Perinatal Risk Factors for Mild Motor Disability

The aetiology of mild motor disability (MMD) is a complex issue and as yet is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of perinatal risk factors in a cohort of 10‐year‐old boys and girls with (n = 362) and without (n = 1193) MMD. Among the males with MMD there was a higher prevalence of postpartum haemorrhage, caesarean section, low birth weight and stressful first year of life. Among the females with MMD, there was a higher prevalence of essential hypertension, anaemia and threatened pre‐term. Multivariable logistic regression revealed gender (male), anaemia, threatened pre‐term birth (if female) and hypertension (if female) weakly explained MMD at 10 years. These results underscore the importance of considering gender differences in order to better understand the multiple influences on motor development.     

Developmentally Effective Experiences for Promoting Self-Authorship

ABSTRACT—Many national studies have identified types of experiences that are associated with enhancing college students' learning. This study contributes to the small but growing body of research on transformative educational experiences that assist and enable college students to develop ways of understanding and being in the world that help them adapt and respond to life's complexities and prepare for future civic, occupational, and family roles. The focus of this exploratory study is on those experiences that had a positive impact on college students' development toward self-authorship ( Baxter Magolda, 2001 ; Kegan, 1994 ). Using interview data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, we analyzed 300 selected experiences from 174 students. We found that students' approaches to interpreting and understanding their experiences was the major student characteristic that affected their learning (the effect of the experience). We then mapped these findings onto a sequenced developmental curriculum designed to promote self-authorship.     

Vulnerable children,communities and schools: lessons from three HIV/AIDS affected areas

The growing number of children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS threatens the achievement of Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development goals. Policy recommendations assign schools key roles in meeting the needs of vulnerable children, but there is a dearth of evidence about how vulnerable children and schools interact in AIDS affected communities. Case studies of schools and vulnerable children in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe show that although schools are materially and symbolically well‐positioned to serve as the institutional base to meet the needs of vulnerable children, schools are not accountable for these children and have not reorganised or built capacity to meet their special needs. The Malawi and Zimbabwe cases show that elimination of fees, passive open door policies and exhortations are insufficient measures to bring and keep these children in school. The Kenya case study suggests that investments in long term, well‐resourced local partnerships can be effective.     

The paradigmatic hearts of subjects which their ‘English’ flows through

Much research into the use of corpora and discourse to support higher education students on pre-sessional and in-sessional courses champions subject specificity. Drawing on the work of writers such as Bakhtin [(1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays by MM Bakhtin (M. Holquist, Ed.; C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.). Austin: University of Texas Press] and Voloshinov [(1973). Marxism and the philosophy of language (L. Matejka, & I.R. Titunik, Trans.). New York: Seminar Press. (Original work published 1929)], in this article we extend this research by showing how the specific subject ‘context’ is fundamentally linked with the ‘English’ used within it. We first detail some of the literature related to corpus and genre studies and discuss some of the literature related to the importance of providing a context for language. We then present and discuss data from 21 interviews and five focus groups with subject lecturers to illustrate how the ‘English’ used in the subject areas of ‘Design’, ‘Nursing’, ‘Business’ and ‘Computing’ subjects flows through what we term their ‘paradigmatic hearts’. By ‘paradigmatic heart’ we mean the set of values, beliefs and perceptions that represent the central or innermost engine of the subject, through which its ‘English’ flows. In ‘Design’ the paradigmatic heart is ‘visual’, ‘philosophical’ and ‘persuasive’; for ‘Nursing’ it is ‘emotional’ and ‘empathetic’, yet also ‘technical’; for ‘Business’ subjects it is ‘income generating’, ‘numerical’ and ‘persuasive’; and for ‘Computing’ it may be ‘visual’, ‘numerical’ or ‘code-based’. We demonstrate how ‘English’ flows through the paradigmatic heart of its subject and that to remove the ‘English’ from its subject paradigmatic heart changes its nature. Thus, we argue that if students are not being taught ‘English’ in the context of the subject, the ‘English’ we are teaching them will be different, and that preparation and support needs to be undertaken in the subject itself.