Developmental Changes in Imitation from Television during Infancy

Infants' (N = 276) ability to learn from television under seminaturalistic conditions was examined in five experiments with 12-, 15-, and 18-month-olds. In all experiments, an adult performed a series of specific actions with novel stimuli. Some infants watched the demonstration live, and some infants watched the same demonstration on television from prerecorded videotape. Infants' ability to reproduce the target actions was then assessed either immediately or after a 24-hour delay. Infants of all ages exhibited imitation when the actions were modeled live. There were age-related and task-related differences, however, in infants' ability to imitate the same actions modeled on television. The role of perceptual, attentional, and cognitive development in the ability to learn from television is discussed.     

Introducing technology education: Using teachers' questions as a platform for professional development

This paper explores the issues and concems identified by a small group of teachers implementing technology ideas using the national document,A Statement on Technology for Australian Schools (Curriculum Corporation, 1994a), represented in four key questions they posed as a result of reflection upon their existing ideas and practices, early in the study. These same issues and concerns framed their later experiences as the study progressed. The case study of one of the teachers is used, to illustrate how the teachers implemented technology education working from their own perspectives and tackling issues and concerns that made sense to them. By reviewing the teachers' own questions about technology implementation, it is becoming, clear that what may be important for professional development in technology education is related to the questions that the teachers themselves are asking about their own, beliefs and practices.     

Not Your Usual Maths Course: critical mathematics education for adults

This article describes an action research project that investigated which features of critical theory were useful for teaching everyday mathematics in an evening course for adults. Paulo Freire's philosophy of education and Jürgen Habermas’ theory of knowledge interests are among the main influences on exponents of critical mathematics education such as Ole Skovsmose and Marilyn Frankenstein. Through the use of dialogical processes and critical reflection, students engage in social and political issues in their lives or communities and, as a result of their increased consciousness and mathematical learning, take “transforming action”. This study highlights the value of learning in a positive environment, through dialogical processes and critical questioning. Participants of the study were able to overcome barriers to learning mathematics; engage in everyday issues involving mathematics; and make changes to the way they dealt with mathematics, as a result of increased critical consciousness.     

Gender analysis and participatory rural appraisal: assessing the current debate through an Ethiopian case study involving agricultural extension work

This paper analyses how participatory rural appraisal (PRA) can be used with gender analysis in rural development. The development and convergence of both is outlined. Their combined use in an Ethiopian case is then analysed. It is argued that the use of PRA and gender analysis are complementary in that they put the clients first, engender respect, provide equal opportunities and are flexible. The paper concludes with an analysis of current debate on the topic, identifying six major areas of concern and reviewing these with reference to the Ethiopian case.     

Positioning participation in the NGSS era: What counts as success?

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) strives to shift science learning from the teacher as a single cognitive agent, to a classroom community in which participants are working together in directing the classroom's communal knowledge to figure out questions about how phenomena occur, and building, testing, and refining their ideas to address those questions. To achieve this type of classroom environment, teachers should attend to students' knowledge and ideas and pay attention to how students are located within teacher-led interactions, such as being positioned as active discussants or designated listeners. In this study, we explore if and how this is occurring in the NGSS era. We used a naturalistic inquiry to explore how an experienced first-grade teacher used a new NGSS-aligned unit that called for students to use the science and engineering practices (SEP) to build content knowledge. We used a macro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are class discussions shaped to address the SEP”? We used a micro-analytic lens to answer the research question “how are students positioned during these science discussions in this classroom?” Evidence suggests that the teachers' whole class discussions incorporated and involved the SEP which were specified in the unit lessons for content learning. However, on a micro-analytic level, we found that few students were positioned as active discussants. The teacher heavily relied on those students who could provide succinct and clearly relevant answers while positioning the remainder of the students as silent spectators. Implications from this research suggest that not only new NGSS curriculum materials need to focus on what students should know and do but they also need to address heuristics for teachers that show them how to position all of their students as active doers of science so all students have opportunities to build deeper, core science knowledge.     

Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations

Drawing on data from students, higher education staff and policymakers from six European countries, this article argues that it remains a relatively common assumption that students should be politically engaged. However, while students articulated a strong interest in a wide range of political issues, those working in higher education and influencing higher education policy tended to believe that students were considerably less politically active than their predecessors. Moreover, while staff and policy influencers typically conceived of political engagement in terms of collective action, articulated through common reference to the absence of a ‘student movement’ or unified student voice, students’ narratives tended not to valorise ‘student movements’ in the same way and many categorised as ‘political’ action they had taken alone and/or with a small number of other students. Alongside these broad commonalities across Europe, the article also evidences some key differences between nation-states, institutions and disciplines. In this way, it contributes to the comparative literature on young people’s political engagement specifically, as well as wider debates about the ways in which higher education students are understood.     

The publication fate of abstracts presented at the Medical Library Association conferences

Objective:We sought to determine how many abstracts presented at the 2012 and 2014 Medical Library Association (MLA) annual conferences were later published as full-text journal articles and which features of the abstract and first author influence the likelihood of future publication. To do so, we replicated a previous study on MLA conference abstracts presented in 2002 and 2003. The secondary objective was to compare the publication rates between the prior and current study.Methods:Presentations and posters delivered at the 2012 and 2014 MLA meetings were coded to identify factors associated with publication. Postconference publication of abstracts as journal articles was determined using a literature search and survey sent to first authors. Chi-squared tests were used to assess differences in the publication rate, and logistic regression was used to assess the influence of abstract factors on publication.Results:The combined publication rate for the 2012 and 2014 meetings was 21.8% (137/628 abstracts), which is a statistically significant decrease compared to the previously reported rate for 2002 and 2003 (27.6%, 122/442 abstracts). The odds that an abstract would later be published as a journal article increased if the abstract was multi-institutional or if it was research, specifically surveys or mixed methods research.Conclusions:The lower publication rate of MLA conference abstracts may be due to an increased number of program or nonresearch abstracts that were accepted or a more competitive peer review process for journals. MLA could increase the publication rate by encouraging and enabling multi-institutional research projects among its members.     

Knowledge governance within clusters: the case of small firms

Despite the vast literature on knowledge management, little research has addressed the specificities of knowledge integration at the cluster level. Moreover, the literature on clusters has not focused on the role that governance may play in knowledge management. Anchored in a knowledge-based perspective, this paper aims at bridging the two fields, filling the gap by analysing the role of cluster governance in knowledge management. An empirical study of two small French firm clusters was carried out based on 29 interviews. The data analysis consisted essentially in content analysis. The clusters studied were characterized by distinct knowledge management processes. In both cases, governance was necessary in order to support knowledge integration by member firms. Our results suggest that establishing an initial common knowledge base seems to be a prerequisite in order for the external knowledge identification and acquisition processes to take place. The activist role played by governance also seems more efficient than that of a broker. We discuss these results and their implications for policy-makers and cluster members.     

Rowen's Birth Story: His and Her Versions

In this column, a father and a mother each share their unique version of their son''s natural birth.