“It’s easier to read on the Internet—you just click on what you want to read…”

Today’s youth spend a lot of time on the Internet where they meet a multimodal world. The focus in the present study has been on the skills and abilities needed for on-line reading. This study explores reading on the Internet, with pairs of Swedish students aged 10 and 15. The pairs completed tasks on the Internet and these sessions were video-taped. Five main categories of skills and abilities were found: traditional literacy, multimodal literacy, path-finding, IT abilities, and information abilities. The results support earlier research in the field at large, and also add to the literature on on-line reading, in areas such as the crucial need for the ability to spell and knowing web address conventions in English.     

The ontologization of Romani: An Italian study on the cross-categorization approach

This research aims to study the ontologization process of the Romani minority in Abruzzo region (Italy), characterized by the longstanding presence of a group of sedentary Romani, and to test the cross-categorization approach using a specific dependent measure such as the ontologization of the Italian Romani target. A questionnaire was administered to 475 Italian participants, in which the respondents were asked to attribute 6 human positive, 6 human negative, 6 animal positive and 6 animal negative associates to three targets: Italians (ingroup), Italian Romani (ingroup–outgroup) and Romani (outgroup). Participants showed evidence that they used human/animal associates differently for the ingroup and for the outgroup members. Romani groups were ascribed more animal than human characteristics, while Italians were described as more human than the Romani and Italian Romani group, showing the ontologization process of the Romani minority and the superhumanization of the Italian ingroup. Moreover, the cross-categorized Italian Romani target was the most discriminated against in that it was attributed more animal negative associates than the Romani and Italian ones. Since modern racism could take the form of the denial of the humanness and the attribution of animality to outgroup members, our data emphasize the importance of taking account of the persistence of negative attitudes so deep-rooted as those felt towards the Romani.     

The palette of the Macchia Italian artist Giovanni Fattori in the second half of the xixth century

Giovanni Fattori (Livorno 1825–Firenze 1908) is the most representative artist of the Macchiaioli's current, an early group of Italian plein-air artists, whose work anticipates, in the xixth century, that of their younger contemporaries, the French Impressionists. The study, performed by a multidisciplinary team made up of scientists and conservators, presents the results of the scientific characterization carried out on a group of 10 paintings made by Fattori between 1854 and 1893 and shows the way he used complex mixtures of a large variety of traditional and synthetic pigments, ranging from lead white, found pure and also extended with calcium carbonate, natural barite and gypsum to zinc white, from red ochre to cinnabar and vermilion, from yellow ochre and Naples yellow to chrome yellow, cadmium yellow and zinc yellow, combined with many other ones reported in details. This paper highlights the evolution of his painting technique during a time of great technological and social innovations and puts forward some hypothesis on his awareness about manufactured pigments, i.e. tube paints recently introduced into the artists’ circles. The wide range of pigments and their different quality among the same synthetic products suggest that the artist used all the available materials, and that picking out the pigments he retained the early xixth century artists techniques, such as the use of mineral earths and Prussian blue, similarly to his contemporary Italian artists Federico Zandomeneghi and Telemaco Signorini, but he also experimented new and peculiar pigment mixtures in the making of “colored darks” and an innovative use of the grounds in the final composition, that are also distinctive features of the French Impressionists. This work is aimed at contributing to overcome the lack of a comprehensive overview on the widespread historical and scientific data collected up to now on the Italian paintings in the xixth century, which has been severely underestimated with respect to previous art movements.     

Confirmative Evaluation of Training Outcomes

This article explores the use of an evaluation model of learning and development utilizing formative, summative, and confirmative steps, along with a framework for developing evaluation tools aligned with organizational change goals. A case study is presented in which formative, summative, and confirmative evaluations were used to assess materials and learners following implementation of a new performance management process, tools, and supporting training. A specific model for developing evaluation tools and techniques is introduced as a way to integrate the evaluation process with the specific content of a learning and development intervention, as well as link to higher‐order cultural change goals. Results of the case study suggest that evaluation tools can provide evidence of improvement and target areas for further work. Recommendations are provided for the researcher or practitioner interested in applying the same or similar models to evaluation.     

