The Role of Published Materials in Curriculum Development and Implementation for Secondary School Design and Technology in England and Wales

This is a postprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the International Journal of Technology and Design Education. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.This paper discusses the ways in which teachers exploited a set of curriculum materials published as a vehicle for curriculum innovation, and the relationship between chosen modes of exploitation and teachers’ own perceptions of how the materials had ’added value’ to their teaching. The materials in question were developed by the Nuffield Design and Technology Project (’the Project’) to offer a pedagogy appropriate to the statutory curriculum for secondary school design and technology education in England and Wales (DFE/WO 1995). The Project had sought both to inform the statutory curriculum, and respond to its requirements. An earlier case study (Givens 1997) laid the foundations for the survey that is reported here. This paper focuses on the teaching of pupils aged 11–14. It finds that while most teachers made at least some use of all the various components of the publications, they were selective. While the Study Guide, which carries out a meta-cognitive dialogue with pupils, was generally underused, those teachers who did use it perceived greater value added by the materials as a whole to the quality of pupils’ work, their effectiveness in design and technology and their autonomy

Life history, climate and biogeography interactively affect worldwide genetic diversity of plant and animal populations.

Understanding how biological and environmental factors interactively shape the global distribution of plant and animal genetic diversity is fundamental to biodiversity conservation. Genetic diversity measured in local populations (GDP) is correspondingly assumed representative for population fitness and eco-evolutionary dynamics. For 8356 populations across the globe, we report that plants systematically display much lower GDP than animals, and that life history traits shape GDP patterns both directly (animal longevity and size), and indirectly by mediating core-periphery patterns (animal fecundity and plant dispersal). Particularly in some plant groups, peripheral populations can sustain similar GDP as core populations, emphasizing their potential conservation value. We further find surprisingly weak support for general latitudinal GDP trends. Finally, contemporary rather than past climate contributes to the spatial distribution of GDP, suggesting that contemporary environmental changes affect global patterns of GDP. Our findings generate new perspectives for the conservation of genetic resources at worldwide and taxonomic-wide scales

Quality vs value: the case of The Kettering Incident

According to actor Kevin Spacey in his James McTaggart Memorial Lecture delivered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013, four years before he would be accused of sexual misconduct in the fall out from the notorious Harvey Weinstein affair that rocked the screen industry to its core, if it takes every artistic medium several decades to find \u27its footing and be recognised as a legitimate art form\u27, it was only \u27in the past decade\u27 that television had finally achieved this status. This claim will immediately raise the eyebrows of television scholars everywhere who have long been involved in debates about \u27quality\u27 and \u27art\u27 in relation to the history of the medium (Brunsdon 1990; McCabe and Akass 2012; Thompson 2007). In Spacey\u27s opinion, television\u27s elevation to the category of \u27art\u27 was largely the result of a number of \u27quality\u27 drama television productions created by the recent pioneers of cable TV His select list begins somewhat predictably with the American HBO production of The Sopranos and concluded with House of Cards, a Netflix production in which Spacey was also starring at the time as the Machiavellian politician, Frank Underwood. This performance would subsequently win him a Golden Globe Award in 2015 for best actor in a television series, although his role has since been written out of the series

Reading the TED talk genre: Contradictions and pedagogical pleasures in spreading ideas about management

Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) talks have become a powerful way of communicating management ideas to global audiences. This raises questions about how management educators should engage with TED talks. This paper uses literary theory to understand TED talks as a distinct genre in order to explore how students ‘read’ TED talks and the pleasures that they gain from this. Based on an analysis of TED talks, books about TED talks, focus groups and interviews with management students, we identify three contradictions in the genre: (i) freedom to learn (ii) authenticity of speakers and texts, and (iii) emotional connection as a source of pleasure. The kind of reading pleasure that TED talks encourage is characterized by plaisir, an easygoing enjoyment which does not challenge readers’ assumptions and supports surface learning. This is contrasted with jouissance, a pleasure that produces disturbance and leaves the subject altered. We suggest that management educators can work to enable students to become critical, reflexive readers who understand the importance of these new genres in producing meaning. By exposing the contradictory nature of reading TED talks, we contribute to understanding the storied nature of scientific knowledge and the role of power in communicating ideas about management