Providing Access to Engagement in Learning: The Potential of Universal Design for Learning in Museum Design

Following passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), many museums improved the accessibility of their facilities. Even so, individuals with disabilities still lag behind in participation and engagement in museum experiences. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides an alternate model for the design of museum programs and exhibit spaces, one that is more aligned to progressive concepts of disability, providing not only physical access but also access to engagement in learning. In this article we argue that UDL has the potential to substantially improve the design of informal learning environments. Through two illustrative examples, we describe how the UDL design guidelines can be used to improve the probability that engagement will occur as individuals interact with exhibits, programs, and people in museums.     

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS ISSUE

Abstract

On January 8, 2002, President G.W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001. The article which follows examines this legislation, data upon which it is based, and likely outcomes. Moreover, this discussion challenges early childhood teacher educators to work together more closely and more actively with a broad base of concerned professionals to make changes in this short‐sighted legal obstacle to research‐based, professionally‐defined, high quality, early childhood education.     

The Quest for Gender Equity in America's Schools: From Preschool and Beyond

"Nothing can be more absurd than the practice which prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus the state instead of being whole, is reduced to half.” Plato, 24 B. C.     

Preservice teachers’ perceived control over negative caregiving outcomes: Implications for early‐childhood teacher preparation

Abstract

This study is focused on preservice early‐childhood teachers’ attributions about control and responsibility for negative caregiving outcomes. Prior research has linked low perceived control over failed outcomes with harsh care‐giving behavior. In this sample of 81 preservice teachers in a pre‐kindergarten, Associate‐degree program, bivariate correlations revealed associations between preservice teachers’ perceived control over caregiving outcomes, the parenting styles they experienced during childhood, and the complexity of their reasoning about children's development. When entered into regression analyses, low perceived control over negative caregiving outcomes was predicted by ratings of high parental permissiveness experienced as a child, as well as by categorical, rather than complex, conceptions of development. Implications of findings for university preparation of preservice teachers are discussed. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.     

Type of Writing Task and College Students' Meaning Making Following a Romantic Breakup

In this study, the authors examined the potential effects of type of writing task (loss/gain vs. general prompt) on the narrative content offered by college students (N= 41) who experienced romantic breakup. Qualitative analyses indicated differences based on type of writing task. Students who received the loss/gain prompt exhibited more cognitive, balanced, and complex responses, whereas those who received the general prompt offered more emotional and factual accounts of their experience.     

International trends in health science librarianship: Part 4 – Four Southern European countries

This is the fourth in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship in four Southern European countries in the first decade of the 21st century. The invited authors are from Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Future issues will track trends in Latin America and Central Europe. JM     

Rap as a Social and Political Revealer: Diam's and Changes in French Value Systems

Abstract

In 2006, a young female rapper named Diam's released an album that became the best‐selling CD in France: her CD and its reception is treated as a social phenomenon and examined against the backdrop of political arguments which developed in France in 2006–2007. Musical analysis shows that the sonic backgrounds of Diam's rap illustrated the importance of combinations and hard work in the symbolical production of a new order. Her texts manifested new combinations of social values which brought into the public debate changes in value systems that were just becoming developed enough to be taken up by political organisations and leaders. This is why the main themes in Diam's CD converged with topics engaged by the two main candidates in the French 2007 presidential election. This paper, combining the resources of musicology, literary analysis and political sociology analyses how Diam's put in aesthetic and emotional forms combinations of values that had been brewing underground for the past 30 years. It invites a reconsideration of the interpretation of rap as an expression of rebellion, or even as an element of counter‐culture, and apprehends it as a ‘social revealer’ that brings new values and representations into public debate and stimulates discussion around them. Diam's album was an ‘unidentified political object’ that shed original light on the way politics and politician are perceived by ordinary citizens, or specific groups among them, such as the youth.     

Sympathoadrenal and parasympathetic responses to exercise

Exhaustive exercise is associated with a persistent sensation of weakness and sometimes nausea suggesting abdominal vagal activity. We measured plasma indices of sympathoadrenal (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine) and vagal (pancreatic polypeptide) activity before, during and after submaximal and maximal exercise in healthy young subjects. Plasma adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine increased to 8.5 (range 7.4–40.5), 48.0 (32.3–100.5) and 1.8 (1.2–6.6) nmol l^–1 respectively (n = 5), during maximal exercise and decreased towards control values within 15 min of rest. Pancreatic polypeptide (n = 10) increased only during maximal exercise and reached its highest value, 48 (21–145) pmol l^–1, after exertion. The results conform to an increase in sympathetic activity during exercise and a persistent vagal activity after intense exercise which could contribute to the sensation of weakness.