Oral Story: A pedagogical tool encouraging children's mathematical thinking.

Edited version embargoed until 15.04.2020 Full version: Access restricted permanently due to 3rd party copyright restrictions. Restriction set on 15/04/2019 by AS, Doctoral CollegeThis thesis is an exploration of how oral story can be used as a pedagogical tool by educators in a state infant school, to encourage children’s mathematical thinking. Two research questions are framed as follows: In using oral story as a pedagogical approach for mathematical thinking, what characterises the nature of the interaction between teachers and children and the role of children as mathematical storytellers? How can such narratives be documented? It starts by identifying the Vygotskian principles of instruction that are of importance to the practice of teaching young children. Data are generated by means of interviews, discussions, classroom observations and written reflections, which progressively focus the study. In particular, the way in which oral story allows playful conjecturing about mathematical possibilities using the question ‘what if?’ is examined. The practice of two reception class teachers is analysed and differences are shown between their mathematical epistemologies and implementation of the early years curriculum, using oral story as a teaching strategy. The contribution to knowledge made by the thesis is represented by several features. First, it lies in the detail of the exploration of the interaction between teachers and children, illuminating innovative ideas about the nature of such interaction in the context of using oral story as a pedagogical tool with whole classes and smaller groups of young children. Though oral story has been examined in previous studies, these tend to have relied on retelling a story with mathematical themes rather than constructing a story with children which allows new connections to be made. Second, the study’s findings relate specifically to children taking the role as mathematical storytellers and again, though complementing other studies, it extends our understanding of the way in which storytelling allows children to experience mathematical thinking. Third, in addition to new knowledge in the field of early years mathematics, it develops a novel way of documenting children’s mathematical narrative, making use of video of children’s storytelling to stimulate reflection on this by children, teachers and parents

Oral Story: A pedagogical tool encouraging children's mathematical thinking.

Edited version embargoed until 15.04.2020 Full version: Access restricted permanently due to 3rd party copyright restrictions. Restriction set on 15/04/2019 by AS, Doctoral CollegeThis thesis is an exploration of how oral story can be used as a pedagogical tool by educators in a state infant school, to encourage children’s mathematical thinking. Two research questions are framed as follows: In using oral story as a pedagogical approach for mathematical thinking, what characterises the nature of the interaction between teachers and children and the role of children as mathematical storytellers? How can such narratives be documented? It starts by identifying the Vygotskian principles of instruction that are of importance to the practice of teaching young children. Data are generated by means of interviews, discussions, classroom observations and written reflections, which progressively focus the study. In particular, the way in which oral story allows playful conjecturing about mathematical possibilities using the question ‘what if?’ is examined. The practice of two reception class teachers is analysed and differences are shown between their mathematical epistemologies and implementation of the early years curriculum, using oral story as a teaching strategy. The contribution to knowledge made by the thesis is represented by several features. First, it lies in the detail of the exploration of the interaction between teachers and children, illuminating innovative ideas about the nature of such interaction in the context of using oral story as a pedagogical tool with whole classes and smaller groups of young children. Though oral story has been examined in previous studies, these tend to have relied on retelling a story with mathematical themes rather than constructing a story with children which allows new connections to be made. Second, the study’s findings relate specifically to children taking the role as mathematical storytellers and again, though complementing other studies, it extends our understanding of the way in which storytelling allows children to experience mathematical thinking. Third, in addition to new knowledge in the field of early years mathematics, it develops a novel way of documenting children’s mathematical narrative, making use of video of children’s storytelling to stimulate reflection on this by children, teachers and parents

Social Media Advertising: Factors Influencing Consumer Ad Avoidance

Social media has become a key field for expansion of advertising. However, despite the enthusiasm of both advertisers and technology providers, intense advertising on social media may result in companies’ messages being lost amongst the ‘noise’. This has led advertisers to create more daring adverts in order to stand out. However, such ‘controversial’ adverts may, subsequently, turn consumers off, leading consumers to avoid ads. This study examines potential factors influencing consumers’ decisions to avoid controversial ads on social media. Using data on social media usage from 273 consumers, a conceptual model of social media ad avoidance antecedents was tested via structural equation modelling. The results show that perceptions of adverts as controversial result in ad avoidance, but this effect is moderated by individual factors, such as ethical judgement. These results reveal noteworthy insights that have significant theoretical and practical implications for researchers in the area, and social media marketers alike

Understanding Ethical Luxury Consumption Through Practice Theories: A Study of Fine Jewellery Purchases

