Playing the game: undergraduate student nurses' perceptions of reflective journals

Reflective journals are one of the most popular strategies for promoting reflective practice in nurse education. Whilst evaluations have been conducted, there remains a lack of substantive research about their value and appropriate usage. In this study the grounded theory approach was adopted in order to explore undergraduate student nurses' perceptions of reflective journals. A combination of data collection methods including participant observation, interviews and journal documents were used to locate the process and actions involved in documenting clinical practice. Using the analytic procedures of grounded theory, a core category named playing the game was identified. In order to manage conflicts experienced in clinical practice, students engage in two distinct stages ofjournal writing. These are using a personal diary as a means of selfexpression, expressing yourself and a further stage that involves producing the work for assessment, writing the right thing. The interplay between these two stages allows the students to develop valuable insight and engage in developing a broader perspective in order to make sense of their social world. The study suggests it is important to position the role and value ofjournal writing in nurse education with clarity of purpose and recognition of its limitations. The study supports the use of a staged approach to journal writing, which encourages students to keep two separate documents: a personal diary and a professional journal. The use of reflective journals provides a medium for dialogue of and with nursing practice that involves the description, interpretation and evaluation of role performance of self and where appropriate other practitioners in the care process. The implications of these findings both in terms of nurse education and continuing professional development are discussed

Postcolonial nostalgia and meaning: new perspectives on contemporary South African writings.

Doctor of Philosophy in English Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2019.This dissertation explores the concept and application of nostalgia in a selection of contemporary South African novels chosen as representative of the multi-cultural diversity of South Africa’s literature. The study explores novels by four authors – Etienne van Heerden (Ancestral Voices; 30 Nights in Amsterdam), Rayda Jacobs (The Slave Book; Joonie), Mongane Wally Serote (Revelations; Rumours), and Ronnie Govender (Song of the Atman; The Lahnee’s Pleasure) – to analyse these authors’ nostalgic treatment of the past as complementing their explorations of the anxieties of the present. Much of South African literature deals with the past, and postcolonial themes predominate: e.g. dislocation, diaspora, hybridity, ambivalence, home, identity, and belonging. Many authors dealing with issues of the past write nostalgically about it: either fondly, or with a sense of yearning, even though the past that is examined might have been turbulent and traumatic. However, this does not necessarily mean that their representations of the past are superficial or sentimental. On the contrary, nostalgic writers grapple with the paradoxical emotions associated with longed-for times and places. The term ‘nostalgia’ has often been misunderstood as an unreliable or biased form of memory. This is not always the case: the conventional understanding of nostalgia as ‘bitter-sweet’ gives the first clue as to the tensions inherent in its complex and nuanced texture. It is misleading to take nostalgia at its ‘sweet’ face-value only without also exploring its ‘bitter’ counterpart, as current research indicates. This study applies the concept of ‘nostalgia’ as a complex conceptual and analytical tool within recent debates in postcolonial literary study. In my investigation, I draw especially on Boym’s (2001) distinction between ‘restorative’ vs ‘reflective’ nostalgia, as well as on Medalie’s (2010) differentiation between ‘evolved’ vs ‘unreflecting’ nostalgia. I have also made intenstive use of related postcolonial concepts – such as ‘space and identity’ and ‘trauma and haunting’ – to inform my analysis. Finally, this study illustrates that contemporary writers can harness nostalgia as a positive force; and that instances of nostalgia, if critically applied and analysed, can unearth submerged memories and help transform trauma into meaning, thus providing fresh points of entry towards a reimagined future

Evaporation of liquids from structured and non-structured mixtures

The work presented in this thesis describes the evaporation rates of a wide variety of samples obtained under a controlled gas flow using a gravimetric technique. Evaporation rates for pure liquids with vapour pressures ranging from 0.1 to 500 Torr, water contained in silica particles, alkane/squalane mixtures, hexane gelled with silica particles, surfactant/water mixtures, immiscible layered liquid mixtures and emulsions have been determined. For pure liquids and simple unstructured liquid mixtures, the evaporation rate is limited by diffusion through a stagnant vapour layer at the liquid surface. As the degree of structure within the liquid mixture increases, the time taken for concentration gradients developing in the evaporation process to relax becomes longer relative to the time taken for diffusion through the stagnant vapour layer. For highly structured liquid mixtures, the rate limiting process switches to diffusion and convection within the liquid mixture. In the case of creamed oil-in-water emulsions, evaporation of the continuous water phase is limited by diffusion through the stagnant vapour layer, whilst the evaporation rate of the emulsified oil is consistent with a mechanism in which the oil drops remain separated from the vapour phase by a thin water film. Oil transport from the drops to the vapour occurs by diffusion of dissolved oil across this film

The value of counselling in a school for children with complex needs

Background to the study Reports have indicated that young people with learning difficulties are at greater risk of developing mental health problems; yet there is very little provision for this client group and a lack of understanding of what might be appropriate. This study evaluates counselling in a school for students with complex needs. The project seeks to underst~nd the effects of humanistic counselling for young people with learning difficulties from the students', teachers', teaching assistants' and counsellor's perspectives. Method The study is a mixed methods intervention stugy using both qualitative and quantitative measures. Thirty students were referred for counselling by the staff at the school. Fifteen were selected for the first year intervention; the other fifteen acted as a comparison group for the first year, and then were given counselling for the second year. The counselling provided was evaluated using data of four kinds: the counsellor's notes of sessions; the students' selfconcept at four times; their opinion of the value of counselling; the staff responses to the student's functioning in the classroom at four times; the students' responses to the PiersHarris 2 questionnaire. Results Results indicate that many' of the students in this project did benefit from humanistic counselling. Staff in the school identified benefits to over half of the students and reported that the students' behaviour, communication, concentration in class, and general levels of happiness improved. Data from the students and counsellor support these results. The students' were able to lessen their secondary handicap, improve communication, mcrease their level of autonomy and manage everyday life events more effectively. Conclusion The study demonstrated that participants benefited from the intervention; that counselling met a significant need among students; that additional support for school staff and parents was desirable; and that counselling of this kind should be much more widely available

