Schools, teachers and community: cultivating the conditions for engaged student learning

This paper reveals the nature of the actions, discussions and relationships which characterised teachers' and associated school personnel's efforts to engage poor and refugee students through a community garden located in a school in a low socio-economic urban area in south-east Queensland, Australia. These actions, discussions and relationships are described as both revealing and producing particular 'practice architectures' which help constitute conditions for practice-in this case, conditions for beneficial student learning. The paper draws upon interview data with teachers, other school staff and community members working in the school to reveal the interrelating actions, discussions and relationships involved in developing and using the garden for academic and non-academic purposes. By better understanding such interrelationships as practice architectures, the paper reveals how teachers and those in schooling settings learn to facilitate student learning practices that likely to assist some of the most marginalised students in schooling settings

Opportunities to Learn Mathematics Pedagogy and Connect Classroom Learning to Practice: A Study of Future Teachers in the United States and Singapore

In this study, we conducted secondary analyses using the TEDS-M database to explore future mathematics specialists teachers’ opportunities to learn (OTL) how to teach mathematics. We applied latent class analysis techniques to differentiate among groups of prospective mathematics specialists with potentially different OTL mathematics pedagogy within the United States and Singapore. Within the United States, three subgroups were identified: (a) Comprehensive OTL, (b) Limited OTL, and (c) OTL Mathematics Pedagogy. Within Singapore, four subgroups were identified: (a) Comprehensive OTL, (b) Limited Opportunities to Connect Classroom Learning with Practice, (c) OTL Mathematics Pedagogy, and (d) Basic OTL. Understanding the opportunities different prospective teachers had to learn from and their experiences with different components of instructional practice in university and practicum settings has implications for teacher preparation programs

The PV top-up-roof

The extreme sustainability in building can be considered as three different aspects: 1. The construction of the building. 2. The operation of the building during its lifetime 3. The building being torn down after service life. Under the assumption that not building is the best solution for sustainability, Point 1 can be easily dealt with by renovating existing buildings. This also brings the solution for point 3: not tearing down buildings will eliminate pollution and waste disposal. These two solutions emphasize the need to focus on the most sustainable way of operating a building during its lifetime, reducing energy and water consumption and yet be a healthy place to live. A study of existing housing projects in the Netherlands that are now at the end of their service life reveals some significant issues. In general there is very limited thermal isolation or none at all, often only single pane windows and all spaces are generally small. The proposed solution is applying external thermal insulation, new windows and a specially designed new PV top-up-roof giving both extra space and photo voltaic energy. The new roof will consist of both thermal and photovoltaic cells generating energy and the roof will also be cantilevered giving protection against humidity and thus protecting windows and applied outside thermal insulation. Unfortunately PV elements are still too expensive to be installed on a large scale. An appropriate financing scheme will facilitate this integral model of housing upgrading. Fortunately recent examples in Germany prove that with a small change of financing system this problem too can be solved

Exploring relationships between teacher identities and disciplinarity

The relationships between discipline specialization, teacher identity, and pedagogy can be seen as the crux of practice in the music classroom – impacting on all the actions of the teacher, both within and outside the classroom. Crucially, the impact of music teacher identity on the nature of music teaching and learning is one that has the potential to illuminate influences underlying the professional practices of teachers. This project explores how experienced, well-regarded teachers define their own identities, and implications of such identities to their practice. The primary mode of data collection was through extended semi-structured interviews, although observations of the classroom were also undertaken. Grounded theory analysis techniques were utilized, involving inductive and deductive coding to develop themes and sub-themes. The structured data set was then used to theorize the central topics of the study, while always returning to the empirical data for verification and exemplification. Findings suggest that music teachers identify firstly as performing musicians, and this impacts greatly on the way they perceive themselves in their teaching practice. The analysis raises questions about useful ways for music educators to conceive of their professional identities. Findings have the potential to provide insights into improving classroom practice

The practice architectures of middle leading in early childhood education

The development of Early Childhood Education in Sweden is a central concern for national and local government, and for school districts and preschools. While principals have the responsibility for, and a particular role in, leading education in the preschools, they are somewhat removed from the core work of teachers. In this article, we argue that it is ‘middle leaders’ who are the critical professionals for developing quality in education. The argument is made through examining the leading practices of middle leaders using a practice theory framework. We specifically draw on the theory of practice architectures to explore and understand the arrangements and conditions that enable and constrain the practices of these leaders in their work. The study draws on survey data and recorded professional Learning Dialogues among participants. Responses revealed a number of enabling and constraining conditions relating to particular cultural–discursive, material–economic and social–political conditions that influenced what was possible in their leading practices. Results further show how the practices of middle leaders were crucial in not only developing but sustaining quality in Early Childhood Education as they coordinate between the educational practices within the preschool and across the city district.Full Tex

“Genomewide search for dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis (hereditary xerocytosis): mapping of locus to chromosome 16 (16q23-qter)”

11nonenoneCARELLA M; STEWART G; AJETUNMOBI JF; PERROTTA S; GROOTENBOER S; TCHERNIA G; DELAUNAY J; TOTARO A; ZELANTE L; GASPARINI P.; IOLASCON ACarella, M; Stewart, G; Ajetunmobi, Jf; Perrotta, S; Grootenboer, S; Tchernia, G; Delaunay, J; Totaro, A; Zelante, L; Gasparini, Paolo; Iolascon, A