Relationships between mathematical knowledge for teaching and teaching practice: the case of proof

Teachers of mathematics orchestrate opportunities for interactions between learners and subject matter. Therefore, mathematics teachers need rich, multidimensional content knowledge for teaching mathematics, which incorporates knowledge of the subject matter, students, and teaching. Studying this mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) necessitates more than a unidirectional assessment. In this study, the mathematical knowledge for teaching reasoning and proving of two secondary mathematics teachers was investigated through classroom observations and clinical assessments. Results indicate that using MKT as a frame for examining classroom practice, in addition to assessing the MKT a teacher possesses in a clinical setting, provides an in-depth and innovative method for investigating MKT. The comparison of the two cases also identifies student positioning as a key mediating factor between MKT and opportunities to learn. Implications for using MKT as a lens for examining practice in teacher education are discussed.     

On personal and collective dimensions of agency in doctoral training: medicine and natural science programs

The purpose of the present study was to investigate knowledge-creating agency by examining doctoral students' accounts of their pursuits, using structured interviews. We examined all of the talk apparently related to agency of 13 doctoral students taking part in collective doctoral training in two, highly regarded Finnish research communities (natural science and medicine). The doctoral process involved the participants pursuing article-based theses based on collectively shared research problems and journal articles co-authored with the supervisor and other senior researchers. Based on the qualitative analysis of the interviews, three categories of agentic talk were identified, respectively, for three proposed types of knowledge-creating agency: personal, distributed, and ‘object-related’. Personal agency involved participants' reflection on their academic competence, self-efficacy, and personal strengths and weaknesses. Distributed agency played an important role in assisting these participants overcoming challenges; this includes sharing of expertise, receiving social support, and having a sense of collective efficacy. Object-related agency, in turn, represented integration of a doctoral student's efforts with those of her immediate research community while pursuing shared research objects (e.g., co-authored articles). Apart from issues of agency which, the authors propose, are raised in the interviews, the data provide content-rich accounts of the collective nature of doctoral experiences.     

Reclassification in Academic Research Libraries: Is It Still Relevant in an E-Book World?

This article examines whether academic libraries are still reclassifying materials, how they are doing so, and if the acquisition of electronic materials has an impact on reclassification efforts. An online survey was sent to the heads of cataloging units at libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries to answer these questions. Almost one-third of libraries are currently involved in reclassification projects. Most respondents reported they do not believe that purchasing e-books has affected their decisions about reclassification. The article also examines the faceted search capability of next-generation catalogs and their possible impact on patrons’ use of classification.     

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children

This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.     

Archiving — the full‐text solution: an innovative way to electronic archiving

Somerset Computing Limited has developed a unique search engine that allows publishers and societies to produce electronic archives with full‐text searching and the ability to carry out high‐level search requests without major rekeying or tagging, making it the most cost‐effective solution for full‐text searching available. This technology has relevance to many publishing areas including legal publishers, academic publishers, STM publishers, learned societies and professional typesetters. This article describes how Somerset Computing has utilized its expertise and this innovative in‐house software to provide the British Academy with an affordable, fully searchable solution to the electronic archiving of the Proceedings of the British Academy.