#5: Non-Supine (e.g., Upright or Side-Lying) Positions for Birth

In this position paper—one of six care practice papers published by Lamaze International and reprinted here with permission—the benefit of non-supine positions for birth is discussed and presented as an evidence-based practice that helps promote, protect, and support normal birth. The paper is written for childbearing women and their families. Upright and gravity-neutral positions facilitate rotation and descent of the baby and result in reduced duration of second stage, a reduction in episiotomies, and fewer abnormal fetal heart rate patterns. The accompanying commentary—written by a leading proponent of maternity care—supports these benefits. Lamaze International recommends that laboring women not push until they feel an urge to do so, and that they choose positions for birth that are most comfortable for them.     

On being transgressive in educational research! An autoethnography of borders

Autoethnography and narrative inquiry, with their focus on researching the personal dimensions of human experience, are overlapping realms within the field of qualitative research. While the dominant ways of knowing and researching in the academy remain that of empirical observation and critical analysis from a distanced perspective, these approaches attribute little meaning to the culturally relevant and reflexive accounts of those involved in the autoethnographic and narrative inquiry. In this paper, I critically reflect on my experiences of negotiating identities as an academic and educational researcher over time against a backdrop of professional anxieties produced by policy and political imperatives that have increasingly pervaded modern higher education in the UK. Adopting an autoethnographic style, I contemplate the complexities and opportunities that have inscribed my various identities as an educational researcher over a career, crossing from traditional research to creative narrative and arts-informed approaches.     

Gender Differences in Early Reading Strategies: A Comparison of Synthetic Phonics Only with a Mixed Approach to Teaching Reading to 4–5 Year-Old Children

A survey of primary schools in England found that girls outperform boys in English across all phases (Ofsted in Moving English forward. Ofsted, Manchester, 2012). The gender gap remains an on-going issue in England, especially for reading attainment. This paper presents evidence of gender differences in learning to read that emerged during the development of a reading scheme for 4- and 5-year-old children in which 372 children from Reception classes in sixteen schools participated in 12-month trials. There were three arms per trial: Intervention non-PD (non-phonically decodable text with mixed methods teaching); Intervention PD (phonically decodable text with mixed methods teaching); and a ‘business as usual’ control condition SP (synthetic phonics and decodable text). Assignment to Intervention condition was randomised. Standardised measures of word reading and comprehension were used. The research provides statistically significant evidence suggesting that boys learn more easily using a mix of whole-word and synthetic phonics approaches. In addition, the evidence indicates that boys learn to read more easily using the natural-style language of ‘real’ books including vocabulary which goes beyond their assumed decoding ability. At post-test, boys using the nonphonically decodable text with mixed methods (Intervention A) were 8 months ahead in reading comprehension compared to boys using a wholly synthetic phonics approach.     

Science education in urban settings: Seeking new ways of praxis through critical ethnography

The challenges faced in urban science education are deeply rooted in the ongoing struggle for racial, class and gender equity. Part of this struggle is tied to huge differences in class and involves making more equitable the distribution of resources. Another part of this struggle is tied to the rich diversity of children who attend urban schools and involves generating new ways of understanding, valuing, and genuinely incorporating into school‐based practices the culture, language, beliefs, and experiences that these children bring to school. Thus, this article argues that to address these two challenges—and indeed to achieve a more just science education for all urban students— explicitly political research methodologies must be considered and incorporated into urban education. One potential route for this is critical ethnography, for this kind of methodology emerges collaboratively from the lives of the researcher and the researched and is centrally about praxis and a political commitment to the struggle for liberation and in defense of human rights. In making this argument, I have drawn from stories from my own research with homeless children. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 899–917, 2001     

