The American Universities Which Published Most Often in Journals for Business & Finance,Law, Education,and Social Sciences Librarians, 2000–2010

The authors adapt the methods and ranking system of the 5-year study by Wiberley, Hurd, and Weller (2006) to report the number and affiliations of papers published by subject-specialist librarians in four journals from 2000 to 2010: the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, Law Library Journal, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, and Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian. While both approaches demonstrated high output from many of the same highly ranked universities, our modified approach identified a significant number of unranked schools that may have deep specialty strengths among their subject expert librarian authors.     

What Makes Schools Effective? A Comparison between School Communities in Australia and the USA∗

This paper reports on findings related to the perceptions held by members of school communities with respect to the factors which most help schools to be effective. The data are from a study conducted in Melbourne, Australia and in seven states of the United States of America. Findings from this research indicate that members of school communities: principals, teachers, parents and students believe that the most critical elements that contribute to the development of an effective school are dedicated and qualified staff, clear school purposes, strong academic and administrative leadership, a safe school environment and a positive school climate.

     

Introduction

In the last issue of our predecessor journal, Teaching at a Distance, Alistair Morgan considered what the term ‘independent learning’ meant in the Open University context. This article continues that debate, placing it in the context of a general model of the teaching and learning system, and relates independent learning to the idea of learning as personal development. The author, Tony Wright, is Staff Tutor in Technology in the East Anglian region of the Open University.     

Towards a method to disseminate knowledge from the post project review

In this paper we review several issues associated with post project review and dissemination of knowledge in information technology projects. We reflect on our practice of coaching project teams. In identifying the role of social pressure in forming teams’ perception of their performance, we suggest what could potentially be an interesting and fruitful avenue of future research on an approach to post project review and dissemination of knowledge in organizations.     

Entering Initial Teacher Education: science graduates’ views of the interview and selection process

This paper describes ongoing research that builds on earlier studies by the authors that have investigated issues concerning the selection of science graduates to secondary PGCE courses. These studies identified the need for criteria that are understood by tutors and applicants to ensure that candidates from ethnic minority groups are not disadvantaged. The research focuses on the perceptions that science graduates have about the selection process for secondary teacher education courses and seeks to identify whether the procedures used disadvantage any particular groups or individuals. We are interested also in whether there is a mismatch between tutors’ perceptions of the interview process and those of the applicants. During 1995/96 current students and applicants for one year PGCE courses in science were asked how they had prepared for their interviews and for their impressions of the interviewing process. The paper describes initial findings and the implication of these findings.     

Humanities in the primary school – philosophical considerations

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a range of philosophical traditions, this article argues that the humanities are essential aspects of the development of the whole child. The humanities help children to understand themselves and other people in relation to place, time, belief, identity and culture and to become empathetic, thoughtful and critical citizens. Learning the content, language, concepts, skills and ways of working associated with separate disciplines is important, as is exploration of key ideas related to human experience and culture, including controversial ones. Defining the humanities in the primary years by the types of knowledge, qualities and values involved may be more appropriate than by subject. These can be learned, and reinforced, in all subject areas, with some offering particularly fertile opportunities, and through cross-curricular approaches. An emphasis on factual knowledge is too limiting, with active, first-hand experience helping to engage and include children. To teach and demonstrate appropriate ways of working and thinking, teachers require pedagogical content knowledge and enthusiasm as well as subject knowledge.     

What do people know about key environmental issues? A review of environmental knowledge surveys

This paper presents results from 15 little publicized state and national environmental surveys in the US that used similar questions. Our analysis reveals trends in adult understanding of environmental issues. These trends indicate that many may have difficulty making informed decisions about environmental policy as citizens, voters, and consumers. Some environmental myths are still prevalent in the US public’s understanding of environmental issues. The authors compare data from the National Environmental Education Foundation survey in the US and data from state surveys using the same questions to examine how public knowledge has changed from 1995 to 2008. Environmental myths and how they may affect the public’s perception of environmental topics are discussed. The authors suggest the need for greater consistency in the surveys of environmental knowledge to allow comparison among different studies.