Newton's Third Law after Newton

Newton's third law is not something which students easily accept. This is largely due to the widespread notion that the force exerted by a moving body is directly related to the speed or to the mass of the body (or to both) and not to the nature of any interaction in which that body might be involved. The aim of the paper is to identify some of the issues upon which debate took place over the phenomenon of impact in the early 18th Century. This is achieved by studying a number of the popular textbooks and commentaries on mechanics which were published at that time. Some implications for teaching Newtonian mechanics are outlined. Specializations: physics education, concept development, history and philosophy of science in science teaching.     

The Expression of Dominance and Perceptions of Supervisor Credibility in Supervisor/Employee Relationships

In the workplace, a supervisor’s communication of dominance can be used to help accomplish tasks and complete work. Further, perceptions of credibility can be integral in influencing employees and creating an open work climate. The goal of this investigation was to understand how supervisors’ messages of dominance were related to perceptions of supervisor credibility. In this study, 303 participants working in various industries completed measures of interpersonal dominance and credibility about their direct supervisor. As hypothesized, influence and focus/poise were positively related to competence, goodwill, and trustworthiness, whereas conversational control was negatively related to goodwill and trustworthiness. Further, self-assurance was negatively related to goodwill. Regression analyses determined that influence and focus/poise had the strongest relationship to all three dimensions of credibility.     

Human Affection Exchange: XV. Metabolic and Cardiovascular Correlates of Trait Expressed Affection

Recent research on the communication of affection has begun to illuminate its implications for mental and physical health. Specifically, when compared to non-affectionate people, self-report studies have indicated that highly affectionate people are less susceptible to depression and stress, and endocrine studies have shown that highly affectionate people have more differentiated 24-hour cortisol rhythms (a pattern indicative of adaptive physiological stress management). The present studies extend this knowledge by focusing on the associations that trait affection has with cardiologic (resting heart rate), vascular (resting blood pressure), and metabolic (glycosylated hemoglobin) properties of physical health. Participants in both studies provided self-assessments of their trait levels of expressed affection and received affection (the latter for use as a covariate). Resting heart rate and blood pressure were assessed in the first study, and glycosylated hemoglobin was assessed in the second study. Results indicate that when the influence of received affection is controlled for, trait expressed affection was inversely related to resting blood pressure and glycosylated hemoglobin (but not heart rate), suggesting that the expression of affection is associated with a healthy vascular and metabolic profile.     

Scientists Reflect on Why They Chose to Study Science

A concern commonly raised in literature and in media relates to the declining proportions of students who enter and remain in the ‘science pipeline’, and whether many countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have enough budding scientists to fill research and industry positions in the coming years. In addition, there is concern that insufficient numbers of students continue in science to ensure an informed, scientifically literate citizenry. The aim of the research presented in this paper was to survey current Australian and New Zealand scientists to explore their reasons for choosing to study science. An online survey was conducted via a link to SurveyGizmo. The data presented are from 726 respondents who answered 22 forced-choice items and an open-ended question about the reasons they chose to study science. The quantitative data were analysed using t tests and analyses of variance followed by Duncan’s multiple range tests, and the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The quantitative data showed that the main reasons scientists reported choosing to study science were because they were interested in science and because they were good at science. Secondary school science classes and one particular science teacher also were found to be important factors. Of much less importance were the prestige of science and financial considerations. The qualitative data expanded on these findings and showed that passion for science and/or curiosity about the world were important factors and also highlighted the importance of recreational pursuits, such as camping when a child. In the words of one respondent, ‘People don’t go into science for the money and glory. It’s passion for knowledge and science that always attracted me to the field’.     

Ettore Gelpi: an appreciation

Abstracts

English

The aim of the paper is to argue for a curriculum model approach to problems of development in adult and lifelong (or continuing) education contexts.

