Planning for the 2040s: everybody's business

As we mark the publication of the 35th issue of the British Journal of Special Education, Peter Mittler, Emeritus Professor of Special Needs Education at the University of Manchester, looks into the future and asks a series of challenging questions: What kind of a future do we want to see for a baby born with a significant disability today? What changes will be needed in society and in our schools both for the child and for the family? What reforms might this year's newly qualified staff bring about in our schools and services and in society as a whole by the time they retire in the 2040s? Professor Mittler proposes that the time is ripe to take advantage of new international and national opportunities to lay the foundations for a society that fully includes disabled people and safeguards their basic human rights. He argues that each one of us can help to determine the values and priorities of the society in which today's baby will grow up and suggests that the Make Poverty History movement has provided powerful evidence that the voice of ordinary citizens can shape policies and set priorities. He encourages us all to think globally and to act locally on a host of issues, including supporting families, planning for transition, promoting quality of life, professional development and challenging inequality.     

Space and time in life and science

Space and time are concepts that seem to be embedded in our very consciousness. As we grow up, our ‘intuitive understanding’ of these concepts seems to grow as well. And yet the fact is that our understanding of space-time in the deepest scientific sense is far from complete, although we have covered a considerable distance along the route. There may still be many surprises awaiting us on the road ahead.     

Mentoring Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Mathematics Research Students: Junior Faculty Experiences

Abstract

To be successful, junior faculty must properly manage their time in the face of expanding responsibilities. One such responsibility is supervising undergraduate research projects. Student research projects (either single or multi-student) can be undertaken as a full-time summer experience, or as a part-time academic year commitment. With many potential undergraduate research formats, and with different types of students, junior faculty may find challenges in forming their research group, establishing a structure that promotes student productivity, picking an appropriate project, or in effectively mentoring their students. This article draws from the authors’ experiences to help junior faculty navigate these complexities so that all parties reap the benefits of undergraduate research in interdisciplinary mathematical disciplines.     

The effect of instruction on socio-cultural beliefs hindering the learning of science

Although recent studies have shown that the sociocultural characteristics which children in non-western society bring into the classroom from their environment create a wedge between what they are taught and what they learn, very little has been done to solve the problem. A learner who is not positively disposed to, or has a socio-cultural background that is indifferent to, learning science would find it hard to learn science effectively. This study investigated whether instruction through the use of the socio-cultural mode has any significant effect on students' attitude towards the learning of science. The sample consisted of 600 senior secondary year-one students (442 boys, 158 girls) from 15 secondary schools in Nigeria. The Socio-Cultural Environment Scale (SCES) and the Biology Achievement Test (BAT) were used to measure the change in attitude and achievement of subjects in a pretest-posttest situation after a six-week treatment. Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that science instruction which deliberately involves the discussion of socio-cultural views about science concepts engenders positive attitudes towards the study of science. The findings also indicate that anthropomorphic and mechanistic views can be presented in such a way as to promote positive attitudes towards the study of science in traditional cultures.     

THE ‘TELE’ BECOMES THE ‘TOOL’

For thirty years, the television set has been commanded by producers; the customers, both at home and elsewhere, have had to sit back and take what is offered. Now times are changing. More and more uses appear for the television set which are not dependent on the producers or broadcasters but only on the set owner himself or herself. The paper explores the present capabilities and future possibilities of television as an information provider: broadcast CEEFAX and ORACLE, British Telecom's PRESTEL service, and links of these systems with computers, allowing the home television set to give the viewer his own computer terminal.     

Effect of instruction using students' prior knowledge and conceptual change strategies on science learning

One of the factors affecting students' learning in science is their existing knowledge prior to instruction. The students' prior knowledge provides an indication of the alternative conceptions as well as the scientific conceptions possessed by the students. This study is concerned primarily with students' alternative conceptions and with instructional strategies to effect the learning of scientific conceptions; i.e., to effect conceptual change from alternative to scientific conceptions. The conceptual change model used here suggests conditions under which alternative conceptions can be replaced by or differentiated into scientific conceptions and new conceptions can be integrated with existing conceptions. The instructional strategy and materials were developed for a particular student population, namely, black high school students in South Africa, using their previously identified prior knowledge (conceptions and alternative conceptions) and incorporate the principles for conceptual change. The conceptions involved were mass, volume, and density. An experimental group of students was taught these concepts using the special instructional strategy and materials. A control group was taught the same concepts using a traditional strategy and materials. Pre- and posttests were used to assess the conceptual change that occurred in the experimental and control groups. The results showed a significantly larger improvement in the acquisition of scientific conceptions as a result of the instructional strategy and materials which explicitly dealt with student alternative conceptions.     

