The purpose, design and use of examples in the teaching of elementary mathematics

This empirical paper considers the different purposes for which teachers use examples in elementary mathematics teaching, and how well the actual examples used fit these intended purposes. For this study, 24 mathematics lessons taught by prospective elementary school teachers were videotaped. In the spirit of grounded theory, the purpose of the analysis of these lessons was to discover, and to construct theories around, the ways that these novice teachers could be seen to draw upon their mathematics teaching knowledge-base in their lesson preparation and in their observed classroom instruction. A highly-pervasive dimension of the findings was these teachers’ choice and use of examples. Four categories of uses of examples are identified and exemplified: these are related to different kinds of teacher awareness.

Career Decision-Making Skills of High School Students in The Bahamas

The purpose of the study was to examine the confidence level in career decision-making of Bahamian adolescents in the high schools in Nassau, Bahamas, investigating factors that influence one's level of confidence in career decision-making. The Career Decision Scale along with a demographic survey were administered to 385 11th and 12th graders to examine six factors which measured the effects and/or interaction effects of influences on confidence in career decision-making. Two MANOVAs and the appropriate follow-up statistics (Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference post hoc tests) were used to determine differences and interaction effects among the variables measuring the level of career decision-making skills. Based on the findings of the study the researcher concluded that for Bahamian adolescents, the type of school, the grade level, and a visit to the school guidance office were significant factors that influenced one's level of confidence in career decision-making.     

Situating Learning of Human Performance Technology

The Organizational Communication, Learning, and Design Department at Ithaca College is experimenting with educational methods that situate learning in authentic contexts, for example, in real cases with actual clients. We hope that these methods will better prepare our students for skilled practice in the complex situations and environments where they will work. One of our efforts has focused on an upper-level undergraduate course titled Performance Technology, for which we have developed a variety of what we believe are innovative strategies and activities. Results have been encouraging and have suggested more direct and powerful links between preparation and practice.     

Scholarly journal publishing in New Zealand

Learned societies and other non‐profit organizations in New Zealand publish scholarly journals in a number of disciplines, many of them subjects in which New Zealand has a particular economic interest. Although most of the journals are small, a surprising number of them have paid, rather than voluntary academic, editors. Some have launched electronic versions, but only one has experimented with open access (OA). In a number of cases this lack of interest in OA is because the society cannot see a business model that would render the society as a whole economically viable. Some of the smallest journals, published only annually, may have the most assured future because their operation is entirely voluntary.     

On mythic criticism

Recently, a number of critics have applied a mythic perspective to a wide variety of works. While the value of mythic criticism cannot be questioned, the method also may be stretched to include discourse that lacks either the function or the form of traditional myth. Reliance on a narrow formal/functional definition of myth can help critics avoid this problem.