Feminism in Scotland: Self-identification and stereotypes

A questionnaire concerned with gender issues was completed by 2029 women and 2137 men students at a Scottish University. Of the women respondents, 1252 answered a question about whether they thought of themselves as feminists; 5% ticked 'always', 9% 'often', 59% 'occasionally' and 27% 'never'. Women in the 36-45 year old age bracket and postgraduate women were most likely to identify as feminists. This question was included in a factor analysis with items concerning gender roles. It loaded strongly only on the third factor, which linked strong feminist identification to an endorsement of an essentialist model of gender differences. Analysis of extended comments in response to a question about the image of feminism indicated that both male and female students were affected by negative stereotypes of feminism in the media. It was concluded that the study showed a somewhat stronger level of identification with feminism than previous studies.     

Self-Efficacy and Counselor Development: Testing the Integrated Developmental Model

This article presents an empirical investigation of counselor self-efficacy within 2 theoretical domains of the Integrated Developmental Model (IDM) of supervision.     

Platonic Dialogue, Maieutic Method and Critical Thinking

In this paper I offer a reading of one of Plato's later works, the Sophist , that reveals it to be informed by principles comparable on the face of it with those that have emerged recently in the field of critical thinking. As a development of the famous Socratic method of his teacher, I argue, Plato deployed his own pedagogical method, a 'mid-wifely' or 'maieutic' method, in the Sophist . In contrast to the Socratic method, the sole aim of this method is not to disabuse the reader or learner of her false opinions. Rather, its purpose is to supply her with the skills and dispositions as well as the claims and counter-claims she needs to critically evaluate a view, and so facilitate knowledge acquisition, for herself. But the text does not merely teach critical thinking in this indirect manner. One of the strategies its author employed was to encourage the reader/learner to consider under what conditions a claim or idea would be false. To the extent that it achieves this, the Sophist provides both a model and an application of that particular kind of critical thinking in the learning environment that Jonathan Baron has described as 'active open-mindedness'.     

Approaches to Secondary Studio Art Assessment in North America: 1970–1993

The paper analyses the visible approaches to secondary studio art assessment in North America. First, standardised testing is discussed, in particular the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the United States. In spite of opposition there is continued support for this strategy, evident in several state-wide initiatives. As well, qualitative assessment of secondary studio art is being undertaken in individual schools throughout North America. Visible models of this approach are the Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Arts PROPEL. The findings are that qualitative assessment is based on written and visual materials presented in portfolios; norm and criterion referencing are combined; criteria are derived from course content, and with the exception of Arts PROPEL, final judgements are made intersubjectively. These models offer alternatives to the standardised testing model, and attest to the cross-germination of ideas on qualitative studio assessment internationally.     

Plantwise knowledge bank: delivering plant health information to developing country users

The Plantwise knowledge bank is an open access, online resource that provides information to users involved in plant health systems in the developing world. The challenge was to deliver dependable information that could serve users with widely differing needs and understanding and to get actionable knowledge to subsistence farmers in particular. This was met by bringing together resources across CABI, particularly by supplementing core publishing capabilities with the knowledge, skills and understanding of the internationally based scientific staff and their network of collaborators. An iterative development process, with scoping, wireframes and prototype delivery, was undertaken with constant feedback from global users. Content needed to be repurposed from CABI's own databases, brought in from international partners and freshly created, and then delivered to each user in a structure that was easy to navigate and had easy‐to‐use tools to add value. The product has been widely well received and ongoing development will be guided by lessons learned and new requirements as the Plantwise programme expands.