Boxing clever: using shoeboxes to support home–school knowledge exchange

A key tenet of the Home–School Knowledge Exchange Project is that children's learning will be enhanced if the knowledge and experience that are to be found both at home and in school can be brought together. In this paper we explore ways of connecting home and school to support literacy learning at Key Stage 1, focusing on the home‐to‐school direction. We discuss how shoeboxes, filled with children's artefacts, can support a range of literacy‐related activities in school. It is suggested that the extensive diversity of knowledge and interests reflected in the chosen objects presents teachers with an invaluable opportunity to personalise children's literacy learning.     

A Comparative Analysis of the Personality Profiles of Teacher Trainees in Malaysia and Singapore

Paper presented at the Fifth Asean Forum on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, York Hotel, Singapore, 17–19 November 1985.     

Examining the Usefulness of Student-Produced PSAs to Learn Advocacy in a Human Behavior and the Social Environment Course

ABSTRACT

Advocacy is a complex set of applications that applies knowledge of human behavior in the social environment to promote the rights of others. The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of student-created public service announcements (PSAs) to help BSW students learn cause-based advocacy. Our results suggest that assigning a PSA project supports competencies in cause-based advocacy, professional identity development social work, critical thinking, engagement with research-informed practice, and capacity to respond to contexts.     

Stress analysis of anisotropic thick laminates in cylindrical bending using a semi-analytical approach

Semi-analytical elasticity solutions for bending of angle-ply laminates in cylindrical bending are presented using the state-space-based differential quadrature method (SSDQM). Partial differential state equation is derived from the basic equations of elasticity based on the state space concept. Then, the differential quadrature (DQ) technique is introduced to discretize the longitu- dinal domain of the plate so that a series of ordinary differential state equations are obtained at the discrete points. Meanwhile, the edge constrained conditions are handled directly using the stress and displacement components without the Saint-Venant principle. The thickness domain is solved analytically based on the state space formalism along with the continuity conditions at interfaces. The present method is validated by comparing the results to the exact solutions of Pagano’s problem. Numerical results for fully clamped thick laminates are presented, and the influences of ply angle on stress distributions are discussed.     

Effect of Twinning on Chinese and English Vocabulary Knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge was tested in a native (Cantonese-Chinese) and foreign (English) language in 150 twins and 150 singletons aged 6–11 years, matched on age, gender, grade level, nonverbal intelligence, parents’ education, family income, and number of siblings and household members. The singletons clearly outperformed the twins on the native vocabulary, but this “twinning effect” was much less noticeable for the foreign vocabulary. The effect on English vocabulary was further reduced after exposure to English at home was controlled. Given that these participants learned most of their English in school rather than home, the present findings support the notion that the twinning effect is associated with increased competition for family interaction in twins compared with singletons.     

Mixing enhancement in microfluidic channel with a constriction under periodic electro-osmotic flow

We present a new approach to enhance mixing in T-type micromixers by introducing a constriction in the microchannel under periodic electro-osmotic flow. Two sinusoidal ac electric fields with 180° phase difference and similar dc bias are applied at the two inlets. The out of phase ac electric field induces oscillation of fluid interface at the junction of the two inlet channels and the constriction. Due to the constriction introduced at the junction, fluids from these two inlets form alternative plugs at the constricted channel. These plugs of fluids radiate downstream from the constriction into the large channel and form alternate thin crescent-shaped layers of fluids. These crescent-shaped layers of fluids increase tremendously the contact surface area between the two streams of fluid and thus enhance significantly the mixing efficiency. Experimental results and mixing mechanism analysis show that amplitude and frequency of the ac electric field and the length of the constriction govern the mixing efficiency.