Enacting a place-responsive research methodology: walking interviews with educators

Place-based and place-responsive approaches to outdoor learning and education are developing in many countries but there is dearth of theoretically-supported methodologies to take a more explicit account of place in research in these areas. In response, this article outlines one theoretical framing for place-responsive methodologies for researching outdoor learning and education. We exemplify how this might work in practice with data and analysis from one suggested place-responsive research method: the walking interview. Implications and consequences are explored for how outdoor learning might be researched more widely

The primacy of place in education in outdoor settings

In this chapter, we will show when and how place needs to be and can be reasserted as a key unifying concern for outdoor pedagogy. We argue for place-responsiveness as viable purposeful direction for outdoor education that allows us to address linked relational concerns: the development of the person, the development of skills and practice abilities, and the development of more sustainable relations with and in place. We trace when and how place is gaining more of a platform as a key aspect of international educational policy developments. The turn towards place in academic writing is noted and explored. Employing a relational ontology, we argue for place-responsiveness in outdoor education. To realise placeresponsiveness will require a widening of the frame of reference and a dynamic approach since the elements involved in place-as-event mean that place-based entities and people are relationally co-emerging. We offer a typology for planning with place in mind and a manifesto for placeresponsive outdoor teaching

Intergenerational Place-based Education: where schools, communities, & nature meet (Research Briefing - Summary Findings)

This research was commissioned by the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice. The research is an exploration of the synergies (existing and possible) between intergenerational practice, formal school-linked provisions, and the field of place-focused approaches to education. The focus of the research was to consider intergenerational educational programmes that were connected to schools and at the same time, were concerned with making community-wide connections to some local, outdoor and natural places through outdoor experiences of different kinds. Thus, the key aim of the research was to consider what were the opportunities and issues for intergenerational placebased education, what its effects might be, and what the consequences are for schooling

Lightning Strikes: M & K

Indie-dance duo Matt & Kim have wasted no time in the new year: They kicked off a national tour alongside Passion Pit last month, played the legendary Madison Square Garden and saw their fourth studiorelease, Lightning, make it on “must” lists from Entertainment Weekly and Complex magazines—and for good reason. From the determined “Not That Bad” to the danceready single “Let’s Go,” Lightning, produced in their Brooklyn bedroom, follows in true Matt & Kim fashion with giddy beats and playful lyrics. A departure from Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino’s widely-successful 2010 release Sidewalks, “I Wonder” offers new arrangements and tests ideas borrowed from hip-hop and pop chart-toppers. We caught up with Matt to discuss the new album, the art of not-perfect music and streaking through Times Square

Intergenerational Place-based Education: where schools, communities and nature meet

The report is an exploration of the synergies (existing and possible) between intergenerational practice, formal school-linked provisions, and the field of place-focused approaches to education. Our focus was to consider intergenerational educational programmes that were connected to schools and at the same time, were concerned with making community-wide connections to some local, outdoor and natural places through outdoor experiences of different kinds. Thus, the key aim of the research was to consider what were the opportunities and issues for intergenerational place-based education, what its effects might be, and what the consequences for other schools might look like

Repositioning the Boundaries between Public and Private Healthcare Providers in the English NHS

Background and Objectives: Neoliberal ‘reform’ has in many countries shifted services across the boundary between the public and private sector. This policy re-opens the question of what structural and managerial differences, if any, differences of ownership make to healthcare providers. This paper examines the relationships between ownership, organisational structure and managerial regime within an elaboration of Donabedian’s reasoning about organisational structures. Using new data from England it considers: 1. How do the internal managerial g regimes of differently owned healthcare providers differ, or not? 2. In what respects did any such differences arise from differences in ownership or for other reasons? Methods: An observational systematic qualitative comparison of differently-owned providers was the strongest feasible research design. We systematically compared a maximum-variety sample (by ownership) of community health services (CHS); out-of-hours primary care (OOH); hospital planned orthopaedics and ophthalmology providers (N=12 cases). The framework of comparison was the ownership theory mentioned above. Findings: The relationships between ownership (one one hand) and organisation structures and managerial regimes (on the other), differed at different organisational levels. Top-level governance structures diverged by organisational ownership and objectives among the case-study organisations. All the case-study organisations irrespective of ownership had hierarchical, bureaucratic structures and managerial regimes for coordinating everyday service production, but to differing extents. In doctor-owned organisations the doctors’, but not other occupations’, work was controlled and coordinated in a more-or-less democratic, self-governing ways. Conclusion: Ownership does make important differences to healthcare providers’ top-level governance structures and accountabilities; and to work coordination activity, but with different patterns at different organisational levels. These findings have implications for understanding the legitimacy, governance and accountability of healthcare organisations, the distribution and use of power within them, and system-wide policy interventions, for instance to improve care coordination; and for the correspondingly required foci of healthcare organisational research

Methods for specifying the target difference in a randomised controlled trial : the Difference ELicitation in TriAls (DELTA) systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Place-responsive pedagogy: learning from teachers' experiences of excursions in nature

The nature-based excursion has been a significant teaching strategy in environmental education for decades. This article draws upon empirical data from a collaborative research project where teachers were encouraged to visit natural areas to provide an understanding of their roles and experiences of planning and enacting excursions. The analysis indicates that teachers' sensitisation towards 10 place was aided by collaboration, advance planning visits and the very practice of making place-responsive excursions with pupils. The authors build on the analysis to propose a theory of place-responsive pedagogy. At its core, place-responsive pedagogy involves the explicit efforts to teach by means of an environment with the aim of understanding and improving human-environment 15 relations. Some implications for teacher professional development are offered

The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT): High-resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the far-infrared

We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25 - 400 microns. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in J. Adv. Space Res. on 26 May 200

Patients-people-place : developing a framework for researching organizational culture during health service redesign and change

BACKGROUND: Organizational culture is considered by policy-makers, clinicians, health service managers and researchers to be a crucial mediator in the success of implementing health service redesign. It is a challenge to find a method to capture cultural issues that is both theoretically robust and meaningful to those working in the organizations concerned. As part of a comparative study of service redesign in three acute hospital organizations in England, UK, a framework for collecting data reflective of culture was developed that was informed by previous work in the field and social and cultural theory. METHODS: As part of a larger mixed method comparative case study of hospital service redesign, informed by realist evaluation, the authors developed a framework for researching organisational culture during health service redesign and change. This article documents the development of the model, which involved an iterative process of data analysis, critical interdisciplinary discussion in the research team, and feedback from staff in the partner organisations. Data from semi-structured interviews with 77 key informants are used to illustrate the model. RESULTS: In workshops with NHS partners to share and debate the early findings of the study, organizational culture was identified as a key concept to explore because it was perceived to underpin the whole redesign process. The Patients-People-Place framework for studying culture focuses on three thematic areas (‘domains’) and three levels of culture in which the data could be organised. The framework can be used to help explain the relationship between observable behaviours and cultural artefacts, the values and habits of social actors and the basic assumptions underpinning an organization’s culture in each domain. CONCLUSIONS: This paper makes a methodological contribution to the study of culture in health care organizations. It offers guidance and a practical approach to investigating the inherently complex phenomenon of culture in hospital organizations. The Patients-People-Place framework could be applied in other settings as a means of ensuring the three domains and three levels that are important to an organization’s culture are addressed in future health service research