An associative analysis of instrumental biconditional discrimination learning

Three different techniques were employed to analyze the associative structures mediating performance on an instrumental biconditional discrimination. In all three experiments, rats were trained concurrently on two tasks in which different stimuli signaled which one of two responses would be followed by reward. In each task, one response was rewarded in one stimulus and the other response was rewarded in the other stimulus. Correct responses earned pellets in one task and sucrose in the other task. The transfer procedure was used in Experiment 1A to identify whether or not an association developed between a biconditional discriminative stimulus and its instrumental outcome. Evidence was obtained that a biconditional cue elevated preferentially a new response trained with the same outcome. Experiments 1B and 3 examined the potential contribution of this stimulus-outcome association to biconditional performance by training the biconditional cues as signals (S-s) for the nonreinforcement of a different response. There was no evidence that this operation interfered with the ability of a biconditional cue to control performance of its correct response. In Experiments 1B and 2, the value of the instrumental outcome was reduced in an attempt to assess the contribution of stimulus-response associations to performance on the biconditional discrimination. The results of Experiments 1B and 2 reveal that correct responses were depressed following devaluation of the outcome used to train them, suggesting that learning about the response-outcome relation occurs. The implications of these results for binary and hierarchical models of instrumental learning are discussed.     

Practice in Teacher Education: an Israeli perspective

This paper describes prevailing models of teacher education programs in Israel and tries to explain their variability regarding the student‐teaching component. It is argued that this variability is the result of holding different views regarding three core factors: professional (the way teaching is perceived as a profession), epistemological (the way the knowledge base of teaching is created and acquired), sociopolitical (ownership claims regarding this knowledge base). The combined effect of these three factors is a variety of teacher education programs especially in terms of their practical components. These differ in timing, organization, location, intensity in actual student teaching and reflection, amount of supervision and control. Different modes of practicum emerge, ranging from technical ones deriving from competency based approaches to constructivist reflective ones. Among the constructivist practicums some are based on interactionist modes of meaning construal, some are social or dialectical type of knowledge construction and some emphasize the collective structuring of meaning within the community of practice. The many types of teacher education and student‐teaching programs in existence in Israel, reflect this variability of approaches.     

Family disruption and academic functioning in urban,black youth

The purpose of this study was to examine from an ecological perspective the relationships between multiple levels of family disruption and children's academic functioning in a sample of 390 urban, Black adolescents at age 14. Subjects in this cohort have been followed longitudinally since before their birth. Data from previous assessments at birth and age 7 years allowed for control of important correlates in this analyses. Examination of this unique sample, using multisource data collection procedures, provides important information about the many family disruptions among urban, low‐income families and the effects of these disruptions on academic outcomes. Results revealed several consistent findings, the most notable of which is that, when parents were married, adolescents demonstrated significantly higher grades, mediated through paternal involvement. Of all variables studied, the role of fathers in the lives of these adolescents was the most influential on academic outcomes. In this unique sample, even variables such as involvement with child protective services were not significantly related to outcomes after important control variables were factored into analyses. Results of this study have important implications for future research and for prevention and intervention efforts in urban, at‐risk samples. Emphasis is made for work in the school context, particularly for school psychologists. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

GERIATRIC FOOT CARE: A MODEL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR MID-LEVEL PRACTITIONERS

Studies have indicated that at least 80% of those over age 50 have at least one foot problem. Feet often reflect systemic disease conditions, especially since this population has a higher prevalence of chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis and diabetes. As a result of a needs assessment completed by nurse practitioners, the Appalachian Geriatric Education Center developed a model educational program in the area of geriatric foot care for mid-level practitioners. The program is designed to prepare the mid-level practitioner with the education and skills necessary to provide foot care to adults and elderly clients in the community. The program includes both didactic and clinical learning experiences with topics such as anatomy, physical assessment, management of minor conditions, and referral for specialty care. The total number of students who have completed the course is 72: 59 nurse practitioners; 12 physician assistants; and 1 physician. There was a significant difference in the pre- and post-test scores, with the post-test scores being significantly higher: t = -13.446, p < .000. In the follow-up evaluation, the majority of the participants said they incorporated what they learned into their clinical practices and have increased their referral base to podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons.