functions (Breidenbach, Dubinsky, Nichols and Hawks, 1992; Even, 1990; Moschkovich, Schoenfeld and Arcavi, 1993; Schwarz and Yerushalmy, 1992; Sfard, 1992): a perspective treating lines as objects and the action of connecting a line to its corresponding equation in the form y = mx + b. I use examples from the analysis of two tutoring sessions to illustrate how the tutor introduced three tasks (estimating y-intercepts, evaluating slopes, and exploring parameters) that reflect these two aspects of mathematical practices in this domain and describe how the student appropriated goals, actions, meanings, and perspectives for carrying out these tasks. I describe how appropriation functioned in terms of the focus of attention, the meaning for utterances, and the goals for these three tasks. I also examine how the learner did not merely repeat the goals the tutor introduced but actively transformed some of these goals.     

Language Acquisition Assisted by the Internet

Abstract

The authors focus on exploiting new methods of language acquisition with the help of the possibilities offered by the Internet. As a new option for computer‐assisted language learning, the Internet is considered to be a source for individual learning and problem oriented teaching in many other areas. Expanding knowledge in parallel in informatics and the English language is an asset. In addition to pointing out starting off sites for ESL teachers and introducing some interesting examples, some criteria of constructing language teaching WWW pages of our own are also listed.     

Education of Young Chinese Migrant Children: Challenges and Prospects

Challenged by the national residency registration system in China, migrant children have always faced obstacles in accessing public education. Recent policy changes, however, have brought hope for these children. This article introduces some international concerns regarding migrant children and provides a close view of Chinese perspectives. Issues relating to access to public education and recommendations for policies and practices are also discussed.     

Proposals for improving the transition process of young people with intellectual disabilities in Spain: insights from focus groups of professionals,young people and their families

This research aims to present proposals that can improve the transition to adulthood of young people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Four focus groups were set up in three different cities in Spain, each comprising education and social work professionals, people with ID and family members. In total, 32 participants were included in the study. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. Improvements proposed by participants were organised into six themes: coordination between services and professionals; curricular approaches; participation by young people with ID; peer-relationship networks; family and administration. Participants highlighted the need to make the curriculum more flexible and foster curricular experiences related to social and workplace inclusion, as well as establish more continuity in guidance processes throughout the different stages of education and especially at the end of secondary education. Participants also suggested the need for young people with ID to have a more prominent role in their educational process, and strengthening their social networks by promoting their participation in community activities.     

Curation,conservation, and the artist in Silent Explosion: Ivor Davies and Destruction in Art

This paper examines the preservation and curatorial approaches explored for the exhibition Silent Explosion: Ivor Davies and Destruction in Art at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales (November 2015–March 2016). The collaboration between the artist, curator/researcher, and conservators is considered and the evolving and flexible way in which transient pieces were presented/re-presented is described. The paper offers a case study in the context of this exhibition and argues that regardless of whether it is in traditional media (such as painting) or as time-based media (unstable and open to interpretation), Davies' work challenges a perception of artworks as finished, single-authored objects.     

Empowering Young Children for Success in School and in Life

This article describes the power of goal-setting in order to help children become self-motivated and responsible for their actions. It also provides a road-map for a successful process by describing the following strategies: changing negative thoughts into positives, creating affirmations, designing action plans and utilizing visualization. This process enables both educators and parents to enhance children’s social/emotional development which is essential for their success in school and later on in life.