Exploring young children’s participation and motive orientation in the classroom and at forest school

This doctoral study uses an interpretive ethnographic approach to explore children’s motive-oriented activity in the reception year classroom and at Forest School. The research considers the experiences of a group of linguistically and culturally diverse 4- and 5-year-olds, in order to conceptualise the child’s situation of development through their participation in socio-material activity settings from the child’s perspective. The study’s objective was to use a ‘wholeness approach’ (Fleer, Hedegaard and Tudge, 2009; Hedegaard, 2018) to consider the child’s developing motive orientations and competencies in dialectical reciprocity with the values, expectations and demands of institutional practice. In doing so, it provides a means of considering how these may contribute to the child’s perception of self as a competent learner and valued participant in relation to the demands of early childhood settings. The study is situated within Welsh Government (WG) strategies for early childhood education, which aim to ensure ‘successful futures’ for all (WG, 2015b). The methodology draws upon Hedegaard and Fleer’s (2008) dialectical-interactive methodology for studying children, in order to make visible the perspectives of the researcher, adults/staff and the child. Fieldwork to collect data took place in the classroom at an urban primary school and a Forest School site over an eight-month period. Participants included children, their parents, teaching staff and Forest School staff. Data were gathered using observation, audio-visual recording, still photography, interviews, informal conversations during drawing and playing, and video-stimulated interviews. The data collection process was based upon ethical principles (BERA, 2011) to encourage informed involvement of participants. Using an environmental affordance perspective framework for analysis (Bang 2008, 2009), events chosen on the basis of conflict are explored to consider how the child negotiates, appropriates and challenges available affordances of things/artefacts, social others and self-experience as an individual within collective practices. The findings demonstrate how diverse children, including those whose behaviour is considered ‘challenging’, are negotiating often conflicting demands. The findings establish the importance of Forest School as an alternative, yet complementary, institution that provides pedagogical and physical space to support teachers in their observations and playful engagement with children. The thesis presents a contribution to theoretical considerations of how young children participate in and shape their interactive experiences in dialectical relationship with the socio-material affordances of institutional practices. The findings provide empirical material to consider how children are viewed in terms of competencies, how conflicts between policy and practice shape children’s participation, and how the concept of motive orientation is critical in order to support children’s sustained engagement in transition between and within educational practice

Assessing student engagement in a multi-media teaching tool in Pharmacy

The School of Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo offers an Integrated Patient Focused Care (IPFC) course series to students with the first of nine courses being taught in their second year. IPFC1 includes sections on Pharmacokinetics, Clinical Biochemistry, Immunology, Critical Appraisal and Patient Focused Care. The Pharmacokinetics section is taught using an online and in-class blended approach. A survey of the 2009 cohort demonstrated that this format aided in student learning and that enthusiasm for this section of the course increased over time. A more traditional, lecture-based section of this course, Clinical Biochemistry, was not well received by students; their feedback suggested that they were not able to make clear links between laboratory data and patient assessment. We used student feedback from the 2010 course offering to drive the development of a multi-media online learning module and face-to-face instructor-led tutorial to teach the Clinical Biochemistry section of the course this winter. The design and implementation of the new modules provided us with an opportunity to investigate whether the introduction of multi-media based teaching using virtual field trips, self-assessments and a single face-to-face tutorial increased student understanding of the connections between the results from lab measurements and patient assessment and whether this teaching format enhanced student engagement. We will present how assessment of student learning and engagement was accomplished before and after the introduction of the online components, the results of our analysis of exam grades from both years and our qualitative analysis of students’ feedback from the 2011 class

Positives and negatives: reclaiming the female body and self-deprecation in stand-up comedy

Drawing on existing research into feminist humour, this article argues that many of the functions of self-deprecation within comic performance that have been identified and explored in relation to the American context of the late 90s and early 2000s are still evident on the current UK circuit. Self-deprecation in stand-up comedy by women continues to be understood as both positive (as part of the rise of popular feminisms) and negative (as reinforcing patriarchal norms). These contradictory understandings of self-deprecation in stand-up comedy are always inextricably linked to the identities of the audiences for such humour. I consider how emergent female stand-up performers may rationalise and understand the role self-deprecation plays within their own work in the current British context. I then discuss the work of stand-up comedian Luisa Omielan as an example of the rejection of self-deprecatory address. I make the argument that self-deprecation cannot function simply as positive or negative in the current UK context, but must always be considered (for both audiences and performers) as challenging and reinforcing restrictive patriarchal attitudes towards women simultaneously

