2,533 research outputs found
'What are we doing when we read?' - adult literacy learners' perceptions of reading
This article presents the results of a qualitative study into how adult literacy learners perceive reading. Individual interviews and focus groups were used to ask thirty-seven adult literacy learners at a London further education college what reading is. It follows a grounded theory approach to build a model, or narrative, of reading in the form of six interrelating aspects and seven findings for discussion. These findings include insights on metalanguage and phonic decoding, the distinction between how we read and how we learn to read, motivation and learning to read, the place of reading aloud, the manifold relationship between reading and time, reading as a social practice and reading as a distinctly asocial practice. Implications for the learning and teaching of adult emergent reading are presented for each finding
Understanding Reading for Pleasure for emerging adult readers
This report addresses the meaning and benefits of Reading for Pleasure (RfP) for adults. RfP is frequently discussed within educational contexts with reference to children's literacy and adult reading practices, yet it is a term rarely defined. The report is concerned in particular with RfP for adult emergent readers, those who consider themselves non-readers because they feel they either cannot or do not read. It draws on a studuy that was designed to help inform the communication strategy being developed for the launch of Quick Reads in early 2013. The research offers insights into the benefits of RfP in general for adult emergent readers as well as the specific value of reading circles. It comprises a literature review followed by small-scale qualitative research conducted with two adult reading circles in December 2012
Jane Mace - A Tribute
This is hard to write, and not only because I would much prefer to be writing Jane an email
arranging to meet for a cup of tea. It is hard because Jane Mace did so much, wrote so much,
knew so much and worked with so many different people, that any account will inevitably be
incomplete. Perhaps we can see this as a start, to which others will add
Getting the practical teaching element right: A guide for literacy, numeracy and ESOL teacher educators
PsrPopPy: An open-source package for pulsar population simulations
We have produced a new software package for the simulation of pulsar
populations, \textsc{PsrPopPy}, based on the \textsc{Psrpop} package. The
codebase has been re-written in Python (save for some external libraries, which
remain in their native Fortran), utilising the object-oriented features of the
language, and improving the modularity of the code. Pre-written scripts are
provided for running the simulations in `standard' modes of operation, but the
code is flexible enough to support the writing of personalised scripts. The
modular structure also makes the addition of experimental features (such as new
models for period or luminosity distributions) more straightforward than with
the previous code.
We also discuss potential additions to the modelling capabilities of the
software. Finally, we demonstrate some potential applications of the code;
first, using results of surveys at different observing frequencies, we find
pulsar spectral indices are best fit by a normal distribution with mean
and standard deviation . Second, we model pulsar spin evolution to
calculate the best-fit for a relationship between a pulsar's luminosity and
spin parameters. We used the code to replicate the analysis of
Faucher-Gigu\`ere & Kaspi, and have subsequently optimized their power-law
dependence of radio luminosity, , with period, , and period derivative,
. We find that the underlying population is best described by and is very similar to that
found for -ray pulsars by Perera et al. Using this relationship, we
generate a model population and examine the age-luminosity relation for the
entire pulsar population, which may be measurable after future large-scale
surveys with the Square Kilometer Array.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
The effects of 10 weeks Integrated Neuromuscular Training on fundamental movement skills and physical self-efficacy in 6-7 year old children
Reconsidering obstetric death and female fertility in Anglo-Saxon England
Little has been written about female fertility and maternal mortality from an archaeological perspective.
Typically debates focus on the physical aspects of childbirth, ignoring an obvious truth: the biggest single
cause of death for women was childbirth. Whether death took place as a result of mechanical malpresentation,
infection or blood loss, the root cause was undeniable. In this article we argue that post-mortem extrusion is
improbable and that young infants and women found buried together are likely to have died together.
However, most deaths would not have been simultaneous and so we build on demographic data to conclude
that the early Anglo-Saxons engaged institutions which controlled female sexuality. Late marriage, cultural
and legal taboos and an emphasis on mature fertility acted to limit the probability of death; however, the risk
to the individual was real and each funerary party was the agent that constructed death ways to manage loss
Life cycle analysis: assessing the capital and operational expenditure of handpump preventive maintenance
This study aims to quantify the Capital Expense of rehabilitating 47 U2 hand pumps located in Kumi District, Uganda, as well as the ongoing Operational Expense of maintaining them. Results are meant to inform the resources required to reliably maintain hand pump functionality. Three influencing factors were investigated: the average cost of rehabilitation compared to age and depth of water source, the average annual cost of hardware replacement based on the expected lifespan of each pump component, and the actual cost of hardware replaced in the months following rehabilitation. Analysis shows no significant correlation between Capital Expenditure and either source depth or age. An estimate of the Operational component of life cycle cost determined that a U2 hand pump incurs an average annual Operational Expenditure of 469,397 UGX ($126.74), although the actual expenditure may be lower in the period immediately following source rehabilitation
Relationships between Motor Competence, Physical Activity, and Obesity in British Preschool Aged Children
Background: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine associations between motor competence, physical activity, and obesity in British children aged three to five years. Method: Motor competence (MC) was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2. Physical activity (PA) was assessed using triaxial wrist-worn accelerometers. Children were assessed on compliance to current PA recommendations of ≥180 min of total PA (TPA) and ≥60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) for health benefits. Associations were explored with Pearson’s product moments and weight-status, and sex-differences were explored with independent t-tests and chi-squared analysis. Results: A total of 166 children (55% males; 4.28 ± 0.74 years) completed MC and PA assessments. Associations were found between PA and MC (TPA and overall MC, TPA and object-control MC (OC), MVPA and overall MC, and MVPA and OC). This study suggests that good motor competence is an important correlate of children meeting physical activity guidelines for health
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