201,187 research outputs found
Educating for environmental sustainability and educating for creativity: actively compatible or missed opportunities?
No full textThis paper identifies the importance of both creativity and environmental sustainability for developing individual learners and society as a whole. It suggests that sometimes these two concepts appear to be in tension and that, politically, each is often championed by different communities. The relationship between creativity and environmental sustainability is explored in three separate contexts: in a design and technology schools context where teenage learners are being facilitated to develop creative responses within design briefs that include environmental considerations; through interviewing student teachers who have undertaken an ecodesign project; and through interviews with professional ecodesign practitioners. The tensions, compromises and contradictions evident where there is limited experience of environmental issues is contrasted with the level of optimisation and creativity engaged when designers have more maturity in this area. Finally, some suggestions are made for taking forward creativity and environmental sustainability in technology education through an ecodesign capability approach
Unorthodox methodologies: Approaches to understanding design and technology
No full textThe chapter draws together the new, innovative methodologies for researching design and design learning, developed jointly by Stables and Kimbell over the 20 years in question. These methodologies have made a particular contribution to a research field that is still relatively under-developed. The lead author (Stables) analysed the methodologies to produce an account of the more unorthodox but rigorous approaches used. The approaches reported are exemplified by four projects spanning the era: the Assessment of Performance in Design and Technology (1985-1991); Understanding Technological Approaches (1992-1994); Evaluating the (South Africa) North West Province Technology Education Project (1998-1999); and Assessing Design Innovation (2002-2004)
Development of a Sandwich ELISA to Measure Exposure to Occupational Cow Hair Allergens
No full textBackground: Cow hair and dander are important inducers of occupational allergies in cattle-exposed farmers. To estimate allergen exposure in farming environments, a sensitive enzyme immunoassay was developed to measure cow hair allergens. Methods: A sandwich ELISA was developed using polyclonal rabbit antibodies against a mixture of hair extracts from different cattle breeds. To assess the specificity of the assay, extracts from other mammalian epithelia, mites, molds and grains were tested. To validate the new assay, cow hair allergens were measured in passive airborne dust samples from the stables and homes of farmers. Dust was collected with electrostatic dust fall collectors (EDCs). Results: The sandwich ELISA was found to be very sensitive (detection limit: 0.1 ng/ml) and highly reproducible, demonstrating intra-and interassay coefficients of variation of 4 and 10%, respectively. The assay showed no reactivity with mites, molds and grains, but some cross-reactivity with other mammalian epithelia, with the strongest reaction with goat. Using EDCs for dust sampling, high concentrations of bovine allergens were measured in cow stables (4,760-559,400 mu g/m(2)). In addition, bovine allergens were detected in all areas of cattle farmer dwellings. A large variation was found between individual samples (0.3-900 mu g/m(2)) and significantly higher values were discovered in changing rooms. Conclusion: The ELISA developed for the detection of cow hair proteins is a useful tool for allergen quantification in occupational and home environments. Based on its low detection limit, this test is sensitive enough to detect allergens in passive airborne dust. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base
The inspiration pitch: where do design ideas come from?
No full textThis paper reports on a specific aspect of research undertaken
to explore the use of real-time’ dynamic, digital portfolios as a
way of developing, evidencing and assessing design and
technological capability – the e-scape project (Kimbell et al.
2009). In particular, it focuses on the factors that inspired the
design ideas generated by the learners, as identified by the
learners themselves through an ‘inspiration pitch’. This ‘pitch’
took the form of a 30 second sound-bite, recorded on a
mobile phone, through which the learners explained the source of their inspiration.
The learners’ responses were analysed to explore the type and range of sources they identified, how these related to
performance in the task, whether gender was an issue and if
there was a ‘school’ effect.
A key feature of the task was the provision of an ‘inspiration’
handing collection and particular attention is paid to this. The
handling collection was provided by the school, following
guidance from the research team. The paper will report on the way in which the activity and handling collections were
structured, the responses of the learners and the insights
provided into supporting design ideation. In addition, the paper
will report on other sources of inspiration – linked to both
resources provided through the task itself and also those from
external sources. Finally, the paper will identify certain key
messages that could be drawn on to enable teachers to
provide more effective support to learners’ development of
creative and innovative ideas.
