Can selected Shakespearean stories impact on personal and social development? : seven case studies at Key Stage 3

This longitudinal study provides a critique of current delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship lessons and offers an original transdisciplinary approach to these learning-for-life subjects. Using action research methodologies, the study investigated whether selected Shakespearean stories could stimulate Socratic discussions on the decisions made by the characters. Then, in parallel with the topics on the PSHFE and Citizenship curricula, the students philosophised on alternative ways of thinking and acting and vicariously develop their own social and moral reasoning. The research design was based on the eclectic ‘bricoleur’ model developed by Kincheloe and Berry (2004) and was supported by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In order to capture the complexity of measuring the impact of Shakespearean stories a threetiered research template was designed. Based on the response to neo-Kohlbergian conundrums discussed in the thrice-yearly home interviews, the informers’ personal and social development (PSD) was assessed using Kohlberg’s ‘six stages in moral reasoning’ as a measuring stick. Then, having triangulated the PSD variations from other sources, ‘partial connections’ (Law, 2007, p.155) were sought between the Shakespearean stories used in the action research and the informers’ PSD. Case study analyses indicate that, for the majority of the informers, partial connections were made between the Shakespearean stories and their PSD during KS3. The boundary set by this investigation was that the case studies consisted of seven randomly selected informers based in one school. However, the aforementioned quantitative studies were used to establish the representability of the students to the wider population. The action research offered nine interpretive discoveries which could contribute to more effective delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship. The key conceptual discovery was that PSHFE and Citizenship need another kind of pedagogic approach if they are to help develop empathetic and active citizens - an approach which would move the teacher/student relationship towards a facilitator/student partnership and have ramifications for teacher recruitment and training.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceUniversity of Warwick. Institute of EducationGBUnited Kingdo

Can selected Shakespearean stories impact on personal and social development? : seven case studies at Key Stage 3

This longitudinal study provides a critique of current delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship lessons and offers an original transdisciplinary approach to these learning-for-life subjects. Using action research methodologies, the study investigated whether selected Shakespearean stories could stimulate Socratic discussions on the decisions made by the characters. Then, in parallel with the topics on the PSHFE and Citizenship curricula, the students philosophised on alternative ways of thinking and acting and vicariously develop their own social and moral reasoning. The research design was based on the eclectic ‘bricoleur’ model developed by Kincheloe and Berry (2004) and was supported by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In order to capture the complexity of measuring the impact of Shakespearean stories a threetiered research template was designed. Based on the response to neo-Kohlbergian conundrums discussed in the thrice-yearly home interviews, the informers’ personal and social development (PSD) was assessed using Kohlberg’s ‘six stages in moral reasoning’ as a measuring stick. Then, having triangulated the PSD variations from other sources, ‘partial connections’ (Law, 2007, p.155) were sought between the Shakespearean stories used in the action research and the informers’ PSD. Case study analyses indicate that, for the majority of the informers, partial connections were made between the Shakespearean stories and their PSD during KS3. The boundary set by this investigation was that the case studies consisted of seven randomly selected informers based in one school. However, the aforementioned quantitative studies were used to establish the representability of the students to the wider population. The action research offered nine interpretive discoveries which could contribute to more effective delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship. The key conceptual discovery was that PSHFE and Citizenship need another kind of pedagogic approach if they are to help develop empathetic and active citizens - an approach which would move the teacher/student relationship towards a facilitator/student partnership and have ramifications for teacher recruitment and training.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceUniversity of Warwick. Institute of EducationGBUnited Kingdo

The longitudinal variation of equatorial waves due to propagation on a varying zonal flow

