Loughborough University Library: Open Journals
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Sustainable Energy - without the hot air
Get PDFThe fact of global climate change is, famously, contested but, as the scientific evidence has accumulated, a broad consensus has emerged that warming of the earth is indeed happening and that this is anthropogenic. Now the main debate (we will ignore here the minority of naysayers) has
moved from ‘whether’ (it is happening) to ‘what’ (to do about it); this debate is not going well, if the measure of success is practical actions, globally agreed (or even agreed on a nation-by-nation basis), to reduce the rate of emissions of greenhouse gases with the aim, ultimately, of reducing the actual amount of such gases in the atmosphere
Book Review of Herring, J.E. (2011). Improving students’ web use and information literacy. A guide for teachers and teacher librarians. London: Facet
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The Learning Challenge of the Knowledge Economy
Get PDFThere have been books both erudite and popular on knowledge economy and learning challenges. About two decades ago, The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge (1990, 1994) popularised the concept of learning organisations and brought his seeming idealisms into the realm of the practical
Handle with care...
Get PDFI’m writing this after a fantastic village bonfire night with loads of colourful and explosive entertainment. It was certainly a big thumbs-down in terms of our carbon footprint – but it was fun. Being a STEM Special Edition, it seemed appropriate to write this piece in that context.
There are obvious advantages in building integrated activities across the curriculum not least because the world outside school does not operate in disciplinary packages. A performance in the national theatre or a bonfire night firework spectacular provide ample evidence of the richness that can result from the integration of arts and sciences. So how can it be anything other than good to build a systemic integration of a chunk of the curriculum; science, technology, engineering and maths
A grounded theory approach to the development of a framework for researching children's decision-making skills within design and technology education
Get PDFThis paper discusses the establishment of a framework for researching children's decision-making skills in design and technology education through taking a grounded theory approach. Three data sources were used:
(1) analysis of available literature;
(2) curriculum analysis and interviews with teachers concerning their practice in relation to their respective national curricula; and
(3) a study of classroom activity in order to gather children's perspectives.
These three data sources provided triangulation, as well as supporting the validation of the data obtained. The main areas of interest for the literature search were children's decision-making strategies, the implementation of decision-making in educational contexts and the roles of teachers and curriculum materials in the development of children's decision-making skills. In this paper the key outcomes of the literature search are presented. Teacher in Cyprus, England and Iceland, were interviewed concerning their practice and the results of these interviews are presented. The exploratory study was conducted in a Cypriot classroom and the results found in this context are noted and compared with the literature sources and interview outcomes. The resulting framework illustrates the possible factors that affect children's decision-making skills within design and technology education and is designed to be used in a subsequent research investigation using these possible factors as preset codes
ILS and RTP: Support to researchers provided by Information and Learning Services as part of the Research Training Programme at the University of Worcester, past, present and future.
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to investigate the involvement of Information and Learning Services staff in the delivery of the Research Training Programme at the University of Worcester, UK with a focus on researcher receptivity. I believe that by constantly reflecting on the development of that part of the programme delivered by ILS and by examining feedback from the sessions, it is possible to improve and increase the level of researcher receptivity. It is hoped that such examination and reflection will be of value and relevance to the IL community since by reflecting on success and failure in a local context and by mapping this reflection to existing research enables librarians to improve the support provided to researchers within their institutions. This article outlines the support given to research students at the University of Worcester in the past, examines the changes leading to present programme delivery and reflects on considerations for future support. The article is underpinned by reference to current research undertaken in international (albeit Western-centric) contexts. I note that the rationale behind changes is embedded in current adult learning and teaching theory. In an increasingly competitive research environment where funding is dependent on a statistically monitored research output, the aim of such support is to integrate any IL contribution into the wider research training programme. Thus resource discovery becomes part of the reflexive research cycle. Implicit in this investigative reflection is the desire of the IL community to constantly strive towards the positive reception of IL into research support programmes which are perceived by researchers as highly valuable to the process and progress of their work
