Understanding Students: The Role of Students' Backgrounds in Curriculum Development

The intent of this research was to determine how including the backgrounds of students in the curriculum affects student engagement in learning and improvements in teaching. Participants in the study were grade three art students at Skinner Road Elementary School, a heterogeneous student group. Research data was obtained through a literature review, student survey, teacher interview, teacher journals, engagement sweeps, students’ reflections, and a case study that included the implementation of a lesson plan. In the case study two groups of students were compared to determine whether or not student engagement was increased by the inclusion of personally meaningful subject matter, if the students want to make art about their own lives, and how knowing student background information affects the teacher’s ability to instruct the students. Data collected through this research has revealed that the study group students did not want to use their personal background as subject matter and were less engaged in learning than those students that used their dreams as subject matter. Students that used their dreams as subject matter were more engaged, enjoyed making the artwork, and expressed that they felt good while making the artwork. The researcher has learned that art teachers should not try to include students’ background information in lesson plans. Students, specifically those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, do not want to make art about their families, homes, neighborhoods, and cultures. They would rather use art as a means to escape from their difficult lives

The XMM Cluster Survey: the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy and the intracluster medium via AGN feedback

Using a sample of 123 X‐ray clusters and groups drawn from the XMM Cluster Survey first data release, we investigate the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), its black hole and the intracluster/group medium (ICM). It appears that for groups and clusters with a BCG likely to host significant active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, gas cooling dominates in those with T X > 2 keV while AGN feedback dominates below. This may be understood through the subunity exponent found in the scaling relation we derive between the BCG mass and cluster mass over the halo mass range 10 13 < M 500 < 10 15  M ⊙ and the lack of correlation between radio luminosity and cluster mass, such that BCG AGN in groups can have relatively more energetic influence on the ICM. The L X – T X relation for systems with the most massive BCGs, or those with BCGs co‐located with the peak of the ICM emission, is steeper than that for those with the least massive and most offset, which instead follows self‐similarity. This is evidence that a combination of central gas cooling and powerful, well fuelled AGN causes the departure of the ICM from pure gravitational heating, with the steepened relation crossing self‐similarity at T X = 2 keV. Importantly, regardless of their black hole mass, BCGs are more likely to host radio‐loud AGN if they are in a massive cluster ( T X ≳ 2 keV) and again co‐located with an effective fuel supply of dense, cooling gas. This demonstrates that the most massive black holes appear to know more about their host cluster than they do about their host galaxy. The results lead us to propose a physically motivated, empirical definition of ‘cluster’ and ‘group’, delineated at 2 keV.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91324/1/j.1365-2966.2012.20764.x.pd

6e Rendez-vous de la place de l’enfant

Goric Alain. 6e Rendez-vous de la place de l’enfant. In: Agora débats/jeunesses, 10, 1997. Se faire de l'argent. pp. 147-148

FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN CROATIA’S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the implementation of risk management in Croatia’s hospitality industry. By using a structured questionnaire, quantitative methodology was implemented for collection of primary data. The authors analyze data collected from hospitality industry professionals. The paper examines the implementation of financial and business risk management in companies and the application of methods for managing business and financial risks. Additionally, it provides an experience of practitioners on usage of financial billing instruments. The paper’s findings confirm that more developed and financially powerful companies such as hotels and tourist resorts systematically manage risks, as opposed to smaller businesses where no function is assigned to cover risk management, or it is performed by the person in charge, usually the owner/director. This study provides valuable information on previous research findings on business and financial risk management in hospitality industry as well as an interpretation of the present research. The paper provides an original perspective on business and financial risk management in the hospitality industry of Croatia. The limitation of this paper emerges from the fact that this is a first-of-its-kind analysis in the Croatian hospitality industry and it necessitates the collection of additional data. The paper provides academics and business practitioners with new outlook of the financial and business risk management in the Croatian hospitality industry