Research as a boundary activity: stories of trainees’ transition into teaching told through an auto/biographical gaze

This thesis grew out of a concern shared by others that, in an era in which teacher educators are required to place increasing faith in the utility and objectivity of ideal end-of-training competencies, ‘the messiness, muddle and ambivalence that education is always and inevitably heir to’ (Bainbridge and West, 2012, p.5) and the consequent complexity that typifies student experiences as they learn to teach and make their subsequent transition into teaching, can be too readily ignored. Drawing on extensive data from interviews, research participant’s self-writing and their contributions to on-line forums, the experiences of two trainees as they make such a transition into and through their first year of teaching is examined in detail. As an experienced educator the author makes use of an auto/biographical approach in which aspects of his personal life history are acknowledged both as sources of insight but also as sites of my partiality. The importance of key incidents and individuals in my own development are acknowledged and in so doing, I recognise both the manner in which the familiarity of past experiences can provide a source of insight, but may equally act to shape or stifle alternate stories. A range of ‘critical friends’ are used to aid my analysis and to chart both the trainee’s transition to teacher and my own transition to that of auto/biographical researcher. Bourdieu and Brookfield provide a starting point for an examination of the participants’ reported experiences and the contexts in which they work. Turkle points towards an understanding of the online world where identities can be created, played with and critically evaluated. Mezirow and Dirkx provide contrasting views of what it means to be a transformational learner whilst Goodson and West support my development towards that of a researcher, whose fascination with the individual stories of the students with which I have worked provided the starting point for the research. As the thesis ends, the shades of friends return to remind this researcher that it was the experiences of the participants which resonated with, but did not mirror my own. For, whilst the boundaries between individuals is at all times honoured, it is in the shared boundaries that we meet and our mutual human dependency is framed. Reference Bainbridge, A. & West, L. 2012. Psychoanalysis and education: Minding a gap. London, Karnac Books

The 130-360 Ghz Rotational Spectrum Of The Chlorine Isotopologues Of Chlorobenzene And Its Excited Vibrational States

We collected the rotational spectrum of chlorobenzene (\chem{C_6H_5Cl}, $\mu$ = 1.7117(14) D) in the frequency range of 130 – 360 GHz. For the [$^{35}$Cl]- and [$^{37}$Cl]- isotopologues, the ground states and a total of at least 15 excited vibrational states have been analyzed and fit as distorted rotors to sextic, A-reduced Hamiltonians with low-errors ($\sigma_{fit} <$ 50 kHz). This analysis allowed for precise determination of the vibration-rotation interaction constants for each vibrationally excited state and demonstrated these constants are in quite close agreement with their predicted (B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p)) values. For the lowest-energy vibrational states, transitions with high $K_a$ and low $J$ include hyperfine-resolved transitions of sufficient intensity to determine the quadrupole coupling constants. These data provide an exhaustive analysis of all accessible vibrational states in our frequency region and expand upon previously measured microwave transitions of chlorobenzene

The Evolution, Validation, and Use of a Personal Form of the Catholic School Classroom Environment Questionnaire

The research reported in this article contributes to classroom environment research and Catholic education by describing the development, validation, and use of a personal form of the Catholic School Classroom Environment Questionnaire (CSCEQ). Using the class form of the CSCEQ as a basis, a 49-item instrument that assesses a student’s perceptions of his or her own role in the class was developed and validated with a sample of 1317 students from 52 religious education classes in 17 Australian Catholic high schools. This instrument assesses seven classroom environment dimensions: Student Affiliation, Interactions, Cooperation, Task Orientation, Order and Organization, Individualization, and Teacher Control. The research revealed differences in the religious education classroom environment in Catholic boys’, girls’, and coeducational schools, differences between grade 9 and grade 12 classes, and differences between boys’ and girls’ perceptions of the environment in coeducational classrooms. This application of the CSCEQ’s personal form demonstrates its usefulness as a research tool in Catholic high school religious education classes

Annual variations of cosmic rays and intensity variations of cosmic radiation as a function of earth's heliolatitude

Annual variations and intensity variations of cosmic radiation as function of earth heliolatitud

Possible High-Redshift, Low-Luminosity AGN Activity in the Hubble Deep Field

In the Hubble Deep Field (HDF), twelve candidate sources of high-redshift (z > 3.5) AGN activity have been identified. The color selection criteria were established by passing spectra of selected quasars and Seyfert galaxies (appropriately redshifted and modified for "Lyman forest" absorption), as well as stars, observed normal and starburst galaxies, and galaxy models for various redshifts through the filters used for the HDF observations. The actual identification of AGN candidates also involved convolving a Laplacian-of-Gaussian filter with the HDF images, thereby removing relatively flat galactic backgrounds and leaving only the point-like components in the centers. Along with positions and colors, estimated redshifts and absolute magnitudes are reported, with the candidates falling toward the faint end of the AGN luminosity function. One candidate has been previously observed spectroscopically, with a measured redshift of 4.02. The number of sources reported here is consistent with a simple extrapolation of the observed quasar luminosity function to magnitude 30 in B_Johnson. Implications for ionization of the intergalactic medium and for gravitational lensing are discussed.Comment: 10 pages LaTex plus 2 separate files (Table 1 which is a two-page landscape LaTex file; and Figure 6 which is a large (0.7 MB) non-encapsulated postscript file). Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

