The old library of the Pennsylvania Hospital

The first medical book acquired by the Pennsylvania Hospital was William Lewis's Experimental History of the Materia Medica. Dr. John Fothergill of London donated it in 1762. The next year the Managers resolved to establish a library, and the physicians assigned their fees from hospital students for the purchase of books. Books were regularly ordered from William Strahan in London, and gifts and bequests added still more volumes. From 1790 to 1810 Dr. John Coakley Lettsom of London was the hospital's principal adviser on purchases. As the library grew, it expanded beyond purely medical works to include some in natural history, many purchased in 1817 from the estate of Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton. Catalogues were printed in the years 1790-94, 1806, 1829, and 1857. At midcentury the hospital library numbered about 9,000 volumes. At that time it was the largest medical library in the United States.     

The evolution of television: 1927–1943

The fact that not everyone may like a given television program isn't news; but the fact that the demographic characteristic of race is associated with selective liking and disliking of network television programs that were designed to appeal to a “mass” audience may be surprising. The following article aroused a great deal of heated discussion when an early version was presented at the 1965 meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism, and should do so again after publication in these pages. James W. Carey is Research Assistant Professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Illinois.     

Impacts of contextual and explicit instruction on preservice elementary teachers' understandings of the nature of science

This mixed‐methods investigation compared the relative impacts of instructional approach and context of nature of science instruction on preservice elementary teachers' understandings. The sample consisted of 75 preservice teachers enrolled in four sections of an elementary science methods course. Independent variables included instructional approach to teaching nature of science (implicit vs. explicit) and the context of nature of science instruction (as a stand‐alone topic vs. situated within instruction about global climate change and global warming). These treatments were randomly applied to the four class sections along a 2 × 2 matrix, permitting the comparison of outcomes for each independent variable separately and in combination to those of a control group. Data collection spanned the semester‐long course and included written responses to pre‐ and post‐treatment administrations of the VNOS‐B, semi‐structured interviews, and a variety of classroom artifacts. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data with the goal of constructing profiles of participants' understandings of the nature of science and of global climate change /global warming (GCC/GW). These profiles were compared across treatments using non‐parametric statistics to assess the relative effectiveness of the four instructional approaches. Results indicated that preservice teachers who experienced explicit instruction about the nature of science made statistically significant gains in their views of nature of science regardless of whether the nature of science instruction was situated within the context of GCC/GW or as a stand‐alone topic. Further, the participants who experienced explicit nature of science instruction as a stand‐alone topic were able to apply their understandings of nature of science appropriately to novel situations and issues. We address the implications of these results for teaching the nature of science in teacher preparation courses. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 414–436, 2011     

How do teachers in Ireland and England conceptualise dyslexia?

This paper presents the findings of a comparative study using data from questionnaire surveys carried out in England (n=57) and Ireland (n=72). The researchers examine how teachers and teaching assistants who are currently teaching pupils with dyslexia in primary schools describe dyslexia and what may have influenced their conceptualisation. The paper examines teachers' responses both in terms of how they view their pupils presenting difficulties in the classroom, and how far they link these to underlying differences in cognitive processing. The researchers suggest ways in which this might influence their teaching in terms of methodology. Findings have been mapped to the Morton and Frith causal modelling framework. The implications of these findings for the training and support of teachers are discussed in the light of recent national initiatives to improve the teaching of dyslexic pupils in both countries.     

Mired in the shadows: quiet students in secondary schools

Quiet students are a feature of the organisation of secondary schools. Using qualitative methods and Deleuzean conceptualisations of modern subjectivity, this paper explores the ways that quiet students negotiate the terrain of their school. These negotiations often seem to produce a self that is trapped rather than a subject who seizes opportunities to be inventive, creative and experimental of their self. Understanding the faciality of quiet students provides opportunities to advance debate on how schools could encourage freer selves.     

Perspectives on using video recordings in conversation analytical studies on learning in interaction

Video is currently used in many studies to document the interaction in conversation analytical (CA) studies on learning. The discussion on the method used in these studies has primarily focused on the analysis or the data construction, whereas the relation between data construction and analysis is rarely brought to attention. The aim of this article is to discuss different approaches to data construction that CA studies in and on learning utilize, and how these approaches facilitate different analysis and understandings of learning and cognition from emic, participants', points of view. Three, partly overlapping, thematic approaches can be discerned: (1) setting-centred, (2) participant-centred and (3) content-centred. The underlying interest of the study seems to influence the data construction, which in turn affects what kind of analysis that can be done. There is a considerable variation in which aspects data sets focus on, where an emphasis in data construction on setting, participant or content also seems to project the subsequent analytic emphasis. This relation between data construction and analysis is important to be aware of and to address.     

Training on the project: a quantifying approach to competence development

In the project ‘Competence-Driven Project Portfolio Analysis’ (CDPPA), an integrated system for supporting R&D project selection, staff assignment and activity scheduling with special consideration of the strategic development of competencies has been designed and implemented prototypically. The system has been field-tested at the Electronic Commerce Competence Center (EC3), a public–private partnership R&D enterprise. Experiences from this trial application are summarised and discussed, particularly concerning data collection and competence measurement, the benefits and limits of the chosen multi-criteria decision analysis approach, the evaluation of introduced changes to the decision-making processes, and the transparency of the formal planning model and its components.     

Student experience of a scenario-centred curriculum

In 2006 UCL implemented new scenario-centred degree programmes in Civil and Environmental Engineering. The new curriculum can be characterised as a hybrid of problem-based, project-based and traditional approaches to learning. Four times a year students work in teams for one week on a scenario which aims to integrate learning from lecture and laboratory classes and to develop generic skills including team working and communication. Student experience of the first two years the old and new curricula were evaluated using a modified Course Experience Questionnaire. The results showed that students on the new programme were motivated by the scenarios and perceived better generic skills development, but had a lower perception of teaching quality and the development of design skills. The results of the survey support the implementation new curriculum but highlight the importance of strong integration between conventional teaching and scenarios, and the challenges of adapting teaching styles to suit.