ENABLING COMMUNICATION A FOURTH FUNCTION FOR TELEVISION?

The author has worked for six years with two experimental community cable television networks at Swindon and Milton Keynes. He argues that Channel 40, the Milton Keynes network, has become a significant and regularly used communication channel for the local community. It is suggested that such an activity (enabling people to communicate could and should become a fourth function for television, in addition to the three classic functions, to inform, educate and entertain. Such a development is seen as particularly likely in the post‐industrial world we are entering.     

Making secondary education relevant for all: reflections on science education in an expanding sub-sector

Abstract

This think piece focuses on relevance in secondary science education to propose a research agenda for contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, where enrolments are expanding from a low base. The notion of sustainable work is used to consider what kind of science education is relevant for students who will continue to become science specialists and those who will apply their science knowledge in non-specialist paid and unpaid roles. Drawing on insights from the literature on science and indigenous knowledge, on education for sustainable development and sociolinguistic analysis of science classrooms, it is argued that making connections between informal and formal knowledge is essentially the work of secondary education. Understanding secondary education in these terms highlight its vital contribution to addressing sustainable development, which at its heart recognises the interconnectedness of human and natural systems.     

The invisible hand: designing curriculum in the afterward

This paper diffracts a curriculum design workshop via online collaboration of a collective emerging from that event. Through the workshop, involving theory, conceptual art, writing, photography and curriculum planning, and the subsequent sharing of words and images, we move beyond interrogating designs for future subjects to asking how the pedagogical imagination composes both the material and immaterial, the corporeal and incorporeal, within ecologies continually transforming in the process of making. We complicate ‘delivery’ or ‘conduit’ metaphors of education and perceive ‘design’ in co-compositions of human and nonhuman elements, resisting stasis, resisting closure. This workshop paper positions design in the realm of the artist–activist, rather than that of the bureaucrat–technician, and shifts intentionality beyond the invisible and controlling hand of humanism, as curriculum design we might do in the afterwards, rejecting instrumentalism.     

Conjunctive schedules of reinforcement IV: Effects on the pattern of responding of changes in requirement at reinforcement

The effects of different schedule requirements at reinforcement on patterns of responding by pigeons were assessed under conjunctive schedules with comparable response-number requirements, Under one conjunctive schedule (conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule), a response was reinforced after a 6-min interval had elapsedand a specific minimum number of responses had been emitted, Under a second conjunctive schedule, a response was reinforced after the 6-min fixed interval and upon completion of a tandem schedule requirement (conjunctive fixed-interval tandem schedule), This schedule retained the same required minimum number of responses as the first conjunctive schedule, but responses were never reinforced according to a fixed-ratio schedule; the tandem schedule was comprised of a fixed-ratio and a small (.1 to 10.0 sec) fixed-interval schedule, Under the conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule, responding was characterized by an initial pause, an abrupt transition to a high response rate, and a second transition to a lower rate that prevailed or slightly increased up to reinforcement, Under the conjunctive fixed-interval tandem schedule, pauses were extended, response rates were lower, and the initial high rate of responding was generally absent, The above effects depended upon the size of the fixed interval of the tandem schedule, The distinct pattern of responding generated by conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedules depends upon occasional reinforcement of fixed-ratio responding and not merely on the addition of a minimum number of required responses.     

Drawings of Emotionally Characterised Figures by Children from Different Educational Backgrounds

Previous research has shown that children systematically alter the size and colour of their drawings in response to the emotional character of the figures which they draw. However, these findings have been demonstrated only with children receiving mainstream Western education. This experiment was designed to investigate whether children receiving a different kind of education also use scaling and colour differentially for depicting figures of contrasting emotional significance. 76 children, 44 children from mainstream schools (21 boys, 23 girls) and 32 children from Steiner schools (15 boys, 17 girls) were divided into two age groups, with 38 children in the younger age group (mean age 4 years 7 months) and 38 in the older age group (mean age 6 years 8 months). All children completed three drawings of differentially characterized human figures: a neutral, a happy, and a sad figure. Children from the mainstream schools drew larger figures overall, but educational background did not interact with the specific emotional character of the figures in producing these scaling changes. However, there were differences between the two educational groups in relation to the colours used for the negatively characterised figures. The findings are discussed in terms of the need to further understand the role of the educational system in mediating children's depictions of emotional character in their drawings.     

Developing effective beginning teachers through mentor‐based induction

Past research on new teacher induction has focused on changes in retention. Keeping people in the profession is important, but new teachers may need help in learning about curriculum and students in order to be effective instructional leaders. New teachers may also need assistance in learning how to interact with colleagues. We asked new teachers through an on‐line survey what they learned from mentors about curriculum, student diversity and collegiality. In addition, achievement gains of classes taught by new teachers and experienced teachers were compared. The results of the study are discussed in terms of implications for teacher training, organizational change, and data usage by districts.     

Internationalization of the postdoctorate in the United States: analyzing the demand for international postdoc labor

The American academic research enterprise relies heavily on contributions made by foreign nationals. Of particular note is the large number of international postdocs employed at universities in the United States (US). Postdocs are among the fastest growing group of academic staff in the US, and over 50 % of all postdocs in the US are temporary visa holders. While academic mobility is sometimes understood using a ‘push–pull’ model, we argue that demand for educational migrants must be considered. Drawing from Marginson’s (Handbook on globalization and higher education. Edward Elger, Northampton, 2011; Marginson and Rhoades in High Educ 43:281–309, 2002) work, we develop a model for assessing local, national, and institutional (or local) variables that may shape the employment of international postdocs at universities in the United States, and we operationalize the model through a panel regression analysis using data covering the period 1989–2009. We find that the passage of time and federally supported research and development expenditures are strong predictors of postdoc employment. Institutional characteristics predict changes only in the subsample of private universities.     

Interpersonal perception and group brainstorming performance

This research examines the differences and relationships which exist among perceptions of status, satisfaction, ideation, and communication for brainstorming group members who are either high or Jow apprehensive communicators. Results indicate that high and low apprehensives do not differ in their perceptions of individual or group satisfaction, but that low apprehensives perceive more status differentiation in their groups than do high apprehensives. Moreover, correlational data suggest that low apprehensive communicators may have a greater ability to “hitch‐hike” on others' ideas (and perhaps greater perspective‐taking capacities) than do persons high in communication apprehension.