New models of leadership in Kent schools: final report

1. Executive Summary The overall aim of this commissioned project, led by Professor Vivienne Griffiths and Dr Andrew Lambirth at Canterbury Christ Church University, is to identify new models of leadership in Kent schools, their characteristics, benefits and challenges to schools. It builds on recent initiatives in Kent schools as set out by the Advisory Service for Kent (2009), responding to an analysis and identification of school leadership needs (ASK 2008). We were particularly asked to look at: - what schools have learnt from introducing new models of leadership - how they prepared for change - their professional needs in the run up to and during the change process - the barriers to change - the enablers. 1.1 Summary of work undertaken The study involved: a) scrutiny of available data on new models of leadership in Kent schools; b) analysis of the literature and consultation material; c) questionnaires to headteachers of federations (N=19); d) interviews with headteachers of federations (N=16). The interim report presented a description and analysis of the questionnaire responses, which dealt in particular with preparation for change and professional needs during this period of development. In this final report, analysis of the interview data is presented, together with analysis of relevant literature on new models of school leadership. 1.2 Key findings - Origins of federations often focus on the need for a link between stronger and less successful schools, as well as community needs. - Clear vision and aims are expressed, particularly by executive heads. - Federation and community school aims are usually linked to community development. - Federations are usually but not always in deprived communities. - Many federation aims included new buildings and/or a joint federation site. - All federations had joint governing bodies or were moving towards this. Benefits of federations: - Greater support for headteachers - Distributed leadership to senior and middle management - Shared curriculum, within or cross-phase - Sharing of good practice, teaching and pastoral approaches - Shared resources - Joint or semi-joint timetabling - Wider offer of subjects, especially at A-level - Joint CPD, including training for teaching assistants and trainee teachers - Improved standards, attendance and behaviour - Range of benefits to the community. Challenges: - Resistance by staff, parents and governors - Heavy workload, especially for executive heads - Need to change school cultures, especially between selective and non-selective schools - Financial pressures; not necessarily savings - Pressures to raise standards - Federations not generally recognised by Ofsted, so separate inspections. 1.3 Recommendations - Case studies and of successful federations and other new leadership models to be collected. - Dissemination of good practice at headteacher conferences and other events. - Training for executive heads, senior and middle management. - Support groups, ‘buddying’ and mentoring for executive heads and headteachers. - Training for governors, parents and other staff. - Improved communication of aims to staff, governors, parents and pupils. - Further research into the development of federations and other new models of leadership

MILLIMETER-WAVE SPECTRUM OF 2-CYANOPYRIDINE IN ITS GROUND STATE AND THE DYAD OF ITS LOWEST ENERGY VIBRATIONALLY EXCITED STATES, ν30 AND ν21

In this study, we collected the 135-375 GHz rotational spectrum of 2-cyanopyridine, a N-heteroatom analog of the interstellar molecule, benzonitrile. 2-Cyanopyridine's strong dipole moment ($\mu_a = 5.5$ D, $\mu_b = 1.9$ D) and the fact that it is a cyano substituted aromatic molecule make it another attractive species for detection by radioastronomy. The ground state of 2-cyanopyridine was fit to a centrifugally distorted single state model using Kisiel’s ASFIT ($N_{lines} \sim 6500$, $\sigma = 0.043$) and primarily includes $^bR_{-1, 1}, ^aR_{0, 1},$ and $^bR_{1, 1}$ type lines. The two lowest fundamentals, $\nu_{30}$ and $\nu_{21}$, display effects of strong Coriolis interactions and require treatment \textit{via} a two-state model. Discreet local resonances with $\Delta K_a = 3$ perturbation have been seen along with the effects of a strong a-type global perturbation. Currently, using Pickett's SPFIT, around 16,000 distinct rotational transitions for these states have been measured, from $K_a = 0$ to 49 and J" = 11 to 146, leading to an experimental energy difference of $\Delta E_{30,21}=793379.9$ MHz ($\sim 26.5 \hspace{0.5mm} cm^{-1}$, compared to a $30.6 \hspace{0.5mm} cm^{-1}$ B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) anharmonic frequency prediction). Six perturbation terms, including $G_a, G_b, F_{bc}$ and the higher order terms, $G_a^J, G_b^J, G_b^K$, are currently being treated; and those predicted agree to within 10\% of the prediction. This presentation will expand on the progress of the two state least squares fit and full results of the millimeter-wave analysis of 2-cyanopyridine

Magnetization of nanoparticle systems in a rotating magnetic field

The investigation of a sizable thermal enhancement of magnetization is put forward for uniaxial ferromagnetic nanoparticles that are placed in a rotating magnetic field. We elucidate the nature of this phenomenon and evaluate the resonant frequency dependence of the induced magnetization. Moreover, we reveal the role of magnetic dipolar interactions, point out potential applications and reason the feasibility of an experimental observation of this effect.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure