Schools, communities and social capital: building blocks in the 'Big Society' (Research associate full report)

"This study looked at how effective schools engage with their communities. Its aim was to identify key mechanisms that promoted community engagement. It also sought to determine the impact this had on the amount and nature of social capital available to pupils, parents and the wider community. Effective schools were found to generate significant amounts of social capital within their institutions as demonstrated by the degree of trust, reciprocity, civic engagement and social cohesion. Pupil voice was a powerful mechanism in developing a sense of control and self-efficacy. Recently created posts such as family workers, therapists and social work placements extended much of this impact into the family. Schools that went further to promote social capital in the neighbourhood were those with a more aspirational vision that went beyond simply engaging the community to aid school improvement. They viewed community empowerment as key to the success of their pupils and families within the wider social context. They encouraged community leadership and decision-making, often through informal learning approaches, and truly became ‘hubs of the community’, facilitating community development and promoting community cohesion. The findings suggest that a more reciprocal view is needed of the relationship between school and community and that schools could play a central role in creating the ‘Big Society’.

Studies of Neotropical caddisflies, XII: Rhyacophilidae, Glossosomatidae, Philopotamidae, and Psychomyiidae from the Amazon Basin (Trichoptera)

Based primarily on colleçtions of FITTKAU and MARLIER, adults of the Amazonian species in four families of Trichoptera are described and figured. Keys are provided to the Latin American families (except those exclusively Chilean), potentially Amazonian genera, and described species. Fifty-five species (of which 52 are described as new) are placed in the genera: Atopsyche (1 species), Antoptila (1 species), Protoptila (10 species), Wormaldia (1 species), Dolophilodes (1 species), Chimarra (8 species), Polyplectropus (4 species), Nyctiophylar (1 species), Cyrnellus (7 species), and Cernotína (21 species)

How to stop "weevil" damage in stored grain

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Uncovering the truth behind Vygotsky's cognitive apprenticeship: engaging reflective practitioners in the 'master-apprentice' relationship

In recent years theories of situated cognition sharing the idea that learning and doing are inseparable as part of a process of enculturation, largely based upon the work of Vygotsky in developing a model of ‘cognitive apprenticeship’, have received much attention in education (Vygotsky, 1978) as an insightful model underpinning forms of learning and teaching. The master-apprentice relationship using techniques of apprenticeship such as modelling, scaffolding and reflection has since been used as a base for considerable research helping researchers and practitioners to understand teacher-student action across a range of different teaching situations (Collins et al., 1989; Hennessy, 1993; Jarvela, 1995; Rojewski et al., 1994). The focus of much of this research has explored the efficacy of the model when set against the question of how to improve forms of learning and teaching in particular settings