Improving Museum Docents' Communication Skills

This article presents the results of a study evaluating a program to help museum docents improve accessibility for visitors with communication challenges (such as hearing, language and/or speech disorders). This was done by adapting docent presentations. The docents' speech patterns were evaluated before and after a training program, and showed significant improvements in the rate, duration, and use of pauses in their speech. There also was significant improvement in ensuring that view of their faces remained unobstructed—important for people with communication disorders—in order to facilitate the consistent visibility of their facial expressions and visual cues. The training was found to be effective in adjusting the docents' presentations so that the museum experience would be improved for visitors with communication challenges.     

Neuromyths Among Teachers and Student Teachers

Many so‐called brain‐based educational approaches have been strongly criticized for their lack of empirical support and occasionally for their use of pseudoscientific concepts. As a result, several use the term neuromyths to refer to false beliefs or misinterpretations regarding neuroscientific facts. We surveyed both teachers and student teachers concerning their agreement toward hemispheric dominance, modality dominance, and the Brain Gym© method. Results suggest that teachers as well as student teachers believe in the reality of hemispheric and modality dominance but only a few were aware of the Brain Gym© method. Correlation analyses show moderate relationships across different beliefs and/or their perceived benefits in education. Teachers believed more than student teachers in hemispheric dominance and its pedagogical relevance. Together with other studies, the results suggest that teachers and student teachers could benefit from appropriate training in this new field of research.     

Community‐level Responses to Disability and Education in Rwanda

This article explores the meaning of community and perceptions of disability in Rwanda, as revealed through a community‐based ethnographic study. This study took place in Rwanda in an educational policy context driven by international rhetoric about human rights, inclusion and the arguably unachievable Education for All targets. We argue that the emphasis on the inclusion of marginalised groups in Rwanda’s current education policy is a reality on paper, but not in practice. However, we explore the potential for a deeper understanding of community responses to disability, and ways in which the rhetoric and reality gap can be bridged. We consider some of the attitudinal and infrastructural barriers in educational settings and argue that Rwandan communities are resourceful, and can be supported to respond appropriately to children with disabilities.     

The Relationship Between Sibling Maltreatment and College Students' Sense of Well‐Being

Empirical research on sibling abuse has been overwhelmingly absent from the professional literature. This exploratory study used a survey instrument to investigate the question of whether the experience of sibling abuse influences the sense of well‐being in college students. A linear multiple regression analysis indicated that experience with sibling abuse, either as a survivor or as a perpetrator, does have an impact on perception of well‐being. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Wellness Factors as Predictors of Alcohol Use Among Undergraduates: Implications for Prevention and Intervention

A pilot study examining holistic wellness factors and drinking behaviors among undergraduate students revealed several significant relationships. Two second‐order wellness factors of the Indivisible Self model of wellness—Coping Self and Essential Self—were negatively associated with both alcohol use intensity and drinking consequences. Implications for college counselors and for further research are considered.     

Performance‐based measurement: Action for organizations and HPT accountability

Basic measurements and applications of six selected general but critical operational performance‐based indicators—effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, profitability, return on investment, and benefit‐cost ratio—are presented. With each measurement, goals and potential impact are explored. Errors, risks, limitations to measurements, and a final check for validity, applicability, accountability, and usability of these measurements are discussed. This article provides a simple, practical guide to performance measurement for organizations and human performance technology practitioners' accountability and continuous improvement.     

Food Safety Knowledge and Beliefs of Middle School Children: Implications for Food Safety Educators

ABSTRACT: To create effective educational interventions that address the food safety informational needs of youth, a greater understanding of their knowledge and skills is needed. The purposes of this study were to explore, via focus groups, the food‐handling responsibilities of middle school youth and obstacles they face in practicing safe food handling and develop recommendations for the design of food safety interventions for youth. Most youth reported that they prepared food at least once weekly and rated learning to prevent foodborne illness as important. Youth knew that food could make them sick, described foodborne illness as resulting from “something” getting into food, not cooking food “right,” or the food going bad. Most responses lacked details, suggesting knowledge was basic. Nearly all were interested in learning about food safety. Barriers that deterred them from learning about food safety were time and feeling they were not susceptible to foodborne illness. To overcome barriers, youth suggested focusing on the seriousness of and risks for foodborne illness, using a serious but comical educational approach, and using hands‐on educational media. Parents highly rated the importance of and degree to which they wanted youth to learn about food safety. Parents felt that their children had moderate levels of food safety knowledge, but many questioned whether they practiced food safety procedures when unsupervised. Parents felt that food safety education needed to be taught and reinforced in school and at home. After having reviewed youth and parent data, food safety experts proposed recommendations for youth‐focused food safety education that paralleled current consumer food safety initiatives.     

