Mechanical solution of algebraic equations

The paper describes a machine for determining the real and complex roots of higher-degree algebraic equations. The principle of operation is found in the correspondence between sine wave quantities and complex numbers. The particular machine is designed for equations of the eighth degree, and finds all the roots with engineering accuracy in the space of a few minutes.Though designed primarily with a view to determining the indicial admittance of electric networks, the machine should find utility in other fields of applied mathematics as well.     

Learning and the ‘F’ Word

Abstract

The article looks at the ‘At‐Risk Program’ set up as a collaboration between teachers in elementary and secondary public schools and the staff of Indiana University.     

Where the buck stops: class differences in support for education

There has been little critical scrutiny of the extent to which the members of different social classes support current public educational institutions. This paper explores the attitudes toward education of class groups in relation to the declared agendas of class leaders, using public opinion surveys conducted regularly in Canada's economic heartland of Ontario between 1978 and 1996.

An analysis of class leaders’ public discourse indicates that corporate leaders stress the waste and inefficiencies of the current school system, the need for market‐driven initiatives to overcome these problems, and a general belief that such reforms coupled with cost reductions and lower government deficits can lead to economic growth and job creation. Some labour union and other leaders associate declining school quality with spending cuts, defend equal access to education, and promote measures such as a reduced normal workweek to address the education‐jobs gap rather than continuing deficit reduction and more reliance on private and individual initiative.

Corporate executives are shown to hold much more strongly consensual, fiscally restrictive views on education than other class groups. Other classes hold less consensual but equally coherent and fiscally responsible attitudes on education spending. Professional and managerial class groups, whom some analysts predict to be most disaffected, have only decreased their degree of support for increased education spending and taxes. Support for education funding among working‐class groups has increased since the early 1980s. There is also now at least plurality support for a shorter workweek in all class groups except corporate executives. Corporate business attempts to resettle the social contract with a downsized state education system are so far failing in the realm of public opinion.

It is a question of whether we can grasp the real nature of our society, or whether we persist in social and educational patterns based on a limited ruling class, a middle professional class, a large operative class, cemented by forces that cannot be challenged and will not be changed. The privileges and barriers, of an inherited kind, will in any case go down. It is only a question of whether we replace them by the free play of the market, or by a public education designed to express and create the values of an educated democracy and a common culture (Williams 1961: 155)     

Children of same-sex parents: in and out of the closet

An estimated 14 million children are parented by gay or lesbian couples. Research indicates that children of same-sex parents are as well adjusted as their peers of opposite-sex parents. However, previous research has yet to examine how these youth negotiate their own process of coming out about their families to others. We sought to identify the patterns, issues and themes that recur in the coming out process of these youth. Recommendations for school personnel are described.     

Romantic relationship disengagement and coping rituals

Considering cumulative dating histories, 118 individuals reported the rituals they exercised to dissolve relationships or cope with relationship disengagement. Self‐enhancement rituals were exercised most often during and after their various relationship disengagements. Both leavers and lefts turned to their network to cope with dissolved relationships. Leavers also engaged heavily in avoidance rituals during the termination process whereas lefts were most apt to turn to their networks. Results suggest that individuals' ritual usage is systematic and symbolic and transcends the various relationships, partners, and circumstances surrounding the break‐up.     

What helps children in a pupil referral unit (PRU)? An exploration into the potential protective factors of a PRU as identified by children and staff

Previous studies have focused on the views of excluded children or those finding themselves in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). Few, however, have focused on exploring views from a resilience perspective. Studies linked to resilience have tended to focus on exploring factors through quantitative rather than qualitative measures. This piece of research aimed to explore the potential protective factors of one PRU through the valuable voices of children and staff. The views of six children aged between 9 and 13 years, all with varying forms of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, and partway through a PRU placement, were explored through semi-structured interviews supported by the use of tools and techniques to facilitate discussion. The views of four staff members were also obtained. Findings reveal the powerful perspectives that children and young people can bring in relation to what might be helping them within a particular environment. A number of potential protective factors, both within the environment and within-child factors that may operate as mechanisms in fostering positive social and academic outcomes, are identified. Implications of these findings for professional practice, and for children finding themselves in PRU provision, are discussed, with a focus on reintegration and the potential impact of changing environments for these children.     

Consistency and development of teachers’ epistemological and ontological world views

We examined epistemological and ontological world views using self-report surveys, brief written reflections, and an extended written action research project for a sample of 16 graduate students enrolled in an education class at a large university on the West coast of the USA. We made two predictions. We anticipated that the majority of students would hold consistent world views across the 13-week semester, and that individuals with inconsistent beliefs would move from a realist (i.e. teacher-centred) to contextualist (i.e. student-centred) world view. Results indicated that approximately 55% of the participants expressed consistent beliefs. In addition, participants who did not self-report consistent beliefs typically moved from a realist to a more contextualist world view by the end of the semester. We discuss the role of active reflection as a component of the learning environment that enhances the development of beliefs.     

Increasing peer‐to‐peer social skills through direct instruction of two elementary school girls with autism

This study was conducted to increase peer‐to‐peer social skills using direct instruction of two elementary students diagnosed with autism. Two participants and a peer were trained to initiate, share and respond to each other and to the peer. A multiple‐baseline design across participants was used to determine the effects of the direct instruction strategy. Results indicated increased social initiations in both participants and sharing behaviours in one of the participants, but no increases in responses in both participants. Implications for practitioners and for future researchers are discussed.     

National curriculum and federalism: the Australian experience

Whilst the past 35 years have seen numerous attempts at national curriculum collaboration in Australia, these have invariably failed largely due to the constitutional reality that the States have responsibility for curriculum. Federal government involvement in curriculum can only be achieved, therefore, with the consent of the States. To achieve this, in 2008 the Rudd Federal government passed the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) Act (2008) which legislated the establishment of ACARA, a national education authority which brought together, for the first time ‘the functions of curriculum, assessment and reporting at the national level’ (Julia Gillard, media release, 2008). Among its mandates, ACARA is responsible for the development of national curriculum, one of the key election platforms on which the current Rudd Federal Labor government was elected in November 2007. Whilst the ACARA Act appears on the surface to represent unprecedented intergovernmental collaboration and a transition to co‐operative federalism; cracks in this co‐operative veneer are starting to appear. In this article I draw on critical theory to examine three varied forms of Federal–State relations spanning three different eras, as they relate to issues of national curriculum – those of corporate federalism, coercive federalism and co‐operative federalism. Specifically, I will argue that the ACARA Act is not an instrument of co‐operative federalism but rather a euphemism for a continued reliance on a new, more subtle form of coercive federalism as a means to ‘deliver’ national curriculum in Australia.