Planet Texas 2050 Shares Support for Austin Climate Equity Plan

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Can AI Support Youth Mental Health?

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Access for disabled students to further and higher education: an intersubjective and dialogic process

Also published in Symposium Melitensia Vol. 15 (2019) p. 41-56Inclusive education is a right for all students at all levels of education, including further and higher education. In this paper, I present an overview of key developments in inclusive education and its underlying principles, as they relate to disabled students. I then discuss the complexities involved in implementing these principles in practice, a discussion that leads to an argument for looking at inclusion through the lens of intersubjectivity. Using this concept, I then argue that educators and students (as key stakeholders) need to work together and with others to remove these barriers, taking into account each other’s different perspectives and understanding inclusive education as an ongoing relational process based on firm principles which are at the same time practised flexibly in order to attend to the peculiarities of each individual situation. I next focus on research that sheds light on the practice of inclusion, especially the barriers that still exist in further and higher education. Finally, I refer to Freirean dialogic pedagogy as a potential guiding light to the practice of inclusive education.peer-reviewe

The case of the “Twin Writings”: a graphological study on the functional identifications of today’s teenagers

According to graphology, the graphic style we choose to reproduce or personalise our writing symbolizes our identity. Graphology is the science of handwriting analysis, which can develop a psychological portrait by analysing handwritten texts. A basic step of the developmental path which leads to the formation of our own identity is adolescence. In this period, the upgrade of social contacts is important, because teenagers can build new relationships with their mates and peer group and make new identifications in addition to the ones already created inside their family unit. Those identifications can be easily observed by studying teenagers’ handwriting. They can also become so meaningful that they produce “twin writings”, similar handwritings which seem to be written by the same hand. Their peculiar traits will be shown in this study through examples of handwritten texts and appropriate notes. More than a mere coincidence or a will of imitation, the “twin writings” reveal a sharing of values, likings, ambitions and attitudes due to love, friendship or inclusion needs. If analysed by graphological techniques, they allow a proper understanding of a delicate and very important transition to maturity. In this life step, the borderlines of one’s own identity fade to open passages to the other’s presence.peer-reviewe

The use of grounded theory in educational research: exploring the application of the methodology in an investigation on e-Learning in Maltese SMEs

Emergent researchers are faced with a plethora of research methodologies to choose from for their investigations. Deciding on which approach best fits their ontological and epistemological beliefs and requirements can be a daunting task. Many, indeed, shy away from the Grounded Theory (GT) method which is often considered to be much more labour intensive than other approaches. This paper attempts to make a case for this methodology, in its constructivist form, and as it is being applied in a current case study in Maltese SMEs.peer-reviewe

Perception versus performance: a study on attitudes towards, and performance in Maltese and English

The National Curriculum Framework (2012) establishes ‘the knowledge, skills, competences, attitudes and values’ that a learner is expected to have at the end of the Junior Years Cycle (Year 6). Amongst the NCF’s projected outcomes is the goal of seeing that children are able to competently make use of ‘the range of ageappropriate language skills in both Maltese and English’, whilst enabling children to ‘appreciate and promote their Maltese culture and heritage’, as well as appreciating their ‘European and global contexts’ (NCF 2012, p.21). This paper deals with one of a series of questions laid out in a questionnaire which formed part of a quantitative survey with 987 Grade V Primary school children from State, Church and Private schools. This quantitative large-scale survey was but one section of a tripartite study which included in its totality, two largescale quantitative surveys with Grade V primary students and subsequently Grade V parents respectively, as well as a qualitative study with Grade V teachers. The research aimed not only to gauge attitudes towards bilingualism in the Maltese Islands from the viewpoint of primary school children, but also to establish what the perceptions towards and proficiency in the two official languages of the Maltese Islands; namely, Maltese and English, were. Moreover, this study is the first of its kind to carry out research on such a large-scale, not just limiting itself to one group of respondents, but rather seeking to document the attitudes and opinions towards bilingualism as seen from the perspective of the primary school sector, from the point of view of the major stakeholders involved: students, parents and teachers. Hence this paper focuses on the results obtained when primary school respondents were asked to rate their written Maltese and English proficiency. These perceptions are then compared to an actual impromptu written task in the two languages, thus serving as a gauge of written bilingual proficiency.peer-reviewe

