Diversity study circles in teacher education practice: An experiential learning project

This paper addresses the dilemma of trying to prepare primarily white preservice teachers for educational arenas in which they will interface with students of colour and many who are socially disadvantaged. This paper describes how diversity study circles can be integrated as integral to education that is multicultural in the development of preservice teachers’ critical self-reflection as a bridge to developing a critical lens for classroom practice and a democratic society.     

Birth order and sex of sibling as determinants of mother-infant interaction.

Mother-infant interaction was assessed on 32 first- and second-born siblings when each was 3 months old. Data were colleted during 2 6-hour naturalistic home observations using a modified time-sampling technique. The sample consisted of 4 equal-size subgroups of same and opposite sex sibling pairs. Results suggested that interaction between a mother and her infant varied depending on the birth order and gender of the infant. Mothers spent significantly less time in social, affectionate, and caretaking interaction (except for feeding activities) with their second borns than they had with their firstborns; this difference was greater if the second born was female. Certain patterns of maternal behaviors appeared to be stable from one sibling to the other. Different types of interaction between the mothers and their younger infants were related to attention-seeking behavior in the firstborn male and female siblings.     

Early Years in Europe: the development of European Union policy

The last 15 years has seen a new player on the field of early years policy ‐‐ the European Union. Originating in the Treaty of Rome in 1956, which founded the six country European Economic Community, the EU now consists of 15 member states and has its own institutions, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Court of Justice and the Council of Ministers. While economic objectives have always been at the heart of this enterprise, the EU also has a social dimension with social goals, set out in broad terms in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union:

The Community shall have as its task.. to promote throughout the Community a harmonious and balanced development of economic activities, sustainable and non‐inflationary growth respecting the environment, a high degree of convergence of economic performance, a high level of employment and of social protection, the raising of the standard of living and quality of life, and economic and social cohesion and solidarity among Member States (my emphasis) (Article 2)

In this paper I shall review the development of early years policy as part of this European social agenda, and consider some of the issues raised for policy making by this new and unique involvement of an international political entity.     

Literacies and social practice: sociological perspectives on reading research

ABSTRACT

This article considers the distinctive contribution that sociological perspectives have made to understanding reading as a profoundly social and cultural activity, differentiated by the specifics of time and place. Literacy researchers, using a social lens, have sought to explore, explain and redress inequalities in access to and uses of literacy in its different forms. This has often meant championing pedagogies premised on dialogue and connection. Yet this may conflict with an emphasis in current policy on children mastering a relatively narrow skills-based definition of literacy as they begin to learn to read. The article explores how the tension points in the literacy curriculum, intensified in test-based accountability systems, can be navigated in this light.     

Understanding visual and intertextual approaches in pedagogical and curriculum research: a pretext

In our globalised and hypertexual world, representations of curriculum reform are highly visual. The material world of these practices can be analysed through visual research methods. This paper is a pretext developed to explain the elements of the visual and intertextual approaches that can be applied in researching inclusive education through a curriculum focus. The pretext selectively situates recent developments in educational research that use visual methods as a part of the overall quest for ongoing conceptual and professional improvement of understanding a curriculum for all through practitioner and small‐scale research.     

History of Broadcasting

BBC TV PRESENTS A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION by Nicholas Moss (London: BBC, 1986—about $8.00, paper)

THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION FROM EARLY DAYS TO THE PRESENT (same address as Burn's book on previous page—$50.00, Paper)

TELEVISION: THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS by Keith Geddes & Gordon Bussey (National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television, Prince's View, Bradford, West rorkshire BD5 0TR—also available at the Science Museum in London $3.00, paper)

HERTZ AND THE MAXWELL IANS by J.G. Q'Hara and W. Pricha (same publisher as Burns on previous page—$48.00)

THE EARLY DAYS OF RADIO BROADCASTING by George H. Douglas (McFariand Publishing, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640—$25.95)

THE RADIO COLLECTOR'S DIRECTORY AND PRICE GUIDE by Robert E. Grinder and George H. Fathauer (Ironwood Publishing, P.O. Box 8464, Scottsdale, AZ 85252—$15.95, paper)

NIXON AND THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC TELEVISION by David M. Stone (New York: Garland Publishing, 1985—$35.00)

VOICES OF THE GAME: THE FIRST FULL-SCALE OVERVIEW OF BASEBALL BROADCASTING, 1921 TO THE PRESENT by Curt Smith (Diamond Communications, P.O. Box 88, South Bend, IN. 46624—$22.95)     

Informed consent among chronically ill elderly: Assessing its (in)adequacy and predictors

Physicians are legally and ethically required to obtain informed consent from patients prior to providing medical care. However, the chronically ill elderly may poorly understand the facts that are needed for them to make informed choices, and they also may wish to avoid discussing potentially discouraging information. Interviews of 142 elderly hemodialysis patients were conducted to determine whether informed consent for performing dialysis had been obtained and to explore potential causes of inadequate informed consent. As predicted, most patients lacked information needed to render fully informed consent. However, when we examined potential causes for the very low levels of knowledge reported by patients, we found that patients’ education level, cognitive capacity, and willingness to discuss medical contingencies were stronger predictors of informed consent than were the communicative practices of doctors. Neither doctors’ willingness to promptly disclose the need for dialysis nor their willingness to discuss forgoing dialysis were related to any of the patient characteristics. Results suggest that obtaining fully informed consent for chronically ill elderly requires both a modification of doctors’ communication practices and greater adaptation to the cognitive capacity, education, and communication practices of the patient.