Exemplarity in Mathematics Education: from a Romanticist Viewpoint to a Modern Hermeneutical One

This paper proposes a setting of exemplarity different from the already known one, which is basically a Romanticist philosophical setting. Our general aim is to describe and explore the nature of some exemplary themes and interpretive models in advanced mathematics teaching and learning. In order to do so, we move from Romanticism towards the viewpoint of Modern Hermeneutics, by applying ideas appearing mainly in Gadamer and Ricoeur. We use this new setting as a philosophical framework, to interpret some results from two didactical research studies that have already appeared on infinitesimals.     

What factors does friction depend on? A socio‐cognitive teaching intervention with young children

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a socio‐cognitive teaching strategy on young children. It tests their understanding of the factors that friction depends on when an object is projected across a horizontal surface. The study was conducted in three phases: pre‐test, teaching intervention, and post‐test. The sample consisted of 68 preschool children who were assigned to two groups according to age and cognitive ability, based on their responses to a pre‐test. The children in the experimental group participated in activities that were approached from a socio‐cognitive perspective while the children in the control group participated in the same activities but from a Piagetian perspective. A statistically significant difference was found (Mann–Whitney U‐test), between the pre‐test and the post‐test, providing evidence for the effect of the socio‐cognitive strategy on children's understanding of a ‘precursor model’ for the concept of friction.     

A study of the information seeking behaviour of hospital pharmacists: empirical evidence from Greece

Background: Hospital pharmacists need access to high‐quality information in order to constantly update their knowledge and improve their skills. In their modern role, they are expected to address three types of challenges: scientific, organizational and administrative, thus having an increased need for adequate information and library services. Objectives: This study investigates the information‐seeking behaviour of public hospital pharmacists providing evidence from Greece that could be used to encourage the development of effective information hospital services and study the links between the information seeking behaviour of hospital pharmacists and their modern scientific and professional role. Method: An empirical research was conducted between January and February 2010 with the development and distribution of a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled in and returned by 88 public hospital pharmacists from a total of 286 working in all Greek public hospitals, providing a response rate of 31%. Results: The hospital pharmacists in Greece are in search of scientific information and, more particularly, pharmaceutical information (e.g., drug indications, storage, dosage and prices). The Internet and the National Organization of Medicines are their main information sources, while the lack of time and organized information are the main obstacles they have to face when seeking information. Conclusions: The modern professional role of hospital pharmacists as invaluable contributors to efficient and safer healthcare services may be further supported through the development of specialized libraries and information services within Greek public hospitals.     

Self-esteem,Locus of Control and Various Aspects of Psychopathology of Adults with Visual Impairments

The exploratory study presented in this article looks into the possible differences in psychosocial aspects (self-esteem and locus of control) and aspects of psychopathology (depression, anxiety, melancholia, asthenia, and mania) amongst sighted adults and adults with visual impairments. Moreover, the study aims to examine the possible correlations between psychosocial aspects and aspects of psychopathology of adults with visual impairments. Furthermore, this study examines the possible relationships between the above psychological aspects and the individual features of the participants (age, gender, age at onset of visual impairments, how recent the loss of vision is, marital status, employment status, and ability of independent mobility). One hundred and forty-eight adults participated in the study: 55 adults with visual impairments and 93 sighted adults. The research was based upon the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Rotter’s Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, and the Symptoms Rating Scale for Depression and Anxiety. The results reveal correlations between psychosocial aspects and psychopathology of adults with visual impairments. Moreover, the individual features influence the psychosocial aspects and psychopathology of the participants.     

Enhancing software engineering education through open source projects: Four years of students’ perspectives

This paper presents the results after four years of running of an instructional method that utilizes free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects as tools for teaching software engineering in formal education. In the last four academic years, a total of 408 juniors majoring in Informatics (in a 4-year program) participated in the study, assuming the roles of requirements engineers, testers, developers, and designers/analysts. Students appreciated the benefits gained by the method and identified aspects that require further improvement. In the paper, we present (a) the details of our method, (b) students’ opinions as recorded through a questionnaire including both closed and open ended questions, and (c) conclusions on how the use of FLOSS projects can be applied, and be beneficial for the students.     

