“UNIFIED”: Bridging the Researcher–Practitioner Divide in Mind,Brain, and Education

Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) science is by definition transdisciplinary. However, the communication and collaboration between constituent disciplines needed for true transdisciplinarity remains relatively rare. Consequently, many of the potential benefits of MBE science remain unrealized for parties on all sides of the discipline. The present commentary first conducts an analysis of the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of transdisciplinary partnerships in MBE. A new, free, and international web platform (“UNIFIED”) is then proposed to broker relationships between researchers and teachers within schools. This website would allow users to form collaborations based on a system of tags indexing their research interests as well as practicalities such as their location. Such a website appears well placed to realize many of the opportunities, and mitigate the threats and weaknesses, of transdisciplinary MBE research. The article concludes with an appeal to interested researchers and schools to contribute to the development of the project.     

Development of a direct three-dimensional biomicrofabrication concept based on electrospraying a custom made siloxane sol

We demonstrate here the discovery of a unique and direct three-dimensional biomicrofabrication concept possessing the ability to revolutionize the jet-based fabrication arena. Previous work carried out on similar jet-based approaches have been successful in fabricating only vertical wall∕pillar-structures by the controlled deposition of stacked droplets. However, these advanced jet-techniques have not been able to directly fabricate self-supporting arches∕links (without molds or reaction methods) between adjacent structures (walls or pillars). Our work reported here gives birth to a unique type of jet determined by high intensity electric fields, which is derived from a specially formulated siloxane sol. The sol studied here has been chosen for its attractive properties (such as an excellent cross-linking nature as well as the ability to polymerize via polycondensation on deposition to its biocompatability), which promotes direct forming of biostructures with nanometer (<50 nm) sized droplets in three dimensions. We foresee that this direct three-dimensional biomicrofabrication jet technique coupled with a variety of formulated sols having focused and enhanced functionality will be explored throughout the physical and life sciences.     

The prospects for using the Internet in collaborative design education with China

The Internet has become widely available in higher educationinstitutions all over the world offering new possibilities incommunication, collaboration and delivery. This paper examines theprospects for using the Internet in the context of collaborative designeducation with China, using the School of Design of the Hong KongPolytechnic University as a case study. The critical success factors arediscussed. These involve serious investment of resources and changes atgovernment, institutional and personal levels on both sides of thecollaborative institutions. It is important to look into theinfrastructure and policy issues, access to information technology,curriculum adaptation and instructional design as well as staff andstudent attitudes in order to achieve the collaborative objectivesthrough an Internet supported strategy. Although the Internet is a costeffective delivery mechanism, the School does not intend to deliver itsdesign course materials to China purely online. Pedagogically, theSchool believes in a dynamic interaction between real and virtuallearning environments for quality student learning. Technically, thereare many impediments to overcome before teaching staff and students arefamiliar with the use of information technology and it will take sometime before most people in China can make full access of the Internet toconnect freely to electronic education. Therefore, a hybrid approach isproposed to train design educators and practitioners in Mainland Chinaby utilising traditional face-to-face teaching method and establishedtechnologies while developing the use of the Internetgradually.     

Enacting feedback utilization from a task-specific perspective

Feedback is central to successful teaching and learning. Despite extensive research on the relationship between feedback, pedagogy and learning, there remain no conclusive answers as to how feedback can be effectively utilized by learners. Recently, there is emerging research exploring how feedback is conceptualized as dialogic processes to facilitate provision and uptake of feedback; and how feedback utilization is best supported by learner active involvement in the iterative feedback process for future learning. Drawn from this knowledge base, this article aims to review four aspects of feedback scholarship including nature, paradigms, issues and trends which serve as a theoretical basis, together with instructors’ interviews, to inform how five common assessment tasks in one social sciences faculty could be strategically revamped to promote feedback utilization. The article concludes with pedagogical insights to suggest three conditions wherein feedback could be made sustainable to support learning through a redesigning of conventional assessment tasks in the higher education contexts.     

