Rolling out ‘good’, ‘best’ and ‘excellent’ practice. What next? Perfect practice?

The identification and dissemination of ‘good practice’ has for years been a central part of the Government's strategy for radical change of the education system. ‘Good practice’, however, is no longer good enough, nor is ‘best practice’. The requirement now for post‐compulsory education and training (from which all our examples are taken) is nothing less than ‘excellent practice for all’. This article critically examines these highly significant shifts in the rhetoric of policy, finds them wanting and argues that we need to face up to the complexities involved in deciding not only what is ‘excellent practice’ but also in working through all the stages which would be needed to transmit it throughout the sector. In particular, recent documents from the Quality Improvement Agency and the Learning and Skills Council on the pursuit of excellence are critically appraised. The views of those practitioners who are part of the authors' project in the Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme are also explained in relation to ‘good practice’. The authors attempt to explain the frenetic activity of politicians and policy makers in this sector, and end by moving from critique to construction by considering what can be rescued from the inherently contestable notion of ‘good practice’, and, in doing so, draw heavily on the work of Robin Alexander.     

The importance of autonomy for rural Chinese children's motivation for learning

Two studies applied self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate the motivation for learning of rural Chinese children. The aim was to test whether findings from studies in western individualist cultures would hold up within a very different, eastern collectivist setting. In the first study, when students' autonomous and controlled motivation for a course were entered simultaneously in a regression analysis, autonomous motivation uniquely positively predicted students' perceptions of interest, competence, and choice in the course, whereas controlled motivation uniquely negatively predicted perceptions of interest and choice. In the second study students' perceptions of instructors' autonomy support during the course predicted changes in autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and perceived competence. These results were discussed in terms of SDT and culture.     

Roles, caring and learning to teach science

Classroom narratives and stories are rich and powerful in offering deep insights into classrooms and the reality of teaching—a reality critically re-examined in this forum. Discussing Maria’s narratives led to reflections about what it takes to support teachers to become agents of more equitable science practices. Factors such as time and identity-work are key dimensions of the authors’ struggle, but they also address understanding students in profound ways. The ways in which contradictions at different levels in the educational system can become sources of growth, reflection and action are discussed; yet no simple answers follow. Teaching and becoming a teacher are best understood as life-long processes of reflection and action and as political acts that entail challenging many boundaries. They also involve putting oneself into vulnerable roles and positions. This dialogue opens up many questions about how we can collaborate, guide and support both novices and experienced professionals in education as researchers, science staff developers, and teacher educators. It seeks to support the on-going quest to make science education authentic and equitable.     

Computer-Mediated Intersensory Learning Model for Students with Learning Disabilities

This article proposes a computer-mediated intersensory learning model as an alternative to traditional instructional approaches for students with learning disabilities (LDs) in the inclusive classroom. Predominant practices of classroom inclusion today reflect the six principles of zero reject, nondiscriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, least restrictive environment, procedural due process, and parental and student participation. These practices guide the amended Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. For nearly 35 years the act has championed for the rights of children with disabilities. The act mandates that students with LDs are educated in the general education classroom (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 1999).     

Efficient capture of circulating tumor cells with a novel immunocytochemical microfluidic device

Ability to perform cytogenetic interrogations on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of cancer patients is vital for progressing toward targeted, individualized treatments. CTCs are rare compared to normal (bystander) blood cells, found in ratios as low as 1:10⁹. The most successful isolation techniques have been immunocytochemical technologies that label CTCs for separation based on unique surface antigens that distinguish them from normal bystander cells. The method discussed here utilizes biotin-tagged antibodies that bind selectively to CTCs. The antibodies are introduced into a suspension of blood cells intending that only CTCs will display surface biotin molecules. Next, the cell suspension is passed through a microfluidic channel that contains about 9000 transverse, streptavidin coated posts. A CTC making contact with a post has the opportunity to engage in a biotin-streptavidin reaction that immobilizes the cell. Bystander blood cells remain in suspension and pass through the channel. The goal of the present study is to establish the technical performance of these channels as a function of antigen density and operating conditions, especially flow rate. At 18 μL/min, over 70% of cells are captured at antigen densities greater than 30 000 sites/cell while 50% of cells are captured at antigen densities greater than 10 000. It is found that lower flow rates lead to decreasing cell capture probabilities, indicating that some streamlines develop which are never close enough to a post to allow cell-post contact. Future modeling and streamline studies using computational fluid dynamics software could aid in optimization of channel performance for capture of rare cells.     

Information,knowledge and wisdom: groundwork for the normative evaluation of digital information and its relation to the good life

This paper provides a general philosophical groundwork for the theoretical and applied normative evaluation of information generally and digital information specifically in relation to the good life. The overall aim of the paper is to address the question of how Information Ethics and computer ethics more generally can be expanded to include more centrally the issue of how and to what extent information relates and contributes to the quality of life or the good life, for individuals and for society. To answer that question, the paper explores and provides by way of a theoretical groundwork for further research, the concept of wisdom understood as a type of meta-knowledge as well as a type of meta-virtue, which can enable one to both know in principle what a good life is and how to successfully apply that knowledge in living such a life in practice. This answer will be based on the main argument presented in this paper that the notion of wisdom understood as being at once a meta-epistemological, meta-axiological and meta-eudemonic concept, provides the essential conceptual link between information on the one hand and the good life on the other. If, as we are told, this is the Age of Information, both the theoretical examination and analysis of the question of how information relates to the good life and the provision of an adequate answer to that question are essential for developing a deeper understanding of how to evaluate the theoretical and practical implications and ramifications of information for the good life, for individuals and societies generally.