Scenario planning in public libraries: a discussion

The authors explore the use of scenario planning in public libraries via a Q&A discussion. They discuss the impact of unexpected events and unwelcome trends on libraries’ future, explain the distinction between scenario work and forecasting, and outline a practical approach to devising and delivering scenario planning activities at a local library level. This discussion, which took place at Oxford University’s Said Business School on 23 August 2018, explores the use of scenario planning in public libraries.     

Organization of Concepts Relevant to Emotions and their Regulation During Test Taking

The purpose of this study was to assess aspects of college students' organization of concepts related to emotions and their regulation during test taking. The authors also evaluated whether students who report having problems with test anxiety hold a different conceptual organization about test taking compared with students who do not report having such problems. Concepts relevant to emotions and their regulation during test taking were sampled from the emotion and emotional regulation literature. Participants rated how similar these concepts were during test taking. These ratings were then submitted to multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS). The resulting arrangement of concepts provides insight into the underlying organizational conceptions held by low, moderate, and high test-anxious participants. Students' organizational schemes surrounded 2 dimensions: (a) task-focus and (b) pleasantness. High test-anxious participants had differing conceptual organizations about test taking than moderate and low test-anxious participants with regard to pleasantness. In addition, the high test-anxious participants saw task-focused processes such as reading directions during test taking as more highly related to unpleasant emotions like anxiety than moderate and low test-anxious participants.     

Maltreatment experiences and associated factors prior to admission to residential care: A sample of institutionalized children and youth in western Kenya

Objectives

This study aims to determine the prevalence of maltreatment experienced by institutionalized children prior to their admission to Charitable Children's Institutions (orphanages) in western Kenya, and to describe their socio-demographic characteristics, reasons for admission, and the factors associated with prior experiences of maltreatment.

Methods

A systematic file review was undertaken in five CCIs. Demographic, prior caregiving settings and maltreatment data were extracted. Forms of maltreatment were recorded according to WHO and ISPCAN guidelines. Logistic regression was used in bivariate and multivariable analyses of factors associated with reasons for placement and forms of maltreatment.

Results

A total of 462 files were reviewed. The median (interquartile range) age of children was 6.8 (5.08) years at admission, 56% were male, and 71% had lost one or both parents. The reasons for admission were destitution (36%), abandonment (22%), neglect (21%), physical/sexual abuse (8%), and lack of caregiver (8%). The majority of child and youth residents had experienced at least one form of maltreatment (66%): physical abuse (8%), sexual abuse (2%), psychological abuse (28%), neglect (26%), medical neglect (18%), school deprivation (38%), abandonment (30%), and child labor (23%). The most common reason for non-orphans to be admitted was maltreatment (90%), whereas the most common reason for orphans to be admitted was destitution (49%). Girls (adjusted odds ratio, AOR: .61, 95% CI: .39–.95) and orphans (AOR: .04, 95% CI: .01–.17) were both independently less likely to have a history of maltreatment irrespective of whether it was the reason for admission. Children whose primary caregiver had not been a parent (AOR: .36, 95% CI: .15–.86) and orphans (AOR: .17, 95% CI: .06–.44) were less likely to have been admitted for maltreatment, while children who were separated from siblings were more likely to have been admitted for maltreatment (AOR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.01–2.60).

Conclusions

The high prevalence of maltreatment prior to admission, particularly among nonorphans, suggests the need for better child abuse and neglect prevention programs in communities, and psychosocial support services in institutions. The significant proportion of children admitted for poverty, predominantly among orphans, indicates that community-based poverty-reduction programs might reduce the need for institutionalization.     

Is there something wrong with intellectual capital management models?

During the recent years the intellectual capital (IC) literature has produced tens of models to support the various IC management (ICM) activities, such as identification, measurement, valuation, acquisition and reporting IC. However, the practice of applying these models seems to be a fairly new issue in many organisations. The gap between research and practice (i.e. not many organisations seem to be applying ICM models) may result from several issues. This paper approaches the gap from two perspectives. First, the paper questions the applicability of ICM models. Second, although IC as a research theme is quite immature many management models that also include some of the aspects of IC have been developed within general management disciplines. Thus, this study examines whether traditional management models may also be suitable for ICM. The two questions are answered by using four single cases in which action research projects were carried out.     

The interaction between artists’ professional training and employment in the field of Finnish theatre

This paper deals with the effects of formal training on artists employment situation in the 1990s. The empirical data is based on a survey of theatre and dance artists which was done by the Arts Council of Finland in co-operation with the Finnish Theatre Academy. The survey studied current employment status of theatre artists as well as the effects of formal training on their employment, working conditions and salary. The results of the survey have been published in Finnish by the Arts Council (Karhunen, 1994).     

The Use of Representations and Argumentative and Explanatory Situations

This paper discusses the use of non-verbal representations in a modelling-based science teaching context, in which argumentative and explanatory situations occur. More specifically, we analyse how the students and teacher use representations in their discourse in modelling activities, and we discuss the relationships between the functions of these representations and the demands of the explanatory and argumentative situations that exist in that classroom. The data were collected by video recording all the classes in which a teaching sequence about intermolecular interactions was used—a topic which the students had not previously studied. In the activities, the students had to create, express, test, and discuss models in order to understand the difference between intermolecular and interatomic interactions, as well as their influences on the properties of substances. Initially, we selected excerpts of the recorded classes in which a non-verbal representation was used. Then, we used criteria to identify the argumentative and explanatory situations (previously defined), and we created categories for the functions of the representations that were used in order to analyse all the identified situations. The analysis supports conclusions indicating the relevance of the use of non-verbal representations in the construction, use, and defence of explanations. As the defence of explanations was the main context in which argumentative situations occurred in this study, our conclusions also indicate the contribution that representations make towards changing the status of the students' explanations.     

Questions for Assessing Higher-Order Cognitive Skills: It's Not Just Bloom’s

We present an exploratory study of biologists’ ideas about higher-order cognition questions. We documented the conversations of biologists who were writing and reviewing a set of higher-order cognition questions. Using a qualitative approach, we identified the themes of these conversations. Biologists in our study used Bloom''s Taxonomy to logically analyze questions. However, biologists were also concerned with question difficulty, the length of time required for students to address questions, and students’ experience with questions. Finally, some biologists demonstrated an assumption that questions should have one correct answer, not multiple reasonable solutions; this assumption undermined their comfort with some higher-order cognition questions. We generated a framework for further research that provides an interpretation of participants’ ideas about higher-order questions and a model of the relationships among these ideas. Two hypotheses emerge from this framework. First, we propose that biologists look for ways to measure difficulty when writing higher-order questions. Second, we propose that biologists’ assumptions about the role of questions in student learning strongly influence the types of higher-order questions they write.