'I never thought they would enjoy the fun of science just like ordinary children do'– Exploring science experiences with early years teacher training students and children with severe and profound learning difficulties

Alison Bishop and Phyllis Jones both work in the School of Education at Northumbria University where they teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Phyllis Jones specialises in disability issues and Alison Bishop focuses on early years education. For the project described in this paper, they combined their areas of expertise, devising a small–scale research project to explore the experiences of a group of early years science specialist student teachers as they took part in workshops with a group of early years children with severe and profound learning difficulties. The research explores the changing attitudes and perceptions of the students with regard to the learning and teaching of science with young children. It becomes clear that there is a realization for many students that science can make a significant contribution to the education of children with severe and profound learning difficulties in the early years. The authors also discuss the need for training to equip the students to meet the challenges and rewards of working with children with severe and profound learning difficulties in their future teaching careers.     

An application of pert to R & D scheduling

This paper deals with an application of PERT to R & D scheduling for the National Center for Drug Analysis, U. S. Food and Drug Administration. The Center is a pharmaceutical-chemistry laboratory having specialized functional responsibilities for research and development of analytical chemical procedures. The model was constructed based on the empirical data obtained at the Center for a five-year period. The model has been statistically tested and interpreted. It assists the management of the Center in developing a complete work-planning process and in controlling the project tasks, thus achieving the effective utilization of human and physical resources.     

A Study of the Educational Provision for Head-injured Children

Anne Jones (of the Froebel Institute College, Roehampton Institute of Higher Education) and David Johnson (Head of the Department of Neuropsychology, Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh) consider some of the problems experienced by children with head-injury on their return to school. Although education is an integral part of rehabilitation, the organisation of services and the provision of accurate information, training and communication between different agencies were all found to be inadequate. Given the high incidence of head-injury, urgent attention to these problems is essential.