Digital Citizenship in K-12: It Takes a Village

Digital citizenship encompasses a wide range of behaviors with varying degrees of risk and possible negative consequences. Lack of digital citizenship awareness and education can, and has, led to problematic, even dangerous student conduct. If our educational village does not address these issues, the digital culture establishes its own direction, potentially pushing a productive, long-term solution further out of reach. By tapping into the experience of various practitioners and experts in the field this article provides the reader with a number of suggestions that can help the professional to help their students become better digital citizens.     

The use of fixed role treatment in teaching

Two recently qualified teachers were experiencing difficulty in teaching high school English. They participated in Kelly's (1955) Fixed Role Treatment by first writing professional self-characterisations. These were analysed clinically and then indexed to provide the bases for two alternative scenarios embodying quite different pedagogical constructs. The teachers were encouraged to adopt these roles as fully as possible for five consecutive teaching days. One teacher was reported as more successful and satisfied than the other. Explanations for this include the nature of the classes involved, school assessment, the time of year, and the need for constant consultation with the teacher educator. However, seeking change may be of significance in itself.     

Mission,Message, and Visitors: How Exhibit Philosophy Has Evolved at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Since the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened in 1984, its exhibit teams have been guided by an exhibit philosophy that is mission‐driven, message‐driven, and visitor‐driven. Balancing mission, message, and visitors over the years has meant that the exhibit philosophy has evolved as the aquarium learned about their visitors, changed their mission, and kept the focus on the Monterey Bay. Like many aquaria and zoos, MBA's mission has shifted from raising awareness about nature to advocating and inspiring conservation of nature. This article reviews the history of these changes from a developer's point of view and reports on how the aquarium is continuing to examine how mission, message, and visitors interrelate. The current challenge of inspiring visitors to care about the ocean and to take action on its behalf is proving to be the most difficult challenge yet.     

Christian lay understandings of preimplantation genetic diagnosis

Focus groups were used to analyse Christian lay public understanding of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a relatively new biomedical practice. The paper explores how this often controversial genetic technology was contextualised and interpreted through the intersection of religious values and beliefs, secular and cultural knowledges, and lived experience and emotion. For the lay people in our study, PGD often created moral dilemmas that could not necessarily be resolved through Christian beliefs and teaching, but which required the expression of empathy and compassion. The findings emphasise the heterogeneity in individuals' interpretations of scientific issues and reinforce the need to consider public understanding of science and technology in terms of public concerns and meaning.