This paper builds on existing research investigating CSR and ethical consumption within luxury contexts, and makes several contributions to the literature. First, it addresses existing knowledge gaps by exploring the ways in which consumers perform ethical luxury purchases of fine jewellery through interpretive research. Second, the paper is the first to examine such issues of consumer ethics by extending the application of theories of practice to a luxury product context, and by building on Magaudda’s (J Consum Cult 11(1):15–36, 2011) circuit of practice framework. This is significant in that, to date, consumer research using practice theories has focused mainly on routine and habitual practices. Our findings and discussion provide an analysis of intentional and less intentional ethical consumer performances within the interconnected nexus of activities of consumers’ fine jewellery consumption practice, where meanings, understandings and intelligibility of social phenomena are worked through the various activities that shape such a practice. Finally, the paper concludes with significant managerial and policy-related implications, as our extended circuit of practice analysis conveys that if ethics and sustainability dimensions are to be embedded in fine jewellery consumption practice, they must first be made an intrinsic part of the nexus of the social and material environment of trading and consumption places

Admission profile and discharge outcomes for infants aged less than 6 months admitted to inpatient therapeutic care in 10 countries. A secondary data analysis.

Evidence on the management of acute malnutrition in infants aged less than 6 months (infants <6mo) is scarce. To understand outcomes using current protocols, we analysed a sample of 24 045 children aged 0-60 months from 21 datasets of inpatient therapeutic care programmes in 10 countries. We compared the proportion of admissions, the anthropometric profile at admission and the discharge outcomes between infants <6mo and children aged 6-60 months (older children). Infants <6mo accounted for 12% of admissions. The quality of anthropometric data at admission was more problematic in infants <6mo than in older children with a greater proportion of missing data (a 6.9 percentage point difference for length values, 95% CI: 6.0; 7.9, P < 0.01), anthropometric measures that could not be converted to indices (a 15.6 percentage point difference for weight-for-length z-score values, 95% CI: 14.3; 16.9, P < 0.01) and anthropometric indices that were flagged as outliers (a 2.7 percentage point difference for any anthropometric index being flagged as an outlier, 95% CI: 1.7; 3.8, P < 0.01). A high proportion of both infants <6mo and older children were discharged as recovered. Infants <6mo showed a greater risk of death during treatment (risk ratio 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09; 1.56, P < 0.01). Infants <6mo represent an important proportion of admissions to therapeutic feeding programmes, and there are crucial challenges associated with their care. Systematic compilation and analysis of routine data for infants <6mo is necessary for monitoring programme performance and should be promoted as a tool to monitor the impact of new guidelines on care

From Flashlight to Searchlight: A Sustainable Information Program for Sex Trafficking Victims in Texas

This project is a product of the Bush School of Government and Public Service Capstone Program. It expands upon a previous project that mapped the legal pathways for domestic minor sex trafficking victims and the resources available to them in the Brazos Valley. It expands victim information and resource models by applying them to broader geographic areas and additional categories of victims for the Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section of the Texas Office of the Attorney General. This project lasted one academic year and involved ten second-year Master students. They have reviewed the literature on trafficking, validated and revised the previous project, created a visual model for the legal pathways of international trafficking victims, mapped the victim resources available in two additional Texas counties, and developed a more comprehensive, bilingual resource model and website that can be updated by community leaders into specific resource guides for any Texas region.Human Trafficking and Transnational/Organized Crime Section within the Office of the Attorney General of Texa

Impacts of Increased Atmospheric CO2 on Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems

Lead Partner: National University of Ireland Galway. Project Partner: Marine InstituteOcean pH is a function of the seawater carbonate system, which is a function of both the influx of CO2 from the atmosphere and the resulting concentration of CO2 in the water (i.e. pCO2). Uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is reducing ocean pH; a phenomenon referred to as ocean acidification. It is estimated that there has been a decrease of 0.1 pH units in the surface waters of the world’s oceans since the start of the industrial revolution with a reduction of 0.3 – 0.5 forecast by 2100. There is growing concern over the potential consequences of ocean acidification for marine ecosystems and the services they provide for mankind. This project was aimed at enabling the capability and developing the expertise within Ireland to measure and quantify the flux of CO2 into (or out of) the ocean; to monitor seasonal trends in pCO2 and CO2 fluxes; to determine the current baseline state and variability of the carbonate system; and to evaluate the potential impact of future changes on ecosystems with the ultimate aim of contributing to more informed policy development.This project (Grant-Aid Agreement No. SS/CC/07/001(01)) was carried out under the Sea Change strategy with the support of the Marine Institute and the Marine Research Sub-Programme of the National Development Plan 2007–2013. Support was also provided by NUI Galway College Fellowship and by the EPA Fellowship 2006-PhD-AQ-2.Funder: Marine Institut