‘Surprise Me!’ The (im)possibilities of agency and creativity within the standards framework of history education

Abstract

In the current culture of regulation in higher education and, in turn, the history discipline, it is timely to problematize discipline standards in relation to student agency and creativity. This article argues that through the inclusion of a critical orientation and engaged pedagogy, historians have the opportunity to bring a more agentic dimension to the disciplinary conversation. Discipline standards privilege that arrogant historical moment in the higher education sector when certain skills development and knowledge creation becomes a hegemonic discourse. As a result, there is less emphasis on creativity, agency, and individual opportunities for the demonstration of the historical imagination at work. We need to ensure that the insights gained from teaching and learning practice and research are not lost in the rush to meet discipline standards through compliance.     

What price politics? Scientists and political controversy

There is a long tradition within scientific communities that encourages governments, patrons and citizens to enlist scientific expertise in the service of the public good. However, since the 17th century, scientists who have engaged in public political controversy have often been judged harshly by scientific colleagues, as well as by political adversaries. Some prominent scientists were politically active in Germany, France and England during the 1920s and 1930s; controversial stands were taken by the British physicist P.M.S. Blackett and the American chemist Linus C. Pauling against their countries' nuclear weapons policy following the Second World War.     

Classroom behaviour management strategies in response to problematic behaviours of primary school children with special educational needs: views of special educational needs coordinators

Children identified with special educational needs (SEN) and behavioural difficulties present extra challenges to educators and require additional supports in school. This paper presents views from special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) on various strategies used by educators to support children identified with SEN and problematic behaviours. The data were collected from telephone interviews with six SENCos from the UK’s South West Peninsula. The SENCos were invited to participate because their school was participating in a cluster-randomised trial of a teacher classroom management course (Incredible Years). Using thematic analysis to analyse the data, this paper illustrates strategies deemed by SENCos to be successful in the support of children identified with SEN. The management strategies generated by participating SENCos were then mapped onto those taught as part of the classroom management course for comparison. Findings indicate that strategies from the training programme appear to be appropriate for children identified with both SEN and behavioural difficulties.     

Collegial reflection on the meaning of metaphors in learning: emerging theory and practice

As educators and lifelong learners, we were drawn together by the question: How have we fostered our own capacity for agency, self-efficacy and risk-taking in the research practices we utilize? This paper reveals a connectivity and enabling thread that has enriched our experiences within and across our disciplinary areas. In particular this paper articulates the value of metaphor as a conceptual tool as well as sharing insights and reflections on the workings of progressive integration into communities of practice.     

Mass Communications

“Popular Culture in America” edited by David Manning White with help from Ray Browne, Marshall Fishwick, and Russel B. Nye

Marshall Fishwick, is author of his latest, a collection of his own essays entitled Parameters of Popular Culture (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1974—cost not known, but available in cloth and paper)

J. Meredith Neil to assemble Popular Architecture (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green Popular Press, n.d., but , 1974—price not given, paper)

James Philip Danky's UndergroundS; A Union List of Alternative Periodicals in Libraries of the United States and Canada (Madison: State Historical Society of'Wisconsin, 1974—$12.95, paper)

George D. Brightbill and Wayne C. Maxon's Citation Manual for United States Government Publications (Philadelphia: Temple University's Center for the Study of Federalism, 1974—75¢, paper)     

General Works on Mass Communications

Russel B. Nye's The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America (Dial Press, $12.50)

Otto Friedrich's Decline and Fall (Harpor & Row, $10.00)

“The Sociology of Mass Media Communicators,” The Sociological Review Monograph No. 13 (University of Keele, Staffordshire, England, January 1969, $4.60 including air mail costs)

Audio Visual Marketplace: A Multimedia Guide (Bowker, $12.25)

Jerry Della Femina's From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor (Simon and Schuster, $6.50)     

Student note-taking related to university examination performance

Student note-taking is an almost universal activity among university students, yet few naturalistic studies have examined relationships between note-taking practices and subsequent examination performance. Complete sets of notes on an introductory psychology course, involving 75 lectures presented by ten instructors, were obtained from nineteen male and nineteen female students. Notes on ten selected lectures (one per instructor) were analysed, and information derived about class attendance and the quantity, organization, and presentation of the notes. Variables based on this information were then correlated with performance on two three-hour final examination papers (one multiple-choice, one essay). High correlations were found between the quantity of notes and examination performance. Surprisingly, these correlations increased in subsamples consisting of those students who attended class most diligently. The correlations involving the multiple-choice examination tended to be higher than those involving the essay examination, most probably because of wider sampling of lecture content and a more factual orientation in the multiple-choice examination. The results appear to conflict with the advice given in student study guides, many of which suggest that students should be very selective and concise in their note-taking.