Taking a ‘reality’ check: Expanding pre-service teachers' views on pedagogy and diversity

The outcomes of a two-pronged ‘real-world’ learning project, which aimed to expand the views of pre-service teachers about learning, pedagogy and diversity, will be discussed in this paper. Seventy-two fourth-year and 22 first-year students, enrolled in a Bachelor of Education degree in Queensland, Australia, were engaged in community sites outside of university lectures, and separate from their practicum. Using Butin's conceptual framework for service learning, we show evidence that this approach can enable pre-service teachers to see new realities about the dilemmas and ambiguities of performing as learners and as teachers. We contend that when such ‘real-world’ experiences have different foci at different times in their four-year degree, pre-service teachers have more opportunities to develop sophisticated understandings of pedagogy in diverse contexts for diverse learners.     

Development of an Educational Packet for Persons with Life-Threatening Food Allergies

ABSTRACT:  Previous studies have shown that those with severe food allergies have significant gaps in knowledge about their disease and how to prevent recurrences. The purpose of this study was to address these deficiencies by creating and testing an educational packet, "Coping with Food Allergies." Participants included 46 of 58 adults with documented severe food allergies (response rate = 79%); and indeed, over half (57%) of the participants had experienced a food allergic reaction in the past year. The educational packet was tested in waves, with comments from participants used to revise the next version of the packet. Language targeted a lay audience and hand-drawn illustrations were added to make the material more appealing. Most participants recommended expanding sections dealing with symptom management and approaches to take when eating at restaurants. These sections became prominent features of the final edition.
The participants were equally divided regarding preferred learning type: text-based compared with visual. No significant associations could be drawn between learning style and perceived clarity of information, with 93% finding the packet very clear and easy to read. Participants commented that the simple illustrations were ideal for a child with allergies or someone reading at a 6th to 8th grade level. Even among this group with longstanding food allergy, over 60% reported that they learned something new from the packet. "Coping with Food Allergies" will be made available to the public via the Food Safety Educators web site of the USDA and the allergy support group, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).     

大胃王的一生

他刚出生,食量就大得惊人. 断了奶,这孩子的食量还是很大.妈妈总是敷衍说,孩子是在"疯长".孩子大点儿了,只要是能抓到手里的东西,最后都无一例外地被填进了他的嘴里.妈妈总是说.这个阶段的孩子,是用嘴感知世界,长大就好了.不久,小孩儿会说话了,他学会的第一个宇就是"吃",满嘴都是"吃汽车?吃球?吃小狗?"之类的问题.     

Learning to collaborate: Can young children develop better communication strategies through collaboration with a more popular peer

Unpopular children are known to have poor communication skills and experience difficulty in collaborative situations. This study investigated whether pairing unpopular, 5 to 6 year-old, children with a more popular peer would promote more effective collaboration. The study also investigated differences in popular and unpopular children’s verbal and non-verbal communication. Thirty-six girls and 36 boys were placed in one of 12 popular, 12 unpopular or 12 mixed pairs. There were no mixed gender pairs. Children were filmed playing a collaborative game. Collaboration in popular pairs was more successful and less disputational than in unpopular pairs. Boys in unpopular pairs broke the rules of the game more often, argued more and did not monitoring their partners’ facial expressions effectively. With popular partners they argued less, were more likely to elaborate disagreements, looked at their partner for longer, smiled more and were more likely to offer him a small toy. Unpopular girls’ interactions were not markedly disruptive but they clearly benefited from being paired with a child with good communication skills. Popular girls modified their behaviour to take into account an unpopular partner’s need for support. These findings suggest that pairing popular and unpopular children may be a useful classroom organisation strategy.     

The Effects of Physical Abuse on Children's Social Relationships

Social behavior and peer status of 87 physically abused 8–12-year-old urban children were compared with those of 87 case-matched nonmaltreated classmates. Peer nominations and peer ratings were collected in classrooms, social networks were assessed by child interview, family variables were assessed by interviewing mothers, and behavior problems were rated by parents and teachers. Significant findings were that abused children had lower peer status and less positive reciprocity with peers chosen as friends; they were rated by peers as more aggressive and less cooperative and by parents and teachers as more disturbed; and their social networks showed more insularity, atypicality, and negativity. Social behavior as perceived by peers accounted for a significant portion of the variance in social status; global disturbance measures did not add to this association. Results are discussed in terms of a context of family violence in the development of social maladjustment.     

Between Mere Tolerance and Robust Respect: Mutuality as a Basis for Civic Education in Pluralist Democracies

This essay by Suzanne Rosenblith and Benjamin Bindewald is motivated by the question of how do those who value civic liberalism give the religiously orthodox a reason to engage in pluralist democratic deliberations in a manner that does not allow intolerance to undermine the foundations of liberal democracy. Introducing the idea of tolerance as mutuality — that is, a will to relationship — the authors argue, strikes a balance between those theories that are too demanding of the religiously orthodox and those that are not exacting enough. Applying the principle of tolerance as mutuality to the special space of public schools allows for a new way to conceptualize civic education in pluralist democracies.     

Video as a format in health information

Video is a medium that has passed through a progression of technical advances including the invention of videotape, the incremental refinements to laser videodisc technologies, and the arrival of digital imaging technologies such as CD-ROM, DVD, and the Web's video streaming. Today, video is firmly established as a convenient and effective medium for conveying medical information. One result of these developments is that medical reference librarians can expect to encounter information requests and professional tasks that will require an understanding of these wide-ranging and differing video technologies.