Turning Social Capital Into Social Performance: Three Case Studies and a New Framework for Value Creation

Sociologists, political scientists, and economists have described different dimensions and functions of social capital from their disciplinary perspectives, emphasizing the value and impact of social relationships, governance institutions, or efficient and reliable economic transactions, respectively. In this article, we propose to integrate all three perspectives and the research accumulated in those fields in a common, practical framework for effectively using social capital assets in producing value‐adding social and organizational performance.     

Social justice and the changing directions in educational research: the case of inclusive education

Inclusive education has established itself as an important element within the general field of educational research. While the increasing attention to social inclusion is apparently consistent with the general aspiration for social justice, this paper reasserts the fragility of inclusive education as a vehicle for arguing against traditional notions of special educational needs in favour of educational disablement as identity politics. It is important that in a general consideration of education research and social justice space be afforded to interrogating the shortcomings of social justice research in education with regard to disabled students. This brief discussion aims to introduce a range of issues pursuant to the intersection of education and disability politics.     

‘Where do babies come from?’ Barriers to early sexuality communication between parents and young children

‘Where do babies come from?’ ‘Why do boys have willies?’ ‘What does gay mean?’ Probably all parents have faced such ‘innocent’ questions from young children, and many have found them challenging to answer. Access to sexuality education at an early age is frequently considered controversial; however, there are strong indications that early and open communication can impact positively in terms of sexual safety and outcomes. Using focus group discussions with parents of 3–7 year olds in the UK, this study explores some of the challenges parents report in dealing with early sexual socialisation as well as the reasons they cite for restricting young children's sexual awareness and access to knowledge. Thematic analysis reveals a number of barriers to communication: the need to protect childhood ‘innocence’, suitable timing and age appropriateness of explanations, personal discomfort, and fear of criticism and judgement.     

Aspects of the Reliability and Validity of School Inspection Judgements of Teaching Quality

This paper presents the results of the first study of aspects of the reliability and validity of judgements of teaching quality made by independent inspectors in the classrooms of primary and secondary schools in England. The study shows, in particular, that two trained inspectors, independently observing the same lesson, are likely to identify the same strengths and weaknesses in the teaching and to arrive at similar conclusions about its overall quality. The strengths and weaknesses identified reflect appropriate application of the evaluation criteria specified by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), and the better the teaching is judged to be, the more the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. The agreement between inspectors reported here is comparable with that found by the Dutch Inspectorate in similar studies. Résumé Cet article présente les résultats d’une première étude anglaise sur la fiabilité et la validité des jugements émis sur la qualité de l’enseignement par des inspecteurs indépendants dans des classes d’école primaire et secondaire en Angleterre. Cette étude montre notamment que deux inspecteurs, formés à cette tâche, qui observent de façon indépendante la même leçon, vont probablement identifier les mêmes points forts et faibles de l’enseignement et parviendront à des conclusions semblables sur sa qualité d’ensemble. Les points forts et faibles qui sont identifiés reflètent l’application appropriée des critères d’évaluation définis par le Bureau pour les standards de l’enseignement (OFSTED). Plus l’enseignement est considéré comme bon, plus les points forts l’emportent sur les faibles. Le degré d’accord entre les inspecteurs décrit ici est comparable à celui qui a été mis en évidence dans des études du même type par des inspecteurs néerlandais. (Traduction: Liliane Jeanneret Clerc, IRDP, Neuchâtel / Suisse)     

Using Electronic Mail in Initial Teacher Education to Develop European Awareness

ABSTRACT

The development of European awareness in teacher training is a particularly difficult task in one year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses in the United Kingdom because of the short length of the course and the need to ensure that students are well prepared for handling the national curriculum. This paper describes how students on such a course at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland were able to experience a European dimension through an electronic mail link with high school pupils in Norway. The scheme, which was offered on a pilot basis to students taking history as a major or a minor option, also.gave the group a focus for work on two of the cross‐curricular themes in the Northern Ireland common curriculum, namely Information Technology and Education for Mutual Understanding. The pilot suggests that the scheme has provided a valuable experience of real contact with Europe in a way that is cost effective and manageable within the time constraints imposed by an intensive one year teacher training programme.     

