Gender positioning in teacher education in England: New rhetoric,old realities

This article presents data from a series of life-history interviews with female student teachers of physical education. The intention is to forge links between the experiences of female student teachers, and their 'gender positioning' within the micro-politics of teacher education and the wider discourse that informs these interactions. On first entering teaching these women tended to adopt or enter 'survival mode', which endorsed particular professional identities that were consolidated by a form of instrumental rationality. These professional identities were closely tied to conventional conceptions of masculinity, and legitimated and contributed to, the reinforcement of particular gender inequalities in teacher education. The analysis suggests that a liberal discourse of equal opportunities masks the institutionalisation of social 'otherness' and inequality and supports the 'essentialisation' of male and female identities.     

Some problems in interracial communication: An interracial group case study

An interracial group case study has revealed that sensitization, lack of shared experience, stereotyping, racial intragroup pressures, and variables in physical environment all contribute in varying degrees to the problems arising in interracial interaction.     

Social and emotional problems associated with integration in the Israeli junior high school

Teachers and pupils in 28 integrated junior high schools in Israel were interviewed and observed to determine the kinds of social and emotional problems encountered in integrated schools. Though these schools are mandated to achieve both academic and social goals, academic aspects of schooling are inordinately stressed while the social goal is neglected. This strategy has major implications for teaching methods, curriculum, tracking, extra-curricular activities and staff morale. Furthermore, while bright, achieving disadvantaged pupils tend to gain socially and emotionally from this strategy, most disadvantaged children sustain significant losses in the social and emotional spheres and meaningful ethnic integration in the school is not achieved. It is recommended that the school invest greater resources in enhancing pupils' social and emotional development and that there be a dual emphasis in integrated schools on academic and personal development. Implementation of this recommendation requires retraining teachers to provide them with concrete skills in both areas that can be applied in the heterogeneous class.     

The center for executive development and my experiences

Since there is an increasing need for learning and relearning on the part of managers and executives, several business schools around the country have developed a program for offering seminars and workshops to the adult community for improving their level of supervisory, managerial, and executive performance. The purpose of this article is to lend assistance to those who are planning to embark upon this alternative higher education endeavor by sharing experiences from one institution.     

From novice to no know-how: a longitudinal study of implicit motor learning

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the performances of implicit and explicit learners would converge over an extended period of learning. Participants practised a complex motor skill--golf putting--for 3000 trials, either with a concurrent secondary, tone-counting task (implicit learning) or without such a task (explicit learning). The cognitive demands of the secondary task were predicted to prevent the accumulation of verbalizable rules about the motor task. The implicit group reported significantly fewer rules than the explicit group on subsequent verbal protocols. The performance of the implicit group remained below that of the explicit group throughout the learning phase. However, no significant differences were found between groups during a delayed retention test. Additionally, for the participants in the explicit group only, a Reinvestment Scale score correlated positively with the number of rules accrued and negatively with overall putting performance during the learning phase. We use the results to argue against the excessive use of verbal instruction during skill acquisition, which might be unnecessary and ultimately might hamper performance under stressful conditions.     

Flipping the classroom to teach systematic reviews: the development of a continuing education course for librarians

Objective:The researchers used the flipped classroom model to develop and conduct a systematic review course for librarians.Setting:The research took place at an academic health sciences library.Method:A team of informationists developed and conducted a pilot course. Assessment informed changes to both course components; a second course addressed gaps in the pilot.Conclusion:The flipped classroom model can be successful in developing and implementing a course that is well rated by students.     

Small Circles: Mobile Telephony and the Cultivation of the Private Sphere

This article examines how we use mobile telephony to maintain our physically and socially closest social circle. The analysis is based on traffic data gathered from Norway using approximately 24 million calls and texts made by private individuals. Previous research has shown that our temporal and spatial movement is highly predictable and that the majority of calls and text messages are sent to only four to six different persons. This article extends this research by examining both tie strength and the distance between the interlocutors in urban and rural settings. The findings show that even as information and communication technologies (ICTs) potentially put the world at our fingertips, the mobile phone is an instrument of a more limited geographical and social sphere. Approximately two-thirds of our calls/texts go to strong ties that are within a 25-km radius.