The role of medical museums in contemporary medical education

From the early 19th century until the most recent two decades, open‐space and satellite museums featuring anatomy and pathology collections (collectively referred to as “medical museums”) had leading roles in medical education. However, many factors have caused these roles to diminish dramatically in recent years. Chief among these are the great advances in information technology and web‐based learning that are currently at play in every level of medical training. Some medical schools have abandoned their museums while others have gradually given away their museums' contents to devote former museum space to new classrooms, lecture halls, and laboratories. These trends have accelerated as medical school enrollment has increased and as increasing interest in biological and biomedical research activities have caused medical schools to convert museum space into research facilities. A few medical schools, however, have considered the contents of their museums as irreplaceable resources for modern medicine and medical education and the space these occupy as great environments for independent and self‐directed learning. Consequently, some medical schools have updated their medical museums and equipped them with new technologies. The Anatomical Museum of Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and the Medical Museum of Kawasaki Medical School in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan, are two examples of such upgraded museums. Student surveys at Leiden University have indicated that all students (100%) found audio‐guided museum tours to be useful for learning and majorities of them found guided tours to be clinically relevant (87%). However, 69% of students felt that museum visits should be optional rather than compulsory within the medical training curriculum. Anat Sci Educ 3:249–253, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

The gross anatomy course: An analysis of its importance

The gross anatomy dissection course is a cost‐intensive piece of undergraduate medical education that students and professionals alike describe as very important within the overall medical curriculum. We sought to understand more explicitly students' valuation of gross anatomy as an “important” course and so developed a quantitative longitudinal questionnaire. Medical students (n = 124) enrolled in the winter term 2006/2007 gross anatomy course at the Ulm University Faculty of Medicine were surveyed anonymously prior to, in the middle of, and at the end of the dissection course. Subgroups of students expressing rising or falling opinions of course value were identified and correlated with student opinions about the course's ability to convey professional competencies. Five‐point Likert scales were used for each survey item, which included such standardized instruments as the NeoFFI, BSI, and FBM. The study confirmed that medical students believe dissection to be valuable. Students indicated that participation in the course facilitated acquisition of anatomy knowledge as well as skills related to teamwork, coping with stress, and, to a lesser extent, time management. Students also noted that they developed less empathy than expected beforehand. Significant subgroup differences were observed relative to the competencies of teamwork, stress coping strategies, and empathy, as well as in students' stress levels associated with having to take a dissection course. Our study builds on previous work that has shown dissection courses help students develop professional competencies. The increase in professionalism might be a reason for the generally high value students place on the gross anatomy dissection course, Anat Sci Educ 3:3–11, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

Chinese primary school mathematics teachers working in a centralised curriculum system: a case study of two primary schools in North‐East China

Mainland China has a highly centralised curriculum development system. A study of two schools in northeast China, one in a rural area and the other in an urban area, indicates that the primary mathematics curriculum has been widely adopted by teachers at the classroom level. Feeling the intense pressure generated by the national mathematics Olympiad,1 1. The mathematics Olympiad is a type of ‘extracurricular’ activity that aims to promote students' interest and improve their ability in mathematics. Students participating in the competition are required to complete some challenging and non‐routine mathematical operations. The international mathematics Olympiad is held every year. In Mainland China, this competition is commonly organised at city, provincial and national level. Students who perform exceptionally well are exempted from the highly competitive national university entrance examinations for entry to universities View all notes teachers in the urban school tended to give more difficult mathematics problems to their students in the hope that above‐average students would perform well in the competition. In the rural school, the ability of students was more varied and generally lower. Teachers there worked very hard to push their students to meet the national requirements. The driving force behind this was the county‐wide public examination in which students' performance was taken as an indicator of teachers' competence. Teachers in both schools also have not taken effective steps to adapt the curriculum for students' individual differences. A comparison of the practices between the teachers in the two schools suggests that teachers' beliefs, their professional knowledge and skills shape their inclination and ability in curriculum adaptation and differentiation.