Statistical analyses in the journal of broadcasting, 1970‐76

McChesney, R. W. (1993). Telecommunications, mass media, and democracy: The battle for the control of U.S. broadcasting, 1928‐1935. New York: Oxford University Press. 393 pages.     

Music and Recording

Roger D. Kinkle's The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz: 1900-1950 (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1974—$75.00 for set of four volumes)

Clive Davis and James Willwerth, Clive: Inside Inside the Record Business (New York: Morrow, 1974—$8.95)

Studies in Jazz Discography I (Institute of Jazz Studies University Extension Division, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.—$3.25, paper)

Walter E. Hurst and William Storm Hale's Your Introduction to Music/Record Copyright, Contracts and other Business and Law (Seven Arts Press, Inc., 6605 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Calif. 90028—$10.00/5.00)     

Modalities of Infant–Mother Interaction in Japanese,Japanese American Immigrant,and European American Dyads

Cultural variation in relations and moment‐to‐moment contingencies of infant–mother person‐oriented and object‐oriented interactions were compared in 118 Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads with 5.5‐month‐olds. Infant and mother person‐oriented behaviors were related in all cultural groups, but infant and mother object‐oriented behaviors were related only among European Americans. Infant and mother behaviors within each modality were mutually contingent in all groups. Culture moderated lead–lag relations: Japanese infants were more likely than their mothers to respond in object‐oriented interactions; European American mothers were more likely than their infants to respond in person‐oriented interactions. Japanese American dyads behaved like European American dyads. Interactions, infant effects, and parent socialization findings are set in cultural and accultural models of infant–mother transactions.     

Using virtual microscopy to scaffold learning of pathology: a naturalistic experiment on the role of visual and conceptual cues

New representational technologies, such as virtual microscopy, create new affordances for medical education. In the article, a study on the following two issues is reported: (a) How does collaborative use of virtual microscopy shape students’ engagement with and learning from virtual slides of tissue specimen? (b) How do visual and conceptual cues scaffold students’ reasoning? Fifteen pairs of medical students participated in two sessions in which the students used a virtual microscope as a diagnostic tool in the context of learning pathology. The slides provided the students with varying levels of visual and conceptual cueing. The sessions were videotaped, and the students’ reasoning while using the microscope was analysed. The students’ written answers were analysed in terms of the findings they made and the diagnoses suggested. At a general level, the results show that students engage actively in this kind of virtually-mediated environment. The visual and/or conceptual cues improve students’ performance, and guide the students’ perception and reasoning in a manner that is productive from the point of view of learning to make clinically relevant observations. Scaffolding students’ reasoning process through cues furthermore assists the students in avoiding the most obvious pitfalls such as overlooking critical areas of a specimen. Overall, visual and conceptual cues improve students’ reasoning in perceptual and cognitive terms, while still allowing space for the making of “relevant mistakes” that may further the students’ diagnostic skills.     

A computational fluid dynamics model for wind simulation: model implementation and experimental validation

To provide physically based wind modelling for wind erosion research at regional scale, a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) wind model was developed. The model was programmed in C language based on the Navier-Stokes equations, and it is freely available as open source. Integrated with the spatial analysis and modelling tool (SAMT), the wind model has convenient input preparation and powerful output visualization. To validate the wind model, a series of experiments was conducted in a wind tunnel. A blocking inflow experiment was designed to test the performance of the model on simulation of basic fluid processes. A round obstacle experiment was designed to check if the model could simulate the influences of the obstacle on wind field. Results show that measured and simulated wind fields have high correlations, and the wind model can simulate both the basic processes of the wind and the influences of the obstacle on the wind field. These results show the high reliability of the wind model. A digital elevation model (DEM) of an area (3800 m long and 1700 m wide) in the Xilingele grassland in Inner Mongolia (autonomous region, China) was applied to the model, and a 3D wind field has been successfully generated. The clear implementation of the model and the adequate validation by wind tunnel experiments laid a solid foundation for the prediction and assessment of wind erosion at regional scale.