Travelling in Time to Cape Breton Island in the 1920s: Protest Songs, Murals and Island Identity

Islands are places that foster a unique sense of place-attachment and community identity among their populations. Scholarship focusing on the distinctive values, attitudes and perspectives of 'island people' from around the world reveals the layers of meaning that are attached to island life. Lowenthal writes: 'Islands are fantasized as antitheses of the all-engrossing gargantuan mainstream-small, quiet, untroubled, remote from the busy, crowded, turbulent everyday scene. In reality, most of them are nothing like that. ...' Islands, for many people, are 'imagined places' in our increasingly globalised world; the perceptions of island culture and reality often differ. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in eastern North America, a locale with a rich history of class struggle surrounding its former coal and steel industries, provides an excellent case study for the ways that local history, collective memory and cultural expression might combine to combat the 'untroubled fantasy' that Lowenthal describes

Labour and the Commemorative Landscape in Industrial Cape Breton, 1922-2013

Labour landmarks are monuments, memorials, plaques and other sites that commemorate the past experiences of workers in society. These sites are also manifestations of the collective memory of labourers. In industrial Cape Breton, which has a long history of labour and class struggle, an analytical survey of labour landmarks reveals how the industrial past has been remembered and memorialized. This overview reflects the narratives that have been attached to these sites, the ways in which historical memory has been localized and constructed in industrial Cape Breton, and the new layers of meaning that are revealed as these communities transition into post-industrialism.Certains monuments, mémoriaux, plaques et autres sites sont dédiés au travail pour commémorer l’expérience passée des travailleurs dans la société. Ces lieux et monuments constituent aussi des manifestations de la mémoire collective des travailleurs. Dans les régions industrielles du Cap Breton, qui a connu une longue histoire de lutte des classes et de luttes ouvrières, une analyse de ces monuments révèle la façon dont on se souvient du passé industriel et dont on le garde en mémoire. Ce survol tient compte des récits qui se rattachent à ces sites, de la façon dont la mémoire historique a été localisée et construite dans les régions industrielles du Cap Breton, et des nouveaux niveaux de sens qui se révèlent au moment où ces communautés effectuent leur transition vers l’ère postindustrielle

Gender Differences and Digital Learning Games – One Size Does not fit all

The intrinsic motivation demonstrated towards digital games provides the opportunity for its use as a learning tool irrespective of gender differences. This has resulted in the combination of the motivation of games with curricular content referred to as Digital Game-Based Learning. While some related studies have argued that there are no gender differences in the motivational appeal of digital educational games, others present an opposing view. This paper reports the result of an investigation into the motivational appeal of digital educational games for 11-14 years old girls and boys. There is evidence that this age group is pivotal to the shrinking pipeline phenomenon in which fewer females progressively engage with computer science education and careers. The investigation involved a two stage study composed of a qualitative exploratory study, which identified the key criteria for the successful appeal of some digital entertainment games to young girls and boys and a main study. The main study generate both qualitative and quantitative data to further investigate the motivational appeal of digital educational games for learning basic computer science concepts for both girls and boys of age 11-14 years old. For the main study, two experimental games for learning basic computer science concepts were created based on the key criteria identified from the exploratory study. The first included the game characteristics that appeared to support the motivational appeal of the girls. The second game was antithetical to the first. Both genders from the participating population engaged with both games and online questionnaires were used to capture data on their perception of both games. The outcome of the investigation which involved 304 participants (girls = 152 and boys =152) from Southeast England, United Kingdom provided the empirical evidence in support of the argument that there are gender differences in the motivational appeal of digital educational game characteristics which can either support or thwart motivation i.e. one size does not fit all. The result of this investigation should support educationists, researchers and digital educational game designers in having an inclusive approach towards the creation of digital educational games for learning

