Best Practice in Disability Provision in Higher Education Libraries in England Specializing in Art,Media, and Design

Academic library provision for students with disabilities has become an important issue in the UK as a result of legislation enacted in recent decades. Successive studies have investigated current practice in relation to legislation such as the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA), but none has specifically surveyed disability provision in higher education libraries supporting Art, Media, and Design (AMD) students, a group generally thought to include higher prevalence of disabilities, particularly dyslexia. The current study reviewed related literature to gain understanding of the area and inform the design of research instruments. Structured observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify best practices and key challenges in disability support at a purposive sample of eight libraries in England serving AMD students. All the institutions had specialist disability provision and many demonstrated innovative best practice. Participants confirmed high levels of disability among the target population, but did not make specific provision for AMD students, though measures linked with dyslexia support were prominent. The results mostly supported findings from the literature and were used to develop recommendations of best practice that should be of value to schools and further education colleges, in addition to higher education institutions. Supplemental materials are available for this article.     

The specific relationship between disgust and interest: Relevance during biology class dissections and gender differences

This investigation examined trajectories of interest and disgust related to a biology dissection class. Three hundred and two secondary students completed ratings of disgust sensitivity and individual interest in the topic of the heart approximately one week before a dissection class. States of disgust and interest were recorded before, during, and after the dissection, and again four weeks later. Overall, girls expressed higher disgust sensitivity than boys, but showed similar levels of individual interest in the heart topic. Individual interest was negatively related to feelings of disgust prior to and during the dissection while feelings of disgust at the beginning of the class negatively predicted students’ interest during the dissection. These findings extend knowledge of the interactive influences of students’ affective experiences during a specific curriculum task and provide a complementary perspective to research findings on emotions relating to achievement outcomes.     

Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles and associations with toddlers’ externalizing,internalizing, and adaptive behaviors

The two primary objectives of the present study were to (a) investigate mothers’ and fathers’ reports of their own as well as their partner's parenting styles, and (b) assess how mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles uniquely and jointly predicted toddlers’ externalizing, internalizing, and adaptive behaviors. Fifty-nine mothers and fathers independently completed the Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire (PDSQ; Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen, & Hart, 2001) and the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children-2 (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). Parents’ self-reports of their parenting styles were positively correlated with each other for all three parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive). Comparisons between parents’ reports of their partner's styles with that of the partner's self-reports were positively and moderately correlated for all three parenting styles. Findings revealed mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported parenting styles explained 44% of the variance in youngsters’ externalizing behaviors. In particular, permissive parenting by mothers and authoritarian parenting by fathers uniquely and significantly predicted toddlers’ externalizing behaviors, while authoritative paternal parenting was predictive of adaptive behaviors.     

Recognition as support for reasoning about horizontal motion: a further resource for school science?

Background: Even infants can recognize whether patterns of motion are or are not natural, yet an acknowledged challenge for science education is to promote adequate reasoning about such patterns. Since research indicates linkage between the conceptual bases of recognition and reasoning, it seems possible that recognition can be engaged to support reasoning.

Purpose: Noting the theoretical and practical significance of showing that recognition can support reasoning, the reported research aimed to examine the possibility in relation to horizontal motion.

Sample: The research was conducted with 167 children (mean age = 9.51 years) from Years 4, 5 and 6 of an English-medium school located in Lisbon, Portugal.

Design and methods: Individual pre-tests were administered to all participants to assess initial reasoning about the direction and speed with which rolling balls travel after collision. Reasoning was assessed in the sense of both predicting and explaining. Thereafter, about two-thirds of the sample worked with software that, via simulations of the incorrect patterns that were typically predicted (and comparison with simulations of correct patterns), engaged recognition as feedback on reasoning. The remaining children became an untutored control group. Replicating characteristic computer use in classrooms, half of the software sample worked as singletons with adult guidance available on request and half worked in pairs without the option of guidance. A few weeks later, all participants were post-tested following pre-test procedures.

Results: Pre- to post-test change amongst the children who worked with the software exceeded pre- to post-test change within the control group, and this was observed with both predictions and explanations. The differences were strongest amongst the children who worked as singletons, even though they seldom requested adult support.

Conclusions: Although issues remain to be addressed before the approach can be optimized, its viability as support for reasoning has been demonstrated, and this may have relevance beyond horizontal motion.     

The effect of instruction on the acquisition of conservation of volume

Performances of fourth and sixth grade children who had been in a program based on Science—A Process Approach were compared with performances of control groups on two conservation-of-volume tasks. The fourth grade children who had had Science—A Process Approach performed at a higher level than the control group on one of the tasks. There were no other significant differences between groups. The volume tasks were analyzed and learning hierarchies devised. A test based on the hierarchies was constructed and administered to all (189) children. An instructional program based on the hierarchies was carried out with approximately half of the children in each school at each grade level. All children were then post-tested on the volume tasks and the tasks of the learning hierarchies. All groups who had deceived instruction had higher mean scores on the Learning Hierarchies Test but no group made a significant improvement on the volume tasks. Performance of the volume tasks was found to be related to age and score on the Learning Hierarchies Test.     

