Hindu,Muslim and Sikh religious education teachers’ use of personal life knowledge: the relationship between biographies,professional beliefs and practice

The article reports the findings of a qualitative study of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh teachers of religious education and the relationship between their biographies, professional beliefs and use of personal life knowledge in English, secondary school classrooms. This relationship was explored through a study of five beginning teachers and provided evidence of the role that their personal knowledge played in enabling them to support the learning of pupils in white majority and Muslim majority state schools. It also indicated the need for teacher education courses to provide opportunities for teachers to explore the relationship between their personal and professional lives and the potential dilemmas and dangers of sharing their personal knowledge and experiences with pupils. In the context of international concern to identify criteria for selecting beginning teachers, the article highlights the importance of initiatives aimed at increasing the ethnic/religious diversity of the teaching force.     

Constructive,collaborative, contextual,and self‐directed learning in surface anatomy education

Anatomy education often consists of a combination of lectures and laboratory sessions, the latter frequently including surface anatomy. Studying surface anatomy enables students to elaborate on their knowledge of the cadaver's static anatomy by enabling the visualization of structures, especially those of the musculoskeletal system, move and function in a living human being. A recent development in teaching methods for surface anatomy is body painting, which several studies suggest increases both student motivation and knowledge acquisition. This article focuses on a teaching approach and is a translational contribution to existing literature. In line with best evidence medical education, the aim of this article is twofold: to briefly inform teachers about constructivist learning theory and elaborate on the principles of constructive, collaborative, contextual, and self‐directed learning; and to provide teachers with an example of how to implement these learning principles to change the approach to teaching surface anatomy. Student evaluations of this new approach demonstrate that the application of these learning principles leads to higher student satisfaction. However, research suggests that even better results could be achieved by further adjustments in the application of contextual and self‐directed learning principles. Successful implementation and guidance of peer physical examination is crucial for the described approach, but research shows that other options, like using life models, seem to work equally well. Future research on surface anatomy should focus on increasing the students' ability to apply anatomical knowledge and defining the setting in which certain teaching methods and approaches have a positive effect. Anat Sci Educ 6: 114–124. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Primary children's management of themselves and others in collaborative group work: ‘Sometimes it takes patience …’

We focus on children's approaches to managing group work in classrooms where collaborative learning principles are explicit. Small groups of 8–10 year olds worked on collaborative science activities using an interactive whiteboard. Insubsequent interviews, they spoke of learning to ‘be patient’ and ‘wait’, for multiple social and technical reasons. Conclusions are drawn about how children's dialogue during and after lessons constitutes and develops their collective capacities to deal with frustrations and problems arising for themselves and others. Attention to children's thinking and language about managing group work should promote their future success in collaborative learning.     

Effects of a Developmentally Based Intervention With Teachers on Native American and White Early Adolescents’ Schooling Adjustment in Rural Settings

This study reports the effectiveness of a developmentally based, teacher professional development intervention aimed at improving early adolescent school adjustment. Teachers in rural schools in a Northern Plains state took part in professional development activities across a year. Following a randomized control trial design, Native American and White students’ (N = 165) social, behavioral, and academic adjustment was assessed in intervention compared with control schools. Regression analyses, controlling for baseline and demographic variables, indicated that students in intervention schools improved in achievement, and improved or sustained beginning-of-year schooling dispositions, and perceptions of the school social/affective context, in comparison with evident declines for students in control schools. Native American students more so than White students evidenced particular gains in achievement and perceptions of the school social/affective context.     

Trends in Use of Institutional Repositories for Faculty Scholarship in ABA-approved Law Schools

Abstract

Using a population of ABA-approved law schools, this study attempts to quantify their institutional repositories and the types of items collected. I conducted a content analysis of repositories containing faculty scholarship, journal archives, and other collections. I located these collections through searching the Web, checking commercial directories and an AALL directory, and directly searching law school Web sites. Approximately 66% of law schools maintain institutional repositories containing faculty scholarship, journal archives, and/or other documents. This article includes recent research about other academic repositories, reviewing their success factors and general difficulties in implementing institutional repositories.     

Making Reference Service Count: Collecting and Using Reference Service Statistics to Make a Difference

This article describes an online system to collect, store, analyze, and report reference statistics. Information is entered at the point of service in a Web-based interface located on the computer desktop of each librarian. When record keeping and reporting processes were customized, automated, and made accessible to librarians, the data collected proved invaluable in tracking trends in reference service, monitoring library initiatives, and providing reference librarians information for analyzing and assessing their professional activity.     

Cross‐media response to digital manipulation of still and moving images

This investigation provides survey data for a cross‐media comparison between newspaper photo editors and television news directors to assess the ethical response to digital image processing and enhancement technology. The results indicate that television news directors tend toward less strict ethical standards in application of the technology. However, the television people showed more sensitivity to aspects of the technology that relate to long‐standing themes of TV critics.     

1. CBQ REVIEW ESSAY: Reality Television: Scholarly Treatments Since 2000

Edwin Emery, Phillip Ault and Warren Agoe's Introduction to Mass Communications (Dodd, Moad, $7.95)

Denis McQuail, Towards a Sociology of Mass Communications (Macmillan, paperback at ca.$2.50)

Marshall McLuhan, Culture is Our Business (McGraw-Hill, $10.00)

David Manning White, Pop Culture in America (Quadganglo paperbacks, $2.45)

Mass Culture (Free Press, $2.95)

Theodore Peterson, Jay Jensen and William L. River's The Mass Media and Modern Society (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, now edition to cost $8.95)