Professional Bodybuilding and the Business of ‘Extreme’ Bodies: The Mr Olympia Competition in the Context of Las Vegas's Leisure Industries

Since 1999, the pinnacle of bodybuilding as professional sport, the Mr Olympia competition, has been held in Las Vegas. The present paper explores how the event has been produced materially and symbolically in this context. More specifically, an attempt is made to trace connections with other well-developed leisure industries that thrive there: in packaging the Mr Olympia as a lifestyle weekend in ‘Sin City’, bodybuilding entrepreneurs capitalize on Las Vegas's reputation and the various networks and infrastructures of its show, event, tourism and night-life entertainment industries. Through this discussion, a comparative picture will emerge between, on the one hand, the Mr Olympia and the bodybuilding industry and, on the other hand, those other industries prominent in Las Vegas. I argue that, although the former may be viewed as a niche enterprise that addresses a relatively closed audience of ‘insiders’, it shares fully the logic and practices of corporate entertainment that define the latter. This is both a reflection of and a force in the late-modern transformation of bodybuilding as organized sport towards ‘extreme’ spectacle and relentless competition that can, in turn, be situated in a wider system of cultural forms and activities operating on a similar model. In treading upon this largely unexplored territory, the discussion and arguments are based on a combination of methods and original research, including archival, online media and ethnographic research involving in-depth interviews with key figures in the for-profit promotion of bodybuilding.     

Processing demands of reading comprehension tests in young readers

In the present study we examined the processing demands of three reading comprehension tests, namely the Woodcock–Johnson Passage Comprehension (WJPC), a Curriculum-Based Measure test (CBM-Maze), and a Recall test, in the early elementary years. Our investigation was theoretically motivated by Perfetti’s Verbal Efficiency Theory and examined the contribution of a set of skills that are important in early reading (i.e., rapid naming, phonological processing, orthographic processing, fluency, vocabulary, and working memory) to the three reading comprehension tests. Furthermore, because this set of skills undergo rapid development in the early years, we assessed them in two consecutive years, Grade 1 and Grade 2, before examining their prediction to the three reading comprehension tests in Grade 2. The findings showed that the three reading comprehension tests pose different demands to the young reader. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to reading comprehension assessment and diagnosis of reading difficulties.     

The value of writing-to-learn when using question prompts to support web-based learning in ill-structured domains

This study investigates the effectiveness of two variants of a prompting strategy that guides students to focus on important issues when learning in an ill-structured domain. Students in three groups studied individually Software Project Management (SPM) cases for a week, using a web-based learning environment designed especially for this purpose. The first group (control) studied the cases without any prompting. The second group (“writing mode”) studied the same cases, while prompted to provide written answers to a set of knowledge integration prompts meant to engage students in deeper processing of the material. The third group (“thinking mode”) studied the cases, while prompted only to think of possible answers to the same question prompts. Results indicated that students in the writing condition group outperformed the others in both domain knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer post-test items. Several students in the thinking condition group skipped the question prompts, while those that reported having reflected on the material were unable to achieve high performance comparable to the writing condition group. Overall, the study provides evidence that the implementation of prompting techniques in technology-enhanced learning environments may lead to improved outcomes, when combined with the requirement that students provide their answers in writing.     

Difficulties in Lexical Stress Versus Difficulties in Segmental Phonology Among Adolescents With Dyslexia

Dyslexic difficulties in lexical stress were compared to difficulties in segmental phonology. Twenty-nine adolescents with dyslexia and 29 typically developing adolescents, matched on age and nonverbal ability, were assessed on reading, spelling, phonological and stress awareness, rapid naming, and short-term memory. Group differences in stress assignment were larger than in segmental phonology in reading and spelling pseudowords but not words, indicating a fragility of explicit processes that manipulate stress representations. Despite impaired stress performance in dyslexia at the group level, individual variability failed to reveal evidence for a stress-specific deficit or for a distinct stress-impaired subgroup.     

The mediation of tools in the development of formal mathematical concepts: The compass and the circle as an example

This study focuses on the process by which children develop a formal mathematical concept of the circle by using various instruments to draw circles within the context of a goal-directed drawing task. Particular attention was given to the transition from using tracers and templates to using a compass for drawing circles and to the extent to which the use of different drawing instruments may contribute to the formation of a formally defined mathematical concept of the circle. The critical difference considered in the study is that the compass, in contrast to circle-drawing tracers or templates, induces by its physical structure and its functional use the generative features of formal mathematical concepts of the circle, that is, the centre and the radius. Analysis of the empirical data indicates that the use of the compass in circle drawing structures the circle-drawing operation in a radically different fashion than circle tracers and templates, and brings into play an action-bound practical thinking. Such thinking has an overall positive influence on the construction of analytical concepts by children that are analogous to the formally defined mathematical concepts of the circle. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.