When Parents Want Children to Stay Home for College

Although previous studies show that a majority of parents want their children to go to college and graduate with a 4-year degree, the strategies used to accomplish this goal vary widely. While some parents feel it is important for their children to attend school while living at home (college-at-home parents), others do not (college-anywhere parents). This study investigates the influence of these parental strategy preferences on whether children apply to college during their senior year of high school, as well as whether they apply to multiple colleges. Net of measured ability, socioeconomic factors, and students’ own strategy preferences, students with college-at-home parents are significantly less likely to apply to college than students with college-anywhere parents; and among those who do apply to college, students with college-at-home parents are significantly less likely to apply to multiple colleges.     

Guidance Policies: The Trojan Horse

Guidance policies are often formulated in general terms. The recent European Union Resolution on Lifelong Guidance, for example, runs along two main lines. One line pursues the policy goal of creating a more inclusive society with active citizens. The other line pursues global competitiveness. These two pursuits may seem to present conflicting policy goals. The dilemmas that guidance practitioners encounter in this context are typically for individual guidance practitioners to resolve on their own. This article points to some of the issues at stake in terms of policy-making against social exclusion, and it suggests three possible guidance strategies: solving, preventing and coping.

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Résumé. Politiques d’orientation: le cheval de Troie Les politiques d’orientation sont souvent formulées en termes généraux. La récente Résolution de l’Union Européenne des syndicats concernant l’orientation tout au long de la vie, par exemple, trace deux axes principaux. L’un de ces axes correspond à un but politique de création d’une société qui comprenne davantage de citoyens actifs. L’autre axe correspond à un objectif de compétitivité globale. Ces deux axes peuvent sembler correspondre à des buts politiques contradictoires. La résolution des dilemmes que rencontrent les praticiens de l’orientation dans ce contexte est en général laissée à leur libre appréciation. Cet article pointe certains des problèmes en jeu en termes de définition d’une politique contre l’exclusion sociale et suggère trois stratégies possibles d’orientation: résolution, prévention et adaptation.Zusammenfassung. Berufsberatungs-Politiken: Das Trojanische Pferd Berufsberatungpolitiken sind häufig auf der Grundlage allgemeiner Leitlinien formuliert. Die aktuelle Europäische Resolution zur lebenslangen Berufsberatung beispielsweise orientiert sich an zwei Hauptlinien. Eine Linie verfolgt das politische Ziel, mit aktiven Bürgern eine Gesellschaft zu entwickeln, die stärkere Beteiligung ermöglicht. Die andere Linie betont die globale Konkurrenzfähigkeit. Diese beiden Zielsetzungen könnten auf den ersten Blick als konkurrierende politische Ziele aufgefasst werden. Die Dilemmata, denen Berufsberaterinnen in diesem Zusammenhang ausgesetzt sind, sind typischerweise für das Feld der Berufsberatung von den BeraterInnen alleine aufzulösen. Dieser Artikel weist im Sinne einer Politik gegen sozialen Ausschluss auf einige Aspekte hin, die auf dem Spiel stehen, und er schlägt drei mögliche Beratungsstrategien vor: Lösung, Vermeidung und Anpassung.Resumen. Políticas de Orientación: el Caballo de Troya Las políticas de orientación se suelen formular en términos generales. La reciente Resolución de la Unión Europea sobre el Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida, por ejemplo, se plantea en torno a dos ejes o líneas principales. La primera tiene como objetivo la política de crear una sociedad más inclusiva con ciudadanos activos. La otra línea promueve la competitividad global. Parece que estas dos finalidades podrían llevar a metas políticas contradictorias. Los dilemas que se les presenta a los orientadores en este contexto normalmente tienen que resolverlos por su cuenta. Este artículo pone de manifiesto algunas cuestiones que están en juego en relación a las políticas contra la exclusión social, y sugiere tres estrategias de orientación posibles: resolución, prevención, y manejo de la situación.