Partnering to Analyze Selection of Resources by Medical Students for Case-Based Small Group Learning: A Collaboration between Librarians and Medical Educators

Librarians and medical educators analyzed the quality of information resources used by first- and second-year medical students in their case-based small group learning summaries. Librarians provided instruction on using library resources and gave formal feedback to students about appropriate resources for basic science and clinical questions. The team found that students used a high number of clinical and basic science journal articles and textbooks with a number of factors influencing their resource choices. The study demonstrates numerous areas where librarians can play a key role in assisting students to find and assess information to answer clinical questions.     

Chronic Illness and Preterm Infants: Family Stress and Support Issues

As the survival rate for children with complex medical conditions has increased, the body of knowledge regarding childhood chronic illness has grown. While the initial focus of this literature was the effect of the illness on the child, recent studies have focused on chronic illness and broader family issues. The transactional and family systems perspectives suggest the need for longitudinal studies of chronically ill infants from the point of diagnosis. Although a few studies of relatively healthy preterm infants have documented family stress levels, there is a paucity of research on the effects of parenting a very low birthweight infant with complex medical needs. The Chronically Ill Infant Intervention (CIII) Project and its broad based interdisciplinary intervention is used to illustrate the changing needs of this population. Preliminary analyses of specific intervention needs during the infants' first 18 months are discussed in relation to the reduction of family stress.     

Lesbian parents’ perceptions of children’s picture books featuring same-sex parented families

Children’s picture books featuring same-sex parented families have been suggested as a powerful resource in leading change in the struggle against heteronormativity in early childhood education. At present, little is known about lesbian parents’ perceptions of how picture books in their homes and in early childhood settings can influence children’s understandings about families. This study captured the voices of eleven lesbian parents as part of a larger project on their experiences with early childhood settings in Australia. Analysis of the interviews identified four key themes: silence, timing, struggle and limits. This discussion shows that whilst these books have some value in honouring diversity, more care is needed in considering their limitations. Queer Theory informed this study and offers important insights for educators to consider when making pedagogical decisions in resisting heteronormativity.     

Refutational text and multiple external representations as a method to remediate the misinterpretation of box plots

The ability to interpret graphs is highly important in modern society, but has proven to be a challenge for many people. In this paper, two teaching methods were used to remediate one specific misinterpretation: the area misinterpretation of box plots. First, we used refutational text to explicitly state and invalidate the area misinterpretation of box plots. Second, we used multiple external representations (MERs): Histograms were used as an overlay on box plots in order to give students a better insight in the way box plots represent data distributions. Third, we combined refutational text and MERs. We found that refutational text was successful in improving students’ interpretation of box plots, but that the use of MERs did not improve students’ interpretation of box plots. The addition of MERs also did not increase the effect of refutational text.     

Raising Basic Education Levels in Rural Bangladesh: The Impact of a Non-formal Education Programme

Based on the concept of "basic education" from the Declaration of the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA, Jomtien 1990), this paper explores the impact of the non-formal education programme (NFPE) of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in the achievement of basic education for rural Bangladeshi children. Using an instrument developed previously in Bangladesh, three groups with different educational experiences were assessed: (1) children who attended BRAC's NFPE; (2) those attending formal school; (3) children who had never attended school. A total of 720 randomly selected children, who live in five rural areas of Bangladesh were assessed in this study. Of the four components of basic education, BRAC children did significantly better in life skills and writing than their peers in formal schools. Equal performance was observed in reading and numeracy. Although the children who had never attended school in general did poorly, some had developed life skills knowledge and more than half had acquired numeracy skills. This study concludes that BRAC's education programme has a positive impact on basic education in rural Bangladesh.     

Evaluation of an Embedded Program Through the Embedded Ecosystem Framework and Toolkit

This article provides a theoretical model for understanding embedded librarianship by introducing an Embedded Ecosystem Framework (EEF) and toolkit to evaluate the health of an embedded program in an academic setting. The toolkit measures the tangible services and the intangible relationships with users in embedded programs under the framework's four facets: Actions, Awareness, Perceptions, and Impact. The Actions facet is measured by traditional library reference metrics, while Awareness, Perception, and Impact measures such as program awareness, self-reported academic gains, or service satisfaction are measured by a survey as well as individual and class evaluations. Analysis of data trends can indicate gaps in services provided or utilization of services by specific user groups to encourage more active engagement with their communities. The toolkit is customizable to fit other embedded librarian programs.