Book and school: On literacy and general education

In this article it is argued that an internal relationship exists between literacy (being able to read and write) and general education. The concrete meaning of general education and of (cultural) literacy is, however, subject to cultural and historical change. In the light of our context of cultural diversity, a plea is held to underline the liberative powers of general education, and in doing so to pay homage to pluriformity as a value. School and book serve this liberation in the sense that horizons are widened by learning about worlds of thought other than one's own. Such a general education is in keeping with an envisioned Europe predisposed to tolerance of difference and pluriformity.     

School Chemistry vs. Chemistry in Research: An Exploratory Experiment

This report describes a study which explores, from the out-of-school student viewpoint, why students are not studying chemistry anymore. In a 2-day stay at a research institution three groups of graduating high school students from different schools, together with their chemistry teacher, were confronted hands-on with molecular modeling in industry and in university. Each of these volunteer students had agreed to write an essay on School Chemistry Vs. Chemistry in Research. These essays were evaluated together by the students, the teacher, and the researcher in a meeting at their school. The opinion of the students show that school chemistry does not convey today's chemistry in research and in industry. At the computer screen the students demonstrated their skill in performing molecular modeling experiments. Moreover, at the computer screen, chemistry was fun and easier to understand. Now we begin to see the solution: our students are also our teachers.     

Enhancement of Quality in Chemical Inquiry by Pre-University Students

Our pre-university chemistry students face problems achieving sufficient quality in chemical inquiry. To try to enhance the quality of student performance in chemical inquiry, Dutch pre-university chemistry students (age 17) carried out an authentic research project on Diffusion of ions in distilled water. The learning materials for this student inquiry project, the teaching scenario and the website were designed in cooperation with five chemistry teachers. Three teachers from this network and two other teachers also implemented the project with 80 students to find out whether the emphasis on relevant concepts of evidence (CoE) improves the quality of student inquiry outcomes. This part – with its emphasis on the CoE – in the student inquiry task is based on four key features: the students feel motivated to explore, focus their attention on, give meaning to and reflect upon CoE. In teams students conducted a guide experiment, analysed a scientific article, did an inquiry and wrote a report, discussed CoE with peers on the Internet and rewrote their reports. All lessons were observed, field notes were made and analysed on whether the intended student activities had been realised. The Internet discussion was recorded in a database and analysed. The first and final reports of all teams were coded and analysed. Also the students appreciation of the activities was assessed. The teaching and learning activities were realized to a very large extent as planned in the design. The emphasis on CoE resulted in 65% of the students achieving a sufficient level of quality in their final reports.     

Ordinary and extraordinary brain development: Anatomical variation in developmental dyslexia

Eight brains, six male and two female, of reliably diagnosed cases of developmental dyslexia have been analyzed in this laboratory thus far. Common to all the specimens is the absence of ordinary asymmetry in the planum temporale, a language relevant area of the temporal lobe. In addition, the male cases and one female case displayed multiple focal areas of malformation of the cerebral cortex, located variably in the language relevant perisylvian regions and to a greater or lesser extent bilaterally. Both female cases and, to a mild degree, one of the males display focal areas of cortical scarring dated to the end of pregnancy through to the end of the second year of life at the latest. The scarring tends to be located in the vascular watershed territories. Experimental animal research suggests that symmetry may represent absence of the necessary developmental pruning of neural networks required for specific functions such as language. This diminished pruning results in excessive neurons and (at least interhemispheric) connections. Additional modeling in experimental animals suggests that cortical malformations and scarring similar to those seen in the dyslexic brains may represent early focal injury that could be attributed to congenital disorders of the immune system. The work reported here has been supported, in part, by NIH grant NICHD 20806, The Orton Dyslexia Society, and the Carl J. Herzog Foundation.     

Exploring teachers’ inquiry-based attitude

Having a well-founded insight into the characteristics of teachers inquiry-based attitude (IA) supports operationalising IA as a learning goal in teacher education (TE). The aim of this study is to refine the notion of IA from an ill-defined global concept into something with reliable and valid characteristics. To do so, data were gathered on three different occasions amongst three different cohorts of teachers who participated in a master's programme at a Dutch university for applied sciences. This process of exploration and reconceptualisation was performed in collaboration with teacher educators. The results indicate that, statistically, IA has an internal reflective dimension and an external knowledge-sourcing dimension. Both dimensions can also statistically be differentiated from the personality traits openness to ideas, openness to change and epistemic curiosity. The implications of these findings for TE, plus recommendations for future research, are addressed.     

The testosterone hypothesis: Assessment since Geschwind and Behan, 1982

The Geschwind hypothesis proposes a causal interaction among non-right-handedness, immune disorders, and learning disabilities, including dyslexia, via the intrauterine action of the male hormone testosterone. Some epidemiologic studies have supported at least a statistical association among the three traits; others have not. The associations between learning disorders and immune disease and between learning disorders and non-righthandedness appear to be better supported than that between immune disorders and non-right-handedness. However, none of data thus far accumulated are conclusive because it is not clear that the samples studied have been truly representative. The neuropathologic evidence, both in autopsy studies in human dyslexics and in animal models of developmental cortical abnormalities, are consistent with but not diagnostic of immunological pathology. Mechanisms are discussed by which an abnormal immune system could thus injure the developing brain, with an emphasis placed on abnormal maternal-fetal interactions, including maternal autoimmune disease and maternal-fetal incompatibility. A genetic origin is also possible in which the maternal role is less significant. Some of the research reported here was supported by NIH grants HD 20806, HD 19819, by a grant from the Carl W. Herzog Foundation, and by a grant from The Orton Dyslexia Society. The Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture, delivered at The 40th Annual Conference of The Orton Dyslexia Society, Dallas, Texas, December 2, 1989.     

The work of Ambroise Tardieu: the first definitive description of child abuse

The first important monograph describing the battered child syndrome was written in 1860 by Ambroise Tardieu, a French forensic physician. Here is a translation of his article, published in the Annales d'hygiene publique et de medecine legale, with the title "Etude medico-legale sur les sevices et mauvais traitements exerces sur des enfants." The first part of his article is entirely translated. A brief summary of the 32 cases report described by Tardieu in the second part of his article is presented.