Aspects and the overlap function

It is intuitively clear that putting the cart before the horse is not the same as putting the horse before the cart. It is equally clear that a history of philosophy is different from a philosophy of history. Yet there is no logical relationship, like the AND/OR/NOT functions, which would enable manipulation of these permuted, non-commutative, relationships. In this paper we present a system for automatic handling of ordered sets, states based on these sets, and of differing points of view regarding a Universe of Discourse. We call what we are dealing with aspects and we represent them by means of a new logical function called the Overlap function.     

Girl's Education in Zambia: Everyone's Responsibility -- A Policy Framework for Participatory Process

This paper is based on a panel in which the four authors participated at the 10th World Congress of Comparative Education Societies in Cape Town in July 1998. The overall focus of the panel was on how an initiative to promote girl's education in Zambia -- involving governments, NGOs, donor organizations, teachers and girls themselves -- has influenced policy development to the point where the Zambian Ministry of Educaion now has clear directives on girl's education. The authors analyse some of the important factors that contributed to this outcome.     

Quality Child Care: At Whose Expense?

Quality child care is related to the number of adequately prepared practitioners who are available to children on a long-term basis. Unfortunately, child care practitioners subsidize the true cost of quality child care by working for substandard wages, few benefits, and little recognition of their true worth. The need for adequate compensation for qualified caregivers is the most critical issue facing the profession, because adequate compensation enables trained and educated caregivers to remain in the field, invest in professional development, and it also attracts new students into the field. The true cost of quality should be shared by all members of society, for everyone benefits from investing in the citizens of the future.     

Interactive technology: Can children construct their own technological design briefs?

This paper presents a study of the design questions that children ask as they work technologically in school. Thirty-nine school aged children's technological work on “cubby building” is mapped and discussed. Data sources included video recording, worksamples, photographs with annotations of work in progress and when completed, and ethnographic field notes. The findings support the view that children's design questions and briefs arise at various points throughout the lesson sequence, demonstrating the iterative nature of design, make and appraise within and across lessons. The formulation of design questions evolved as children interacted, negotiated, played and worked in technological ways. For young children, playing with the “product” or “process” was an important part of working technologically. For the older children, the possession of technological skills for joining materials to achieve the desired outcome was a key factor.     

Reliability and concurrent validity of the DUSO affectivity assessment device

Forms M and L of The DUSO Affectivity Assessment Device were administered to 23 first-grade children. Alternate form reliability was significant at the .02 level of confidence. Forty-five first-grade children were administered Form L of The DUSO AAD and one week later the California Test of Personality. Concurrent validity correlations were significant for the total group and for subgroups differentiated by sex.