Information and Communication Technologies in Pre-school Settings: a review of the literature

This article reviews the research evidence that relates to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in pre-school settings. While there is widespread agreement that children should be helped to become confident users of ICTs, the literature presents a more qualified picture of potential benefits and barriers. The review considers the polarised debate about whether computer use is desirable for young children; the position of ICTs as one element in the multimedia mix experienced by children; evidence available about current ICT provision and practice in pre-school settings in the UK and perspectives on the contribution that ICTs make to learning. The need for adults and children to acquire ICT literacy skills is identified, along with a requirement that practitioners should be equipped to make appropriate resource choices. The way in which ICTs can play a compensatory and engaging role or further entrench disadvantage (‘the digital divide’) is discussed. The review concludes that the pedagogical imperative must remain with practitioners.     

Effect of short-term application of kinesio tape on the flexion-relaxation phenomenon,trunk postural control and trunk repositioning in healthy females

This study was designed to investigate the potential effects of kinesio tape on the flexion-relaxation phenomenon, trunk postural control and trunk position sense when applied for a short period (30 min) to the low back of healthy female participants. Twenty-four participants were assigned to one of two groups: kinesio tape applied in either the recommended stretched or non-stretched (control) manner over the low back. Tests were performed at three time points (pre-tape, with tape, post-tape) to assess low-back muscle flexion-relaxation, position sense during active trunk repositioning and trunk postural control during seated balance. Results demonstrated that wearing kinesio tape did not affect the angle at which the erector spinae muscles became silent during trunk flexion (flexion-relaxation). Trunk repositioning error increased when wearing kinesio tape in both the stretched and non-stretched manner, and this increased error persisted after the tape was removed. Seated balance control improved when wearing kinesio tape in both the stretched and non-stretched manner, and these improvements persisted after the tape was removed. In conclusion, these findings do not support the general suggestions that short-term use of kinesio tape on the low-back region alter low-back muscle activation and enhance tasks related to proprioception, at least under these taping conditions in a group of healthy females.     

Side by side: old and new standards in the conservation of modern art. A comparative study on 20 years of modern art conservation practice

Conservation of modern art has in the last 20 years developed from a singular case-by-case approach into a full and independent specialization in conservation with its own strategy, theory, and ethics. The methods applied today are both newly developed and partly a continuation of traditional conservation standards. New is the special focus on the artist and his intent, and on the defining of the various artistic concepts, as these elements and the artist as a stakeholder, play decisive roles in decision-making on optional treatment interventions. Challenging new materials (plastics, light, food, kinetic art, or re-used objects) require ongoing research to formulate specific instructions, and special designed guidelines for conservation, putting a new perspective on collections care. As contemporary art may be produced by the artist, by assistants or industry, and can be made of artists' materials, anything from the hardware store, re-used or reworked objects or intangible elements, the reassessing of definitions on authenticity and originality eventually lead to the reformulation of standard rules on retouching, reversibility and in particular reconstruction. Thus new conservation strategies have been designed for various types of contemporary art, where applicable built from old standards.     

Seeing Life in their Shoes: Fostering Empathy Toward Victims of Interpersonal Violence through Five Active Learning Activities

As educators of future law enforcement and social service personnel, one of the most important objectives of faculty members within the social sciences disciplines is to foster a sense of empathy toward victims of crime among their students. Empathy toward victims of crime, and domestic abuse in particular, is vastly important as evidence suggests that the reactions survivors encounter upon disclosure influences reporting behavior to law enforcement. Moreover, evidence indicates that by fostering empathy toward domestic abuse survivors among students, social science educators can reduce the endorsement of harmful victim-blaming attitudes that these individuals may otherwise carry with them into their public service. However, despite the importance concerning teaching empathy within the classroom, a dearth of information exists—particularly in the criminal justice pedagogical literature. To address this gap, the objective of this study was to assess several active learning activities designed specifically to foster victim empathy in students. To gather feedback about how these activities affected students, we utilized standard Likert scales as well as several free response questions.     

Narrative, linearity and interactivity: making sense of interactive multimedia

A novice to IMM is confronted by a new medium which transforms narrative structures which have evolved over thousands of years. This article focuses on educational interactive media for which the notion of multiple interpretations has different implications, particularly for comprehension and cognition. It reports on experiments with a number of multimedia packages to see how children make sense of interactive media.     

New Opportunities or Closing Doors? How Correctional Facility Tours Impact Students’ Thoughts about Correctional Careers

Children may say they want to grow up to be a police officer, but we typically do not hear children saying they want to work in a prison or jail when they grow up. Given negative media attention of correctional facilities, it may not be surprising that many students enter criminal justice programs uninterested in correctional careers. Correctional facility tours can be useful for exposing criminal justice students to careers they may not have previously considered or ones about which they held negative stereotypes. Drawing on the premises of Experiential Learning Theory and using student essays, we address the following research questions: (1) Does attending a jail or prison tour influence how students think of correctional officers and correctional careers? (2) What perceptions do students have of correctional officers prior to attending a jail or prison tour and what do students think of correctional officers after the tour?     

Parental preferences in the choice for a specialty school

Choosing a specialty school involves huge challenges for families. This research aims to understand the behavioral process that leads families to choose among various specialty school programs. Discrete choice models, based on revealed preferences data from middle school applications in a large school district in Florida, are estimated using both, the top and all-ranked alternatives. This study returns insights into geographic settings, theme specialties and socioeconomic characteristics of applicants, schools and their relationships. Distance from home, the school’s academic quality, the school’s theme specialty, and the high percentage of applicant’s own race are found to be the strongest factors related to the decision to apply.     

Learning to consume—consuming to learn: children at the interface between consumption and education

The market as educator has become firmly lodged at the centre of popular and scholarly debate commenting on the nexus between children, consumption and education/learning. In this paper, I appreciate this scholarly debate from the point of view of the sociology of consumption. The latter has been relatively silent on children’s consumption and education, focusing instead on adult learning. Nevertheless, I here draw on that sociology to forward an argument that favours consideration of a broader range of social relationships and cultural and contextual influences. I outline two models on the network of relationships that inform children’s consumption, and illustrate, through a discussion of Chin’s Purchasing Power, how children’s consumption‐related learning may originate from outside the market. The paper finishes with a plea for more research that focuses on children and the domestic contexts of consumption.     

HOPE VI Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Schools: Understanding How Revitalized Neighborhoods Influence School Environments

As detailed in the articles throughout this issue, the U.S. education system experienced a number of structural developments throughout the 20th century. These changes served to shift the landscape of decision-making authority in multiple areas of primary and secondary schooling. This article provides an international perspective on the changes undergone by the American system, painting a broad picture of where the trends in the United States’ educational system fit within changes worldwide. To best understand the possible implications of changes in the United States, I describe trends in educational centralization and decentralization in other nations, placing the American changes in a broader context shedding light on where education in the United States could be headed.