Enhancing creativity through design technology : opportunities for developing children\u27s creative thinking

Creative problem solving is essential to technology education. In our research project we explored the suggestion that creativity may need to include a time of ‘non-thinking’ during which innovative responses to problem tasks are generated. The period of non-conscious cognitive process (NCCP) time is considered to be when the brain makes connections between independent ideas and when inappropriate responses can be forgotten, allowing more relevant responses to be made available for problem solving. Our research provided an opportunity for several primary school teachers to focus on enhancing creativity in technology education and to explore the notion of the NCCP time for creative problem solving. In this chapter we review the current literature on enhancing creativity and comment on how the teachers fostered creativity as they implemented a design, make and appraise technological task to produce recycling devices in their classrooms. Classes and children were observed and teachers interviewed about their perception of children’s creativity and the NCCP time. In this study, a time frame of only several days appears to be ideal for non-conscious cognitive processing to occur and more time may hinder creativity. These findings have implications for teachers of technology who assign the same day and time each week for technology learning. During the non-task time, which included the NCCP time, children were able to discuss their ideas with family members. As children learn in social and cultural contexts, these discussions can be fruitful. The teachers indicated that peer discussions also played an important role after the generation of designs

A Review of Relationship Education in Worcestershire Schools

Report commissioned by Worcestershire County Council including research with schools across Worcestershire. The overall aim of the research was to establish the extent and nature of school-based work on respectful or healthy relationships in Worcestershire schools encompassing work on: friendship; keeping safe; bullying; sexual exploitation; domestic abuse; and other forms of gender based violence. A mixed methods approach, consisting of an online survey and semi-structured interviews was adopted.Inquiry was made with PSHE teaching staff regarding whether they delivered respectful or healthy relationship education, what and how they delivered and what the barriers were for delivering such education to pupils

Technology education, science and science education : exploring the relationship

In this paper the nature of technology education in relation to science and science education is explored. Ways forward are indicated for both technology and science in the curriculum so that the two areas can be mutually supportive. In the 1990s, when curriculum writers were attempting to provide technology a unique place in the curriculum, they tended to downplay the relationship between technology and science. One reason for this tendency derives from a perception that science is an academic and elitist discipline and technology is well served by emphasizing the distance between the two. The other reason is perhaps political, that science, by virtue of its status in the community, and the status of its special type of knowledge, would be in a position, if allowed, to subsume the new subject. There are philosophical and historical precedents that justify such a concern. In tracing the historical relationships between science and technology, in professional practice, in philosophical positioning, and in school curriculum, we inevitably need to deal with the politics of school subjects.The position taken in this paper is that science and technology are different, both in their epistemological foundations, and in the nature of the professional communities and the concerns of individual practitioners within the two areas. In clarifying these differences the essential nature of technology and of science are illuminated. The paper also explores ways in which the two areas can benefit from each other&rsquo;s existence in the curriculum, and ways of approaching teaching that both clarifies the special nature of each type of knowledge, and allows them to be mutually supportive. This may necessitate a reconstruction of the nature of school science.<br /

The role of NCCP time for enhancing children\u27s creativity in technology

The focus of our research project was the question Can children&lsquo;s creativity be enhanced by including a period of non-conscious cognitive process (NCCP) time? During this non-thinking time the brain makes connections between independent ideas, forgets inappropriate responses, and makes available more relevant responses for problem solving. The research generated cases of several primary school classrooms as the teachers incorporated NCCP time in their design technology sessions. Children were observed and teachers interviewed about their perceptions of children&lsquo;s creativity as the children designed and produced recycling devices. The cases revealed an optimum time frame of several days for nonconscious cognitive processing. These findings have implications for teachers of technology who assign the same day and time each week for technology learning. During the non-task time, which included the NCCP time, children were able to discuss their ideas with family members. As children learn in socio-cultural contexts, these discussions can be fruitful. The teachers indicated that peer discussions also played an important role after the generation of designs

Jasper Heywood's translation of Seneca's Thyestes : with particular reference to the latter's sixteenth and seventeenth-century reception and the themes of tyranny, kingship and revenge

The thesis offers a critical analysis of the transmission of Seneca's Thyestes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Volume 1, the 1584 Gryphius edition of Seneca's Thyestes; the 1560 edition of Heywood's translation of the play and the 1674 edition of Wright's translation and burlesque version have been transcribed. This is the first time that these texts have been presented together for discussion. The commentary (Volume II) examines a broad range of dramatic material including Neo- Latin plays such as Goldingham's Herodes (1570/80); Gwinne's Nero (1603); Snelling's Thibaldus (1640) and the anonymous Stoicus Vapulans (1648). Prose works considered include the Latin lexicas and grammars of Lilly and Whitinton; philosophical treatises such as Reynolds A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the soule of Man (1640); and religious works such as Hooper on the Ten Commandments (1560). It presents hitherto unpublished material- MS Sloane 1041; and material that has previously received little attention- the Hendrik Goltzius' engraving of Melpomene (1592) and the Restoration Mock-Thyestes in Burlesque. Research material was consulted at the British Library; BL Department of Manuscripts; BL Print Room; University of Warwick Library; University of Birmingham Library; Senate House Library, University of London; The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; The Warburg Institute and The Institute of Classical Studies