(Re)imagining entangled sustainability : a human and nonhuman theorisation of belonging to safeguard sustainability’s holism

After years of research and theorisation connected to education for sustainable development, the holistic core of sustainability seems to have disappeared within the frames of the social, environmental and economic pillars. This article suggests a post-humanism inspired understanding of a sense of belonging. Even though the phenomenon of belonging is ascribed to social sustainability, the post-human theoretical toolkit challenges the humanism-based understanding of a sense of belonging as a human-related phenomenon. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizome and affect concepts and Barad’s concept of intra-action, we show the connections between the human and nonhuman elements constituting each other in our world. We conclude with the implications that using post-human language (to understand belonging) may have for policy, Early Childhood Education and care (ECEC) practice and theory

Noncompliant Learning: Diffracting SpaceTimes, Intra-active Ropes, and a Museum's Roping into the City through a Curious Child

In this article, the authors intra-act with Barad's (2007) conceptual toolkit to examine noncomplaint learning of a ropemaking activity at The Norwegian Fisheries Museum in Bergen. Barad's concepts of intra-action and diffraction allow us to perceive the rope as noncompliantly diffracting into the two different SpaceTimes of the 19th and 21st centuries. The former SpaceTime is intra-actively constituted by historical ropemaking craftship and the museum staff, and the latter by the children's approaching the ropemaking through toys and play. In the overlap of the entanglements of the two SpaceTimes, noncompliant and 'new areas of curiosity' (Wertsch 2002, p. 123) unfold and continue the rope's diffraction into the city. By following the intra-active community of Ida and the rope, the authors map entanglements of more-than-human worldings and conclude with a call for more museal diffractions that can (intra-)activate the museum's relational capacities in the ecology of the city

Unfreezing the discursive hegemonies underpinning current versions of “social sustainability” in ECE policies in Anglo–Celtic, Nordic and Continental contexts

Social sustainability is linked to finding new ways of living together and strengthening social capital and participation, as well as to social justice and equity in societies, and it is becoming increasingly important for diverse multicultural societies. In this article, we trace understandings of social sustainability as established in Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy documents by following the chains of meaning connected to sense of belonging, local place and cultural diversity and through ECE collaboration with children’s parents/caregivers. Critical discourse analysis has been applied to trace the chains of meaning attached to these concepts in ECE steering documents in Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK (England, Scot-land, Wales and Northern Ireland). Such analysis shows different ways in which the ECE polices indirectly work with social sustainability, as well as create critical distance from the sets of meanings established in each country (by proving a chain of meaning established in the policy documents of another country). In conclusion, we do not advocate in favour of any of the chains of meaning but argue for continual reflection and reflexivity, and we see research to be a particularly significant arena in which to unfreeze the taken for granted and sustainable notion

Stereochemical plasticity modulates cooperative binding in a CoII12L6 cuboctahedron

Biomolecular receptors are able to process information by responding differentially to combinations of chemical signals. Synthetic receptors that are likewise capable of multi-stimuli response can form the basis of programmable molecular systems, wherein specific input sequences create distinct outputs. Here we report a pseudo-cuboctahedral assembly capable of cooperatively binding anionic and neutral guest species. The binding of pairs of fullerene guests was observed to effect the all-or-nothing cooperative templation of an S6-symmetric host stereoisomer. This bis-fullerene adduct exhibits different cooperativity in binding pairs of anions from the fullerene-free parent: in one case, positive cooperativity is observed, while in another all binding affinities are enhanced by an order of magnitude, and in a third the binding events are only minimally perturbed. This intricate modulation of binding affinity, and thus cooperativity, renders our new cuboctahedral receptor attractive for incorporation into systems with complex, programmable responses to different sets of stimuli.This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). F.J.R. acknowledges Cambridge Australia Scholarships and the Cambridge Trust for PhD funding

Teaching skills for community based preceptors

The booklet is an initiative of the Office for Faculty Development and Educational Support, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia. It is developed to help [faculty] teach more effectively in the clinical setting. The content reviews principles and practical tips for preparing to teach, teaching around patient cases, giving effective feedback and evaluating students. It reviews many practical teaching skills such as: orientation of the learner, task specific teaching, the one minute preceptor, the OPEN model for providing feedback. The booklet can be read in approximately 20 minutes or one can flip through the quick tips for a brief overview of the principles. The following personnel were instrumental in developing this resource: Dr. Jean Jamieson, former Faculty Associate, Dr. Leslie Sadownik, Program Director, and Dr. David Fairholm, former Assistant Dean of Faculty Development. The booklet was originally printed in 2003 and reprinted in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010. We would like to thank Dr. Max Kamien, Foundation Professor of General Practice, University of Western Australia, whose booklet “Teaching Medical Students in Rural Practice: A Guide for Rural General Practitioners and Specialists” provided the inspiration for this project. [This booklet was updated on February 17, 2012.]Medicine, Faculty ofFamily Practice, Department ofObstetrics and Gynaecology, Department ofNeurology, Division ofMedicine, Department ofReviewedFacult