Inside a beginning immigrant science teacher’s classroom: an ethnographic study

Teaching is a highly personal endeavor shaped by ‘funds of knowledge’ and beliefs about teaching, learning, and students. This case study examines how one Asian immigrant teacher’s personal expectations and beliefs influenced his expectations of students and the teaching and instructional strategies he employed. His expectations of students’ behavior and their failure to conform to his expectations influenced him to utilize more traditional, didactic instructional practices and responses to classroom management dilemmas. It is generally assumed that immigrant and minority students will benefit from exposure to teachers from similar backgrounds, and that ethnically diverse teachers can better prepare minority students for the multicultural workplace and global economy. This study focuses on the role a teacher’s background and experiences play in development of their beliefs about teaching and learning, their expectations of students, and the instructional decisions they make regarding teaching and learning. This study suggests that teachers draw on their personal histories and cultural understandings to create classroom practices which are molded by microcosms of personal ‘funds of knowledge’ and beliefs about teaching and learning. In contrast to conventional wisdom and unquestioned myths, this study emphasizes the importance of knowing that teachers’ cultural backgrounds do not necessarily qualify them to provide the most appropriate instructional environment for students from similar cultural backgrounds. This study suggests that all teachers need to learn to recognize and negotiate the unique social elements culturally diverse students bring to the classroom.     

Revaluing the enlightenment: reason and imagination

In higher education teaching, enhancing learner autonomy has become a key concern for curriculum planners and classroom teachers. The significant body of research about learner autonomy in language learning over the last 20 years (e.g. Holec 1981, 1988; Riley 1985; Dickinson 1987, 1992; Wenden & Rubin 1987; Little, 1991; Dam, 1995; Benson & Voller, 1997) has indicated an on-going search for more understanding of how learner autonomy can be implemented in different contexts. This paper is based on a research study which was conducted in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. The study explores learners' attitudes and expectations of language learning, teacher and learner roles, their learning preferences and perceptions of learner autonomy. The paper reports the results and discusses their implication on the development of a learner-centred approach in higher education.     

COLLEGE CHOICE INFLUENCES: URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS RESPOND

There is an increasing need to know and understand the patterns of minority high school students' choices regarding postsecondary education. The literature contains very limited information on current high school students. The information from the study discussed in this article will help guide community colleges' recruitment of traditional college-age students. An immediate outcome of participation for students in this study was heightened awareness concerning postsecondary education. Schools participating in the study included 5 magnet schools housed in one complex and 15 traditional highschools located in a major urban metropolitan area in the southwest. Study results indicated that higher education was not a tradition in students' families but was strongly encouraged. Financial aid was an important consideration for many students. A small percentage reported planning on attending a 2-year institution. Several reported planning to attend both a 2-year institution and a 4-year institution. A smaller percentage did not respond to the question, possibly indicating that they were unsure of what they planned to do after high school.     

Interoperability and Information Integration in an Early Online Academic Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: The Case of BTD

Cooperative organization has been proposed as a means to improve the usefulness of virtual libraries. Information interchange among library and other academic applications is often hindered by the lack of application interoperability. This hindrance may be overcome through the development of standards that allow for digital libraries to exchange and share information with other applications. The Graduate Program in Production Engineering (PPGEP) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) launched its Theses and Dissertations Bank (BTD) in 1995. BTD is possibly the first online academic digital library of theses. From a digital document repository, BTD evolved into a system that combines bibliometry and informetry features. BTD is used by students and faculty in their research activities, but also by decision makers from industry and academia. They use it, respectively, to search for specialists and to measure interest and knowledge interchange among PPGEP research areas. This article presents the history, features, and development prospects for the BTD project. The integration of BTD with other academic applications, especially those of the Brazilian national science and technology platform, is emphasized.     

Catalog Users “In the Wild”: The Potential of an Ethnographic Approach to Studies of Library Catalogs and Their Users

An increasing number of library user studies are employing ethnographic techniques as an alternative to more traditional qualitative methods such as surveys. Such techniques, however, are only beginning to see significant application to catalog user studies. Beginning with a discussion of the applied ethnographic method and its current usage within the field of Library and Information Science research, this article will assess methods that have traditionally been applied to studies of catalog users and present the case for the potential of an ethnographic approach for future catalog evaluation and design.     

