Making curriculum relevant to the lives of second level students: Teachers’ classroom practice

Abstract

This paper examines the professional practices of exemplary, post‐primary teachers in Ireland, England and the USA and identifies the ways in which these teachers make classroom experiences relevant to the lives of their students. In making the curriculum relevant, the teachers plan rich experiences and overtly discuss career requirements while focusing on the development of students’ personal and societal values together with their intellectual development and academic attainment. The main strategies used by these teachers to convey the relevance of the curriculum comprised self‐disclosure, the purposeful selection of curriculum content and instructional strategies, and the use of unanticipated opportunities which arise in the course of instruction.     

Children's Writing and the Use of Information and Communications Technology

This paper outlines issues around learning to write and considers the range of difficulties children may experience. The role of Information and Communications Technology in facilitating writing development is considered. Software applications that can be used to support aspects of the writing process and target teaching are outlined. Criteria for evaluation of existing products and the implications for practice in educational psychology are discussed.     

A Defence of Teaching General Thinking Skills

There has been developing interest in thinking skills in schools over the past decade. However in the UK the consensus seems to have been against the possibility of the very existence of general thinking skills. We present three main arguments in defence of general thinking skills which hinge upon assumptions in a priori arguments about transfer, we suggest that a clearer definition of the domains of knowledge theory is necessary for the way it is used against thinking skills and we offer a consideration of the expert/novice objections about subject or domain-specific knowledge.     

Hydrogel discs for digital microfluidics

Hydrogels are networks of hydrophilic polymer chains that are swollen with water, and they are useful for a wide range of applications because they provide stable niches for immobilizing proteins and cells. We report here the marriage of hydrogels with digital microfluidic devices. Until recently, digital microfluidics, a fluid handling technique in which discrete droplets are manipulated electromechanically on the surface of an array of electrodes, has been used only for homogeneous systems involving liquid reagents. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the cylindrical hydrogel discs can be incorporated into digital microfluidic systems and that these discs can be systematically addressed by droplets of reagents. Droplet movement is observed to be unimpeded by interaction with the gel discs, and gel discs remain stationary when droplets pass through them. Analyte transport into gel discs is observed to be identical to diffusion in cases in which droplets are incubated with gels passively, but transport is enhanced when droplets are continually actuated through the gels. The system is useful for generating integrated enzymatic microreactors and for three-dimensional cell culture. This paper demonstrates a new combination of techniques for lab-on-a-chip systems which we propose will be useful for a wide range of applications.     

Integrated perspective of evolving intrapsychic and person-environment functions: implications for deaf and hard of hearing individuals

The authors review and integrate certain diverse theories to explain and suggest appropriate interventions for difficulties in socioemotional functioning experienced by many deaf persons. These diverse perspectives include a hierarchical circular systems approach, psychosocial stage theory, social learning theory, and representational models, or evolving expectancies of others. These perspectives, which can facilitate understanding of social behaviors and development and lead to improved interventions, provide background for a 3-level model proposed in the article. The model focuses on the relationship between the deaf person and the proximal social environment. The model's first level takes into account intrapsychic processes such as self-concept; the second highlights reciprocal interactions between the person and the social environment. The third describes the resulting memories and expectancies that develop and evolve and that influence the person's previous intrapsychic thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. These, in turn, affect social interactions, in a recurrent, spiraling fashion. This hierarchical model can be used as a framework for concurrent or sequential interventions with Deaf people.     

Effects of a School‐based Education Programme on Safety Helmet Usage by 11‐ to 13‐year‐old Cyclists

A school‐based programme designed and run by the New Zealand Ministry of Transport Education Division and school personnel to increase the use of safety helmets by pupils at an inner city intermediate school was evaluated. The three phase intervention consisted of: information on the benefits of safety equipment, instruction modules focused on road safety and helmet use in several curriculum areas, and random prizes for wearing safety helmets. Direct observation at the target school and the notreatment control school served as the primary dependent measure. Across time a statistically significant difference in helmet usage was evident in the experimental but not the control school. Implications of this study for cyclist safety are discussed.