Children as partners: Children’s perspectives on parental involvement

This research explores the extent to which the child’s voice (aged seven to 11 years) can be included as part of the integrated working agenda. In particular, it considers whether children’s views can be collected around the area of parental involvement in their children’s education in order to inform policy and practice. The study aimed to consider the following research questions: 1. How can we best capture the child’s voice as part of the integrated working agenda? 2. How can we best measure parents’ involvement in their children’s education from the child’s perspective? A self-completion questionnaire was completed by 113 children from a school in an area facing deprivation and poverty. The questionnaire was developed to explore the extent to which children were able to reflect on and answer questions about parental involvement. The focus of the questionnaire was to measure involvement and joint activity between the child and an adult in the household. Data collection for the study was carried out in a school setting. The study demonstrates that children are able to give their views on parental involvement and that a questionnaire is an effective and efficient means of collecting their views. However, future research might consider the role of qualitative methods and how they might complement and add to quantitative information about parental involvement from the child’s perspective. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that there is great scope to include the child’s voice as part of integrated working and to a greater extent than currently takes place. Children are well placed to provide an insight into parental involvement and questionnaires can be a fun and effective way for them to share their perceptions and experiences

Skills teaching in COVID lockdown in the UK: lessons learnt

Social distancing is one of the community mitigation measures that has been recommended during the COVID 19 pandemic. Social distancing can reduce virus transmission by increasing physical distance or reducing frequency of meeting in socially dense community settings, such as Universities or workplaces. In response to this, Birmingham City University School of Nursing and Midwifery rapidly developed and transferred much of their student learning online. However, for healthcare students this is not always practicable and is particularly notable in respect to developing clinical skills which cannot be learnt online nor should be attempted for the first time in practice. Birmingham City University has recently actively sought to address such training needs. In April, it opened its campus as a Skills Training Hub to help upskill hundreds of students taking on extended work placement in a bid to bolster frontline NHS workforce numbers to aid in the fight against COVID 19. When opening Birmingham City University Skills Hub, the primary focus of the planning phase was towards promoting staff and student safety.Conclusions. The plans that were put in to place meant that clinical skills teaching had to be organised differently from how it was before lockdown and in a way that was safe and sustainable for future needs

Exploring the effects of tomato extract supplementation on cognitive function during exercise and at rest

It has been reported that tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit extracts may have beneficial effects on cognition. To assess if those effects are reproducible, cognitive function was assessed using a double-blind, randomised control trial design; 17 healthy test participants were given encapsulated tomato fruit (n=8) extract (290 mg) or a placebo control (n=9). Cognition was assessed at rest and, as exercise is known to negatively impact on cognitive function, equivalent tests were also undertaken after controlled physical exertion using the Bath University Rugby Shuttle Test (45 minutes and 90 minutes exercise). After normalisation of raw data to remove performance related error, the tomato fruit extract improved (P [less than] 0.05) normalised detection scores and detection times after 90 minutes exercise. These positive effects were specific to psychomotor function, relating to both ability and speed of response; compared to placebo controls, the supplemented group recorded scores 6.5% (P=0.02) and speeds ~17% (P=0.03) better when compared to the placebo group. A repeated measures linear mixed model (LMM) was undertaken and again significance reported (P [less than] 0.05) for overall effects of treatment (detection speeds and scores) and additionally for the identification speed. A suggestion (P [less than] 0.1) of treatment effects was observed for identification scores. LMM analysis therefore also identifies positive benefits for reaction times and visual attention after supplementation. No effect on one-card-learning (visual learning) scores or speeds was detected; also there is no evidence of any learning effect on the data. Collectively this data shows certain tomato fruit extracts have a trait specific beneficial effect on cognition

Viewpoints : What can agile methods bring to high-integrity software development?

Considering the issues and opportunities raised by Agile practices in the development of high-integrity software

Engaging Undergraduates in Scholarly Activities: An Action Research Involving Pre-Qualifying Nursing Students

This case study describes an educational research project involving 22 nursing students as participants. The focus of the research was to explore students' perceptions and experiences of undertaking an objective structured clinical examination during semester 1 (Year 1) of their undergraduate BSc (Hons) Nursing program. The research team will provide focus on research design, the sampling process, and conducting focus group discussions using personal reflections having completed the project. The case study will also highlight feasibility issues of engaging students in academic research. We conclude the case study with a list of lessons or factors that one ought to be mindful of when designing, recruiting, and engaging student participants in a qualitative research study within an academic setting

Prospectus, April 12, 1990

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1990/1010/thumbnail.jp

A Distinctive Pd-Hg Signature in Detrital Gold Derived from Alkalic Cu-Au Porphyry Systems

This study comprises the first systematic classification of native gold geochemistry within alkalic porphyry Cu-Au systems and the placer expression of such systems. The geochemistry and mineral associations of gold from four alkalic porphyry deposits in British Columbia, Canada (Afton, Mount Milligan, Mount Polley and Copper Mountain) have been compared to comment on the likely detrital gold expression of similar systems globally. Populations of gold grains collected from in situ hypogene mineralization as well as fluvial deposits downstream of these deposits have been characterized in terms of their alloy composition (Au, Ag, Cu, Hg, and Pd) and associated mineral inclusions. These data are combined to generate a ‘microchemical signature’. Gold compositions vary according to the alteration zone within a porphyry system. Previous compositional studies of gold in porphyry systems have focused on the most economically important ore associated with potassic alteration, wherein native gold hosted either by bornite or chalcopyrite comprises tiny blebs (typically 5-20 μm), containing detectable Cu in the gold alloy to a maximum of around 5% but quite variable (2-30 wt.%) Ag. The presence of such grains have been confirmed in hypogene ore from the four systems studied, but they have been shown to be compositionally distinct from detrital gold collected from nearby fluvial placers which exhibit a strong Pd and Hg signature, both in the alloy and as mineral inclusions. Several workers have described late stage veins associated with alkalic porphyries which contain distinctive Pd-Hg bearing minerals in association with other sulphides and sulphosalts. This unusual mineralogy has been observed in the mineral inclusion suites of populations of detrital gold grains collected in the environs of the porphyry systems. We conclude that whilst the micron-scale Cu-rich gold grains formed in potassically altered rocks are in general too small to be recovered during routine sediment sampling, those formed in later stage hydrothermal systems are larger, and exhibit a distinctive microchemical signature which may be differentiated from those of gold formed in other mineralizing systems. Consequently, compositional studies of detrital gold could underpin a mineral indicator methodology in the exploration for alkalic porphyry Cu-Au deposits

Prospectus, June 21, 1990

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1990/1015/thumbnail.jp