1993 research outputs found
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Can A New Models-Based Approach to Adventure Education Promote Affective Learning Through the PE Curriculum?
No full textThis study investigated how a pedagogical model for adventure education (AE) could be refined, implemented, and evaluated. Building on Williams and Wainwright’s (2015) advocacy for, and design of, a pedagogical model for AE within physical education, the research explored these ideas in the context of secondary education in Wales, a nation with devolved education policy and curriculum.
In examining the rationale for the proposed model, the study identified epistemological inconsistencies between the cognitively focused, outcome-driven education system (in Wales and beyond) and the affective, blended traditions of formal and informal learning expressed in the curriculum as ‘Outdoor and adventurous activities’. Literature synthesis revealed a fundamental challenge to how knowledge is valued in modern education, with emphasis heavily skewed toward the cognitive domain (Bloom et al., 1956) at the expense of the affective.
The study highlighted parallels between the affective learning often associated with AE (e.g. Mortlock, 1984; Nicol, 2003; Takano, 2010) and the aims of personal and social education (PSE). A gap in teachers’ pedagogical knowledge was identified: while responsible for delivering both PSE and AE, often within PE, many lacked an understanding of how AE might promote affective learning (Backman, 2018). This raised the question of whether teachers using Williams and Wainwright’s model could influence young people’s affective learning and PSE outcomes.
The model provided a structure for PE teachers familiar with models-based practice (Casey and Kirk, 2021) to address this gap through design principles or ‘non-negotiables’ (Metzler, 2011). Teachers’ understanding developed not through implementation alone, but through the process of lesson planning within the model, which foregrounded affective rather than psychomotor or cognitive goals.
A close-to-practice action research design (Gray, 2014) aligned with the constructivist paradigm and involved four enquiry cycles. The first refined the model through interviews with heads of PE. The second piloted it with one teacher to test feasibility. The third extended implementation with the same teacher over time, using reflective diaries and interviews. The fourth rolled the model out across the department, with multiple teachers using reflective journals and pupil focus groups. While attainment data were inconclusive regarding cognitive or psychomotor outcomes, qualitative findings indicated that pupils and teachers developed deeper awareness of affective learning, and teachers’ reflections showed a growing appreciation of its value.
The research concluded that minor modifications were needed to align the model’s non-negotiables with the practical and epistemological realities of PE. The refined model achieved high fidelity of implementation, strengthened through teachers’ iterative reflection, planning, and delivery. This process deepened teachers’ recognition of affective learning and its curricular relevance. Although student attainment impacts were inconclusive, the study suggests the need for alternative assessment approaches aligned with affective outcomes. Evidence also indicated an emergent shift in teachers’ epistemological perspectives as they engaged with the AE model and its affective focus
Birth-story and the Unbearable age
Get PDFCurrently there is a wealth of information about birth stories by mothers charting the experience of birth, but a marked lack of research of the birth-story’s influence on the recipient. A birth-story has potency when told by a significant adult, intensifying our identification with it and can often be a forerunner of latent psychology within the family. Such a story for instance, can highlight themes rooted in the parent’s unconscious as well as contribute to the recipient’s lived experience. A heuristic exploration affords an opportunity for an in-depth personal study of the phenomenon. This detailed and explicit work explores how a birth-story, told by my mother during adolescence, contributed to my perception of self and to my relationship with my father with far reaching consequences. The main conclusion of this research considers the role a birth-story takes in forming identity, the power and mythic resonance of its telling on an adolescent mind and, its potential as an aid to explore and illuminate its influences on presenting issues in the therapy hour. Therefore, recommendations for practice suggests that the birth-story can provide a map from which to navigate impressions and questions to relevant areas of therapeutic exploration
Reviving heritage crafts: connecting communities with coppicing
No full textHeritage crafts have experienced a revival in recent years, driven by a growing demand for authenticity, sustainability and meaningful engagement. Despite this resurgence, systemic barriers, including the decline of vocational education and a cultural disconnect between urban settings and rural crafts, have excluded many working-class urban young people who once formed the backbone of these trades. This case study examines a community-driven heritage initiative centred on the restoration of an urban hazel coppice adjacent to the historic Hafod/Morfa Copperworks in Swansea. Co-produced by Swansea University, local stakeholders and educational institutions, the project aimed to equip participants with rural heritage coppicing skills whilst restoring a small hazel coppice using traditional methods through an immersive coppicing programme. Participants engaged in traditional crafts such as dead hedging, hazel stool cutting, tool maintenance and sustainable land management, under the guidance of a traditional coppice worker and experienced volunteers. By combining hyper-local project accessibility with practical, hands-on skill-building within an intergenerational support network, the initiative successfully addressed the participants’ self-identified barriers to learning. This co-produced approach allowed the project to achieve high levels of participation and satisfaction, enhancing confidence, well-being and community pride, while also inspiring further workshops and volunteer activities. By employing a co-production framework that brought together community input, statutory authorities and traditional expertise, the project provides a replicable model for introducing rural heritage skills into urban environments
'Beuno tŷ Sain Bened': Y Seintiau a Hunaniaeth yn y Canu i’r Abadau
Get PDFMae'r erthygl yn archwilio un agwedd ar hunaniaethau amlhaenog abatai Sistersaidd Cymru'r Oesoedd Canol, drwy ddadansoddi cyfeiriadau at seintiau yn y canu mawl i'r abadau. Cymherir arwyddocâd cyfeiriadau at y
seintiau mynachaidd rhyngwladol Bened o Nursia a Berned o Clairvaux ar y naill law, ac at seintiau brodorol megis Dewi a Beuno ar y llall. / This article discusses one aspect of the multi-layered identities of the Cistercian abbeys of medieval Wales, through analysing references to saints in the praise poetry addressed to the abbots. The significance of two groups of references is compared, namely those to the international monastic saints Benedict of Nursia and Bernard of Clairvaux, and those to Welsh saints such as Dewi and Beuno
‘Arabic Astrology’ in Early Medieval England? A Re-Examination of Prognostics and Planetary Knowledge in Three Winchester Manuscripts, c. 1023-1060
Get PDFQuestions around whether some form of astrology was practiced in early Medieval England often engage with textual ‘tools’ known as ‘prognostics’. Prognostics range from lists of ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ calendar days to weather omens to prescribed activities according to the lunar cycle. Some scholars have questioned whether certain prognostics have their origins in ‘Arabic astrology’, thereby suggesting an earlier dating for the revival of horoscopic astrology.
