Organizational change in the Medical Library Association: evolution of the continuing education program

"Change" is a critical dimension of contemporary experience. Library associations are not exempt, and they change in ways similar to other organizations. According to some authorities, four phases typify the process: diagnosis, design, implementation, and incorporation. Focusing on changes in the Medical Library Association's longstanding program of continuing education, the authors utilize the "phase framework" to chart that association's movement from a management system depending primarily upon volunteers to one in which professional staff figure prominently. The historical review serves a heuristic purpose for individuals and institutions in identifying characteristic features of the change process.     

The effect of context on students’ reasoning about forces

When attempting to solve closely related problems in science, students will often respond to irrelevant contextual features in the questions rather than generalizing their conceptions over the range of relevant situations. In this study, a group of 40 students (one group of 15‐16‐year‐olds and another of preservice science teachers) was surveyed and interviewed to determine the effect of context on the reasoning which they used to solve problems concerning the forces acting on objects in linear motion. It was found that the younger group of students were influenced by contextual features such as the speed, weight and position of the moving object, the direction of the motion and their own personal experience of the context. There were clearly two types of contextual effects ‐‐ primary and secondary, which are described. The older group of students was generally less affected by context and thus more consistent in their reasoning.     

Stories of Haka and Women’s Rugby in Aotearoa New Zealand: Weaving Identities and Ideologies Together

Abstract

Sociology and history are intimately related to each other and cannot be clearly separated or isolated from each other which resonates with a Māori view of time (the past, present, and future are not distinct entities) and realms (the spiritual and human in particular). This paper uses pūrākau and storytelling to explore how haka performed by strong women in tribal narratives, in Māori contexts, and in women’s rugby creates a more nuanced understanding of the embodied discourses associated with intersecting identities (gender, race, ethnicity, class) in and around the sport of rugby union. As a Māori woman, heavily invested in the sport of rugby union, how did the words and actions of Māori women from my past influence my present and my future and how was this embodied and experienced through haka? In particular, my 10 years as a member of the New Zealand women’s rugby team and my understanding of the histories or pūrākau (tribal stories) of strong women in te ao Māori (the Māori world) inform this paper. This will help to illustrate how history and sociology are intimately connected and highlights how intersecting stories told through time, from different perspectives can influence key learnings in sport.     

The Florida Geographic Data Library: Lessons Learned and Workflows for Geospatial Data Management

The University of Florida GeoPlan Center has been organizing, standardizing, and distributing geospatial data since 1998 through the Florida Geographic Data Library (FGDL), a collection of Florida geospatial data from various agencies, as well as data developed in-house. With funding from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), FGDL serves as a public distribution mechanism for hundreds of Florida geospatial data layers. Since 2004, FGDL layers have formed the data foundation for FDOT's interagency application known as efficient transportation decision making (ETDM), which facilitates the review and permitting process for proposed transportation projects. Data layers are standardized and inspected to ensure that the data are adequate for use in analysis and decision making. To efficiently manage the geospatial data and workflows, a quality assurance/quality control (QAQC) process and relational database schema was developed to track the standardization procedures, lineage, versioning, and archiving of the data layers. This article details the history of the Florida Geographic Data Library, challenges of managing a large geospatial data repository, development of a QAQC process and database schema, and lessons learned.     

Implementing Cooperative Learning with Mildly Handicapped Students in Regular Classrooms

THE LITERATURE on cooperative learning suggests it can benefit mildly handicapped and nonhandicapped students academically, socially, and emotionally. This article emphasizes the cooperative learning approaches of Johnson and Johnson, Slavin, and other closely related practitioners. It discusses salient research on cooperative learning, shows how it can help meet student needs in heterogeneous classes, addresses how to overcome potential problems, and offers implementation guidelines. It also provides a framework for initiating cooperative learning in ways that reduce or eliminate resistance.