Philosophy in Schools: A Catholic School Perspective

This article builds on the recent Special Interest issue of this journal on ‘Philosophy for Children in Transition’ (2011) and the way that the debate about philosophy in schools has now shifted to whether or not it ought to be a compulsory part of the curriculum. This article puts the spotlight on Catholic schools in order to present a different argument in favour of introducing compulsory philosophy lessons into the curriculum. It is explained that in faith schools, such as Catholic ones, there is an additional need or imperative to have compulsory philosophy as part of the curriculum. This is because it serves as an effective way of avoiding the inherent dangers of confessional education, particularly the indoctrination challenge. It is argued that Catholic schools also have some intriguing theological reasons that can be used to justify the inclusion of compulsory philosophy in the school curriculum. It is proposed that when it comes to philosophy in schools there is a distinctive Catholic school perspective. As part of this it is explained why Catholic schools, perhaps more than others, need philosophy to be a compulsory part of the curriculum.     

Designed by the pupils,for the pupils: an autism‐friendly school

There is growing interest in promoting autism‐friendly environments, especially in a school setting. Findings to date have generally advocated an accepted reductionist or generalist approach when providing an autism‐friendly built environment. However, previous studies, while very well intentioned, have rarely involved those with autism spectrum condition (ASC) to comment on and then instruct designers on what, for them, constitutes an autism‐friendly learning environment. If going to be truly inclusive, the authors contend that those who are most knowledgeable about ASC, those with ASC, should, whenever possible, be given the opportunity to comment on the design of our shared built environment. Hence this article first introduces some of the challenges faced by those with ASC in trying to cope with their surroundings, before proceeding to outline the development of a simple school design ‘jigsaw’ kit that helped pupils with ASC to communicate ideas for their perfect school. Used in four design workshops, secondary school aged pupils (aged 13 to 18) with ASC imparted their likes, dislikes and what was most important to them within the school environment. This facilitated comparison with current autism‐friendly guidelines and provides a valuable insight into the mind of the secondary pupil with ASC. It is hoped that by increasing awareness and then including those with ASC in describing what might constitute an autism‐friendly learning environment, it will help facilitate greater inclusion of the child with ASC into mainstream education and society at large.     

Why are they not accessing it? User barriers to clinical information access

The Medical Library Association''s InSight Initiative provides an open and collaborative environment for library and industry partners to discuss vexing problems and find solutions to better serve their users. The initiative''s fifth summit, continuing work from the previous summit, focused on understanding how users discover and access information in the clinical environment. During the summit, participants were divided into working groups and encouraged to create a tangible product as a result of their discussions. At the end of the summit, participants established a framework for understanding users'' pain points, discussed possible solutions to those points, and received feedback on their work from an End User Advisory Board comprising physicians, clinical researchers, and clinical faculty in biomedicine. In addition to the pain point framework, participants are developing MLA InSight Initiative Learning content with modules to educate librarians and publishers about critical aspects of user behavior. The 2020 Insight Initiative Fall Forum will serve as a virtual home for constructive dialogue between health sciences librarians and publishers on improving discovery and access to information.     

Dissection versus Prosection: A Comparative Assessment of the Course Experiences,Approaches to Learning,and Academic Performance of Non-medical Undergraduate Students in Human Anatomy

Many institutions rely upon prosection-based laboratories as more resource-efficient and time-effective alternatives to traditional cadaver dissection for human anatomy education. To facilitate growing enrollment numbers despite resource limitations, the University of Guelph (a non-medical institution) introduced a modified “stepwise” prosection-based laboratory cohort to supplement a dissection-based course. In this design, all students attended the same lectures, but those in the dissection-based cohort learned by performing regional dissections and students in the prosection-based cohort studied from those dissections. Prosection students thereby witnessed a “slow reveal” of structures throughout the course. This study compared the perceived course experiences, student approaches to learning, and academic performance between the two groups. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to isolate the effect of the laboratory environment on student approaches to learning and academic performance from demographic and situational covariates. Both groups reported positive course experience ratings and high average final grades that were not statistically dissimilar (P > 0.05), increased reliance on deep approaches to learning (P = 0.002), and decreased reliance on surface approaches to learning (P = 0.023). When controlling for covariates, participation in dissection had small but statistically significant positive associations with deep approaches to learning (P = 0.043), performance on laboratory oral assessments (P < 0.001), and average final grades (P = 0.039). Ultimately, both designs promoted meaningful learning and desirable performance outcomes, indicating that both dissection and stepwise prosection have the potential to facilitate high quality human anatomy instruction.     

