6,636 research outputs found
Comparative Multiple Case Study into the Teaching of Problem-Solving Competence in Lebanese Middle Schools
This multiple case study investigates how problem-solving competence is integrated into teaching practices in private schools in Lebanon. Its purpose is to compare instructional approaches to problem-solving across three different programs: the American (Common Core State Standards and New Generation Science Standards), French (Socle Commun de Connaissances, de Compétences et de Culture), and Lebanese with a focus on middle school (grades 7, 8, and 9). The project was conducted in nine schools equally distributed among three categories based on the programs they offered: category 1 schools offered the Lebanese program, category 2 the French and Lebanese programs, and category 3 the American and Lebanese programs. Each school was treated as a separate case.
Structured observation data were collected using observation logs that focused on lesson objectives and specific cognitive problem-solving processes. The two logs were created based on a document review of the requirements for the three programs. Structured observations were followed by semi-structured interviews that were conducted to explore teachers' beliefs and understandings of problem-solving competence. The comparative analysis of within-category structured observations revealed an instruction ranging from teacher-led practices, particularly in category 1 schools, to more student-centered approaches in categories 2 and 3. The cross-category analysis showed a reliance on cognitive processes primarily promoting exploration, understanding, and demonstrating understanding, with less emphasis on planning and executing, monitoring and reflecting, thus uncovering a weakness in addressing these processes. The findings of the post-observation semi-structured interviews disclosed a range of definitions of problem-solving competence prevalent amongst teachers with clear divergences across the three school categories.
This research is unique in that it compares problem-solving teaching approaches across three different programs and explores underlying teachers' beliefs and understandings of problem-solving competence in the Lebanese context. It is hoped that this project will inform curriculum developers about future directions and much-anticipated reforms of the Lebanese program and practitioners about areas that need to be addressed to further improve the teaching of problem-solving competence
Resilience and food security in a food systems context
This open access book compiles a series of chapters written by internationally recognized experts known for their in-depth but critical views on questions of resilience and food security. The book assesses rigorously and critically the contribution of the concept of resilience in advancing our understanding and ability to design and implement development interventions in relation to food security and humanitarian crises. For this, the book departs from the narrow beaten tracks of agriculture and trade, which have influenced the mainstream debate on food security for nearly 60 years, and adopts instead a wider, more holistic perspective, framed around food systems. The foundation for this new approach is the recognition that in the current post-globalization era, the food and nutritional security of the worldâs population no longer depends just on the performance of agriculture and policies on trade, but rather on the capacity of the entire (food) system to produce, process, transport and distribute safe, affordable and nutritious food for all, in ways that remain environmentally sustainable. In that context, adopting a food system perspective provides a more appropriate frame as it incites to broaden the conventional thinking and to acknowledge the systemic nature of the different processes and actors involved. This book is written for a large audience, from academics to policymakers, students to practitioners
Facilitating prosociality through technology: Design to promote digital volunteerism
Volunteerism covers many activities involving no financial rewards for volunteers but which contribute
to the common good. There is existing work in designing technology for volunteerism in HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) and related disciplines that focuses on motivation to improve
performance, but it does not account for volunteer wellbeing. Here, I investigate digital volunteerism
in three case studies with a focus on volunteer motivation, engagement, and wellbeing. My research
involved volunteers and others in the volunteering context to generate recommendations for a
volunteer-centric design for digital volunteerism. The thesis has three aims:
1. To investigate motivational aspects critical for enhancing digital volunteersâ experiences
2. To identify digital platform attributes linked to volunteer wellbeing
3. To create guidelines for effectively supporting volunteer engagement in digital volunteering
platforms
In the first case study I investigate the design of a chat widget for volunteers working in an
organisation with a view to develop a design that improves their workflow and wellbeing. The second
case study investigates the needs, motivations, and wellbeing of volunteers who help medical
students improve their medical communication skills. An initial mixed-methods study was followed by
an experiment comparing two design strategies to improve volunteer relatedness; an important
indicator of wellbeing. The third case study looks into volunteer needs, experiences, motivations, and
wellbeing with a focus on volunteer identity and meaning-making on a science-based research
platform. I then analyse my findings from these case studies using the lens of care ethics to derive
critical insights for design.