Computer conferencing with access to a 'guest expert' in the professional development of special educational needs coordinators

This article describes and outlines the implications of a one‐year case study of students’ use of the computer conferencing facility of a postgraduate module for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) at a distance‐learning institution. This facility incorporates a virtual space for a ‘guest expert’. The aim of the study was to inform future development of courses at a time when computer conferencing was just becoming widespread in the university concerned. Quantitative data associated with the volume and patterns of individual participation in the computer conference were collected as well as interview material from students, tutors and the ‘guest expert’. Findings from the study indicate that computer conferencing has the potential to facilitate the professional development of teachers as reflective practitioners and researchers. However, they also point to a number of barriers to student participation that must be addressed. These include access issues related to time constraints, unfamiliarity with the medium, and lack of confidence in expressing personal views in a public arena. A major conclusion drawn from this study is that it may be appropriate to consider future developments which incorporate the assumption that, in computer conferences of large professional development courses, students are much more likely to participate through reading rather than making personal contributions to conference discussions. This opens the possibility of reconceptualising the role of the ‘guest expert’ as two or more discussants with relevant expertise dialoguing with each other while students follow a threaded discussion and/or make personal contributions.     

Wie die Türken in unsere Köpfe kamen. Das Türkei-Bild in der deutschen Pädagogik zwischen 1820 und 1930

The article reconstructs the image of Turkey and the Turks that German education portrayed between 1820 and 1930. The analysis is based on educational periodicals and reference works from the historical eras of the German Confederation, the German Empire and the First World War, tracing the way old stereotypes persisted and new stereotypes arose. The study especially focuses on the opinions of German educationalists about schools in Turkey, Turkish women, Islam, the question of whether Turkey was part of Europe, and last not least on whether Ottoman educational policies were appropriate. Closely following the historical sources, the article shows how the opinions of German educationists changed according to the shift of Germany’s geopolitical interests, how their outlook went hand in hand with the views of the general press, and how they gradually came to a professional self-concept that contrasted ‘their’ educational system with what they believed was a ‘backward’ system in Turkey. At the same time they began to develop an interest in doing professional work in Turkey. The article can also be regarded as a contribution to the history of educational thinking in Germany in the course of the nineteenth century.     

CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY: EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The CATE (Children's Attitudes Toward the Elderly) was administered to 180 children, 20 at each level from age 3 to age 11. Results suggest that children at all age levels have limited knowledge of and contact with older people. Few children gave positive responses about growing old themselves; most did not perceive being old as positive. Attitudes of children toward the elderly suggest a mixture of positive feelings of affect and either stereotypic or negative attitudes about the physical aspects of age. It was determined that children's concepts of age increase in accuracy as they increase in age. Educational implications include providing accurate information about the elderly and actual contact with older people, enabling children to assess their perceptions of the aging process and how aging affects them, and exposing children to an unbiased look at the attributes, behaviors, and characteristics of the elderly in a wide variety of roles in order to avoid or extinguish the formation of stereotypic, negative attitudes.     

Strong back,legs, feet,and a good pair of shoes: Connecting stories of inspiring teachers to coursework in teacher education

Abstract

Because of their belief in the social interactionist model of teacher education, the authors read aloud to various undergraduate and graduate classes excerpts from published teacher stories, either vignettes or opinion pieces. Their immediate goals were to help build class community, advertise books that the students might then return to on their own, personalize discussion topics, and inspire continuing reflection and pride in the chosen profession. A more long‐term goal was to get students to internalize stories that would help guide their actions in the classroom. This article describes their use of teacher stories and includes some of the readings as well as a comprehensive list of teacher stories consulted. Student reactions were varied depending on the stories and the contexts of the readings. Reactions included apathy, evaluation of the teacher, self‐reflective journal entries, and a refusal to pass a book on to peers without the promise of being able to take it home. The authors are reading/language arts educators, who recommend the use of teacher stories for teacher education in all fields.     

Researching early intervention and young children's perspectives – developing and using a ‘listening to children approach’

This article, by Alice Paige‐Smith and Jonathan Rix, considers the current context of early intervention in England from the perspective and experiences of two families and in particular focuses on two young children identified as having Down syndrome. This case study research has emerged from previous research conducted by the authors, both of whom are Senior Lecturers at the Open University and have a wealth of experience across all phases of education. Their previous research involved interviews with parents of children diagnosed as having Down syndrome, which raised further questions about early intervention and the pedagogical relationship between the parent and the child, and recognised that ‘early intervention’ can be more than structured activities led by professionals. The research in this article, which has been funded by the British Academy, used ethnographic methodology to understand the process of early intervention with two young children with Down syndrome and their families. The methodology developed to include narrative first‐person observation of the child and photography. In addition to this a method of reflecting on the process of early intervention developed that included the researchers, the parent and the child. The development of this research methodology is considered in detail in this article.