Labour Landmarks in New Waterford: Collective Memory in a Cape Breton Coal Town

Labour landmarks enshrine workers’ “public memories” as part of the larger “collective memory” of a community. But these manifestations of working class consciousness are not static. Two monuments in New Waterford (NS) – one to victims of a 1917 mine explosion and the second to William Davis (killed during the 1925 strike) – reveal many layers of historical memory and reflect changing conceptualizations of 20th century labour resistance in Cape Breton amongst the miners, their union, and the town’s citizens.Les lieux historiques ouvriers inscrivent le « souvenir public » de travailleurs dans l’ensemble de la mémoire collective d’une communauté. Mais ces manifestations de la conscience ouvrière ne sont pas statiques. Deux monuments situés dans la localité de New Waterford (N-É) – l’un dédié aux victimes d’une explosion survenue dans une mine en 1917 et l’autre érigé à la mémoire de William Davis (tué lors de la grève de 1925) – témoignent des nombreuses couches de la mémoire historique et reflètent l’évolution des conceptualisations de la résistance ouvrière au Cap-Breton pendant le 20e siècle parmi les mineurs, leur syndicat et les citoyens de la ville

An Investigation Of Digital Games Features That Appeal To Young Females And Males

This research is part of an attempt to address the well-known problem of female underrepresentation in computer science education and industry. This problem starts between ages 11 to 14 and gets progressively worse in what is often referred to as the “shrinking pipeline effect”. There has been considerable research into the causes of the shrinking pipeline and attempts to halt or reverse it. In spite of this, the causes remain unclear and there is evidence that the problem may be worsening. Digital games are increasingly used in education because of their ability to engage and motivate young learners. Unfortunately, digital games used in the teaching of IT and computer science have been found to appeal less to females than males. This is in spite of the fact that digital games intended for entertainment, as opposed to education, are now very popular with girls. There has been some research into this issue, however more is needed, especially into what game features do and do not appeal to girls at the age that the pipeline starts to shrink. The study reported here aims to identify what characteristics of digital entertainment games appeal to young females and males. The results can be used to guide educators, researchers and game developers and provide criteria for evaluating the suitability of digital educational games for use with specific age groups and genders. We used open card sort with participants aged 11 to 14 to explore their attitude to a range of digital entertainment games. Open card sort allows participants to categorise items in ways that are meaningful to them. There were 32 participants (24 females and 8 males) from four schools in south-east England. They were shown video clips of ten popular games. The participants were then given ten cards, each representing one of the games and asked to sort them into categories based on shared characteristics. This process elicited 131 features (95 from the females and 36 from the males). The data was analysed to identify the features that were a) most significant and b) most appealing to the participants. The findings indicate that there are some gender differences in which game features are perceived as most significant. Some features, such as game action, are significant to the males whereas others, such as game levels, are significant to the females. Interestingly, some features that both genders find significant have different degrees of appeal for example “fun” and “violence”. We are currently using the findings in an experiment with 480 young people. Two digital educational games have been created: one includes features found to appeal to young females and the other includes the opposite or neutral features. The results of this experiment will be used to validate the findings of the initial investigation and form the basis for a framework to facilitate the inclusion of characteristics that appeal to specific groups in educational games and other software

Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions

This survey paper examines the issue of female under-representation in computing education and industry, which has been shown from empirical studies to be a problem for over two decades. While various measures and intervention strategies have been implemented to increase the interest of girls in computing education and industry, the level of success has been discouraging. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide an analysis of the extensive research work in this area. It outlines the progressive decline in female representation in computing education. It also presents the key arguments that attempt to explain the decline and intervention strategies. We conclude that there is a need to further explore strategies that will encourage young female learners to interact more with computer educational games

Virtual scaffolding – constructivism in online learning

This reflection paper considers the recent growth of online courses, in particular MOOCs, against the backdrop of growing demand for higher education, the failings of our existing higher education models, and the continued but unsuccessful attempts of new technologies to revolutionise education. The authors argue that focusing on technology alone will always be unsuccessful, as it fails to recognise that learning is a social experience, which technology can aid but not replace. They argue that online education must take on board and address the issues of social constructivism in order to be effective. They use their own experience of developing online courses, combined with a consideration of the existing research in the area, to propose a future model for online provision. They conclude by identifying the future research needed to realise this model, and highlighting research on the potential future evolution of higher education