The key contributions of this thesis are design strategies and critical insights, and a volunteer-centric
design framework to enhance the motivation, wellbeing and engagement of digital volunteers
The practical and ethical considerations of digitising Haitian literary archives
Archives in Haiti are in danger from a multitude of threats including natural and manmade disasters, environmental crises, and political unrest. This thesis proposes the creation of an online digital archive for Haitian literary artefacts in an attempt to both preserve these documents and improve their accessibility; it is hoped that in doing so, it will encourage the study of Haitian literature and help to address Haitiâs malignment in the Western sphere. The practical and ethical considerations of such a project are discussed, with issues examined through the lenses of postcolonialism and software engineering in order to make practical recommendations for the archiveâs development. Requirements specific to Haiti are discussed in the context of the software development process, with techniques suggested to overcome potential obstacles including accessibility and remote testing. The digitisation process is also examined as well as its application to archival literary materials. We will also consider the limitations of digital representations of physical objects, the role that location plays in an artefactâs significance, and the importance of the oral as well as the written in Haitian cultural representation
Practitionersâ Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities [SEND] in a Primary Mainstream School
In the 1970s, mounting pressure from the Education (Handicapped Children) Act (DES, 1970), requiring children who were previously deemed 'Ineducable' to attend school, led to a United Kingdom government inquiry into standards of national provision for children with Special Educational Needs (DES, 1978: 6) chaired by Lady Warnock. The Warnock report (1978) proposed three models to integrate children with disabilities: Locational, Social and Functional Integration, marking a major shift in special needs and disability discourse. Warnock (1978) introduced Special Educational Needs as an umbrella term, replacing the ten âhandicapâ categories set out in the 1944 âEducation Actâ regulations. The SEN and SEND acronyms emerged due to the SEND Code of Practices (DfES, 2001; DfE, 2014).
The Salamanca agreement (UNESCO, 1994), a United Nations initiative, introduced the terms âInclusionâ and âeducation for allâ (Unesco, 1994: ix), with a vision for all children with Special Educational Needs to be educated in primary mainstream settings. The Salamanca agreement recognised some children with disabilities would be best supported in a special school; however, it also stressed that children attending a special school should not be segregated and, thus, encouraged part-time attendance in a mainstream setting (Unesco, 1994). The notion of Inclusion shifted in light of multiple policies introduced after 1994. Research and this inquiry reveal that Inclusionâs success depends on practitionersâ attitudes (Brown, 2016), which are grounded in a complex web of training, support, expertise in SEND, specialistsâ input and the complexity of Special Needs.
This inquiry examined practitioners' perceptions and attitudes towards Inclusion for children with SEND attending a primary mainstream school. This research was conducted in a three-form entry school in England, teaching approximately 750 children with various abilities and disabilities.
The research design was a case study comprising nine interviews and 27 questionnaires. Qualitative data were collected from practitioners [teachers, teaching assistants, learning mentor, headteacher, Chief Education Officer] via semi-structured interviews; the questionnaires accumulated qualitative and quantitative data. This inquiry used thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2013), examining themes and patterns of meaning associated with Inclusion and SEND.
Extensive literature was examined, accentuating mixed reviews about Inclusionâs success in a primary mainstream school. While practitioners supported Inclusion in a mainstream school, they voiced concerns about the challenges of achieving Inclusion. Practitioners expressed concerns about the expectations of teaching children with diverse/complex SEND, irrespective of practitioner confidence, depleting funding, support, resources, training, and SEND expertise. The unrealistic expectations created challenges, resulting in some children facing Functional Integration, not Inclusion, as practitioners struggled to cater for all childrenâs SEND
Modelling, Monitoring, Control and Optimization for Complex Industrial Processes
This reprint includes 22 research papers and an editorial, collected from the Special Issue "Modelling, Monitoring, Control and Optimization for Complex Industrial Processes", highlighting recent research advances and emerging research directions in complex industrial processes. This reprint aims to promote the research field and benefit the readers from both academic communities and industrial sectors
An exploration of adherence and persistence in overactive bladder and other long-term conditions
Background and aims
Overactive bladder is a common, bothersome, and chronic condition associated with
symptoms of urinary urgency, incontinence, increased daytime micturition frequency and
nocturia. Despite exerting a significant burden on quality of life, adherence, and persistence
behaviours with OAB are particularly poor in comparison with other long-term conditions.
The aims of the present work were to explore themes relating to medicine-taking
behaviours in OAB and other long-term conditions and to suggest ways to improve them.
Methods
A systematic literature review was undertaken to understand the current landscape of
qualitative work exploring adherence and persistence with OAB patients. A qualitative study
involving 1:1 semi-structured interviews was conducted with OAB patients to explore the
context and drivers for adherence and persistence behaviours using thematic analysis. A
comparative analysis was then undertaken with qualitative papers exploring medicinetaking behaviours in a chronic bowel condition, type II diabetes, and multimorbidity to
explore the themes identified in the OAB study for convergence and divergence in other
conditions and to contextualise the learnings from the former study.