Implementing vision research in special needs education

This article presents experiences from vision research implemented in education and argues for the need for teachers with visual competence and insight into suitable methods for stimulation and learning. A new type of continuing professional development (CPD) focuses on the role of vision in children's learning and development, the consequences of frequently occurring vision disturbances and related new educational possibilities. Participating teachers undertake a period of practical teaching training in their home community. Two students' cases visualise the need to break out of the narrow definition of visual impairment and become capable of evaluating the visual challenges affecting many pupils and their learning. The two cases presented represent various issues of visual challenges; both reached a better functional level, including better reading, following improved vision after the educational interventions. These results illustrate that vision competence in schools is most useful and ought to be widely accessible.     

The Italian middle school in a deregulation era: modernity through path-dependency and global models

In the current context of intensified moves towards educational deregulation, the configuration of the Italian middle school and its relationship to education governance is an interesting case. Historically, it represents a unique example of the successful ‘decision-making' model of the welfarist era. Despite some internal constraints, at the end of the 1970s it was considered a progressive model of schooling for its time. At present, however, internal institutional processes and path-dependencies have rendered its comprehensiveness relatively formalised and weak. A key finding of this article is that ideas, such as the ‘two people’ theory, have played a crucial role in shaping actors' strategies and goals, while references to world models, in particular the English model, have mediated the reception of global policies. Cultural factors, such as the role played by families, are deeply linked to structural issues and inequalities. An ethnographic account depicts a welfarist institution whose internal processes and links to the wider society may be seen as an example of Italian modernity that ‘speaks for itself’. Fieldwork clarifies the role of the teachers in mediating a path-dependent and cultural reproduction pattern. I argue that partial deregulation is a major source of inequalities at the middle school level, engendered by both new and old mechanisms, which further intensifies a selective path in education. This analysis will show how global deregulation trends meet local and enduring path-dependencies.     

The glue that makes it “hang together”: A framework for identifying how metadiscourse facilitates uncertainty navigation during knowledge building discussions

Classroom discussions have become a centerpiece of reform efforts in science education because talk mediates the joint co-constructing of knowledge in science classrooms. Although decades of research underscore the importance of talk in supporting science learning, the science education community continues to grapple with how to support teachers and students in navigating the uncertainty that is associated with doing knowledge building work. To address these challenges, we must examine not just what gets constructed (the scientific ideas), but how knowledge is co-constructed by teachers and students (the process of building those ideas) amidst uncertainty. In this study, we propose a conceptual tool for identifying organizational, epistemic, and interpretive metadiscourse markers (MDMs) in science talk. We highlight how teachers and students use these three types of MDMs as they navigate uncertainty while connecting ideas within and across multiple turns of talk, leveraging resources for knowledge building, and making interpretations about one another's ideas. We conclude with a set of suggestions for how researchers and teachers can utilize this framework to attend to the ways that MDMs index the organizational, epistemic, and interpretive dimensions of uncertainty in the knowledge building process.     

Uncertainty in information seeking and retrieval: A study in an academic environment

This research focuses specifically on uncertainty and information seeking in a digital environment. In this research we argue that different types of uncertainty are associated with the information seeking process and that, with the proliferation of new and different search tools, sources and channels, uncertainty, positive/desirable or negative/undesirable, continues to be a significant factor in the search process. Users may feel uncertain at any stage of the information search and retrieval process and uncertainty may remain even after completion of the process resulting in what may be called persistent uncertainty. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from users in the higher education sector. There were three parts to the questionnaire focusing on: information seeking activities, information seeking problems, and access to specific information channels or sources. Quantitative analysis was carried out on the data collected through the online questionnaire. A total of 668 responses were returned from the chosen user categories of academic staff, research staff and research students. This research has shown that there are some information seeking activities and information seeking problems that are the most common causes of uncertainty among significant number of users from different disciplines, age, gender, ICT skills, etc. This is also the case with respect to access to and use of specific information sources/channels, although the degrees of uncertainty in relation are relatively small. Possible implications of this study and further research issues are indicated.