Asian Secondary School Students' Help-Seeking Behaviour and Preferences for Counsellor Characteristics

This study examines general help-seeking behaviours and preferences for the counsellor, characteristics of gender and ethnicity specifically, in a sample of 448 secondary school students in Singapore. The relationship between the age of the student and his/her preference for the gender and ethnicity of a counsellor was also examined. Findings indicated significant differences in preferences for the gender of the counsellor, with most females preferring a same sex counsellor and most males preferring an opposite sex counsellor. Male and female students did not differ in responses regarding preference for ethnicity of counsellor. The findings also indicated a developmental shift in perspective regarding preference for gender and for ethnicity of counsellor. Neither gender nor ethnicity of counsellor mattered to the oldest group of students. In comparison, the younger students either reported a distinct preference for gender and ethnicity of counsellor or stated they were unsure of their response. Findings from the present study that are helpful to counsellors working with an Asian secondary school population will be discussed in the light of previous research.     

Using iPads for the social communication and emotional regulation of autistic pupils: an exploration of key stakeholders' perspectives and practices

Little research has focused on the implementation of iPad practices in real contexts and the identification of relevant challenges and enablers. This work explored practices relating to using iPads for autistic pupils' social communication (SC) and emotional regulation (ER) based on key stakeholders' perspectives. It employed two case studies undertaken in two primary schools located in the United Kingdom's West Midlands. The data were gathered by interviewing practitioners and parents and analyzing the schools' computing policies. The outcomes varied from iPads being used as multimodal learning tools, to teachers focusing on SC and ER, and parents mainly on recreation and ER. The findings were evaluated using Abbott's concept of e-inclusion (2007), considering the impact of the relationship between technology, individuals and context on iPad use in situ. Issues are highlighted around pedagogy and teaching methods, offering insights into what drives teachers to make decisions regarding technology use.     

Service quality ideals in a competitive tertiary environment

Drawing on the experience of an Engineering School in Singapore, the paper explores the success factors of service quality in higher education by integrating the characteristics of SERVQUAL (an instrument for assessing students’ experience of higher education) and SQA (Singapore Quality Award). Data were collected by means of structured interviewing from a variety of faculty within the School. Customer orientation, quality course design and delivery as well as support services were found to have a direct impact on the total experience of students. The study reinforces the emerging educational paradigms that seek to challenge norms and assumptions, gearing educators to do the right things rather than doing things right.     

Fabrication of microfluidic devices using polydimethylsiloxane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is nearly ubiquitous in microfluidic devices, being easy to work with, economical, and transparent. A detailed protocol is provided here for using PDMS in the fabrication of microfluidic devices to aid those interested in using the material in their work, with information on the many potential ways the material may be used for novel devices.     

Evaluation of Students’ Understanding of Thermal Concepts in Everyday Contexts

The aims of this study were to determine the underlying conceptual structure of the thermal concept evaluation (TCE) questionnaire, a pencil-and-paper instrument about everyday contexts of heat, temperature, and heat transfer, to investigate students’ conceptual understanding of thermal concepts in everyday contexts across several school years and to analyse the variables—school year, science subjects currently being studied, and science subjects previously studied in thermal energy—that influence students’ thermal conceptual understanding. The TCE, which was administered to 515 Korean students from years 10–12, was developed in Australia, using students’ alternative conceptions derived from the research literature. The conceptual structure comprised four groups—heat transfer and temperature changes, boiling, heat conductivity and equilibrium, and freezing and melting—using 19 of the 26 items in the original questionnaire. Depending on the year group, 25–55% of students experienced difficulties in applying scientific concepts in everyday contexts. Years of schooling, science subjects currently studied and physics topics previously studied correlated with development of students’ conceptual understanding, especially in topics relating to heat transfer, temperature scales, specific heat capacity, homeostasis, and thermodynamics. Although students did improve their conceptual understandings in later years of schooling, they still had difficulties in relating the scientific concepts to their experiences in everyday contexts. The study illustrates the utility of using a pencil-and-paper questionnaire to identify students’ understanding of thermal concepts in everyday situations and provides a baseline for Korean students’ achievement in terms of physics in everyday contexts, one of the objectives of the Korean national curriculum reforms.