Results
The systematic literature review revealed a gap in the literature of qualitative exploration of
adherence and persistence behaviours in OAB patients. The OAB study found a range of
drivers for non-adherent behaviours including a perceived lack of treatment efficacy, side
effects, unclear instructions, and drug and condition hierarchies, as well as the rich context
within which these themes sit. The comparative analysis study supported the findings of the
OAB study demonstrating evidence of key themes transcending across conditions, including a perceived lack of treatment efficacy and side effects, as well as nuances associated with
the OAB experience.
Conclusions
The present work has identified key drivers for non-adherent behaviours in OAB patients
and sets out a number of recommendations categorised within the World Health
Organisationâs 5 dimensions of adherence. These include addressing the poor understanding
and illness perception of OAB by patients and others, by improving the provision and
availability of information, as well as the work of patient support groups; scrutiny on the
support within primary care to OAB patients before and after diagnosis; and the
encouragement of realistic expectations of the condition and treatment with mindful use of
prescriberâs language at the point of prescribing. The present work has further highlighted
the utility of conceptual models of adherence such as COM-B and the NCF in understanding
medicine-taking behaviours in the context of OAB
Knowns and Unknowns: An Experience Report on Discovering Tacit Knowledge of Maritime Surveyors
Context: Requirements elicitation is an essential activity to ensure that
systems provide the necessary functionality to users, and that they are fit for
purpose. In addition to traditional `reductionist' techniques, the use of
observations and ethnography-style techniques have been proposed to identify
requirements. Research Problem: One frequently heard issue with observational
techniques is that they are costly to use, as developers would lose
considerable time to partake, and also depend on luck in identifying
requirements. Very few experience reports exist to evaluate observational
techniques in practice. Results: In this experience report, we draw on several
data sources, covering insights from both developers and users. The data were
collected through 9 interviews with users and developers, and over 80 hours of
observation of prospective users in the maritime domain. We capture `knowns'
and `unknowns' from both developers and users, and highlight the importance of
observational studies. Contribution: While observational techniques are costly
to use, we conclude that essential information is uncovered, which is key for
developers to understand system users and their concerns.Comment: Accepted to the International Working Conference on Requirements
Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. Springer, Cham, 2023.
Barcelona, 17.-20. Apri
Sport team leadership coaching and captaincy in elite level rugby union football
A wide range of literature exists on coaching but it is concerned predominantly with the high school and college levels, is based upon athlete or coach perceptions, or is confined to observations of training or competition. As leaders of sports teams, coaches and captains have rarely been studied at the highest level of national or international sports competition.
In the present study, the team leadership roles of the coach and captain in elite rugby union football in New Zealand were examined using participant observation and other qualitative research methods. Elite was defined as New Zealand rugbyâs highest internal level of competition: (a) the national provincial championships and (b) international test matches of the national team, the All Blacks.
The study explored the roles of the elite rugby coach and captain in vivo in a wide variety of team situations. It was felt that this could provide first-hand information on particular team leader behaviours, on what a coach and captain actually do, and how they are perceived by those around them. The main objective, however, was to use grounded theory techniques to create a model of elite rugby team leadership that might guide developmental programmes on such leadership.
The research phases undertaken were those of participant observation with a Provincial Team for five matches, a survey of provincial teamsâ coaches and captains on their leadership associated with actual matches, three yearsâ participant observation with the All Blacks (including observation in eight test match weeks), multiple perspectives on elite team leadership from past rugby test players in New Zealand and overseas, and interviews with national team leaders in sports other than rugby.
Participant observation, interviews, questionnaires and document analysis generated data from the research settings. These data were considered in terms of symbolic interactionism and subjected to a grounded theory process. This led to a set of elite rugby team leadership categories and properties which, in turn, generated a comprehensive set of theoretical propositions.
The propositions became the basis for a model of elite rugby team leadership. This model was then considered as the basis for a programme to develop elite rugby team leaders. Significant aspects of the research findings which have not featured in previous research literature included the coachâs vision, team culture, centrality of the game plan, match week build-up, the importance of the captainâs playing example, the coach's ability to utilise teaching precepts, the coachâs personal qualities, and the need to develop and evaluate team leaders. The model, and the developmental programme principles emanating from it, are seen as relevant for developing elite level leaders in team sports other than rugby
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