A discourse analysis of trainee teacher identity in online discussion forums

Teacher education involves an identity transformation for trainees from being a student to being a teacher. This discourse analysis examined the online discussion board communications of a cohort of trainee teachers to better understand the situated identities of the trainees and how they were presented online. Their discussion board posts were the primary method of communication during placement periods and, as such, provided insight into how the trainees situated their identities in terms of being a student or being a teacher. During the analysis, the community boundaries, language and culture were explored along with the tutor's power and role in the identity transformation process. This involved looking at the lexis used by the students, the use of pronouns to refer to themselves and others such as teachers and pupils, the types of messages allowed in the community and the effect of the tutor's messages on their communication. The research found that the trainees felt comfortable with teaching but did not feel like teachers during the course. Tutors and school teachers need to develop an awareness of the dual nature of trainees' identities and help promote the transition from student to teacher. In the beginning of the course, trainees should be familiarised with teacher vocabulary and practical concepts in addition to pedagogical theory. Towards the end of the course, trainee identity as teachers could be promoted through the use of authentic assessments that mirror real teacher tasks and requirements

Wound infection, dressings and pain, is there a relationship in the chronic wound?

The focus on quality of life issues in wound care has justly taken a far greater importance. With the acceptance that pain can be a major factor to the patient, and in particular, pain at dressing change comes the opportunity for avoidance and/or reduction strategies. Whilst pain has been associated with wound infection for millennia, it is only much more recently that this has received due attention from research and clinical practice. In this study, the nature of pain, changes in pain and pain associated with infection are the focal points. A Delphi approach, now a frequently used tool in wound care research, has been used to obtain expert opinion on these aspects of management

The puzzling difficulty of tool innovation: Why can’t children piece their knowledge together?

AbstractTool innovation—designing and making novel tools to solve tasks—is extremely difficult for young children. To discover why this might be, we highlighted different aspects of tool making to children aged 4 to 6years (N=110). Older children successfully innovated the means to make a hook after seeing the pre-made target tool only if they had a chance to manipulate the materials during a warm-up. Older children who had not manipulated the materials and all younger children performed at floor. We conclude that children’s difficulty is likely to be due to the ill-structured nature of tool innovation problems, in which components of a solution must be retrieved and coordinated. Older children struggled to bring to mind components of the solution but could coordinate them, whereas younger children could not coordinate components even when explicitly provided

A study of psychiatrists’ concepts of mental illness

Background: There are multiple models of mental illness that inform professional and lay understanding. Few studies have formally investigated psychiatrists' attitudes. We aimed to measure how a group of trainee psychiatrists understand familiar mental illnesses in terms of propositions drawn from different models. Method: We used a questionnaire study of a sample of trainees from South London and Maudsley National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust designed to assess attitudes across eight models of mental illness (e.g. biological, psychodynamic) and four psychiatric disorders. Methods for analysing repeated measures and a principal components analysis (PCA) were used. Results: No one model was endorsed by all respondents. Model endorsement varied with disorder. Attitudes to schizophrenia were expressed with the greatest conviction across models. Overall, the ‘biological’ model was the most strongly endorsed. The first three components of the PCA (interpreted as dimensions around which psychiatrists, as a group, understand mental illness) accounted for 56% of the variance. Each main component was classified in terms of its distinctive combination of statements from different models: PC1 33% biological versus non-biological; PC2 12% ‘eclectic’ (combining biological, behavioural, cognitive and spiritual models); and PC3 10% psychodynamic versus sociological. Conclusions: Trainee psychiatrists are most committed to the biological model for schizophrenia, but in general are not exclusively committed to any one model. As a group, they organize their attitudes towards mental illness in terms of a biological/non-biological contrast, an ‘eclectic’ view and a psychodynamic/sociological contrast. Better understanding of how professional group membership influences attitudes may facilitate better multidisciplinary working

Fine Scale Nest Site Selection of Greater Sage-Grouse In The Centennial Valley, Montana

The purpose of this study was to determine fine scale nest site selection of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Centennial Valley, MT. A total of ninety nests were found during 2014-2015 using radio-collared sage-grouse. Vegetation surveys were conducted at nests and random sites that measured the nest shrub and the cover available within 3m of the nest. Length of the branch over the nest (Lgth.LB), average axis width of the nest shrub (AvgAxis), lateral cover of the nest shrub (LCShrub), aerial cover of the nest shrub (ACShrub), and height of the lower branch over the nest (Ht.LB) were the habitat variables that received the most support. All habitat variables that were included in the top model were nest shrub morphological characteristics and cover provided by the nest shrub. Therefore, there is strong support that sage-grouse in the Centennial Valley are selecting nest sites based on the morphology of the nest shrub and the cover provided by that nest shrub. None of the habitat variables associated with herbaceous cover received much support for inclusion in our models. On average, residual cover (i.e. grass from previous year) provided concealment for only 4% of the nest bowl. The relative probability of a shrub being selected for a nest site is maximized when Lgth.LB >75cm long, AvgAxis >130cm wide, LCShrub >80%, and ACShrub > 70%. Managers should focus on conserving mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana) and three-tip sagebrush (Artemisia tripartita) habitats because they were more likely to meet those shrub characteristics