Combinatory logic: from philosophy and mathematics to computer science

In 1920, Moses Schönfinkel provided the first rough details of what later became known as combinatory logic. This endeavour was part of Hilbert’s program to formulate mathematics as a consistent logic system based on a finite set of axioms and inference rules. This program’s importance to the foundations and philosophical aspects of mathematics is still celebrated today. In the 1930s, Haskell Curry furthered Schönfinkel’s work on combinatory logic, attempting – and failing – to show that it can be used as a foundation for mathematics. However, in 1947, he described a high-level functional programming language based on combinatory logic. Research on functional programming languages continued, reaching a high point in the eighties. However, by this time, object-oriented programming languages began taking over and functional languages started to lose their appeal. Lately, however, a resurgence of functional languages is being noted. Indeed, many of the commonly-used programming languages nowadays incorporate functional programming elements in them, while functional languages such as Haskell, OCaml and Erlang are gaining in popularity. Thanks to this revival, it is appropriate to breathe new life into combinatory logic by presenting its main ideas and techniques in this paper.peer-reviewe

Between childhood and adulthood: empathy, rivalry or interdependence?

Childhood and adulthood have always been perceived as rivals, two parallel paths that can never be intertwined. Yet Freud explains that they are interdependent because the child looks at the adult as the point of arrival; at the same time, every grown up experiences moments when he secretly wishes to return to childhood, the age of innocence and free spirit. We consider the child to be a passive agent as there is total dependence on the adult and society; each child longs for freedom and independence, yet as we grow older, life becomes more complex and the “real world” tends to be too overwhelming. This explains why adults sometimes suffer from the Peter Pan syndrome by “refusing” to grow up. At the same time we think of Pinocchio, forced to imitate adulthood and experience the hardships endured by grown-ups. This paper aims to create a mirror-like effect forcing child and adult to look at each other and discover what they have in common and what sets them apart. The two seem to break the barriers between them in literature, a medium through which the adult comes to terms with his childhood experiences. In fact, Philippe Lejeune considers autobiography an approach of introspection through which the author processes his past life in a readable form. As Coe explains, the adult author reproduces the words uttered by the child (no longer perceived as a passive agent) and convinces the reader that even he has something to say. As childhood is perceived as a lost paradise, the adult seeks solace in a world of fantasy such as Disneyland where dreams come true because it promises happy endings for children and adults alike. In such a context, we must seek to remove the obstacles hoping that childhood and adulthood might move towards a fuller understanding of each other.peer-reviewe

The struggle of adolescents with physical and sensorial disabilities at further and higher education levels

The Maltese anti-discrimination legislation stipulates that it is unlawful that an educational authority would discriminate against a person on the grounds of disability. The experience of young disabled persons with physical and sensorial disabilities attending further and higher educational institutions in Malta (and Gozo) was explored to understand the disabling barriers and enabling factors of inclusive education. The study stemmed from Dewey’s theory of experience. Pragmatism was utilised as the main philosophical paradigm since lived experiences where considered essential for critical reflection on the experienced (the what) and the experiencing (the how) of experience. This paper focuses on the findings obtained from a narrative inquiry that was developed over two years with four female adolescents while attending a course at a further education institution and the University of Malta. The findings indicated that inclusive education is a social construct. The participants experienced an acceptable level of inclusive education. However, they unveiled an underlying struggle to overcome environmental, social and educational disabling barriers. It is recommended that in implementing quality inclusive education, the principles of democracy and social justice would stem from a rights-based rather than a charity-based approach.peer-reviewe

Breaking barriers in assessment: peer-based assessment in (Higher) education

Assessment is arguably one of the key issues in any educational setting. Within the context of assessment, an area that has been the subject of various debates is that of peer-based forms of assessment. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) together with social networks have provided teachers and learners with a myriad of opportunities to facilitate peer-based assessment initiatives. This study looks at an ongoing research exercise being carried out at undergraduate level and explores the challenges that both academic educators and learners face when endeavouring in such an exercise. Various factors come into play. If engaging in an ICT-based setup, the ICT skills of both teachers and learners need to be looked into. However, the attitudes of both academic educators and learners need to be examined carefully. As the research participants pointed out, assessment is hard work and requires focus. The question both academics and learners ask is: ‘How trustworthy is peer-based assessment?’peer-reviewe