Intra‐activity of humans and nonhumans in Writers' Studio: (re)imagining and (re)defining ‘social’

Posthumanism, or the material turn, refuses to take the distinction between human and nonhuman for granted. Currently discourses in literacy education focus on the ways of incorporating new tools and technologies (products) but within a design perspective, which does not get at the social and participatory ways (processes) of students creating new relationships and realities with materials. A posthuman stance focuses on the processes of literacy artefacts coming into being and what is being produced in the process(es). The social is (re)imagined and (re)defined in processes that encompass social entanglements of humans/nonhuman materials creating newness, new realities. We put to work posthumanist concepts with data that we call the ‘solar system mural assemblage’ from a 7‐ to 8‐year‐old Writers' Studio in order to (re)imagine and (re)define social. We question what counts as ‘social’ when working from a posthumanist stance. Why does a ‘posthumanist social’ matter for literacy educators? How does this perspective not only change our research practices but also pedagogies? We wonder how literacies are produced – how realities come into being – in assemblages of human and nonhuman materials in Writers' Studio. We discuss how and why it matters that we (re)conceptualise the notion of social in literacy education by drawing on posthumanist views.     

Teaching science as a cultural way of knowing: merging authentic inquiry, nature of science, and multicultural strategies

Due to the growing number of students from populations underrepresented in the sciences, there is an intensified need to consider alternatives to traditional science instruction. Inquiry-based instructional approaches provide promise and possibility for engaging underrepresented students in the activities of science. However, inquiry-based instruction without culturally relevant pedagogy and instructional congruency, may not be sufficient to support non-mainstream students in science learning, and may even serve to challenge students’ cultural ways of knowing. This conceptual paper suggests that aligning reform efforts in science education to the field of multicultural education would buttress efforts to reach underrepresented student groups in science. This includes providing culturally relevant instruction and instruction toward making the assumptions of science explicit, in particular. To this end, this paper draws from literature in multicultural education to propose that deconstructing science through instruction in NOS may support Latino, African American and English language learning students in science learning.     

Ways of Knowing beyond Facts and Laws of Science: An Ethnographic Investigation of Student Engagement in Scientific Practices

In this study, an anthropological perspective informed by sociolinguistic discourse analysis was used to examine how teachers, students, and scientists constructed ways of investigating and knowing in science. Events in a combined fourth‐ and fifth‐grade elementary class were studied to document how the participating teacher provided opportunities for students to diverge from the intended curriculum to pursue their questions concerning the behavior of sea animals in a marine science observation tank. Analysis of the classroom discourse identified ways that particular teaching strategies provided opportunities for student engagement in scientific practices. Implications of this study for the teaching of science in elementary classrooms include the value of student‐initiated science explorations under the conditions of uncertainty and for topics in which the teacher lacked relevant disciplinary knowledge. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 237–258, 2000.     

Is It Realistic to Expect a Preservice Teacher to Create an Inquiry-based Classroom?

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

The effect of work placements on the academic performance of Chinese students in UK higher education

The main controversy as a result of the commercialisation of international education markets is that international students especially those from China are unable to perform as well as UK students in UK universities. So far, research has yet to identify the influence of placements on the academic performance of Chinese students from entry to graduation. Using four cohorts of accounting and finance students in a UK university, this present work is the first to find that Chinese students who undertake placements in the third year are seven times more likely to achieve good degrees (2.1 or 1st) than those who opt out of work placements. It is also found that Chinese students who have a high prior academic achievement and better academic results from years 1 and 2 are likely to undertake placements. Finally, the results show that the academic performance of international students is influenced by domicile.     

Headteacher performance management: an investigation of the role of the external adviser

The performance management scheme that has been operating in English schools since 2000 gives considerable responsibilities to the school's governing body. These include responsibility for appraisal of the headteacher's overall performance as a school leader and manager. Governing bodies are assisted in this task by government appointed external advisers. Drawing on research, this article outlines the role of the external adviser in headteacher appraisal and what we know about how it is working in practice. Some of the key issues are explored and questions raised for further research. External advisers were very clear that their primary role was as advisers and supporters to the governors, but they also put considerable emphasis on the support that they provided for headteachers. They understood, however, that the ultimate responsibility for the performance management of the head lay with the governing body. They also saw themselves as counsellors, facilitators, mentors, honest brokers, coaches and governor trainers. The key to their role was the fact that they were outsiders, with no axe to grind and with no connection to either the LEA or to the national inspection agency (OfSTED).     

Ralph W. Tyler: The man and his work

CONGRESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by George N. Rainsford. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, 1972. 156 pp. $6.95.

BAYLOR AT INDEPENDENCE: 1845‐1886 by Lois Smith Murray. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 1972. xxiii + 421 pp. $10.00.

DIRECTORY OF FACILITIES FOR THE LEARNING‐DISABLED AND HANDICAPPED by Careth Ellingson and James Cass. New York: Harper &; Row, Publishers, Inc., 1972. xii + 624 pp. $15.00.

THE EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: INSTRUCTIONAL USES OF THE COMPUTER IN HIGHER EDUCATION by Roger E. Levien et al. A Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and RAND Corporation Study. New York: McGraw‐Hill, 1972. 583 pp. $12.50.

GOVERNANCE FOR THE TWO‐YEAR COLLEGE by Richard C. Richardson, Jr., Clyde E. Blocker, and Louis W. Bender. Prentice‐Hall, 1972. ix + 245 pp. $8.95.

TEACHING SINGING by John Carroll Burgin. Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1973. 284 pp. $7.50.

THE NIGHTWATCHERS by Angus Cameron. Illustrated with line drawings by Peter Parnall. New York: Four Winds Press, 1971. 112 pp. $8.95.     

Emerging coordination and knowledge transfer process during disease outbreak

When multiple agencies respond to a disease outbreak (i.e., H1N1 and SARS), the coordination of actions is complex and evolves over time. There has not been any systematic empirical study of the dynamics of emerging coordination behaviour and knowledge transfer process during a disease outbreak. In this paper, we first introduce our approach for the analysis of multi-agency intervention during a disease outbreak using the study of social networks. Using social networks and its analytic framework, we explore questions such as: How does the multi-agency coordination emerge for supporting the complex knowledge transfer process during different phases of disease outbreak? How effective are these formal and informal coordination mechanisms in achieving a robust outcome in response coordination through effective knowledge transfer process during the outbreak? What are the key lessons learned by studying the emerging coordination and knowledge transfer process during past disease outbreak in improving the multi-agency preparedness for dealing with future outbreaks? The discussion is supported by a qualitative study of the implementation of the results of the analysis. We reveal that profound understanding of social network behaviour and emerging coordination concepts are pivotal to the optimisation of knowledge transfer process which is a prerequisite for successful outbreak intervention. We look qualitatively at how Hunter New England Area Health Services applied these concepts to lead a successful coordination plan during an H1N109 endemic.