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Michelle Reidel and Cinthia Salinas
This study contributes to existing scholarship on democratic education by focusing explicitly on the affective dynamics of teaching with and for discussion. More specifically, the…
Abstract
This study contributes to existing scholarship on democratic education by focusing explicitly on the affective dynamics of teaching with and for discussion. More specifically, the purpose of this research is to critically analyze the first author’s efforts to address the role of emotion in democratic dialogue within the context of classroom-based discussions and the work of preparing future social studies educators for their role as discussion facilitators. We found that despite the instructor’s stated goals and her efforts to teach about the constructive role of emotion in learning to communicate across difference, overall, students continued to judge dispassionate and disembodied speech acts as appropriate, while expressions of anger, frustration, or exaspe-ration were judged inappropriate. More specifically, if a female student spoke with anger or frustration during class discussions, her concerns, ideas, and questions tended to be ridiculed, ignored, or dismissed, while the same emotional rule did not apply to male students. If our intent is to facilitate communication across difference, we must actively attend to the ways in which social hierarchies inform discussion by carefully considering how emotional expression and experiences are positioned.
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Stephanie van Hover, David Hicks, Elizabeth Washington and Melissa Lisanti
This study examined and traced the relationship between, and the influence of, the official standards documents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the related day-to-day lesson…
Abstract
This study examined and traced the relationship between, and the influence of, the official standards documents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the related day-to-day lesson planning and implementation of a pair of co-teachers. Using a case study methodology alongside a conventional content analysis we traced the processes of how these policy texts (the Standards of Learning [SOLs] for World History) were connected to and activated within the daily routines of these teachers who taught struggling students in a high-stakes testing context. The findings illustrated how the policy texts and discursive practices emerging from the State’s SOLs constituted a level of pedagogical governance that saw these teachers organize instruction clearly designed to support student recall on the end of year multiple choice test. Our work recognized the power of policy texts as they interact with teachers. The significance of unpacking policy documents in order to examine issues of power, symmetry and potential areas of negotiation in the planning and implementation of instruction for teacher educators is discussed.
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Anna Leonard, Josiline Chigwada and Gilbert Mushi
This study aims to examine the state of embedded librarianship in African academic libraries by exploring the extent of librarian embedment in research processes in selected…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the state of embedded librarianship in African academic libraries by exploring the extent of librarian embedment in research processes in selected academic libraries in Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted to collect data using an online questionnaire. The study population was comprised of librarians who directly support researchers throughout the research process in the scholarly communication and information services sections. Purposive sampling was used to select librarians, and 63 responses were received from the target of 100. The collected data were analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, and content analysis was used to analyse open-ended questions.
Findings
The study results showed that the extent and nature of librarians' embeddedness in the research process vary across different university contexts in Africa. Challenges and areas of research skill gaps among librarians were identified, and propositions to address the research skill gaps were provided.
Practical implications
The study findings can be used as a framework for libraries to embed librarians in the research process. The study made recommendations with practical implications for library practitioners in academia, and institutions offering library and information science education, and the library management responsible for the research process.
Originality/value
A study brings a novel perspective by examining the state of embedded librarianship in the African context. Its contribution generates knowledge and insights that inform the development of effective embedded librarianship practices in African academic libraries to enhance research support services and advancement of scholarly research in the region.
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The purpose of this self-study is to analyze my experiences learning in Poland, the country where Nazis imprisoned and murdered my family. I share findings from multiple museum…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this self-study is to analyze my experiences learning in Poland, the country where Nazis imprisoned and murdered my family. I share findings from multiple museum locations, including implications for history teachers, teacher educators and visitors to Holocaust museums.
Design/methodology/approach
I participated in a ten-day professional development seminar designed for American teachers to visit Poland. To allow for self-study after the trip, I maintained a reflexive journal and photographic records of each day I was in Poland. I analyze these data in conjunction with publicly available data from the museums and historical sites I visited in Poland.
Findings
The findings suggest that teachers can face many challenges when learning in a land of traumatic absences. Many challenges stem from the absences of buildings and survivors, as those may be integral to place-based learning. Testimonies and first-person accounts may ameliorate these challenges for teachers engaging in place-based learning. Additionally, teachers may use these accounts to bring a pedagogy of remembrance from Poland to their classrooms.
Originality/value
This study is not under review with another journal.
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Claudia Arena, Simona Catuogno, Anna Crisci and Valeria Naciti
Different mechanisms allow intellectual capital (IC) to affect performance. This paper aims to analyze the value of relations for the academic performance effect of IC and explore…
Abstract
Purpose
Different mechanisms allow intellectual capital (IC) to affect performance. This paper aims to analyze the value of relations for the academic performance effect of IC and explore how the university’s reliance on digital technologies facilitates the contribution of IC to the overall academic performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a model linking elements of IC to academic performance in the form of teaching, research and entrepreneurial activity. The model is centered on relational capital (RC) that is supposed to directly fuel performance and mediate the link between the other two IC dimensions and performance. From a methodological point of view, the authors base the empirical investigation on a sample of Italian public universities and applied structural equation modeling to test the mediation and a group comparison to disentangle the effect of universities’ digitalization.
Findings
The authors find a significant and positive effect of RC on performance. RC fully mediates the relationship between structural capital and academic performance, whereas it only partially mediates the link between human capital and academic performance. The authors also suggest that digital technologies guide the prominence of the relationship in the university’s ability to fulfill teaching, research and entrepreneurship missions through IC.
Originality/value
This study offers a representation of how the relational dimension of IC is the mean through which the stock of knowledge inside IC can be translated into entrepreneurial, education and research achievements and how digital technologies are essential for the exploitation of the performance effect of IC in the digital era.
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Gabriela Kalčíková, Milada Vávrová, Jana Zagorc-Končan and Andreja Žgajnar Gotvajn
The aim of this work is to compare quality of leachates from regional municipal landfill in different seasons (dry, snowy/rainy) during a three-year monitoring period due to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this work is to compare quality of leachates from regional municipal landfill in different seasons (dry, snowy/rainy) during a three-year monitoring period due to the fact that quality of landfill leachate can rapidly change under different conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
Raw leachates were sampled prior to biological treatment at different periods of the year (November 2007, March 2008, May 2008, March 2009, and January 2010) to detect the changes in their composition due to different physico-chemical conditions at the site (temperature, moisture, etc.). Leachates were physico-chemically characterized and the toxicity of chosen leachates was assessed by a battery of biotests.
Findings
Most of the investigated raw leachates exceed Slovenian effluent limits. Samples from March 2008 and March 2009 generally showed higher concentration of measured parameters and also higher toxicity. It has been confirmed that the physico-chemical parameters of leachates usually decrease during rainy/snowy seasons, in addition to the change in toxicity.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates the need to evaluate the physico-chemical parameters and toxicity of landfill leachate during different seasons of the year to achieve an appropriate assessment of its environmental impact.
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Paul G. Fitchett and Phillip J. Vanfossen
In this paper, we outline the rationale for developing the Survey of the Status of Social Studies (S4). The instrument contains items for analyzing the organizational structure…
Abstract
In this paper, we outline the rationale for developing the Survey of the Status of Social Studies (S4). The instrument contains items for analyzing the organizational structure, instructional decision-making, professional attitudes, and demographics of social studies teachers. Nationally-inclusive data generated from this survey analysis were used to examine the technical and theoretical validity of the instrument. Incorporating factor analysis, findings suggest constructs embedded within S4 related to social studies pedagogy, content emphases, and technology-use that reflect extant theory. As such, the S4 and accompanying nationwide data set offer social educators a valuable resource for fostering professional development and policy.