Mixed-Domain Events: The Influence of Moral and Conventional Components on the Development of Social Reasoning

The purpose of the current study was to examine children's reasoning about mixed-domain events containing both conventional and moral Components (i.e., violating a conventional rule and negatively affecting others). The participants were preschoolers, first graders, and third graders (N = 100). Children evaluated (a) the legitimacy of an authority to permit mixed-domain acts to occur, and (b) the acceptability of the mixed-domain events when permitted and prohibited by an authority. In addition, children rated the seriousness of mixed-domain rule violations. Results showed that children with increasing age were able to identify the moral components of the mixed-domain events and combined moral and conventional issues in their reasoning about the events. Preschoolers and first graders were more likely than third graders to view the mixed-domain acts as only conventional.     

Educate to hate: the use of education in the creation of antagonistic national identities in India and Pakistan

In states that are diverse, issues of national identity formation and who belongs and how they belong can, and often do, change over time. This article analyses how education was used as a tool to artificially create antagonistic national identities based on religious and ethnic definitions of who was Indian or Pakistani. It focuses in particular on how in India the BJP led government (1998–2004) and in Pakistan the government under General Zia‐ul‐Haq (1977–1988) rewrote the curricula and changed textbook content in order to create the ‘other’ in order to suit their ideology and the politics of the day. Drawing on the original textbooks, extensive fieldwork interviews in both countries and a study of recent literature the paper argues that fundamentalization in general and the fundamentalization of textbooks in particular are state controlled mechanisms through which to control society. They can also have serious international consequences, as two antagonistic national identities oppose each other's definition of history and self.     

Olympic Engagement and the Use of Olympic Solidarity Programmes by Gulf Cooperation Council States

This paper seeks to address the extent to which Olympic Solidarity (OS) funding patterns are consistent with the organisation's explicit mission, namely to serve the interests of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and in particular those in greatest need. In addition, the paper reviews the extent to which Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have been able to avail themselves of such resources. While OS funding has tended at the level of the World Programme, to reflect a tendency to favour NOCs from less affluent economies, this tendency towards progressive funding has been weakening and to some extent reversed, since the mid-2000s. Funding of GCC states has tended to be well below that of other NOCs of comparable dimensions, reflecting the fact that Gulf States have not followed a ‘linear’ path to ‘modernity’ in sport. Such a linear path might be characterised as in an initial concern with growing participation, improving governance (through issues such as women's role in sport) and enhancing performance, but GCC states have instead focused on elements of a what might be characterised as a post-modern approach in the form of hosting of major events and the celebration of spectacle, and thus drawing relatively modestly on OS resources.     

Modeling and validation of autoinducer-mediated bacterial gene expression in microfluidic environments

Biosensors exploiting communication within genetically engineered bacteria are becoming increasingly important for monitoring environmental changes. Currently, there are a variety of mathematical models for understanding and predicting how genetically engineered bacteria respond to molecular stimuli in these environments, but as sensors have miniaturized towards microfluidics and are subjected to complex time-varying inputs, the shortcomings of these models have become apparent. The effects of microfluidic environments such as low oxygen concentration, increased biofilm encapsulation, diffusion limited molecular distribution, and higher population densities strongly affect rate constants for gene expression not accounted for in previous models. We report a mathematical model that accurately predicts the biological response of the autoinducer N-acyl homoserine lactone-mediated green fluorescent protein expression in reporter bacteria in microfluidic environments by accommodating these rate constants. This generalized mass action model considers a chain of biomolecular events from input autoinducer chemical to fluorescent protein expression through a series of six chemical species. We have validated this model against experimental data from our own apparatus as well as prior published experimental results. Results indicate accurate prediction of dynamics (e.g., 14% peak time error from a pulse input) and with reduced mean-squared error with pulse or step inputs for a range of concentrations (10 μM–30 μM). This model can help advance the design of genetically engineered bacteria sensors and molecular communication devices.     

Using Sociodrama to Help Young Children Problem Solve

Sociodrama is an arts-based, action-oriented tool of individual and collective social exploration and creative problem solving that allows participants to explore and find potential resolutions to issues of concern and conflict in their lives. This article describes how Early Years educators can begin to implement basic sociodrama into their existing programs in order to help children represent, explore, and reflect upon issues and problems of social importance.     

Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in schools: learning from teachers’ reflections

In recent years, in the UK, there has been a significant focus on research in Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship Education (ESD/GCE) in initial teacher education and on projects and initiatives used with pupils in schools. However, there has been less specific focus on the ‘voices’ of teachers who have undertaken such projects: the documentation of their perceptions of effective pedagogy for the development of their pupils’ learning and, importantly, the development of their own concepts and values in relation to sustainability education as a result of implementing ESD/GCE-related topics. This paper aims to provide data from this relatively under-reported area. It examines what the teachers learned about effective pedagogy from undertaking a systematic study of their own practice in ESD/GCE-based topics, and it highlights the development of their own understanding of, and values about the place of ESD/GCE in the curriculum. The paper presents an analysis of the reflective journals kept by 10 teachers during the planning and implementation of ESD/GCE projects within their own classrooms. Findings emerging from the study were that critical reflection on their work gave the teachers the confidence to adopt the more learner-centred pedagogy of ESD/GCE, and that teachers, too, were able to benefit from the participation in ESD/GCE activities.     

Towards a general modeling framework of resource competition in cognitive development

The current paper presents an integrated formal model of typical and atypical development based on the mechanisms of mutualism and resource competition. The mutualistic network model is extended with the dynamics of competition for limited resources, such as time and environmental factors. The proposed model generates patterns that resemble established phenomena in cognitive development: the positive manifold, developmental phases, developmental delays and lack of early indicators in atypical development, developmental regression, and “quasi-autism” caused by extreme environmental deprivation. The presented modeling framework fits a general movement towards formal theory construction in psychology. The model is easy to replicate and develop further, and we offer several avenues for future work.     

Promoting access to decent work: career counselors’ experiences with career construction counseling

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article is based on career counselors’ experiences with how career construction counseling (CCC) can benefit clients, and...