The Grizzly, March 6, 1987

The Bermans: From Pennsburg to Vatican in Search of Beauty • Letters: I\u27ve Been Teaching Creative Writing for Thirty-Five Years, says Dolman; Ashman After Fire Dies Down; Forum Committee Clears Confusion; $10,000 Plus Without Copy Machines; Swimming\u27s Sieracki Steps Out • Pro Theatre to Present Our Town • Sue Ashman Says so Long • Bears Take Third at MAC Championships Best Finish in 38 Years • Women\u27s B-Ball Team Holds Heads High • Men\u27s Indoor Track Goes to Maine • Men Hoopsters Suffer Tough Loss to Washington to End \u2786-\u2787 • Runner Mike Griffin Rises Early to Set Records • Danville\u27s Donahoe Takes Bid to Nationals and Athlete of the Week • McDevitt Leads Swimmers with Performance and Dedication • Athletics and Academics: Far From the Odd Couple at U.C. • Rabble-Rousing Remembrances • College Work Study Vacancies • Ursinus Alumnus Publishes Cat Guide • Montco Science Research Competition at U.C.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1184/thumbnail.jp

'I don't think I ever had food poisoning' : A practice-based approach to understanding foodborne disease that originates in the home

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).Food stored, prepared, cooked and eaten at home contributes to foodborne disease which, globally, presents a significant public health burden. The aim of the study reported here was to investigate, analyse and interpret domestic kitchen practices in order to provide fresh insight about how the domestic setting might influence food safety. Using current theories of practice meant the research, which drew on qualitative and ethnographic methods, could investigate people and material things in the domestic kitchen setting whilst taking account of people's actions, values, experiences and beliefs. Data from 20 UK households revealed the extent to which kitchens are used for a range of nonfood related activities and the ways that foodwork extends beyond the boundaries of the kitchen. The youngest children, the oldest adults and the family pets all had agency in the kitchen, which has implications for preventing foodborne disease. What was observed, filmed and photographed was not a single practice but a series of entangled encounters and actions embedded and repeated, often inconsistently, by the individuals involved. Households derived logics and principles about foodwork that represented rules of thumb about 'how things are done' that included using the senses and experiential knowledge when judging whether food is safe to eat. Overall, food safety was subsumed within the practice of 'being' a household and living everyday life in the kitchen. Current theories of practice are an effective way of understanding foodborne disease and offer a novel approach to exploring food safety in the home.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The Grizzly, September 12, 1986

Patterns Passes Midpoint • Future of Dorms Fuzzy • Rutgers Rough For Lady Bears • Bomberger Organizes Itself • Pottstown Reich Cracks Down on Cruising • Ursinus\u27 Colors: A Long Tradition • Letter: Maples: The Place Just Ain\u27t the Same • Clean up Cans • The Private Eye • Infirmary Info • AXE: Fraternity With a Difference • Bodolus Bounces Back • Men\u27s and Women\u27s X-Country Off and Running • U.C. Does Dorneyhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1167/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, October 17, 1986

False Alarm Alarms Dean and 310 Party. LCB Suspected • Two Alumnae Tell Pros and Cons of Pledging • Electrical Accident Victims Doing Well Considering the Extent of Their Injuries • Editorial: Temple Jars Campus • Letters: Alumna Gives New Interpretation of Temple; Incarcerated in Attica • Commitment to Excellence Results in Tuition Hike • $37,000 Available • Genesis Returns Home and Turns it on Again • Despite Comeback, Bears Are Tied Up • Bear Pack Overcomes Doubt in March to Top • Up and Down Season for Injured Bears • Athlete of the Week • Selling to Recruitershttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1172/thumbnail.jp