Current conceptions of literacy – insights from work with children and older learners with sensory needs

There have been many efforts to conceptualise literacy, both in terms of its essence and component parts, but it has proved difficult to define. This paper considers work that is undertaken with children and older learners with sensory needs in order to promote the early stages of literacy. Recent government initiatives aimed at fostering literacy development have caused teachers of children with sensory needs to re-examine their practice. The paper discusses early literacy as part of children's attempts to communicate and describes children with sensory needs engaging in a range of activities that are termed 'literacy' by those working with them. By taking into account these activities, the authors endeavour to throw light on the broader questions around concepts of literacy.     

Bumble Boosters: Students Doing Real Science

Bumble Boosters was a lottery grant funded cooperative project between the University of Nebraska – Lincoln Department of Entomology, the Lincoln Public Schools Science Focus Program, and the Lincoln Folsom Children's Zoo. The primary education goal of the project was to create a community of learners to conduct authentic research on bumble bees in Nebraska. Participants were actively engaged in collecting bumble bees and placing nesting domiciles. Internet technology was employed to facilitate networking between project participants. Systematic evaluation was conducted during and after the project.     

The Future of Sport Philosophy in Higher Education Kinesiology

ABSTRACT

Massengale’s Trends Toward the Future of Physical Education (1987) makes no reference to the existence of the philosophic inquiry of physical activity within higher education kinesiology programs—even though the sub-discipline had been formalized by academics in the early 1970s. In contrast, Massengale and Swanson’s The History of Exercise and Sport Science (1997) dedicated a chapter to sport philosophy’s development, including a prognosis of its future. Since then, there has been tremendous growth in the sub-discipline, including an increase in publication outlets, stand-alone monographs, and the creation of academic associations globally. Yet this growth has not necessarily secured sport philosophy’s place in higher education curriculum. In this article, we briefly review the history of philosophic inquiry into physical activity and review previous predictions of the sub-discipline’s future before offering our own prognostication of its future in higher education.