82 research outputs found
Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study : literature review : citizenship education one year on : what does it mean? : emerging definitions and approaches in the first year of national curriculum citizenship in England
Nurturing the independent-thinking practitioner: using threshold concepts to transform undergraduate learning
This article explores the experience of employing the theory of threshold concepts to curricular re-design to transform students' learning experiences. As part of our annual review in 2011, programme team members raised the concern that some graduates from our vocational-type degree programme â BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families â did not appear to develop the links between 'theory' and 'practice' as effectively as other graduates. Reflection on the three-year old degree programme, designed to provide a foundation for those wishing to move into, or study further, in areas such as family support and social work, revealed two areas for further consideration. First, the programme's modular format appeared to encourage students to view aspects of their studies as unconnected. Secondly, its original design had been premised on a series of 'need to know' areas of policy, theory and practice which had been added to over time, with little taken out. In short, the curriculum appeared to have become both 'stuffed' and fragmented and did not appear to provide the ideal platform from which to engage students in the development of the knowledge, skills and understanding for future professional practice. Using the theory of threshold concepts as our starting point, we were able to identify key themes, ideas and activities that we perceived to be central to nurturing and developing independent and employable practitioners. The following article recounts our journey towards curriculum change, detailing how programme threshold concepts were identified and how these were subsequently applied in curriculum re-design
Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study : second cross-sectional survey 2004. Listening to young people : citizenship education in England
Words and images : an investigation into the literal and symbolic in the illustration of a text
Beyond the metrics: the importance of intangible assets in the HE context
As a statement of fact, the Higher Education (HE) sector gathers data. Commonly these data are metrical in format, used in some way to report on some aspect of performativity, whether within the institution or beyond its bounds. This paper does not seek to dispute the need for measurement, but it does argue the limitations of metric-based proxies alone if we are to truly understand the space of the university and how it operates in the interests of students, staff, employers, government and all other stakeholders. Our interest in the limitation of metrics in the HE context inspired a study funded by QAA (Scotland). The study focused on capturing, evidencing and affirming intangible elements of HE that are not easily counted or quantified, but form key aspects of an institution's identity, culture and ethos, described by us as intangible assets. This brief paper provides an overview of our study and its outcomes to date. In presenting our progress and conceptual framework, we are inviting reflection, constructive comment and further dialogue in respect of the model itself, and its helpfulness in re-prioritising qualitative data in our assessment of our assets in higher education
The structure of electroweak corrections due to extended gauge symmetries
This paper studies models with extended electroweak gauge sectors of the form
SU(2) x SU(2) x U(1) x [SU(2) or U(1)]. We establish the general behavior of
corrections to precision electroweak observables in this class of theories and
connect our results to previous work on specific models whose electroweak
sectors are special cases of our extended group.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; added a referenc
Finding Z' bosons coupled preferentially to the third family at CERN LEP and the Fermilab Tevatron
Z' bosons that couple preferentially to the third generation fermions can
arise in models with extended weak (SU(2)xSU(2)) or hypercharge (U(1)xU(1))
gauge groups. We show that existing limits on quark-lepton compositeness set by
the LEP and Tevatron experiments translate into lower bounds of order a few
hundred GeV on the masses of these Z' bosons. Resonances of this mass can be
directly produced at the Tevatron. Accordingly, we explore in detail the limits
that can be set at Run II using the process p pbar -> Z' -> tau tau -> e mu. We
also comment on the possibility of using hadronically-decaying taus to improve
the limits.Comment: LaTeX2e, 24 pages (including title page), 13 figures; version 2:
corrected typographical errors and bad figure placement; version 3: added
references and updated introduction; version 4: changes to compensate for old
latex version on arXiv server; version 5: additional references, and embedded
fonts in eps files for PRD; version 6: corrected some minor typos to address
PRD referee's comment
Differentiated legitimacy, differentiated resilience: beyond the natural in ânatural disastersâ
This paper starts with a flood in southern Malawi. Although apparently a ânaturalâ event, those most affected argued that it was made much worse by the rehabilitation of a nearby irrigation scheme. We use this example to interrogate the current interest in resilience from a perspective informed by political ecology and political economy, arguing that a focus on resilience should not be at the expense of understanding the conditions that shape vulnerability, including the ways in which âcommunitiesâ are differentiated. Complex factors are at play â and the ways in which these combine can result in a âperfect stormâ for some individuals and households. These factors include the effects of history combining with ethnicity, of legitimacy influencing voice, and of the interplay of political dynamics at different levels. In particular, processes of commodification have played an important role in shaping how some may benefit at the cost of catastrophic harm to others
Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group C Splice Mutation Associated with Autism and Hypoglycinemia
A 4 y old boy of Korean ancestry had xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) with sun sensitivity, multiple cutaneous neoplasms, and inability to speak. Neurologic examination revealed hyperactivity and autistic features without typical XP neurologic abnormalities. Cultured skin fibroblasts (XP22BE) showed decreased post-UV survival, reduced post-UV plasmid host cell reactivation and defective DNA repair (16% of normal unscheduled DNA synthesis in intact cells and undetectable excision repair in a cell free extract). In vitro and in vivo complementation assigned XP22BE to XP group C (XPC) and a markedly reduced level of XPC mRNA was found. Two XPC cDNA bands were identified. One band had a deletion of 161 bases comprising the entire exon 9, which resulted in premature termination of the mutant XPC mRNA. The larger band also had the same deletion of exon 9 but, in addition, had an insertion of 155 bases in its place (exon 9a), resulting in an in-frame XPC mRNA. Genomic DNA analysis revealed a T-->G mutation at the splice donor site of XPC exon 9, which markedly reduced its information content. The 155 base pair XPC exon 9a insertion was located in intron 9 and was flanked by strong splice donor and acceptor sequences. Analysis of the patient's blood showed persistently low levels of glycine (68 microM; NL, 125-318 microM). Normal glycine levels were maintained with oral glycine supplements and his hyperactivity diminished. These data provide evidence of an association of an XPC splice site mutation with autistic neurologic features and hypoglycinemia
Theoretical studies of the historical development of the accounting discipline: a review and evidence
Many existing studies of the development of accounting thought have either been atheoretical or have adopted Kuhn's model of scientific growth. The limitations of this 35-year-old model are discussed. Four different general neo-Kuhnian models of scholarly knowledge development are reviewed and compared with reference to an analytical matrix. The models are found to be mutually consistent, with each focusing on a different aspect of development. A composite model is proposed. Based on a hand-crafted database, author co-citation analysis is used to map empirically the entire literature structure of the accounting discipline during two consecutive time periods, 1972â81 and 1982â90. The changing structure of the accounting literature is interpreted using the proposed composite model of scholarly knowledge development
- âŠ