Reflective judgment and enlarged thinking online

This paper deals with forms of communication aiming at a better informed public or publics. The main idea is that democratic societies are dependent on toleration of a plurality of publics, and simultaneously there is a need for communication between the different publics. The ethos underlying this assumption is that democracy requires a transcendence of subjective conditions in order for the public(s) to gain legitimacy and recognition of opinions. Validity of opinions presupposes a public aspect that is available through communication. More specifically, the validity in question is obtained through its claim on universality – i.e. the transcendence of purely private subjective conditions. This kind of validity is found in reflective judgment or enlarged thinking, as displayed in Kant’s third critique. In the last part of the paper it is discussed how new information technologies and the internet may contribute positively to facilitate modes of communication that are associated with the particularity at work in reflective thinking. Storytelling technologies and virtual realities are of particular interest in envisaging how this might work.     

Modification of the Volunteer Functions Inventory for application in youth sports

The purpose of this study was to modify the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to be specifically applicable to assess volunteer motivation in youth sport settings. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the VFI items were first modified to reflect the context of youth sports. Testing of measurement properties was accomplished through two studies. In Study One, the modified VFI was administered to volunteers (N = 515) of a nationwide youth soccer organization. Data were randomly split into two-halves: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal-axis extraction and oblique rotation, and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation. In the EFA, six factors emerged which were consistent with the dimensions of the VFI; however, 12 items were eliminated due to double loading or misspecification, resulting in 18 items being retained. The CFA revealed that the data fit the 6-factor model well. In Study Two, the resolved scale was re-validated through a sample of 262 volunteers of local youth sport leagues. Overall, findings of these two studies suggest that the modified VFI for youth sports is a valid and reliable scale. This scale may be adopted to study various volunteer motivation issues associated with youth sport organizations and events.     

Screening for school readiness: The influence of birthdate and sex

School readiness has been measured in many ways; chronological age, sex, and developmental age all have been used, with varying success, to predict young children's readiness for school. One hundred and fifty-two children were classified by birthdate and sex, and compared on their performances on the Gesell Screening Test, the Gesell School Readiness Test (GSRT), and the Stanford Achievement Test. The Gesell measures were sensitive to the different birthdate groups; however, these differences diminished as the children aged. There were no significant differences between birthdate groups on the Stanford Achievement Test. Females scored higher than males on the GSRT at the end of kindergarten, but no interactions between birthdate and sex were found. Implications of the varying ways to determine school readiness are discussed.     

Peer Assessment of an Individual ‘s Contribution to a Group Project

In an optometry subject which utilised group projects, students complained that awarding the same mark to all group members was often not a fair reflection of individual effort. Accordingly, an examination was made of procedures for assessing the contribution of an individual to a group project. A classification system for such schemes is given. One subject in the optometry course used a system which modified the group mark by a two‐part weighting factor. A detailed evaluation and critique of this scheme is given. A simpler scheme with a one‐part multiplicative weighting factor was derived from the best elements of the initial scheme. The simplified scheme is described and examples of the calculations given. Its use in another subject in the same course is described and evaluation data presented.     

老生常谈

在吹嘘过自己的瞄准本领后，猎手瞄准了头顶上的一只孤雁。“看着，”他对听者命令道。[第一段]     

Teachers developing practice: Reflection as key activity

The article is based on a research and development project conducted in a Norwegian lower secondary school. The purpose of the text is to show how a project involving a researcher and a teacher team encourages the teachers to reflect on teaching processes, and, furthermore, to show what the form and content of such reflection processes could be. Theories on reflection are presented as the framework in which illustrations from practice are analysed. Findings from the project show that when teachers question their own practice, they can transcend their teaching, meaning they can think of and see new things. In connecting theory and practice, the article concludes that teachers are shown in this way how to reflect before action, reflecting on prior experiences by using theory, and how they can reflect in action and on action, connecting theoretical concepts to their teaching practice. In this way theories can serve as a tool in reflection processes.     

Gender and hyper-linear history in the representation of the female Australian primary school teacher in Marion (ABCTV, 1974)

Abstract

Building on the author’s previous work on Australian national cinema and schooling, this article explores the representation of the female primary school teacher in the television mini-series entitled Marion (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1974). Using narrative analysis, it argues that this representation is disruptive of patriarchal gender relations, demonstrating ‘hyper-linear history’ where an exemplary relationship is created between the disrupted gender relations in school leadership in Australia caused by the Second World War and the ongoing disruption of gender relations occasioned by the second-wave women’s movement in the 1970s. This mini-series shows how history, gender and representation are mobilised to create a unique cinematic historical argument about the gendered nature of Australian primary school teaching. Finally, the article reflects briefly on the situatedness of this reading out of the Global South.