Self-controlled learning benefits: exploring contributions of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation via path analysis

Research has shown learning advantages for self-controlled practice contexts relative to yoked (i.e., experimenter-imposed) contexts; yet, explanations for this phenomenon remain relatively untested. We examined, via path analysis, whether self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation are important constructs for explaining self-controlled learning benefits. The path model was created using theory-based and empirically supported relationships to examine causal links between these psychological constructs and physical performance. We hypothesised that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation would have greater predictive power for learning under self-controlled compared to yoked conditions. Participants learned double-mini trampoline progressions, and measures of physical performance, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation were collected over two practice days and a delayed retention day. The self-controlled group (M = 2.04, SD = .98) completed significantly more skill progressions in retention than their yoked counterparts (M = 1.3, SD = .65). The path model displayed adequate fit, and similar significant path coefficients were found for both groups wherein each variable was predominantly predicted by its preceding time point (e.g., self-efficacy time 1 predicts self-efficacy time 2). Interestingly, the model was not moderated by group; thus, failing to support the hypothesis that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation have greater predictive power for learning under self-controlled relative to yoked conditions.     

Effect of ultraviolet photofunctionalization of dental titanium implants on osseointegration

Objective

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) photofunctionalization of dental titanium implants with exposure to the oral cavity on osseointegration in an animal model.

Methods

Forty-eight titanium implants (Camlog® Conelog® 4.3 mmx9.0 mm) were placed epicrestally into the edentulous jaws of three minipigs and implant stability was assessed by measuring the implant stability quotient (ISQ). Prior to implantation half of the implants were photofunctionalized with intense UV-light. After three months, the implants were exposed and ISQ was measured again. After six months of implant exposure, the minipigs were sacrificed and the harvested specimens were analyzed using histomorphometric, light, and fluorescence microscopy.

Main results

Forty-two of 48 implants osseointegrated. The overall mean bone-implant contact area (BIC) was (64±22)%. No significant differences were found in BIC or ISQ value (multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), P>0.05) between implants with and without exposure to UV photofunctionalization.

Conclusions

No significant effects were observed on osseointegration of dental titanium implants nine months after exposure of UV photofunctionalization.

     

Texts and literacies of the Shi Jinrui

In post‐industrial societies saturated with the multimodal texts of consumer culture—film, computer games, interactive toys, SMS, email, the internet, television, DVDs—young people are developing literacy skills and knowledge in and for a world significantly changed from that of their parents and educators. Given this context, this paper seeks to demonstrate the necessity of rethinking and extending traditional notions of text and literacy, and consider the social and cultural implications of such a shift.     

A Guide to Just and Fair Remediation of Counseling Students with Professional Performance Deficiencies

Ethical standards for counselor training require remediation of students with professional performance deficiencies. However, standards fail to specify the type or extent of remediation necessary to safeguard students' legal rights or justify dismissal if remediation is unsuccessful. Critical assessment of remedial practices in counselor preparation has occurred primarily in the courts when the constitutionality of specific practices was challenged. Prompted by a recent court challenge and its implications for curricular and policy change (C. R. McAdams, V. A. Foster, & T. J. Ward, 2007), this article examines court‐tested methods of student remediation and presents them as a guide for developing just and fair student remediation policies.     

Performing intelligible genders through violence: bullying as gender practice and heteronormative control

The purpose of the present study was to analyse adolescents’ perception of bullying and particularly of the ways intelligible masculinities and femininities are performed through violence in the framework of Queer Theory. We conducted a qualitative study using focus groups. The sample was composed of 93 Spanish adolescents (48 girls and 45 boys, mean age 13.7 years) who attended 4 compulsory secondary education schools in Spain and participated voluntarily in the study. Students’ statements revealed that bullying is a strongly gendered phenomenon and an additional way of ‘doing gender’, that is, of performing hegemonic femininities and masculinities at school, imitating and reproducing gender norms and punishing those who transgress them.