浅谈微型化学实验

本文简要介绍了微型化学实验的概念,微型化学实验在我国的研究进展以及它的实际意义.     

Parental Participation and Partnership in Pre-school Provision Participation et partenariat parental dans les prestations pre´scolaires Participación y Asociación de Los Padres en la Provisión de la Enseñanza Preescolar

Parental participation in pre-school provision does not reflect a close partnership between parents and pre-school service providers in the statutory sector. A multi-method approach involving survey, interviews and observations revealed that opportunities across pre-school provision for parental participation vary considerably between different types of provision. While parental needs for participation were largely satisfied by the levels and types of participation offered in the playgroup sector, parental willingness to participate in local authority (LA) and private nurseries is not matched by the opportunities available, particularly with respect to active help in daily activities. This desire for increased levels of parental participation stems from three sources: (i) to monitor and obtain feedback on their own child's progress; (ii) to enable them to experience how pre-school provision is delivered; and (iii) to satisfy their own needs for social contact and making friends. Results suggest that parents' actual and desired participation falls short of genuine partnership and raise questions about parental training and the precise roles and responsibilities which parents should have. La participation des parents aux prestations préscolaires ne fait pas apparaître un partenariat étroit entre les parents et les services préscolaires dans le secteur officiel. Une approche multi-méthodes comprenant une enquête, des entretiens et des observations a révélé que les opportunités de participation parentale aux prestations préscolaires variaient considérablement selon les différents types de prestations. Alors que les besoins parentaux de participation soient largement satisfaits par les niveaux et les types de participation offerts par le secteur des garderies communautaires, la disponibilité des parents à apporter une participation aux écoles maternelles d'État et privées n'est pas satisfaite par les occasions disponibles, notamment en matière d'aide active aux activités quotidiennes. Le désir des parents d'augmenter leur participation se base sur trois raisons: (i) suivre les progrès de leur enfant, et obtenir des informations sur ces progrès; (ii) savoir comment les prestations préscolaires sont assurées; et (iii) satisfaire leurs propres besoins de contacts sociaux et se faire des amis. Les conclusions indiquent que la participation apportée et souhaitée par les parents ne correspond pas à un véritable partenariat et soulèvent des questions sur la formation des parents et les rôles et responsabilités précis àdonner aux parents. La participación de los padres en la provisión de la enseñanza preescolar no refleja una asociación estrecha entre los padres y los proveedores del servicio de enseñanza preescolar en el sector estatal. Un enfoque multimétodo utilizando sondeos, entrevistas y observaciones puso de manifiesto que las oportunidades a través de toda la provisión de la enseñanza preescolar para la participación de los padres varía bastante entre los diferentes tipos de provisión. Mientras que las necesidades de los padres de participación fueron en gran parte satisfechas pos los niveles y los tipos de participación ofrecidos en el sector de los "playgroup" (grupos de actividades lúdico-educativas para niños de edad preescolar), la buena disposición de los padres a participar en las guarderías municipales y en las privadas no se corresponde con las oportunidades disponibles, especialmente en lo que concierne a la ayuda activa en las actividades diarias. Este movimiento hacia mayores niveles de participación de los padres tiene de tres razones: (i) el deseo de seguir el desarrollo y de obtener "feedback" sobre el progreso de los hijos; (ii) el deseo de permitirles experimentar cómo se imparte la provisión de los servicios de la enseñanza preescolar, y (iii) el deseo de satisfacer sus propias necesidades para establecer contactos sociales y hacer amistades. Los resultados indican que la participación deseada y real de los padres está muy por debajo de una asociación genuina y plantean cuestiones sobre la capacitación de los padres y sobre las responsabilidades y funciones específicas que deberían tener los padres.     

Building learning communities with distance learning intruction

The results presented in this study represent only one of four assigned discussion board activities from only one course. However, these results are not atypical of the amount or nature of student engagement in successive discussion board assignments to these same 23 graduate students. By the final of the four on-line discussions, student engagement did decrease slightly, but still remained well above the assigned requirements. Also, similar patterns of high frequency of student involvement were found in other courses using the same type of on-line discussion board assignments. An additional anecdotal observation was completed by the course instructor; after the first on-line activity had been completed and the students re-convened on campus for class, class members appeared more comfortable and more engaged during in class discussions. In summary, the results of this study indicate that specific types of on-line instruction are capable of developing learning communities among on-line learners and creating a satisfying learning experience.