The Participation Process of a "Difficult" Child in a Nursery School : An Analysis from a Relational Viewpoint

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how a four-year-old boy, who had been deemed as a \u27difficult\u27 child by teachers and peers, came to participate in the joint activities in a nursery school, in terms of the relations with teachers and peers. The process of establishing his identity, being accepted and treated as a full member of the community, is analyzed using the framework of Lave and Wenger\u27s (1991) "Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP)." Lave and Wenger conceive of identities as the long-term, living relation between persons and their place through the gradual participation in communities of practice. A long-term observation was made using VCR, once a week from Apr. 1993 through Dec. 1993. The micro behavior analysis was used to clarify the interaction with peers and teachers. The change of his identity in the participation process was interpreted in the framework of LPP

Dynamic lighting sign system for way-finding by people with low vision

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科情報システムWe developed and proposed a dynamic lighting sign (DLS for short) system for people with poor vision to use to find their way. The DLS system uses a chain of lighting units with LED to indicate the way and is controlled by means of a PC. We implemented the DLS system for helping people to find their way and evaluated it in terms of light-flashing time, spatial interval and colour. We also carried out an experiment to evaluate its effectiveness in helping people find their way. © Springer-Verlag 2004