The information needs of occupational therapy students: a case study

This article summarises a case study on the information needs of Masters level Occupational Therapy 5 (OT) students at one English university. A mixed methods questionnaire was used to explore motivators for information‐seeking, preferred information resources and barriers inhibiting the satisfaction of information needs. Thirteen recommendations for practice were formulated, focusing on how information professionals can best facilitate OT students’ learning and evidence‐based research skills in preparation for clinical practice. The study was completed by Jane Morgan‐Daniel, who received a Distinction for her work from Aberystwyth University, where she graduated with an MSC in Information and Library Studies in December 2016. She has written this article together with her dissertation supervisor, Hugh Preston. A. M.     

Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry‐based science curricula in the context of urban reform

Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project‐based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high‐stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African‐American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards‐based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922–939, 2008     

Book reviews

Mir, Mustansir. Verbal Idioms of the Qur'ān. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. I). Ann Arbon University of Michigan, 1989. xxi+378 pp., glossary; US$ 21.95 (paperback).

Fiotini, Stanley and Mallia‐Milanes, Victor, eds. Malta. A Case Study in International Cross‐Currents. Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on the History of the Central Mediterranean held at the University of Malta, 13–17 December 1989. Msida: Malta University Publications, 1991. xxii+300pp. 17 plates, 8 text figures. M£5.

Bellamy, James A. ed. Studies in Near Eastern Culture and History in Memory of Ernest T. Abdel‐Massih. (Michigan Series on the Middle East, no. 2). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1990. x+225pp.

Dajani‐Shakeel, Hadia and Messier, Ronald A. eds. The Jihād and its Times, dedicated to Andrew Stefan Ehrenkreutz. Ann Arbor: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, The University of Michigan, 1991. iii+135pp.

Minorités religieuses dans l'Espagne médiévale. (Nos. 63–64 of Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée). Aix‐en‐Provence: Édisud, 1992. FF 160.

Burckhardt, Titus. Fez, City of Islam. Translated by William Stoddart. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1992. 175pp. 58pl.

Jayyusi, Salma Kh., ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill, 1992. (Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erste Abteilung, The Near and Middle East, zwolfter Band), xix+1098 pp. 6 maps; 27 pages of colour and black and white illustrations. Hfl. 450.

Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Zephyrs of Najd: The Poetics of Nostalgia in the Classical Arabic Nasib. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. xii+326pp.

Corbin, Henry. History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Kegan Paul International/Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1993. xvii+445pp. £55.

Burrell, David B., C.S.C. Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993. xi, 225 pp. Cloth $29.95; paper $13.95.

Köprülü, Mehmed Fuad. Islam in Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion. Translated and edited by Gary Leiser. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993. xviii, 141pp.

Stetkevych, Suzanne Pinckney. The Mute Immortals Speak: Pre‐Islamic Poetry and the Poetics of Ritual (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993. xvi, 334pp.; appendix of Arabic texts.

L'Expulsió dels Moriscos. Conseqüències en el món islàmic i el món cristià. Sant Caries de la Ràpita 5–9 de desembre de 1990. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, 1994. 418pp.

Agius, Dionisius A. and Hitchcock, Richard, eds. The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe (Folia Scholastica Mediterranean Reading: Ithaca Press, 1994. 167pp. £30.

Davidson, Olga M. Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Myth and Poetics. Gen. ed. Gregory Nagy). Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994. xi, 197pp.     

Identity and Culture: theorising emergent environmentalism

This article critically examines the methodology and findings of the emergent environmentalism research project as reported in Environmental Education Research (EER), 4(4). We challenge both the ontological stance implicit in the research as well as its explicit epistemology. We argue for a wider theoretical underpinning to the research and specifically advocate the use of identity theories to explain personal and social phenomena. We also argue for the use of theoretical frameworks that empower rather than ‘capture’ cultural groups.     

Randomized interdependent group contingencies: Group reinforcement with a twist

This investigation examined the effects of randomizing components of an interdependent group contingency procedure on the target behavior of 12 students in a second‐grade classroom in a rural southeastern school district. Specifically, using a multiphase time‐series design (i.e., A‐B‐A‐C‐B‐C design) levels of disruptive behavior were compared across baseline, an intervention phase with only randomized reinforcers (the RR+ phase), and an intervention phase with all components randomized (R‐ALL phase). Results suggest that both interventions were successful in decreasing levels of disruptive behavior, with the R‐ALL phase resulting in lower mean, and more stable, percentages of disruptive behavior. The advantages to randomizing components within a group contingency procedure are discussed, because this procedure not only incorporates the strengths of an interdependent group contingency, but also addresses the limitations. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.