The advantages of such an approach are outlined : relating theory to practice and social policies to educational processes; exploring professional role‐structures and their effect upon received curriculum assumptions in the adult sector, particularly the traditional needs‐meeting, remedial and compensatory elements of such assumptions.

The significance of recent theoretical and policy developments in adult and continuing education is reviewed in these terms and some distinctions made between alternative implicit models of the lifelong curriculum. It is suggested that adult education, as presently constituted, might, itself, be an obstacle to the development of an integrated lifelong education curriculum.

In order to elucidate this a number of curriculum concepts, familiar enough in the general theory of education, are considered in the less familiar context of adult and lifelong education: typologies of curriculum models are used to explore some issues of development in this context (e.g. objectives, provision, process, action, research models etc.)

Ideas of a ‘core’ curriculum, and of the ‘hidden’ or ‘latent’ curriculum, together with curriculum development and evaluation are also considered.

The existing state of the adult and continuing education curriculum is then analyzed within such a conceptual framework. The disposition of professional roles is described, together with the curricular implications of the structure of provision (the University Extra‐Mural Departments, the WEA and the LEA sector).

The ideas of ‘flexibility’ and ‘access’ are critically reviewed as a function of professional (rather than political) ideologies, and the adult‐lifelong curriculum is analyzed in terms of administrative criteria on the one hand and educational process and social action on the other.

A prevailing orthodoxy of continuing education is elucidated in curriculum terms, and contrasted with the curriculum implications of lifelong models. For example, such models stress the functional interdependence of learning stages in an ‘intrinsic’ rather than a ‘remedial’ way, whereas much thinking about adult and continuing education in Britain is concerned with compensatory responses to failures of early educational experience.

In conclusion, it is argued that, in curriculum terms, the development of a continuing or a lifelong education system is by no means as straightforward as is sometimes supposed, and that the obstacles lie primarily within the nature of present curriculum assumptions as much as the more obvious material obstacles to development. Adult education, as it is presently organized, articulates the same kind of curriculum assumptions as initial education. The curriculum assumptions of lifelong education, however, are much more concerned with education in terms of social control and knowledge‐content than with access to professional provision which reproduces curriculum models of initial education sectors.     

Assuring quality in Asian open and distance learning

Open and distance learning (ODL) is enjoying phenomenal growth in Asian higher education, new forms of provision are being developed, new institutions are being established and there is a surge in online export and import. However, there is still need to ensure that increasing access does not result in lowering standards and to prove that ODL is at least as good as conventional education and, in many cases, more innovative, effective and efficient. The paper examines the various quality assurance approaches employed in Asian university ODL, and the values, assumptions and advantages and disadvantages of these. It concludes by suggesting what is needed to encourage and achieve a culture of quality in the field.     

Educational inequality in English primary education

This paper summarises some English research findings related to educational inequality, particularly in inner urban schools. It documents how differences related to relative poverty are reflected in patterns of educational attainment as revealed by national tests results. It considers and evaluates how the issue of educational inequality in England has been tackled.     

A sociocultural analysis of organisational learning

The concept of organisational learning has been widely debated and frequently contested by educationalists, but the specific processes and actions which constitute this form of learning have received relatively little research attention. This paper reports a three‐year empirical investigation into organisational learning in a large industrial complex, with the aim of clarifying the practices of organisational learning and interpreting them within sociocultural learning theory. A sociocultural model is proposed which identifies dialogue as the fundamental process by which organisations learn, and relational practices as the social structure which embeds the dialogue and makes it sustainable in a potentially conflictual environment. Three relational practices are analysed in detail: opening space for the creation of shared meaning, reconstituting power relationships and providing cultural tools to mediate learning. A pedagogy of organisational learning is defined in terms of participation in these practices, either as the carrier of a practice or as the facilitator of participation by others. The theoretical requirement that adult learning must be autonomous is reconciled with the concept of collective learning in pursuit of organisational goals by rejecting the notion of an individually‐contained self in favour of a relational concept of the self, in which autonomy is achieved by building relationships with others.