The peritextual literacy framework: Using the functions of peritext to support critical thinking

The peritextual literacy framework (PLF) is a tool for accessing, evaluating, and comprehending the content of media using elements that frame the body of a work and mediate its content for the user. Paratextual elements are the focus of research in classification, bibliometrics, reader’s advisory work, and in studies of authorship and publication. However, paratextual theory is just beginning to be acknowledged in LIS. The PLF closes a gap in paratext theory by categorizing the functions of peritext into six types: production, promotional, navigational, intratextual, supplemental, and documentary. The PLF is unique that it provides both a framework for further research on peritext, as well as a pedagogical tool that supports teaching in the areas of information literacy, media literacy and analysis, critical thinking, reading, and media design and production.     

Clarifying Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning: What’s the Purpose?

In this commentary on the special issue, I join the authors in searching for a conceptual framework that would clarify the concepts of metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning. Building on the insights of the different articles, I suggest that metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning should be considered as subtypes of the general, abstract, phenomenon of self-regulated action. I continue by questioning the benefit of seeking boundaries between these three concepts. Instead, I propose to search for dimensions along which types of self-regulated action vary. I, then, introduce the notion of a “multidimensional conceptual space of self-regulated action” as a conceptual tool that allows for diversity of conceptions of self-regulated action while maintaining conceptual clarity. I conclude by highlighting the central role of purpose of engagement in self-regulated action and by noting its potential for guiding the search for meaningful dimensions on which to typify self-regulation.     

Differences in science students' view of ideal and actual role behavior according to success and gender

Information about how success and gender affect students' views of ideal and actual classroom role behavior can help both researchers and teachers better understand classroom components such as achievement and curriculum. A 20-item double Q sort was used to measure differences in perceptions of high school science students according to letter grades and gender. Individual Q sort item rankings of 160 students were tested for significant differences according to letter grade received; item ratings were compared according to gender for 215 students. Differences in perception according to success were found for both ideal and actual behavior; 8 and 5 items, respectively, out of each 20-item sort were found to be significant at the p = < 0.05 level. No such overall patterns of difference in view were found between boys and girls, although three ideal student items and one actual self-report item were found to be significantly different at the p = < 0.05 level.     

The student departure puzzle: do some faculties and programs have answers?

University attrition prevention strategies are typically generic, centrally managed, whole of university strategies that have emerged from an examination of whole of university attrition data. This paper takes an intra‐organisational comparative approach, through the examination of faculty and program attrition rates of students who joined an Australian university in the first term of 2004. The faculty with the highest attrition had a rate two‐and‐a‐half times that of the faculty with the lowest rate, and in programs with 40 or more students enrolled the program with the highest attrition had a rate over five times that of the program with the lowest rate. The paper identifies five practical implications of these findings and concludes that investigating the causes of these differences will help in understanding student attrition. It also suggests that universities wishing to reduce student attrition may benefit from adopting integrated and situated strategies that take into account faculty and program differences.     

Prepracticum Service‐Learning: Examining the Relationship With Counselor Self‐Efficacy and Anxiety

Prepracticum service‐learning is an integral part of the curriculum for counselor education students at a large southwestern university. Service‐learning is accomplished by placing novice students in school or community agency settings to acquire early, practical, field‐based experience. Activities are more structured and supervised than in an internship or practicum. Analysis indicated that prepracticum service‐learning had a positive significant relationship with counselor self‐efficacy and a significant negative relationship with student anxiety. However, substantial counseling course work and experience with counseling‐related work both had a stronger influence than did prepracticum service‐learning, indicating that the latter is more appropriate for novice students.     

A further contribution to the modelling of multi-waveform generators

A method has been presented in recent papers for deriving precisely stabilized waveform generators by relating them to second-order conservative oscillators. The present paper suggests a method for considerably generalizing the previous class ofgenerator models. This should enable the development of a larger variety of waveform generators with ease and flexibility. The new method is analyzed and is shown to possess implications to theoretical biology and other fields.     

Empowering Adolescent Readers: Intertextuality in Three Novels by David Almond

In Skellig, Kit’s Wilderness, and Clay, David Almond employs various types of intertextuality to enrich his narratives. Through the use of allusion, adaptation, collage, and mise-en-abyme, he encourages his adolescent readers to seek out precursor texts and to consider the interrelationships between these texts and his own. By so doing, he demonstrates the respect he has for his readers and empowers them to become active makers of meaning.

Play power

These games are excerpted from Play Poweravailable from Play Power Publishing, P.O. Box 2186, Orinda, CA 94563.