Putting objects of reference in context

ABSTRACT

The use of objects of reference as part of the development of communication‐has become established practice in the education of deafblind and multi‐sensory impaired children and young people. Unfortunately, there is comparatively little written material available for those who wish to develop this approach in their own practice with learners who have severe or profound and multiple difficulties. The result of this has been that many of the ‘second wave’ of interested practitioners have overemphasized the objects themselves with little or no appreciation of their use within a supporting context. The paper considers the philosophies and theories that underpin the methodological framework in deafblind education, and suggests how these could be applied to develop practice with a wider group of learners     

Using video technology in emancipatory research

The writers of this paper are currently engaged in research concerning the lives of young adults who are multi-sensory impaired; they are particularly interested in the areas of communication and the development of meaningful relationships. Part of their fieldwork has involved the use of video recordings. The paper considers the use of video technology in qualitative research, together with the technical issues and ethical sensitivities which might be involved. The issue of emancipatory research is explored, with a particular focus on how this might be applied to research with people who have pronounced and complex disabilities and who use modes of communication which are idiosyncratic and mainly non-verbal. Finally, the writers describe their own work-in-progress in this area.     

Effects of Item Wording on Sex Bias

This study examined the effects of gender-related item-wording changes on the performance of male and female examinees. Mathematics word problems and English language items were created in neuter, male, and female versions. Items were administered to randomly equivalent samples of about 300 high school juniors and seniors. Loglinear analysis was used to assess the impact of item gender and its interaction with examinee sex on the difficulty and discrimination of each item in each context. No items were found to have sex bias in either context. Mathematics items did not have different difficulty or discrimination in the three gender versions. Neither mathematics nor English items had different discrimination levels in the three gender-related versions. Some English items, however, were found to have different difficulty levels in the three gender-related versions. These difficulty differences were not systematic." none of the three gender versions appeared consistently more or less difficult than the others.     

The Last Mathematician from Hilbert's Gottingen: Saunders Mac Lane as Philosopher of Mathematics

While Saunders Mac Lane studied for his D.Phil in Göttingen,he heard David Hilbert's weekly lectures on philosophy, talkedphilosophy with Hermann Weyl, and studied it with Moritz Geiger.Their philosophies and Emmy Noether's algebra all influencedhis conception of category theory, which has become the workingstructure theory of mathematics. His practice has constantlyaffirmed that a proper large-scale organization for mathematicsis the most efficient path to valuable specific results—whilehe sees that the question of which results are valuable hasan ineliminable philosophic aspect. His philosophy relies onthe ideas of truth and existence he studied in Göttingen.His career is a case study relating naturalism in philosophyof mathematics to philosophy as it naturally arises in mathematics.

1. Introduction
2. Structures and Morphisms
3. Varieties of Structuralism
4. Göttingen
5. Logic: Mac Lane's Dissertation
6. Emmy Noether
7. Natural Transformations
8. Grothendieck: Toposes and Universes
9. Lawvere and Foundations
10. Truth and Existence
11. Naturalism
12. Austere Forms of Beauty