Fostering children’s working theories: pedagogic issues and dilemmas in New Zealand

Working theories and learning dispositions are key learning outcomes in the early childhood curriculum in New Zealand. However, while there has been a focus on learning dispositions in recent years, less is known about the development of children’s working theories or the pedagogy to support this. The aim of this study was to explore children’s working theories in action in a number of Playcentre settings. The authors were interested in children’s problem‐seeking and ‐solving, theorising, acting and interactions as they engaged in everyday inquiries and conversations with others. This paper discusses some of the dilemmas for educators, including defining and recognising working theories, and deciding what to respond to, and how to respond. When attention was paid to the subtle nuances of moment‐to‐moment interactions it provided new insights into pedagogy. The findings have implications for early childhood educators as they seek to develop episodes of sustained shared thinking and support the development of children’s working theories over time.     

Integrating ICT into classroom practice in modern foreign language teaching in England: making room for teachers' voices

Current government policy in the UK places teachers of all subject areas under pressure to embed ICT into their pedagogic practice to improve teaching and learning. This article attempts to compare that policy with the situated reality of a small number of Modern Foreign Language teachers striving to comply. The voices of four teachers are presented as they began to embed the use of ICT (primarily their newly acquired Interactive Whiteboards) into their existing classroom approach. The story of their developing practice is examined for signs of transformation; the complexity of a real situation is thus contrasted with a simplified ideal. By means of this investigation, examples of sophisticated pedagogical thinking are explored to demonstrate that it is perhaps not so easy to transform the learning process, with or without ICT.

La politique actuelle du gouvernement du Royaume‐Uni exerce une pression sur les enseignants de toutes matières pour qu'ils intègrent les technologies d'information et de communication dans leurs pratiques pédagogiques afin d'améliorer l'enseignement et l'apprentissage. Cet article essaye de comparer cette politique avec la réalité contextualisée d'un petit nombre de professeurs de langues étrangères qui font leur possible pour s'y conformer. Les voix de quatre enseignants y sont présentées alors qu'ils commençaient à intégrer l'informatique (et en particulier leurs tableaux interactifs récemment acquis) dans leur approche pédagogique actuelle. L'histoire du changement de leurs pratiques est remise en question pour trouver des indications de transformation. La complexité d'une situation réelle peut alors être mise en contraste avec une idée simplifiée. De par cette étude, on peut examiner des exemples de la réflexion pédagogique développée pour montrer que ce n'est pas tellement facile de transformer les méthodes d'apprentissage, avec ou sans l'outil informatique.

Die Gegenwärtige Regierungspolitik in Großbritannien setzt Lehrkräfte aller Schulfächer unter Druck, moderne Informationstechniken in ihre pädagogische Praxis einzubeziehen, um den Unterricht und den Lernprozess zu verbessern. Dieser Beitrag versucht, diese Politik mit der realen Situation einer kleinen Anzahl von SprachlehrerInnen zu vergleichen, die sich bemühen, den Anordnungen nachzukommen. Die Stimmen von vier Lehrkräften werden vorgelegt, die damit begonnen haben, Informations‐ und Kommunikationstechnologie (hauptsächlich ihre neu erworbenen interactive whiteboards (interaktive Tafeln)) in ihre gegenwärtige Unterrichtsmethode einzubeziehen. Es wird untersucht, welche Veränderungen es bei zunehmender Praxis gibt. Die Vielschichtigkeit einer realen Situation wird somit dem vereinfachten Idealfall gegenübergestellt. Mittels dieser Untersuchung werden Beispiele hochentwickelten pädagogischen Denkens erforscht und dazu verwendet, um zu zeigen, dass es doch nicht so einfach ist, den Lernprozess zu verändern—mit oder ohne ICT.

La política actuel del gobierno del Reino Unido sitúa a los profesores de todos los departamentos bajo la presión de arraigar ICT en la práctica de su pedagogía para mejorar la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Este artículo intenta comparar esa política con la realidad de un pequeño número de profesores de idiomas extranjeros que se esfuerza por llevarla a cabo. La voz de cuatro profesores nos presenta como empoezaron a arraigar el uso de ICT (primeramente con la reciente adquisición de los Whiteboards Interactivos) como enfoque en sus clases actuales. La historia de su práctica en desarrollo está acompañada de indicios de cambios. Por eso la complejidad de una situación real se contrasta con un ideal más simplificado. Por medio de esta investigación, se exploran ejemplos de pensamiento pedagógico sofisticado para demostrar que quizás no sea tan fácil transformar el proceso de aprendizaje, con o sin ICT.     

Telemental health technology in deaf and general mental-health services: access and use

Long-distance travel to provide mental health services for deaf people has implications for efficiency, safety, and equality of service. However, uptake of Telemental Health (TMH) has been slow in both deaf and general mental health services. A quantitative study was used to investigate access to TMH and whether staff confidence, experience, or demographics affect TMH use. It was concluded that staff in neither deaf mental health services nor general mental health services had adequate knowledge of or access to TMH. Staff expressed concerns over TMH's appropriateness in their work. Previous use of videoconferencing was assosciated significantly with confidence, but previous use of videophones was not. Neither staff in deaf services nor deaf staff were more experienced with or more confident about videoconferencing, whereas, within deaf services, deaf staff were significantly more confident about videophone use. Training implications are discussed.     

Do profoundly prelingually deaf patients with psychosis really hear voices?

THE PSYCHIATRIC LITERATURE has described profoundly prelingually deaf people with psychosis who report hearing voices. The present study proposes that such reports in fact reflect the beliefs of professionals in mental health and deafness and not the hallucinatory experience of psychotic deaf people. The study demonstrates that it is functionally meaningless to assert that a prelingually profoundly deaf psychotic patient "hears voices," and provides a theoretical structure from which to consider more appropriately the internal experiences of deaf people with psychosis, and to encourage the clinically relevant articulation of these experiences. The authors also suggest that the "true" phenomenological experience is of secondary clinical interest to the meaning imposed upon it by the client and the distress caused by it.     

The views of primary pupils on school attendance at Key Stage 2 in Wales

This paper provides new empirical evidence on primary pupils’ views on school attendance in Wales at Key Stage 2. The research was conducted as part of the specific evidence commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) for the National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) in Wales which was chaired by the lead author. The findings indicate that nearly every child and young person who participated in the specially convened focus groups, in practically every setting, had a good awareness of the benefits of attending school regularly. They were all acutely aware of the potential consequences of non‐attendance both within their current setting and as it could potentially affect their later chances in life. They also understood the law regarding school attendance. They were clear about the attendance regulations within their own school settings. They were however, particularly concerned about bullying in all its forms, the use of supply teachers and “boring” teaching styles. Rewards for good attendance were generally appreciated. The implications of the findings are considered. This paper is the first of its kind to be undertaken in Wales and in the field of school attendance and opens up considerable possibilities for further research.     

图书馆馆际间的合作：全球性的进展

作者鼓励图书馆专业人员,不单要为自己的图书馆尽心尽力,也要走出自己的图书馆,贡献才智与全世界数字图书馆链接。为了达到提供更快的服务,把好的资源信息送到更边远的地区,作者列举近年来图书馆界馆藏数字化的多项工程的进展,说明图书馆馆际间合作的必要性,因为工程浩大,影响深远,需要靠跨国界、跨行业、跨机构的参与、精诚地合作、克服挑战和经费的大力支持。作者更鼓励图书馆专业人员,贡献一己之力,来完成服务无围墙的世界图书馆的宏愿,做一个真正的世界图书馆人。参考文献43。