Special education and general education – coordinated or separated? A study of curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs

The central issue of this article is the coordination between special and general education in curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs. The focus is on individual education plans (IEPs) in special education and work plans in general education. This is also viewed in relation to how special and general education teachers cooperate on planning. The analysis is based on a qualitative interview study with special and general education teachers in four primary and lower secondary schools in two municipalities. A clear pattern is shown in the study, where curriculum planning for special and general education is not very coordinated and cooperation between special and general education teachers is often very limited. Thus, curriculum planning within special and general education appears to be more separated than coordinated. The two groups of teachers appear to adopt traditional and partly separate roles, and tend to plan individually rather than together. Responsibility for the education of pupils with special needs seems to be more divided than shared.     

I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum

Latecomers to science are students who take non-traditional routes into postsecondary science because they are initially missing prerequisites. Latecomers have a lower rate of persistence than traditional science students. This critical discourse analysis of an online forum thread uses Gee’s toolkit to explore how latecomers, who have histories of not being recognized as smart enough to do science, find new ways to identify with science. Applying a theoretical lens in which identity is viewed as a process of continual negotiation, which is constrained and afforded by the resources of the relevant figured worlds, it is shown how four latecomers shared reinterpreted histories of being recognized as not smart enough to do science and in doing so, formed solidarity. As part of this process they co-produced a new cultural model in which the ability or inability to ask questions led respectively to success (good grades) or failure (low grades) in science. Used in conjunction with their solidarity, they were not only able to successfully position themselves in the elite figured world of science, but also to reify the result in a form that could potentially support future identification with science. Aspects of the online forum that supported the co-production are explored, including its ability to help students draw on resources from outside of the science program. The importance of encouraging students to discuss their struggles with science and the accompanying construction of solidarity is also discussed. This research is of particular interest to practitioners and researchers interested in supporting non-traditional science students such as latecomers, especially those wishing to move away from deficit views of these students and towards a more complex and agentic understanding of persistence and identity in science.     

Barriers and enablers to clinical fieldwork education in rural public and private allied health practice

There is a need to maximise rural clinical fieldwork placement to build health workforce capacity. This study investigated allied health professionals' (AHPs) experience of supervising students as part of work-integrated learning in public and private rural health settings. An anonymous postal questionnaire with 30 questions was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data about the barriers and enablers that AHPs encounter when supervising students in their clinical setting. A total of 113 public and private AHPs from Southwest Victoria, Australia, returned the questionnaire. The AHPs were trained in the disciplines of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology, dietetics, podiatry or psychology. The majority of respondents (75%) had previously supervised students. Most respondents had only provided fieldwork education in the public sector. Allied health professionals working in public and private sectors had positive experiences with clinical fieldwork education and often had increased job satisfaction while supervising students. They experienced similar enablers to involvement in clinical fieldwork education programs, however the barriers they encountered were different. The findings highlight the differing issues between rural public and private settings that need to be addressed for successful clinical fieldwork education and work-integrated learning. Strategies to address the identified barriers need to be specific to the work conditions of each setting.     

The “Other White”: Mexican Americans and the Impotency of Whiteness in the Segregation and Desegregation of Texan Public Schools

This article analyzes the legal classification of Mexican Americans as “other white” as argued in a number of critical court cases that beginning in the 1930s up to the 1970s attempted to desegregate public schools in Texas. Since the Texas constitution declared school segregation as being only for “colored children,” Mexican Americans in their fight against de facto segregation sought to claim their legal classification as white. My objective is to further analyze these cases as presented in the literature in order to examine what the relationship between Mexican American whiteness as a legal category versus their “otherness” as a social category says about the vital role of public schools in reproducing, as well as creating, social, political, and economic marginalization.     

Film Production

Freddie Young and Paul Petzold's The Work of the Motion Picture Cameraman (New York: Hastings House, 1972 -- $15.00)

King Vidor on Film-Making (New York: David McKay, 1972 -- $6.95)

Vladimir Nilsen's The Cinema as a Graphic Art: On a Theory of Representation in the Cinema (New York: Hill & Wang, 1972 -- $2.95, paper)     

Creative Risk‐Taking: Developing Strategies for First Year University Students in the Creative Industries

This article reports on the findings of a study investigating creative risktaking behaviours of the commencing university students enrolled in three units across three disciplines: Interactive and Visual Design, Fashion Design, and Film, Screen and Animation. The study employs an action research methodology in order to help students develop confidence and competence in creative risk‐taking. Upon analysis from relevant literature three key provisions for the study are proposed, being: P1 An open and playful learning environment that encourages sharing and challenging multiple perspectives; P2 An adequate period of time for students to develop and revise creative concepts; and P3 Opportunities to assess their own performance in developing creative risk‐taking capacities. The study draws on the students’ written self‐reflections to identify the key challenges and opportunities in encouraging creative risk‐taking among first year students, which are challenges of collaboration; creative resilience and self‐efficacy; and balancing creativity with technical competency. The article suggests several ways that educators can encourage students to take creative risks within higher education in preparation for careers in the creative industries.     

Alternate Reality Games as an Informal Learning Tool for Generating STEM Engagement among Underrepresented Youth: a Qualitative Evaluation of the Source

This project developed and studied The Source, an alternate reality game (ARG) designed to foster interest and knowledge related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among youth from populations underrepresented in STEM fields. ARGs are multiplayer games that engage participants across several media such as shared websites, social media, personal communications, and real-world settings to complete activities and collaborate with team members. The Source was a five-week summer program with 144 participants from Chicago aged 13 to 18 years. The Source incorporated six socio-contextual factors derived from three frameworks: Chang’s (ERIC Digest, 2002) recommendations for engaging underrepresented populations in STEM careers, Lave and Wenger’s (Cambridge University Press, 1991) situated learning model, and Barron’s (Human Development, 49(4); 193-224, 2006) learning ecology perspective. These factors aligned with the program’s aims of promoting (1) social community and peer support, (2) collaboration and teamwork, (3) real-world relevance and investigative learning, (4) mentoring and exposure to STEM professionals, (5) hands-on activities to foster transferable skill building, and (6) interface with technology. This paper presents results from 10 focus groups and 10 individual interviews conducted with a subset of the 144 youth participants who completed the game. It describes how these six factors were realized through The Source and uses them as a lens for considering how The Source functioned pedagogically. Qualitative findings describe youth’s perception of The Source’s potential influence on STEM interest, engagement, and identity formation. Despite limitations, study results indicate that underrepresented youth can engage in an immersive, narrative, and game-based experience as a potential mechanism for piquing and developing STEM interest and skills, particularly among underrepresented youth.     

Exploring the Potential of Computers to Enrich Home and Community-Based Services Clients' Social Networks

Older persons receiving services in community settings, rather than Nursing Homes, are at risk of social isolation. Computer mediated communication offers technological resources that recipients of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) might use to reduce their social isolation. The present study involved personal interviews with 40 HCBS clients regarding their interest in communicating with members of their social networks and using computers. At the time of the interview, 30 of the 40 participants did not use computers and reported cost, lack of training, physical limitations, lack of interest and access, and fraud as the reasons for not using computers. After watching a videotape illustrating an easy-to-use computer interface that allows older persons to communicate with families and friends, 90% reported that it would be helpful for people like them. Participants said such a computer would be helpful because it would make communication with friends and family easy, it could accommodate visual and manual disabilities, and would be interesting. Eighty-five percent said they would use a system like the one they were shown if it were available to them.