This paper draws directly on the Report of Phase 3 of the escape project (Kimbell et al, 2009)
Chicken or egg: links between approaches to gathering data through authentic assessment activity and ways of supporting sustainable assessment of creative performance
No full textThis paper draws on research conducted to explore issues of creativity and sustainable assessment in the context of primary/secondary transition. The research project (Capability and Progression in Transition through Assessment for Learning in Design and Technology: CAPITTAL-DT; McLaren et al. 2006) was undertaken in associate primary and secondary school settings in 2 local authorities in Scotland and was funded by the Determined to Succeed division within Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED).
The research undertaken had two drivers. The first was evidence from within Scotland that both teaching and learning of Design and Technology was identified as weak (e.g. HMIE 2002, Dakers 2005), that of particular concern was the tendency for teachers to focus on making products rather than on thinking skills and creative processes and that assessment as part of learning and teaching was “good or better in only 24% of schools” (HMIE 2004). The second driver was research that had just been completed for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) that explored approaches to assessing creativity within Design & Technology (the Assessing Design Innovation project, Kimbell et al. 2004). This research utilised an approach to authentic summative assessment that indicated additional potential to contribute to assessment for learning. These two drivers combined to provide both a research need and a research opportunity.
The study involved learners from 7 schools. The participants (n=225) were in Primary 6 (10-11years old), Primary7 (11-12years old) and Secondary 1 (12-13 years old). Intervention and control research cohorts were created to take a quasi-experimental approach. The research gathered baseline and follow-up data before and after transition (either from Primary 6 to Primary 7, or from Primary 7 to Secondary 1) and, for intervention cohorts, tracked curricula experiences in the intervening 9-month period.
The baseline and follow-up data was gathered through authentic assessment activities adapted and developed from the Assessing Design Innovation project. The dataset was created from:
- a ‘Learner Attitudes Towards Creativity’ questionnaire;
- an authentic assessment activity structure (Stables & Kimbell, 2000; Kimbell et al., 2004);
- a ‘learner evaluation’ questionnaire.
A range of data was created by the study:
- quantitative performance data derived from a creativity assessment rubric (Kimbell et al, 2004);
- quantitative attitudinal and evaluative data;
- qualitative guided and free response data that was analysed using derived content analysis;
- qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews with teachers to provide illustrative accounts of the related learning and teaching that had been undertaken between baseline and follow-up data collection.
This paper explores the relationship between the approaches used for data gathering, the findings from the data and the insights offered for further approaches to sustainable assessment. Analysis of the data showed links between the creative performance of learners, their attitudes to creativity, the level of sophistication they demonstrated in self and peer reflection and, most importantly, how these changed over the transition period. The ability to gather and relate these data was created by the use of the authentic assessment activity as the core stimulus for the data. This paper will provide an insight into how this was undertaken and explore the potential the approach offers other curriculum areas
Stables and Riding Hall
No full textBlack-and-white photograph of the Stables and Riding Hall at Norwich University, with horses on the field. Photographed approximately 1928-1941
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States" By M. Carey.
No full text"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States: containing bried sketches of the moral and political character of those states.
By M. Carey, member of the American philosophical, and of the American Antiquarian Society, and author of The Olive Branch, Cindiciae Hibernicae, essays on banking, on political economy, and on internal improvement.
To which are now added the English editor's comments on the subject; together with Important Advice to Emigrants, and Cautions Against Impositions Practiced in the Outports
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Dr. Glendon Swarthout
No full textHosted by Roger M. Busfield, MSU Assistant Professor of Speech and Theater, Meet the Author is designed to introduce a general audience to a contemporary author and their work through in-depth interviews. This episode features a conversation between Dr. Glendon Swarthout, prolific author and English professor at MSU, and assistant professors Sam S. Baskett and Theodore B. Strandness
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