This dissertation queries whether prognostics can be considered as evidence of horoscopic astrology by analysing three manuscripts from eleventh-century Winchester. In treating the manuscripts as a corpus of interconnected cosmological and astronomical knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering texts within their original manuscript context. This dissertation also argues that previous scholarship may have underemphasized the role these texts could have played in non-predictive contexts.
While the contents of a prayerbook and psalter likely did not facilitate more technical astrological practices, a mathematical procedure found in a treatise included within a computus anthology may have permitted approximate calculations of planetary longitudes. Although the procedure does not yield accurate results and therefore casts doubt on whether it could have enabled more technical astrological practices, these manuscripts taken together illustrate the diverse astronomical and cosmological interests of a single monastic community in the early eleventh century.
Finally, this dissertation revisits the contested ‘pastoral hypothesis’ in which scholars have debated how prognostics may have been deployed by their manuscript users. This dissertation proposes that the realities of daily life in a monastic community coupled with the spiritual and administrative responsibilities of an abbot could suggest that prognostics may have been consulted in specific circumstances. This research adds nuance to previous studies of the history of astrology, proposing that prognostics may have enabled a subtle expansion of what came to constitute ‘natural astrology’ in the twelfth century
An Exploration into ‘noctcaelador’ in Young People of Generation Z
Get PDFThis research will qualitatively explore the nuanced ways in which Generation Z (those born between 1995 and 2012) maintains its connection to the night sky amid the challenges and opportunities posed by modern technological and environmental contexts. The findings will contribute to the broader academic discourse of cultural astronomy, building on the work of psychologist William E. Kelly who coined the term ‘noctcaelador’ (psychological attachment to the night sky), offering insights into how contemporary factors shape the night sky's significance for young people today. Through the surveys of 29 Gen Z respondents and four interviews, this research found that stargazing experiences during childhood helped inspire astronomical interest, and that familiarity with common celestial features helped form attachment over time. By stargazing, Gen Z participants noted feeling connected to ancestors, nature, God and the universe. Some participants shared particularly transcendent and spiritual night sky experiences which inspired feelings of uniqueness and smallness, as well as perceived changes in perspective such as feeling part of something bigger. These types of encounters with the sky were noted as profound benefits of stargazing. Additional benefits captured included using the sky as a therapeutic tool, such as means of coping with stress. Moreover, curiosity was found to be a significant driver, with media products (such as science-fiction movies), social media and apps playing significant roles in Gen Z’s astronomical interests. Participants also expressed significant concerns about light pollution, voicing fears that excessive artificial lighting could lead to a diminished appreciation of the sky. Nonetheless, there was a sense of optimism that advances in astronomical research and space technology will empower future generations to reconnect with the night sky
Adolygiad o Gyllido Gwaith Ieuenctid_Cam 3 Adroddiad Cryno, Mawrth 2025
Get PDFMae’r adroddiad hwn yn cyflwyno crynodeb o’r ymchwil a wnaed ar gyfer cam 3 yr
Adolygiad o Gyllido Gwaith Ieuenctid yng Nghymru, a gomisiynwyd gan Lywodraeth
Cymru. Bydd yr adroddiad cryno hwn: Yn gyntaf, yn amlinellu’r ymchwil a wnaed ar
gyfer cam 3. Yn ail, bydd yn cyflwyno trosolwg o’r deilliannau data ansoddol gan
gynnwys cyfyngiadau. Yn drydydd, bydd yn gwneud agymhellion i Lywodraeth Cymru
a’r sector i ystyried ymchwil i’r dyfodol all alluogi dadansoddiad o werth economaidd
gwaith ieuenctid
Working with an advisory group to co-create innovative intergenerational climate change research
No full textThis article discusses the opportunities of working with an Advisory Group on intergenerational climate change research. We co-created creative workshops to explore and articulate climate change perceptions and future imaginaries between younger and older people in Wales, UK. This 12-month programme of research activities led to a bilingual (Welsh and English) and bespoke comic, and a follow-up project that co-created an intergenerational activity book. Using a research diary format, we show how to practically follow the Responsible Research and Innovation dimensions of inclusion, reflexivity, anticipation, and responsiveness during the data collection stage. The opportunities for co-creation discussed here relate to two main areas: imagining and communicating futures through intergenerational workshops; and the extent to which the Advisory Group were co-creators. The voices of four members of the Advisory Group and the work of comic book artist show the benefits of an early involvement of time, resource and trust in a group who are potential critics, advocates, and bridge-builders. We make four recommendations: the importance of time and imagination in intergenerational climate research; the value of Advisory Groups in improving participatory methods; the need for sustained community-university partnerships and that Advisory Groups should be involved from the very beginning of research
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