Infant Places, Spaces and Objects: Exploring the Physical in Learning Environments for Infants Under Two

While the relationship between play and development is well documented, there is less known about the influence of the physical environment in that process. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe play interactions of infants under two with the home physical environment. The aim is to explore and identify ways in which infants develop and learn through engaging with objects and spaces of everyday life in the home. A qualitative ethnographic approach was employed to gather data on five infants, two new-borns and three one-year olds, and their families over twelve months. Data was generated through video, interview and observations of the infants engaging in play with typical objects, in their natural home environments. Families were visited monthly to capture change in infant-environment transactions over time. Analysis focused on infant-environment transactions during play events in typical daily routines, guided by a grounded theory analytical approach. The study identifies that infant play is multidimensional, and combines and includes play not just with objects and people, but with space. Findings relate to the following aspects: play in relation to the physical environment of the home as observed through engaging with body space, near space, middle space and home space; the nature of change in play over time as it relates to affordances of the physical environment, and parental reasoning in families that shapes play interactions. Emerging findings relate to considering play as transactional processes that have an influence on development, and argues for an amended perspective on the home as a ‘just-right’ environment. This study describes how five Irish families support play in home environments and informs an understanding of influences on play development from a physicalsociocultural perspective. Suggestions are made in relation to how this study can inform the development of home-based play environments as a result

Exploring Teachers’ Implementation of Comparison in Algebra I

Discussions where teachers engage students in the comparison of multiple solution strategies to a single problem have been recommended in curriculum policy documents, yet integrating these discussions into teachers' normative routines is not widespread. In this paper, we begin to explore variations in teachers' implementation of Algebra I curriculum materials specifically focused on comparison. We explore (via case studies) implementation of the curriculum materials by two teachers with similar teaching backgrounds. The case studies suggest that these two teachers’ implementation of the comparison materials differed markedly, raising questions about possible factors which may have contributed to implementation differences

Teachers' views about multiple strategies in middle and high school mathematics: Perceived advantages, disadvantages, and reported instructional practices

Despite extensive scholarship about the importance of teaching mathematics with multiple strategies in the elementary grades, there has been relatively little discussion of this practice in the middle and high school levels or in the context of introductory algebra. This paper begins our exploration of this practice by addressing the following questions: (1) What do middle and high school Algebra I teachers describe as the advantages of instruction that includes a focus on multiple strategies?; and (2) What disadvantages to this practice do these teachers describe?. Our analysis, based on the data from interviews (N=13) and surveys (N=79) conducted with experienced middle and secondary mathematics teachers, indicates that middle and secondary math teachers’ reported views surrounding multiple strategies appear to differ in important ways from those typically associated with teaching with multiple strategies in the elementary grades

Views of struggling students on instruction incorporating multiple strategies in Algebra I: An exploratory study

Although policy documents promote teaching students multiple strategies for solving mathematics problems, some practitioners and researchers argue that struggling learners will be confused and overwhelmed by this instructional practice. In the current exploratory study, we explore how six struggling students viewed the practice of learning multiple strategies at the end of a yearlong algebra course that emphasized this practice. Interviews with these students indicated that they preferred instruction with multiple strategies to their regular instruction, often noting that it reduced their confusion. We discuss directions for future research that emerged from this work

Self-stigma, decisional capacity and personal recovery in psychosis

Introduction: This research portfolio set out to examine service user defined recovery in psychosis. A systematic review was undertaken to examine the evidence-base for the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on personal recovery, empowerment and other recovery-related outcomes. An empirical study was conducted to examine the relationships between self-stigma, decisional capacity for treatment and personal recovery in service users with psychosis. Methods: A review of published literature identified ten randomised controlled trials investigating the effects of psychosocial interventions on personal recovery. A narrative synthesis was reported for findings relating to primary and secondary outcomes, and standardised effect sizes were calculated to quantify within-group change from pre-to post-intervention and follow-up. Studies were assessed for risk of bias. The empirical study recruited twenty-four participants with diagnoses of non-affective psychosis. Semi-structured interviews and self-report measures were administered to assess self-stigma, decisional capacity for treatment, psychopathology, emotional distress and personal recovery. Results: A small number of studies found that recovery-focused psychosocial interventions improved personal recovery. There were more consistent effects on psychiatric symptoms, functioning and depression. The empirical study found that self-stigma and personal recovery were associated with each other. Large effect sizes were found for the associations between self-stigma and symptoms. These associations persisted when controlling for personal recovery scores. Understanding of treatment was predicted by excitement symptoms, but no other prediction model emerged for decisional capacity. Conclusion: Taken together, the systematic review and empirical project support service user definitions of recovery which highlight the role of psychosocial factors. The systematic review found some evidence for the role of recovery-focused psychosocial interventions in improving personal recovery. Further research is needed so that interventions specifically targeting the processes in personal recovery can be developed. The findings from the empirical project suggested that interventions designed to overcome self-stigmatising beliefs and reduce emotional distress are likely to improve personal recovery outcomes in psychosis. More research is needed to develop a broader conceptualisation of decisional capacity in psychosis, to support the active participation of service users in their recovery journey

Understanding the development of flexibility in struggling algebra students

The ability to flexibly solve problems is considered an important outcome for school mathematics and is the focus of this paper. The paper describes the impact of a three-week summer course for students who struggle with algebra. During the course, students regularly compared and contrasted worked examples of algebra problems in order to promote flexible use of solution strategies. Assessments were designed to capture both knowledge and use of multiple strategies. The students were interviewed in order to understand their rationales for choosing particular strategies, as well as their attitudes toward instruction that emphasized multiple strategies. Findings suggest that students gained both knowledge of and appreciation for multiple strategies, but they did not always use alternate strategies. Familiarity, understandability, efficiency, and form of the problem were all considerations for strategy choice. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed

Investigation of molecular mechanisms underlying tetracycline resistance in thermophilic Campylobacter spp. suggests that previous reports of tet(A)-mediated resistance in these bacteria are premature

peer-reviewedThe true prevalence of tet(A), which codes for a tetracycline efflux pump, in thermophilic Camplyobacter spp. requires clarification after reports emerged in Iran (2014) and Kenya (2016) of the novel detection of tet(A) in Campylobacter. During our investigation of antibiotic resistance mechanisms in a sample of Irish thermophilic Campylobacter broiler isolates, it was determined that 100% of tetracycline-resistant isolates (n = 119) harboured tet(O). Accessory tetracycline-resistance mechanisms were considered as tetracycline minimum inhibitory concentrations ranged from 4 to ≥ 64 mg/L. Primers previously reported for the detection of tet(A) in Campylobacter failed to produce an amplicon using a positive control strain (Escherichia coli K12 SK1592 containing the pBR322 plasmid) and a selection of Campylobacter isolates. Accordingly, we designed new tet(A)-targeting primers on SnapGene2.3.2 that successfully generated a 407 bp product from the positive control strain only. Further in silico analysis using BLASTn and SnapGene2.3.2 revealed that previously reported Campylobacter tet(A) sequences deposited on GenBank shared 100% homology with Campylobacter tet(O). We postulate that this gave rise to the erroneous report of a high tet(A) prevalence among a pool of Kenyan broiler Campylobacter isolates that were tested using primers designed based on these apparent tet(A) sequences. In conclusion, further work would be required to determine whether the homology between tet(A) potentially present in Campylobacter and known tet(A) genes would be sufficient to allow amplification using the primers designed in our study. Finally, the existence of tet(A) in thermophilic Campylobacter spp. remains to be demonstrated