Action Learning for Citizenship Education

The paper examines how the author has used what he calls action learning to encourage pupils to learn about citizenship in a secondary school. The paper argues that citizenship can be learnt by engaging young people in projects and other activities, which encourage them to develop an understanding of the responsibilities and skills needed to become citizens in society. The paper goes on to describe a small-scale research project which sought to assess the pupils' reactions to action learning. The young people's responses bring to life what they have learnt from their involvement in the action learning projects and how it has helped them to develop as citizens.     

Critical place as a fluid margin in post-critical environmental education

Positive claims about place pedagogy in education are problematized through this small-scale interpretive study of internationally mobile students’ experiences of outdoor environmental education. Of specific interest in this empirical study of learners’ pedagogically constructed experiences of place are the fluid subjectivities, cultural dispositions, environmental consciences, and ecological assumptions they already bring ‘globally’ to the ‘place’ of the educational intervention, and the hybrid ‘splaces’ we conclude they then temporarily embody – at least, during and after the experience. The study empirically advances an ongoing need for post-critical inquiry in environmental research by incorporating a range of theoretical and conceptual resources that work the boundaries, ‘margins’, and tensions that lie somewhere ‘in-between’ the spatially projected place/local and planet/global discourses.     

Generic qualitative dissertations in counselor education: A content analysis

We conducted a content analysis of generic qualitative counseling dissertations (GQR; N = 70), examining their methodological justifications, coherence, and trustworthiness. Dissertations authors often presented vague methodological justifications. Findings have implications for constructing methodological justifications, integrating relevant literature, and awareness of how GQR compares to other qualitative methodologies.     

Toward a more critical examination of structural models

TETRAD II: Tools for Causal Modeling. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 365 Broadway, Hillsdale, NJ 07642, (201) 666–4110. $150. Requirements: 386 or higher IBM computer and DOS 3.0 or higher.     

Designing for communication at work: A case for technology-enhanced boundary objects

In this article we conceptualise the challenges of communication between a mortgage company and its customers in terms of crossing boundaries between communities. Through an ethnographic study we first address the question: what are the challenges of communication between sales agents and customers of a mortgage company around mathematical artefacts? Insight into these challenges formed the basis for an intervention in which we designed technology-enhanced boundary objects (TEBOs) that were reconfigurations of problematic symbolic artefacts. Secondly, we ask what the sales agents learned from the intervention. The data suggest that the intervention with the TEBOs helped employees to develop a better understanding of the mathematics behind the mortgages they sold, and to improve communication with their customers.     

A Student's View of Engineering

The authors analyze the answers to 10 questions from 523 engineering students in three Michigan junior colleges, in an attempt to elicit the beginning student's view of engineering. The answers give information on the age of first interest in engineering, the age of decision on the field as a career, the influences that led to the choice of engineering, future aspirations, and six other related questions. The opening section briefly states the objectives of education in our society and indicates the contribution of the junior college. The conclusion suggests some specific assistance professional engineers can give to youth.     

Comparison of 2D video and electrogoniometry measurements of knee flexion angle during a countermovement jump and landing task

Quantifying countermovement jump (CMJ) and landing knee flexion angle is important for performance and injury risk assessment. The purpose of the study was to compare electrogoniometer (El-Gon)- and video-derived CMJ and landing knee flexion angle. Twenty-two adults performed three CMJs while knee flexion angle was simultaneously assessed using an El-Gon and video. The average systematic offset (RMSE) of the El-Gon-derived knee flexion angle throughout the entire movement was 7.03°?±?2.69°. Excellent reliability was demonstrated by the El-Gon (ICCavg?=?0.92). Countermovement knee flexion angle, maximum landing knee flexion angle and flexion angle at maximum vertical ground reaction force were 12.0°, 10.9°, and 5.7° higher, respectively, when assessed using El-Gon (p?<?0.001), compared to video. Errors between instruments are likely due to El-Gon crosstalk, misalignment and/or axis determination. The El-Gon is a cost-effective and time-efficient alternative to video analysis for the assessment of knee flexion angle if the error is accounted for and the sensor is precisely attached.