Indicators for arts and cultural policy: A Global perspective

Taking an international view of cultural indicators, this paper is an account of the state of play of indicator development. It reviews the literature on cultural indicators, raising analytical and global coordination issues, and adapts ‘good practice’ ideas from the literature. It is argued that improving cultural indicators is not simply about improving statistical methods: it is also about understanding better the nature of arts activities, improving the articulation of arts policies and considering the complex interrelationships between statistics and policy and the impacts that measurement can have on ‘stakeholders’ in the arts and cultural sectors.     

Learning From Others: Developing Preservice Teachers’ Workplace Skills

Being a teacher requires the ability to work with difficult behaviors—not just of students and parents but also of colleagues. Preservice teachers need the opportunity to develop and practice collaboration and communication skills in school settings. This essay draws on research from organizational psychology to offer a framework for understanding challenges to workplace collaboration in school settings and strategies for developing these skills in preservice teachers.     

A proactive and responsive bio-psychosocial approach to managing challenging behaviour in mainstream primary classrooms

Research in the area of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and teacher’s struggle to respond to challenging behaviour in mainstream classrooms, has consistently highlighted the need for proventative and responsive approaches within a continuum of support. This study aims to, firstly, investigate what proactive and reactive strategies Irish primary school teachers are currently utilising in mainstream classrooms. Secondly, it aims to ascertain a rating of the perceived effectiveness of these strategies within an overarching bio-psychosocial framework. A total of 274 mainstream teachers were surveyed online, whereby quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analysed. Results suggest that teachers are drawing upon research in the area of bio-physiological, cognitive, behavioural, person-centred, humanistic and eco-social psychology. ‘Building a rapport with the child’ was rated as the Most Effective proactive strategy by 39% of teachers and ‘Acknowledging the child’s feelings’ was rated as the Most Effective responsive strategies by 25% of teachers.     

Influence of the composition of artificial turf on rotational traction and athlete biomechanics

Artificial turf advances have enabled surfaces to behave like natural grass, however, debate remains as to whether artificial turf is as safe as natural grass. To reduce injury risk, sport surfaces should have low rotational traction with artificial surfaces having a potential advantage as components can be manipulated to change surface properties and traction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence that different components of artificial turf have on rotational traction and athlete lower extremity joint loading. Twelve surfaces underwent mechanical testing to determine the influence of fibre density, fibre length, infill composition and compaction on rotational traction. Following mechanical testing, Control, Low and High Traction surfaces were selected for biomechanical analysis, where sixteen athletes performed maximum effort v-cuts while kinematic/kinetic data were recorded on each surface. Mechanically, fibre density, type of infill and compaction of the surface each independently influenced traction. The traction differences were substantial enough to alter the athlete kinematics and kinetics. Low traction surfaces reduced ankle and knee loading, while high traction surfaces increased ankle and knee loading . Reducing the rotational traction of sport surfaces is possible through alterations of individual components, which may reduce the joint loading at the knee and ankle joint.     

Improving and Assessing Information Literacy Skills through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration

Academic libraries provide value to their institutions on many levels, one of which is information literacy (IL) instruction. Librarians have the opportunity to guide students through the research process, teach students how to think critically, evaluate resources, and use resources ethically. It is beneficial for librarians to assess student learning after these sessions to demonstrate how libraries support the academic mission of their institutions. This article will address ways to assess the effectiveness of integrating information literacy into college courses by taking a close look at a partnership developed between a professor and two librarians at a small, private four-year institution.     

Persuasive Speaking: It's Just a Game!

Objective: To enable students to understand the methodology and components involved in effective persuasive message creation and delivery

Courses: Public speaking and persuasion     

Social Class Dialogues and the Fostering of Class Consciousness

How do critical pedagogies promote undergraduate students’ awareness of social class, social class identity, and social class inequalities in education? How do undergraduate students experience class consciousness-raising in the intergroup dialogue classroom? This qualitative study explores undergraduate students’ class consciousness-raising in an intergroup dialogue on social class at a large, private Northeastern university. Analyses of weekly student journals are offered to expand upon our knowledge of undergraduate students’ social class experiences in higher education contexts, as well as illuminate positive impacts that intergroup dialogue pedagogy has on students’ class consciousness-raising in the intergroup dialogue classroom.     

An attempt to demonstrate magnetic compass orientation in two species of mammals

An attempt was made to train two species of small mammals (the bush opossum,Monodelphis domesticus, and the Djungarian hamster,Phodopus sungorus) to search for food in the direction indicated by an earth-strength magnetic field. Five opossums and 4 hamsters were tested in a cross-shaped arena whose four arms faced geographic north, south, east, and west. A set of coils generated a magnetic field whose north pole could be randomly pointed toward any arm. A subject was given a food reward if it entered the arm indicated by the north direction of the field. In 12 series of 73 to 1,127 trials each, the subjects were unable to select the appropriate arm with a frequency greater than random. This result contrasts strongly with a variety of published studies on mammals, birds, and other vertebrates that have indicated good ability to determine direction from the earth’s magnetic field.