Educational Broadcasting and the New Technologies

Those of us who work in education and in broadcasting have been dominated, for many years now, with thought, discussion and innumerable papers — almost to the point of tedium — with what we call ‘new technology’. What we mean by new technology are those aspects of the enormous space race-induced changes in the last quarter of the twentieth century which directly affect the making and using of audio-visual materials.     

University physics students' use of models in explanations of phenomena involving interaction between metals and electromagnetic radiation

We examine third year university physics students' use of models when explaining familiar phenomena involving interaction between metals and electromagnetic radiation. A range of scientific models are available to explain these phenomena. However, explanations of these phenomena tend not to be used as exemplars of scientific models within undergraduate physics education. The student sample is drawn from six universities in UK and Sweden. These students have difficulties in providing appropriate explanations for the phenomena. Many students draw upon the Bohr model of isolated atoms when explaining light emission of metals. The students tend not to recognize that atoms in metals interact to give an electronic structure very different from that of the isolated atom. Few students use a single model consistently in their explanations of these related phenomena. Rather, students' use of models is sensitive to the context in which each phenomenon is presented to them.     

Having students create short video clips to help transition from naïve conceptions about mechanics to true Newtonian physics

Most students enter their first university physics course with a system of beliefs and intuitions which are often inconsistent with the Newtonian frame of reference. This article presents an experiment of collaborative learning aiming at helping first-year students in an engineering programme to transition from their naïve intuition about dynamics to the Newtonian way of thinking. In a first activity, students were asked to critically analyse the contents of two video clips from the point of view of Newtonian mechanics. In a second activity, students had to design and realise their own video clip to illustrate a given aspect of Newtonian mechanics. The preparation of the scenario for the second activity required looking up and assimilating scientific knowledge. The efficiency of the activity was assessed on an enhanced version of the statistical analysis method proposed by Hestenes and Halloun, which relies on a pre-test and a post-test to measure individual learning.     

Effectiveness of a liaison program in meeting information needs of college of pharmacy faculty

This article describes the creation and implementation of focus groups to evaluate the effectiveness of a health sciences library's liaison program of the College of Pharmacy faculty and to better understand the faculty's information needs in order to design new and improved library services. The liaison services support the teaching and research needs of faculty and students through literature research, classroom teaching, and an extensive library collection of pharmacy literature. Focus group results demonstrated a high level of satisfaction with library liaison services and collections. Opportunities exist for expanded interaction with graduate students and greater marketing of library services to increase faculty awareness of specific library programs.     

Algorithms: avoiding the implementation of institutional biases

ABSTRACT

Computer algorithms, the logic and code that power automated decision-making programs, increasingly dominate many aspects of modern society. There are already many examples of institutional biases – including ideological bias, racism, sexism, ableism – being solidified in algorithms, causing harm to already underprivileged populations. This article explores library-specific and society-wide examples as well as efforts to prevent the implementation of these biases in the future.     

Talent Development: A Guide for Practice and Research Within Sport

The transformation of talented youngsters into senior world-beaters is a topic of interest for practitioners and researchers alike. Unfortunately there is a dearth of research to guide the optimization of this process. Accordingly, this paper offers an overview of key themes apparent in the literature that have relevance to the effective development of talent. The five key generic features that emerge consistently include long-term aims and methods; wide ranging coherent messages and support; emphasis on appropriate development rather than early selection; individualized and ongoing development; and finally, integrated, holistic, and systematic development. In addition to the review, exemplars of current worldwide practice are used to further highlight both the need and direction for further research and more broad education of an effective talent development model.     

School Teachers’ Experiences of Science Curriculum Reform

We examine teachers’ experiences of a major reform of the school science curriculum for 14–16-year olds in England. This statutory reform enhances the range of available science courses and emphasises the teaching of socio-scientific issues and the nature of science, alongside the teaching of canonical science knowledge. This paper examines teachers’ experiences of the reform and the factors that condition these experiences. A designed sample of 22 teachers discussed their experiences of the reform within a semi-structured interview. Our analysis considers how the external and internal structures within which teachers work interact with the personal characteristics of teachers to condition their experiences of the curriculum reform. In many cases, personal/internal/external contexts of teachers’ work align, resulting in an overall working context that is supportive of teacher change. However, in other cases, tensions within these contexts result in barriers to change. We also explore cases in which external curriculum reform has stimulated the development of new contexts for teachers’ work. We argue that curriculum reformers need to recognise the inevitability of multiple teaching goals within a highly differentiated department and school workplace. We also show how experiences of curriculum reform can extend beyond the learning of new knowledge and associated pedagogies to involve challenges to teachers’ professional identities. We argue for the extended use of teacher role models within local communities of practice to support such ‘identity work’.