A Review of: “Answering Consumer Health Questions: The Medical Library Association Guide for Reference Librarians. Spatz,Michele.”

No abstract available for this article.     

Literary apartheid in the post‐war London novel: finding the middle ground

This article examines the development of literary apartheid in post‐war English fiction. While Anglo‐English novelists have generally not included black or Asian characters, London novelists have been an exception to the prevailing little Englandism. Separate critical traditions have also played a role: Anglo‐English critics have shown little interest in race, while black and Asian critics have been engaged in the necessary task of tracing black and Asian British traditions. Drawing on key texts from the 1950s to the 1970s (Colin MacInnes and Barbara Pym) and from the 1980s to the present (Michael Moorcock and Maggie Gee), the essay discusses varied Anglo‐English responses to the development of London as a multicultural city.     

Managing curriculum change and ‘ontological uncertainty’ in tertiary education

Curriculum reform at institutional level is a challenging endeavour. Those charged with leading this process will encounter both enthusiasm and multiple obstacles to teacher engagement including the particularly complex issue of confronting existing teacher identities. At Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec), the ‘Living Curriculum’ initiative focused on whole-of-institution curriculum renewal and, in the process, acknowledged and addressed teacher beliefs and practices that variously supported and contested both the initiative itself and the professional development offerings that accompanied it. The related research project identified factors and processes that unsettle teachers, rendering them ‘insecure’, and strategies that have proven effective in supporting teachers through significant change in conceptions of curriculum, teaching and learning.     

Anxiety in Science Classrooms: its measurement and relationship to classroom environment

This paper considers the role of a new vocational science qualification in the UK (Intermediate General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science) and how it relates to science-based employment. Studies into employers' requirements are reviewed and found to indicate that an ability to understand and evaluate scientific evidence is valued highly. This part of science is not currently taught explicitly either in GNVQ or elsewhere in the science curriculum. The authors report the results of a small intervention study in which ideas about evidence were explicitly taught within Intermediate GNVQ science. The findings suggest that it is feasible to incorporate such teaching into the qualification but that, if it is not part of the formal assessment process, the teaching tends to be undervalued by the students. By contrast, the teaching staff involved in the project recognised that these ideas fill a gap in the qualification and valued the teaching materials developed for this purpose. A means of incorporating the assessment of such understanding into the current assessment procedures is put forward. Such a modification to the assessment process would add rigour to the qualification and provide a better preparation for employment in science-based industry.     

Significant Evidence

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and material in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each abstract or group is preceded by an evaluation and interpretive comment, which aims to guide the reader in understanding the research reported.

All of these abstracts are from PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS, and used by permission of that periodical. The abstract numbers are from Volume 25, Numbers 9 and 10, September-October 1951.     

The Time Has Come to Create Meaning‐Making Centers on College Campuses

Robert J. Nash and Jennifer J. J. Jang argue that students have a great need to find a “meaning to live for,” à la Victor Frankl, and make a case for creating a space for students and educators to contextualize learning experiences dealing with the universal, existential questions of life.