Foresight analysis in research funding agencies: A UK experiment

Strategic planning and priority-setting have become inevitable for UK research funding agencies in the 1990's. But it is an activity which is viewed with some suspicion by the scientific community, in which it is an aphorism that discovery cannot be planned. There is considerable interest therefore, in the promise offoresight analysis as an alternative to conventional strategic planning. Most previous experience with foresight has been at a macro level, with a focus on national direction-setting. But what role can foresight have at amicro level; how can it help individual funding agencies develop strategies for specific scientific fields? This paper explores the problem by describing an experiment, supported jointly by three UK funding agencies, to apply foresight techniques in a review of a single field (cardiovascular research). The methodology developed for objective consultation with scientists and users is described, and preliminary results presented. Science-push and demand-pull factors emerged clearly, aa did a desire within the scientific community for a number of infrastructural changes to strengthen the future of the field. The study has shown that systematic surveys of users and researchers are capable of detecting coherent views on a number of issues that are relevant to forward planning in research funding agencies. The paper concludes by summarising the limitations of this approach to strategic planning, and presenting some general lessons that may be useful for consideration in other micro-level foresight exercises.     

Why are there virtually no mandatory open access policies at American universities?

Key points

• U.S. university OA policies are far less mandatory than those in the U.K.
• The waiver clauses in U.S. university policies make it easy for authors to decline making their articles OA.
• The relative autonomy – and competitiveness – of U.S. universities may be the reason for weaker OA policies.
• OA in the U.S. is likely to be driven by government funding agency policies rather than by academia.

     

Serious leisure: the sport of target shooting and leisure satisfaction

This study is designed to identify the underlying satisfaction dimensions gained through engagement in target shooting as a serious leisure pastime. The instrument design was based on the Leisure Satisfaction Scale. A total of 5502 useable surveys were collected through the Internet and a website related to target shooting and gun ownership. The results revealed eight dimensions: self-actualization, social interaction, location aesthetic, respite, physical benefit, connection and hedonic pleasure, which supplied the primary satisfiers of engaging in target shooting as a serious leisure activity. The demographic profile and dimensions of satisfaction may serve to dispel commonly held stereotypes of shooting hobbyists and those involved in gun ownership. The findings have important implications for leisure researchers and practitioners, to industry, both leisure and firearm related, and the target shooting community at large. This study adds to the literature of both target shooting and serious leisure.     

Disentangling Race: Re-Narrating Apartheid Sport?

Abstract

This paper involves a search for interracial entanglements in South African sport and considers how these experiences may be narrated. The paper comprises three sections. The first provides an overview of traditional narratives of apartheid and apartheid sport that focus on race as a perpetual marker of social division. The second section shifts attention to the gaps, blind spots, mistakes, paradoxes, ironies, anomalies, ambiguities and invisibilities in the structures of apartheid that allowed for racial encounters and entanglements. The paper concludes with a discussion about the methodological and political implications of incorporating racial entanglements into narratives of apartheid sport.     

Student,home, and school socio-demographic factors: links to school,home, and community arts participation

This study explored the role of student (e.g., age, language background, gender), home (e.g., parent/caregiver education), and school (e.g., school type, size) socio-demographic factors in students’ school (e.g., in-school arts tuition, arts engagement), home (e.g., parent/caregiver–child arts interaction), and community (e.g., arts attendance, arts tuition) arts participation. The sample comprised 1172 elementary and secondary school students from 15 schools. Findings revealed that student and home socio-demographic factors were the most salient in predicting arts participation across school, home, and community contexts. Age, gender, and prior achievement were the key student socio-demographic factors, while parent/caregiver education and occupation were also associated with students’ arts participation. Implications for practice and intervention pertinent to young people’s arts participation are discussed.     

Prediction assessments: Using video-based predictions to assess prospective teachers’ knowledge of students’ mathematical thinking

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of an experimental elementary mathematics field experience course, we have designed a new assessment instrument. These video-based prediction assessments engage prospective teachers in a video analysis of a child solving mathematical tasks. The prospective teachers build a model of that child’s mathematics and then use that model to predict how the child will respond to a subsequent task. In this paper, we share data concerning the evolution and effectiveness of the instrument. Results from implementation indicate moderate to high degrees of inter-rater reliability in using the rubric to assess prospective teachers’ models and predictions. They also indicate strong correlation between participation in the experimental course and prospective teachers’ performances on the video-based prediction assessments. Such findings suggest that prediction assessments effectively evaluate the pedagogical content knowledge that we are seeking to foster among the prospective teachers.     

Early childhood teacher education: the case of geometry

For early childhood, the domain of geometry and spatial reasoning is an important area of mathematics learning. Unfortunately, geometry and spatial thinking are often ignored or minimized in early education. We build a case for the importance of geometry and spatial thinking, review research on professional development for these teachers, and describe a series of research and development projects based on this body of knowledge. We conclude that research-based models hold the potential to make a significant difference in the learning of young children by catalyzing substantive change in the knowledge and beliefs of their teachers.