The general 1-D theory of waves propagating on a zonally varying flow is developed from basic wave theory, and equations are derived for the variation of wavenumber and energy along ray paths. Different categories of behaviour are found, depending on the sign of the group velocity (cg) and a wave property, B. For B positive the wave energy and the wave number vary in the same sense, with maxima in relative easterlies or westerlies, depending on the sign of cg. Also the wave accumulation of Webster and Chang (1988) occurs where cg goes to zero. However for B negative they behave in opposite senses and wave accumulation does not occur. The zonal propagation of the gravest equatorial waves is analysed in detail using the theory. For non-dispersive Kelvin waves, B reduces to 2, and analytic solution is possible. B is positive for all the waves considered, except for the westward moving mixed Rossby-gravity (WMRG) wave which can have negative as well as positive B. Comparison is made between the observed climatologies of the individual equatorial waves and the result of pure propagation on the climatological upper tropospheric flow. The Kelvin wave distribution is in remarkable agreement, considering the approximations made. Some aspects of the WMRG and Rossby wave distributions are also in qualitative agreement. However the observed maxima in these waves in the winter westerlies in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic are not consistent with the theory. This is consistent with the importance of the sources of equatorial waves in these westerly duct regions due to higher latitude wave activity

Nonlinearization and waves in bounded media: old wine in a new bottle

We consider problems such as a standing wave in a closed straight tube, a self-sustained oscillation, damped resonance, evolution of resonance and resonance between concentric spheres. These nonlinear problems, and other similar ones, have been solved by a variety of techniques when it is seen that linear theory fails. The unifying approach given here is to initially set up the appropriate linear difference equation, where the difference is the linear travel time. When the linear travel time is replaced by a corrected nonlinear travel time, the nonlinear difference equation yields the required solution

Can selected Shakespearean stories impact on personal and social development? : seven case studies at Key Stage 3

This longitudinal study provides a critique of current delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship lessons and offers an original transdisciplinary approach to these learning-for-life subjects. Using action research methodologies, the study investigated whether selected Shakespearean stories could stimulate Socratic discussions on the decisions made by the characters. Then, in parallel with the topics on the PSHFE and Citizenship curricula, the students philosophised on alternative ways of thinking and acting and vicariously develop their own social and moral reasoning. The research design was based on the eclectic ‘bricoleur’ model developed by Kincheloe and Berry (2004) and was supported by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In order to capture the complexity of measuring the impact of Shakespearean stories a threetiered research template was designed. Based on the response to neo-Kohlbergian conundrums discussed in the thrice-yearly home interviews, the informers’ personal and social development (PSD) was assessed using Kohlberg’s ‘six stages in moral reasoning’ as a measuring stick. Then, having triangulated the PSD variations from other sources, ‘partial connections’ (Law, 2007, p.155) were sought between the Shakespearean stories used in the action research and the informers’ PSD. Case study analyses indicate that, for the majority of the informers, partial connections were made between the Shakespearean stories and their PSD during KS3. The boundary set by this investigation was that the case studies consisted of seven randomly selected informers based in one school. However, the aforementioned quantitative studies were used to establish the representability of the students to the wider population. The action research offered nine interpretive discoveries which could contribute to more effective delivery of PSHFE and Citizenship. The key conceptual discovery was that PSHFE and Citizenship need another kind of pedagogic approach if they are to help develop empathetic and active citizens - an approach which would move the teacher/student relationship towards a facilitator/student partnership and have ramifications for teacher recruitment and training

‘Shakespeare’ - an endangered species?

In October 2008 testing of student attainment, over their first three years in English Secondary schools, was abolished. In this article I will argue that, though this was a much welcomed move, one of the possible consequences of this volte-face by Government was that Shakespeare study is becoming marginalised. After a brief introduction, my past life and current Action Research, Parts One and Two of this article will develop the argument that Shakespeare is in danger of becoming an endangered species, and make the case for the pedagogic added-value that Shakespeare study offers the curriculum, based on the need to make the plays relevant to the student's life world. In Part Three, I will describe a series of lesson plans which I used to make Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet relevant for 11-14 year old learners. And in Part Four I will highlight three beneficial results of this work, namely: Shakespeare 'become their (the students) buddy'; the students understood the relevance of the story to their personal and social development; and, tangentially, the teachers got to know their students on a deeper level