The Story of Phoenix Quest: How girls respond to a prototype language and mathematics computer game

This article describes a case study of six girls' experiences with the Phoenix Quest computer game. In addition to the case study, a supplementary large-scale study of the reactions of both boys and girls to the same computer game was conducted for comparative analysis. Phoenix Quest (PQ) was designed not only to encourage children to explore language and mathematics, but also to offer game features that would especially appeal to girls. Participants in the case study were given opportunities to become acquainted with PQ for several months before being observed and interviewed. Four issues that emerged as being important to the participants were (a) presentation of the story in a non-linear format, (b) appreciation for the problem-solving elements of PQ, (c) identification with the main character (female), and (d) lack of awareness of the mathematics embedded within the game. The findings provided evidence that PQ appealed to girls because the protagonist was of their age and gender, and because the puzzles and searches were engaging throughout the game. Some aspects of the game, however, were less successful; for instance, the non-linear story format was disconcerting to all but one of the participants, and only one student identified the mathematics in the game structure. The large-scale study involved 41 boys and 57 girls, aged 8-12, from four junior school classes (Grades 4, 5 and 6). The aggregate data collected showed that more girls than boys used the postcard-writing feature of PQ and appreciated following the adventures of a female protagonist. More boys than girls were reported to offer advice to other students, discuss the game during their free time, and observe others playing the game. Some boys even formed groups to exchange information and game-playing strategies. Also, more boys than girls recognised the mathematics embedded within the game. Although these studies did not focus on teacher-student interaction, the finding that more than 25% of participating students were not able to identify the mathematics embedded in PQ, supports supplementary instruction on the part of a teacher as a requirement for making the mathematics more salient. Further research to address this issue is strongly recommended. Both the case study and the large-scale study revealed that among computer games, PQ's uncommon approach of celebrating and challenging a female protagonist is important to girls. This does not suggest that the presentation of a female protagonist will discourage boys from playing and enjoying the game. On the contrary, our findings showed that boys were also engaged by PQ, a game that encourages cooperative play and group problem-solving. In the realm of computer games, gender identification plays a key role, in first capturing the attention of girls, and then sustaining their interest, enjoyment and participation.     

相关概念和影响因素

为在普通教育和职业教育问建立创新性的关系,欧盟采取了包括从课程开发到教育体系改革等多种方法.作为西方工业界的一部分,欧洲国家在提升职业教育与培训的吸引力和质量方面面临一些相似的挑战.     

The Health Information Literacy Research Project

Objectives:

This research studied hospital administrators'' and hospital-based health care providers'' (collectively, the target group) perceived value of consumer health information resources and of librarians'' roles in promoting health information literacy in their institutions.

Methods:

A web-based needs survey was developed and administered to hospital administrators and health care providers. Multiple health information literacy curricula were developed. One was pilot-tested by nine hospital libraries in the United States and Canada. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the curriculum and its impact on the target group.

Results:

A majority of survey respondents believed that providing consumer health information resources was critically important to fulfilling their institutions'' missions and that their hospitals could improve health information literacy by increasing awareness of its impact on patient care and by training staff to become more knowledgeable about health literacy barriers. The study showed that a librarian-taught health information literacy curriculum did raise awareness about the issue among the target group and increased both the use of National Library of Medicine consumer health resources and referrals to librarians for health information literacy support.

Conclusions:

It is hoped that many hospital administrators and health care providers will take the health information literacy curricula and recognize that librarians can educate about the topic and that providers will use related consumer health services and resources.

Highlights

• Health care providers responded positively to a health information literacy curriculum offered by librarians and to related resources and services, namely MedlinePlus and the information referral system known as Information Rx.
• Participation in a curriculum increased health care providers'' knowledge of health information literacy, awareness of available consumer health information, and referral of patients to the library for additional assistance.
• Librarian involvement in health information literacy increased the profession''s visibility and perceived value.

Implications

• Consumer health information services and resources offered by librarians can improve the health information literacy skills of health care providers and their patients.
• Training by librarians can increase knowledge of the importance of health information literacy and usage of MedlinePlus and Information Rxs.
• Hospital-based administrators and health care providers can be champions in support of health information literacy and consumer health information services offered by libraries.

     

Will Undergraduate Students Play Games to Learn How to Conduct Library Research?

This exploratory study examines whether undergraduate students will play games to learn how to conduct library research. Results indicate that students will play games that are an integral component of the course curriculum and enable them to accomplish overall course goals at the same time they learn about library research.     

Participation,financial support and the marginal student

This paper examines differences between the decision-making of marginal and nonmarginal students about participation in higher education (HE). We distinguish between two kinds of marginality: being ‘borderline’ on account of prior achievements in school and being ‘unsure’ after taking prior achievement into account. We identify a significant minority of students in their final year of schooling who are unsure about participation in higher education even though they have prior school achievements typical of entrants to HE. Being ‘unsure’ is found to be unrelated to socioeconomic background, but it is associated with significantly different attitudes towards the potential benefits and risks of participation, different levels of knowledge about financial support that is available and different approaches to information search about participation in HE.

How do parenting concepts vary within and between the families?

How do parenting concepts vary within and between the families? The present study regards parenting as a complex family process by considering three concepts of parenting: styles, differential treatment and coparenting consistency. A main question was addressed: whether and how these parenting concepts vary within the families towards siblings or between the two parents, and between the families according to the child's, the parent's and the family's characteristics? The parenting concepts were computed from the EPEP questionnaire (Meunier &; Roskam, 2007) in a sample of 101 non-divorced families: 101 mothers and 101 fathers of two siblings from 6- to 12-years-old. The parenting concepts were found to vary within the families towards two siblings and between the mother and the father. They were also found to vary between the families according to the child's age and personality traits as well as a function of the parent's educational level and the number of siblings.