TOLERANCE,EMPATHY, OR INCLUSION? INSIGHTS FROM MARTIN BUBER

Given the reality of diversity, particularly religious diversity, in the contemporary world, Marion Larson and Sara Shady explore how educators can help students (and ourselves) consider the following question: How do I balance my own belief commitments with my responsibility to be genuinely open to and challenged by the other's perspective? Larson and Shady describe and evaluate three possible models: (1) tolerance, a neutral openness to the other's position; (2) empathy, a complete absorption of the other's position; and (3) inclusion, genuine dialogue about one's own position and the other's. Using the writings of Martin Buber as a basis, Larson and Shady advocate inclusion and apply this model to classroom teaching, arguing that this model of education promotes a shared reality where all partners in the dialogue come to understand each other's position, even if they do not entirely agree with it.     

The Web and information literacy: scaffolding the use of web sources in a project-based curriculum

In this article we describe and discuss a three‐year case study of a course in web literacy, part of the academic literacy curriculum for first‐year engineering students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Because they are seen as ‘practical’ knowledge, not theoretical, information skills tend to be devalued at university and rendered invisible to the students. In particular, web‐searching skills are problematic, given the challenges that the Web poses to academic values and traditional research practices. Consequently, the technical skills of web searching are often taught separately from academic curricula or left entirely unaddressed. We illustrate an alternative, integrated approach to the development of this aspect of information literacy. We apply a critical action research methodology to document, evaluate and reflect on students’ use of evaluative frameworks. Focusing on the facilitation of critical and evaluative use of the Web for exploratory learning, we interrogate the role of ‘cultural capital’ and evaluate the effectiveness of the scaffolding provided by the course design. We find important connections between developing knowledge of academic discourse and successful academic use of the Web, and note that, for students to transfer their skills to a range of contexts, these skills will require sustained attention throughout the undergraduate curriculum. We present evidence that the most effective strategies integrate everyday practical knowledge of research techniques with teaching about academic discourse and building students’ knowledge in a specific domain.     

Books on Research Methodology

Mary N. Barton and Marion V. Bell's compilation Reference Books: A Brief Guide (Baltimere: Enoch Pratt Free Library, $1.25)

Martha L. Hackman's The Practical Bibliographer (Prentice-Hall, $5.95 cloth, $2.95 paper)

Hubert M. Blalock An Introduction to Social Research (Prentice-Hall, $5.95 cloth, $2.95 paper)     

Classroom Emotional Support predicts differences in preschool children's cortisol and alpha-amylase levels

Accumulating evidence suggests children enrolled in full-time child care often display afternoon elevations of the hormone cortisol, which is an indicator of stress. Recent advances in immunoassays allow for measurement of activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the autonomic sympathetic nervous system from saliva, and measurement of both systems provides a more complete understanding of activity in the stress response system. This study is the first to examine both cortisol and alpha-amylase in children attending child care and focuses on the influences of specific indicators of classroom process quality. A diverse sample of 63 preschool children nested in 14 classrooms of varying quality participated in this study; child salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were collected at six times over 2 days. Results indicate that children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support displayed a greater decline in cortisol from morning to afternoon. Further, children in classrooms with higher Emotional Support exhibited lower total alpha-amylase output while attending child care. Implications for professional development for early childhood teachers and measurement of classroom quality are discussed.     

The Feeling of Thinking in Professional Self‐study

Studying one's own professional work is no straightforward matter and adopting the reflective mode is not simply a cerebral activity. As we study our teaching, we are studying the images we hold of ourselves as teachers. Where these established self‐images are challenged, questioned and perhaps threatened in the learning process we may experience feelings of instability, anxiety, negativity, even depression. This is especially so if the ‘self we come to see in self‐study is not the “self we think we are, or the ‘self we would like to be. Thinking about our work In self‐evaluation can thus be a highly charged emotional experience, one from which we may be tempted to retreat, thus endangering further learning. If, on the other hand, we have the support of caring, sensitive and interested critical friends to help us through these potentially dangerous processes of self‐evaluation, we are more likely to remain open to further learning and professional development. The company we keep and the circumstances under which we enter into self‐study may have a significant effect, for better or worse, on our professional learning. These issues are illustrated by the experience of two award‐seeking teacher action researchers who used video in their classrooms to aid their self‐study. The paper argues for greater attention to be given to the nature of the learning climate in which self‐study, self‐evaluation and developmental self‐appraisal take place. If the learning climate is not ‘right’, self‐study may become self‐defeating.     

Explaining the mathematical creativity of a young boy: an interdisciplinary venture between mathematics education and psychoanalysis

Curriculum documents for mathematics emphasise the importance of promoting depth of knowledge rather than shallow coverage of the curriculum. In this paper, we report on a study that explored the analysis of junior secondary mathematics textbooks to assess their potential to assist in teaching and learning aimed at building and applying deep mathematical knowledge. The method of analysis involved the establishment of a set of specific curriculum goals and associated indicators, based on research into the teaching and learning of a particular field within the mathematics curriculum, namely proportion and proportional reasoning. Topic selection was due to its pervasive nature throughout the school mathematics curriculum at this level. As a result of this study, it was found that the five textbook series examined provided limited support for the development of multiplicative structures required for proportional reasoning, and hence would not serve well the development of deep learning of mathematics. The study demonstrated a method that could be applied to the analysis of junior secondary mathematics in many parts of the world.     

Extended review

This paper is a theoretical effort to support but complicate critiques of disaster capitalism and neoliberal strategies to profit from public education. We put into conversation a discursive analysis following Michel Foucault and a spatial analysis following Henri Lefebvre that focus on monumentalized disasters. We argue that neoliberalism carries out its agenda of privatization through public spaces that are never fully dismantled. We draw on empirical research into spaces that exemplify the usefulness of our reading of neoliberal privatization, including aspects of post-Katrina New Orleans and a more thorough case study of a pre- and post-earthquake Haiti and its highly privatized education system.