The Interaction of Issue and Image Frames on Political Candidate Assessment

This study examined the combined effect of character and policy coverage about a political candidate in news media on voters’ evaluations and thoughts about the candidate. A 2 (issue coverage: present/absent) × 2 (image coverage: present/absent) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted whereby participants (N = 134) read a version of an editorial article that varied in the coverage of a candidate’s character and policy positions. Results indicated that issue and image coverage, each in isolation, enhanced perceptions of the candidate’s image strength and issue strength. However, issue and image coverage when presented in combination compared to in isolation did not enhance perceptions of the candidate and in some cases hindered perceptions of candidate strength. When both coverage types were present, issue coverage dominated image coverage when participants formed image evaluations, whereas image coverage dominated issue coverage when they formed issue evaluations. Similar findings resulted for issue- and image-relevant thoughts. Implications about the effects of multicoverage political messages are discussed.     

‘You're Like Yourself': Multimodal Literacies in a Reading Support Class

This article explores the experiences and literacy practices of an adolescent boy enrolled in an academic support class, in which students received an open-ended invitation to respond to S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders with the software programme Comic Life. In constructing this ‘telling case', we highlight how traditional print literacies associated with English instruction can construct school as a ‘contradictory symbolic space' for many students, but also how the introduction of the multimodalities can provide opportunities for adolescents to experience in-school literacies as social, performative and creative. We argue for re-envisioning literacy curricula and assessment not only to incorporate multimodalities, but also to provide students with instruction in writing conventions and practice with print in ways that serve larger purposes beyond remediation and test preparation. We posit the possibility for ‘complementary symbolic spaces' that are connected to the landscape of adolescent literacies that students traverse outside school and to students' desires to communicate, create and reach others within a range of discourse communities.     

Family Turbulence and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Moderation of Effects by Race

This study examined the impact of residential instability and family structure transitions on the development of internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 through 10.5. Child's race was examined as a moderator. Caregiver reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained on 665 children at ages 5 and 10.5. Early-childhood residential and family structure transitions predicted elevated internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 10.5, but only for Caucasian children. These findings suggest that residential and family structure instability during early childhood independently contribute to children's later emotional and behavioral development, but vary as a function of the child's race. Community organizations (e.g., Women, Infant, and Children) can connect turbulent families with resources to attenuate effects of residential and family structure instability.     

A Cross-cultural Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore and the United States1

This study examines the influence of individual-level characteristics on the spiral of silence effect in two countries, Singapore and the United States, making it the first cross-cultural test of the theory and thereby addressing a gap in the literature highlighted by Schefule and Moy (International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 12, 2000, 3–28). In two identical, representative telephone polls of 668 adults conducted in Singapore and 412 adults in Washington, DC, respondents were asked to indicate how likely they would be to discuss publicly two controversial issues: interracial marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. The proposed model for predicting outspokenness adds a variety of new predictors, such as culturally influenced self-concepts, fear of isolation, and communication apprehension, along with other more traditional predictors of outspokenness, such as a person's perception of the opinion climate, media exposure, issue salience, and demographics. The findings provide partial support for the spiral of silence hypothesis in Singapore, but not in the United States. Respondents’ perception of the future opinion climate in Singapore interacted with issue salience to influence their level of outspokenness; American respondents did not exhibit such an interaction effect. In both countries, however, outspokenness was associated with respondents’ perceived importance of the issue and their communication apprehension. Media exposure was not associated with outspokenness in either country.     

Towards a critical sport heritage: implications for sport tourism

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects upon the development and increased acceptance for heritage becoming a key component of sport tourism research. The original sport heritage typology, as posited by Ramshaw and Gammon [2005, More than just Nostalgia? Exploring the heritage/sport tourism nexus. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 10(4), 229–241], is re-examined through a more critical lens, revealing additional dimensions that help augment its key components. More specifically, it is argued that future studies should consider the more intangible features of sport heritage, as well as acknowledging the expanding global nature of sport and its impact upon fandom. Also, the case is made for research to explore the dissonance inherent in much of sports heritage, as well as determining where the power lies in allocating and championing current sport heritages. Lastly, the more general implications to the field of sport tourism are offered with particular regard to motivation, place, and consumption.