Teaching thinking — A focus for science teaching?

Conclusion The studies briefly reported in this paper reveal the enormous potential in the direct teaching of thinking for improving the thinking skills of students. Science education could be a powerful vehicle for such an approach. In the short term this could be achieved by incorporating an existing program such as CoRT as a core science curriculum element. The detailed study and reporting of such implementation efforts is important in suggesting ways forward. In the longer term, the design of new science curricula which have as a major focus the direct development of thinking skills should be a priority.     

Effects of Negative Political Advertising on Individuals' Cynicism and Self-Efficacy: The Impact of Ad Type and Message Exposures

Prior research has indicated that exposure to negative political advertising can foster among individuals feelings of alienation, distrust, and apathy toward government or the political process. However, investigation regarding the amount of exposure to such advertising and the form in which it is presented remains scant. This experimental study examined the impact of ad type (character based vs. issue based) and amount of advertising exposures on individuals' cynicism and perceived self-efficacy in relation to the government. Results indicated that issue-based attack ads aired during the 2004 presidential election led to greater cynicism and lower self-efficacy than did character-based attack ads. A significant interaction revealed that the difference on the self-efficacy measure was greatest at the highest exposure level, indicating that continual exposure to ads dealing with governmental policies may nurture the perception that the political process is overly complex, which subsequently can decrease individuals' beliefs that they can make a difference.     

Defensive Communication and Burnout in the Workplace: The Mediating Role of Leader–Member Exchange

This paper investigates the relationship between defensive communication in performance appraisal settings by considering the mediating effect of leader–member exchange relationships. In a study of employees of a US federal fire department, defensive communication was associated with lower quality leader–member exchange relationships, which in turn was related to burnout. We discuss the implications of these findings, particularly as they apply to organizations and their employees, as well as limitations and directions for future research.     

The Lived Experience and Training Needs of Librarians Serving at the Clinical Point-of-Care

This study examines the emotional experiences and perceptions of librarians embedded into clinical care teams and how those perceptions affect their training and preparation needs. Qualitative research methodologies were applied to textual data drawn from focus groups (n = 21), interviews (n = 2), and an online survey (n = 167), supplemented by quantitative survey data. Phenomenological results show librarians experience strongly affective responses to clinical rounding. Important factors include personal confidence; relationships with team members, patients, and families; and the stressful environment. Analysis of librarians’ perceived educational needs indicates that training must address specialized subjects including medical knowledge, clinical culture, and institutional politics.     

Looking at action research through the lenses of sociocultural psychology and activity theory

Sociocultural research and activity theory (SCRAT) are developments of the work of Vygotsky, which aim to capture how minds and actions are shaped by, and shape the opportunities for thinking and action available. SCRAT requires a rethinking of commonly held interpretations of relationships between culture and mind, and knowledge and action, so that attention is paid to how learners interpret and respond to the opportunities available to them. Like action research, SCRAT emphasises the development of a capacity to make informed interpretations of cultural contexts and the importance of collaborative or systemic responses to those interpretations. It adds to these concerns, a focus on the historical construction of possible interpretations and responses, and so offers a potentially useful way of mapping the developments being made by action researchers in their institutional settings. It is not suggested, however, that SCRAT is a substitute for action research, but that it may illuminate explorations of informed action and institutional change in action research     

Visual Literacy and Visual Politics: Photojournalism and the 2004 Presidential Debates

While newspapers use conventional images to accompany reporting on presidential debates, the rhetorical aspect of these images is illustrated through an examination of the 2004 debates. In this essay, the author first establishes oppositional positioning and mirroring as visual literacy conventions that augment those previously identified by Paul Messaris in his examination of advertising images. Second, a critical analysis of the photographs depicting the first 2004 debate, in particular, demonstrates how photo editors deployed visual conventions that either intensified clash or neutralized candidate performance fragments to produce a false symmetry despite a discordant reality. In subsequent debates, however, many editors employed alternate visual conventions that provided an improved visual balance between fairness and accuracy.     

Critique and Politics: A sociomaterialist intervention

Sociomaterial theories, including actor–network theory (ANT), materialist feminism and posthumanism, are sometimes argued to not be addressing or unable to address sufficiently the political and are therefore dismissed as irrelevant to educational research. Through an extended discussion of writers across the social sciences, this article seeks to counter such a view. Drawing specifically on the work of Latour on the nature of critique and on examples of political analysis from writers such as Barad, Bennett, Braidotti, Marres and Whatmore, we suggest that sociomaterialist approaches to the more-than-human open up extended understandings and productive alternative practices of politics. While recognising that this is a work in progress and not without difficulties and challenges, we argue that there is much to be gained for educational researchers from engaging with such approaches.     

Knowledge development in adult learning groups

Adult learning groups have often been studied in terms of the inter‐personal relations and problems which they generate. But how do adults develop, and build on, a shared understanding in such groups ‐ which is, after all, their main purpose ‐ and how can tutors best facilitate these processes? Neil Mercer, of the Open University's School of Education, and Derek Edwards, of Loughborough University's Social Sciences Department, address these questions here by applying research methods developed in schools. A tutor group at a recent Open University summer school is analysed as an example, but the implications of the study are more general.