Teachers' Mini-Case Studies of Children's Mathematics

This article reports findings from a five-day summer institute conducted with 27 practicing primary-grade teachers. The institute was part of a year-long professional development project that supported teachers' thinking about children's arithmetical understanding. From Quicktime movies that contained excerpts of six children's interviews, pairs of teachers developed mini-cases about the children's arithmetical understanding. At the end of the institute, the teachers presented their mini-case studies to the group. Teachers developed two types of hypotheses: hypotheses about children's thinking and hypotheses about what it means for children to know and do mathematics. After providing examples to clarify the two types of hypotheses, we address the challenges we faced in developing multimedia inquiry-based environments that facilitated teachers' thinking about children's arithmetical thinking. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using the DYSA Programme to Reduce Stress and Anxiety in First-year University Students

With recent increases in the number of students attending universities without a proportional increase in resources, it is likely that there has been a decrease in the quality of life students experience and an increase in the stress they feel. This is of course added to by tuition fees and the need to take out student loans. The writers review research into student stress and highlight the fact that many researchers have noted the need for stress-reduction courses, though this has been a recommendation that has not generally been taken up. A specific stress-reduction programme for school pupils and university students is described. This programme was tested with first-year undergraduates. The students involved all felt that the programme had been valuable. Apart from its clear relevance to the support of university students, this paper raises issues which are of importance to those working with sixth-form students.     

Teaching recordkeeping and archiving continuum style

This article explores teaching, continuum style, in transdisciplinary environments with reference to the recordkeeping and archiving program at Monash University, Australia. It explains how continuum approaches and activity-based learning can address the challenges of growing complexity, and the ever expanding universe of content.     

Practice Libraries: managing printed information and meeting theinformation needs of staff in general practice

Librarians and GPs share an interest in exploring differentapproaches to providing information to general practice and improving information managementwithin it. Describing the aims, policy, collections, enquiries and services of three Practice Librariesin the Aylesbury area, this paper demonstrates that an information professional can make asignificant impact on the management of printed information whilst facilitating access to externalsources. A wealth of opportunities lie ahead for those willing to apply information handling skillsto general practice. Medical librarians will need to strike a careful balance between providingdirect access to sources and the development of information services tailored to meet the needs ofprimary health care workers.     

Telling Tales - Finding the Words: What do Storytellers say about Children and Stories?

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of education. The National Oracy Project and the National Curriculum's emphasis on Speaking and Listening have given fresh relevance to this ancient practice. Meanwhile, storytelling as an art form is experiencing a revival in Britain. This article reports on the views of storytellers on children's work with stories, and offers many ideas to teachers on effective ways to tap into the oral tradition.     

The CRISP system: an untapped resource for biomedical research project information

CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) is a large database maintained and operated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It contains comprehensive scientific and selected administrative data on research carried out by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) or supported by PHS grants and contracts. Developed originally to meet the needs of NIH, it is an excellent, largely untapped resource for health information professionals at large, revealing new trends, methods, and techniques, often before they appear in the published literature. CRISP uses its own controlled vocabulary, developed to permit indexing of new and active research areas. Queries can combine subject headings with a great variety of administrative data elements (e.g., research category or principal investigator's name). Output is available in a variety of formats and media. While information professionals cannot directly access the CRISP system, abridged CRISP records are merged into the FEDRIP (Federal Research in Progress) database, and FEDRIP is publicly accessible through DIALOG. CRISP records in toxicology are also furnished to the National Library of Medicine's TOXLINE database. This paper discusses the indexing, information retrieval, publication products, and search services of the CRISP system, and how users of medical information can benefit from it.