Children, play, and computers in pre-school education

The paper reports a study designed to inform the development of an information and communication technology strategy for the pre‐school years of education. The main methods of collecting evidence were observations at seven pre‐school settings and interviews with at least two practitioners and a number of children at each site. Practitioners generally referred to children “playing with the computer”. We describe some of the problems to be found in the emphasis on free play in nurseries and play groups when this means children are using computers as complete novices. There were few examples of peer support; adults rarely intervened or offered guidance and the most common form of intervention was reactive supervision. Interaction with a computer was therefore a limited experience for most children, but we provide examples of guided interaction that suggest a way forward for professional development.     

Rethinking the natural capital metaphor: implications for education and learning

One way in which the concept of sustainable development has been understood is through the metaphor of natural capital. This sees that the natural world has performing functions similar to those of economic capital. This metaphor is usually developed by applying to Nature standard economic techniques for capital valuation. However, where valuation of economic capital is complex, additional techniques are often used. One such technique is ‘real options’ analysis. Applying this technique to the concept of natural capital tends to lead to its revaluation, and has particular implications for the role of learning. Learning opportunities arising from the real options metaphor are explored through a number of examples.     

Failing our Children? The comprehension of younger viewers

Educationalists are failing to help children acquire the skills needed to understand television, despite its importance in our society and schools. The present study examines whether a successful course of television literacy could be developed to cover the entire school age range, based on a common approach. Results indicate that the course was successful at all levels, and suggest that further research might identify factors which influence television comprehension.     

Sadhan Basu — a physical chemist extraordinaire

Sadhan Basu was an inspiring teacher and scientist and among the best that our university system has produced. He carried out important and thoughtful research work in the fields of polymers, spectroscopy and quantum chemistry that bear the signature of a highly creative mind. And all these he did with so little resources at his disposal. No wonder that his memory still inspires awe and respect among many of his immensely successful students and colleagues.     

The relationship of teacher ratings of executive functions to emergent literacy in Head Start

Reading and Writing - The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent relationships between selected teacher-rated executive function (EF) and a comprehensive array of emergent literacy...     

Conditioned defensive burying in rats: Availability of burying materials

Rats shocked once by a stationary, wire-wrapped prod mounted on the wall of the test chamber incorporated sand, wooden blocks, or commercial bedding material on the floor of the chamber into a defensive response. They moved the available material toward and over the shock prod in all three conditions, adapting the response topography to the particular demands of the available material. In the sand and bedding conditions, the rats buried the prod by pushing and spraying piles of the material with snout and forepaws, whereas, in the blocks condition they picked up the blocks with their teeth and placed them individually around the prod. In Experiment 2, the rats buried the shock prod with blocks even when they had to first carry the blocks to the prod from the back of the chamber. Thus, conditioned defensive burying is not a simple, reflexive response to objects paired with a painful stimulus: it is a complex behavioral sequence that can vary as a function of the availability of burying materials.     

Energy storage and retrieval

Harnessing sunlight for the production of electrical energy is an engrossing prospect. The crucial concept underlying the success of solar power stations is energy storage and its retrieval on demand which can be most effectively achieved with storage batteries. This article highlights the chemistry of existing and emerging battery technologies.     

Naming-speed processes, timing, and reading: a conceptual review

This article integrates the findings in the special issue with a comprehensive review of the evidence for seven central questions about the role of naming-speed deficits in developmental reading disabilities. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-linguistic research on naming-speed processes, timing processes, and reading is presented. An evolving model of visual naming illustrates areas of difference and areas of overlap between naming speed and phonology in their underlying requirements. Work in the cognitive neurosciences is used to explore two nonexclusive hypotheses about the putative links between naming speed and reading processes and about the sources of disruption that may cause subtypes of reading disabilities predicted by the double-deficit hypothesis. Finally, the implications of the work in this special issue for diagnosis and intervention are elaborated.