Situating relational ontology and transformative activist stance within the ‘everyday’ practice of coteaching and cogenerative dialogue

This paper attempts to advance the thinking in Stetsenko’s paper by situating the concepts of relational ontology and transformative activist stance in the context of coteaching and cogenerative dialogue. In so doing, we hope to make Stetsenko’s ideas more operational in terms of access and application by researchers, teachers, policy makers and other stakeholders in education. Stetsenko argues that moving from relational ontology to a transformative activist stance can be considered as moving from participation to contribution. When this model was applied to coteaching and cogenerative dialogue, it was apparent that the coteaching and cogenerative dialogue moved further, from contribution to shared contribution, adding even greater potential for transformation. The paper also discusses the use of cultural historical activity theory in articulating the relationships, dynamics and interpretations of coteaching and cogenerative dialogue in relation to the wider context of their application.

Approaching functions: Cabri tools as instruments of semiotic mediation

Assuming that dynamic features of Dynamic Geometry Software may provide a basic representation of both variation and functional dependency, and taking the Vygotskian perspective of semiotic mediation, a teaching experiment was designed with the aim of introducing students to the idea of function. This paper focuses on the use of the Trace tool and its potentialities for constructing the meaning of function. In particular, starting from a dynamic approach aimed at grounding the meaning of function in the experience of covariation, the Trace tool can be used to introduce the twofold meaning of trajectory, at the same time global and pointwise, and leads students to grasp the notion of function.     

United States National Library of Medicine Drug Information Portal

The Drug Information Portal is a free Web resource from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that provides a user-friendly gateway to current information for more than 15,000 drugs. The site guides users to related resources of NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies. Current drug-related information regarding consumer health, clinical trials, AIDS, MeSH pharmacological actions, MEDLINE/PubMed biomedical literature, and physical properties and structure is easily retrieved by searching on a drug name. A varied selection of focused topics in medicine and drugs is also available from displayed subject headings. This column provides background information about the Drug Information Portal, as well as search basics.     

Unexpected self-expression and the limits of narrative inquiry: exploring unconscious dynamics in a community-based digital storytelling workshop

In parallel with many nations’ education policies, national education policies in Australia seek to foster students’ intercultural understanding. Due to Australia’s location in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian government has focused on students becoming “Asia literate” to support Australia’s economic and cultural engagement with Asian countries. Drawing on Allport’s optimal contact principles and key factors supporting intercultural understanding, this study examines two “sister school” cultural immersion trips in Indonesia and East Timor to explore ways in which their different approaches supported positive intergroup contact and helped foster intercultural understanding among students. Focus groups and interviews with school project teams and analysis of both researcher and teacher project field notes and documents suggested that these schools’ programmes could be mapped onto Allport’s contact principles in different ways. The paper concludes with promising approaches that can help to inform sister school programmes.     

Professional Identity Development of Counselor Education Doctoral Students

The authors used grounded theory to explore professional identity transitions for 23 counselor education doctoral students in a cross‐section sample based on nodal points in their programs. The transformational tasks that doctoral students face involve integration of multiple identities, evolution of confidence and legitimacy, and acceptance of responsibility as the source of knowledge about the profession. The authors offer implications for training doctoral students.     

TOXMAP: a GIS-based gateway to environmental health resources

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has an extensive collection of environmental health information, including bibliographic and technical data on hazardous chemical substances, in its TOXNET databases. TOXNET also provides access to the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data, which covers release of specific chemicals via air, water, and land, and by underground injection, as reported by industrial facilities around the United States. NLM has developed a Web-based geographic information system (GIS), TOXMAP , which allows users to create dynamic maps that show where TRI chemicals are released and that provides direct links to information about the chemicals in TOXNET. By extracting the associated regional geographic text terms from the displayed map (e.g., rivers, towns, county, state), TOXMAP also provides customized chemical and/or region-specific searches of NLM's bibliographic biomedical resources. This paper focuses on TOXMAP's features, data accuracy issues, challenges, user feedback techniques, and future directions.     

Professional Identity Development: A Grounded Theory of Transformational Tasks of New Counselors

Professional identity development is an important professional issue. Examining the lived experiences of counselors‐in‐training (CITs), the authors used grounded theory methodology to describe the transformational tasks that are required for professional identity development. Tasks include finding a personal definition of counseling, internalizing responsibility for professional growth, and developing a systemic identity—all simultaneously manifesting as students progress from focus on experts to self‐validation. Counselor educators can facilitate movement through these transformational tasks by helping CITs to increase self‐evaluating, self‐motivating, and self‐locating within a professional community.     

Children's perceptions of primary science assessment in England and Wales

This study builds on and contributes to work on assessment of children in primary school, particularly in science. Previous research has examined primary science assessment from different standpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed children's perspectives. This article provides additional insight into issues surrounding children's assessment in primary school and how the assessment of science might develop in England after the science SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) were abolished in 2009. Some research suggests that primary science assessment via SATs is a major reason for the observed decline in children's engagement with science in upper primary and lower secondary school. The analytic focus on engaging children as coresearchers to assist in the process of gathering informed views and interpreting findings from a large sample of children's views enables another contribution. The study, based on a survey of 1000 children in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, reveals that despite being assessed under two different regimes (high‐stakes national tests in England and moderated teacher assessment in Wales), children's views of science assessment are remarkably consistent. Most appreciate the usefulness of science assessment and value frequent, non‐SATs testing for monitoring/improving science progress. There was a largely negative impact, however, of science assessment on children's well‐being, particularly due to stress. The paper demonstrates that children provide an important perspective on assessment and that including their views can improve policy‐making in relation to primary science assessment.     

Multicultural Consultee-Centered Consultation: When Novice Consultants Explore Cultural Hypotheses With Experienced Teacher Consultees

Using case study qualitative methodology and naturalistic inquiry, this study investigates how beginning consultants use multicultural consultee-centered consultation (MCCC) to explore cultural hypotheses with experienced teachers. The study involves the conceptualizations and detailed records of 3 ethnically diverse novice consultants who hypothesize cultural issues in the problem situation and use MCCC with teachers of diverse students ages 6-12. Grounded in the multicultural consultation framework (Ingraham, 2000), analyses focus on consultation stages, communication processes, factors associated with success and failure, and their relationship with co-constructing problem definitions with consultees. Results of within-case and cross-case analyses illustrate the complexity of practicing and studying MCCC and suggest several issues that may influence multicultural consultation outcomes. Specific questions for future research are identified.