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Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP) include a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of conditions. Novel imaging modalities have been increasingly applied to HSP cohorts, which help to develop monitoring markers for both clinical care and future clinical trials.Advances in HSP imaging are systematically reviewed with a focus on cohort sizes, imaging modalities, study design, clinical correlates, methodological approaches, and key findings.A wide range of imaging techniques have been recently applied to HSP cohorts. Common shortcomings of existing studies include the evaluation of genetically admixed cohorts, limited sample sizes, lack of postmortem validation, and a limited clinical battery. A number of innovative methodological approaches have also been identified, such as robust longitudinal study designs, the implementation of multimodal imaging protocols, complementary cognitive assessments, and the comparison of HSP cohorts to MND cohorts. Collaborative multicenter initiatives may overcome sample limitations, and comprehensive clinical profiling with motor, extrapyramidal, cerebellar, and neuropsychological assessments would permit systematic clinico-radiological correlations. Academic achievements in HSP imaging have the potential to be developed into viable clinical applications to expedite the diagnosis and monitor disease progression.

Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) technology has provided a new technique for molecular diagnostics, with superior advantages, such as higher sensitivity, precision, and specificity over quantitative real-time PCRs (qPCR). Eight companies have offered commercial dPCR instruments: Fluidigm Corporation, Bio-Rad, RainDance Technologies, Life Technologies, Qiagen, JN MedSys Clarity, Optolane, and Stilla Technologies Naica. This paper discusses the working principle of each offered dPCR device and compares the associated: technical aspects, usability, costs, and current applications of each dPCR device. Lastly, up-and-coming dPCR technologies are also presented, as anticipation of how the dPCR device landscape may likely morph in the next few years.

This study investigates the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand reputation, brand trust, and brand loyalty in the context of higher education. The direct effect of CSR on bran...

Palliative care should be an integral component of comprehensive ICU care for all critically ill patients.We aimed to study and describe the impact of an ICU-Palliative Care Collaboration using a I...

Background Age-related slowing of gait has been reported to start as early as the fifth decade and accelerate beyond the seventh decade of life. A single cut-off for slow gait may not be appropriate for men and women of different ages. We aimed to report reference values for gait speed and spatiotemporal gait parameters of adult age groups in a South East Asian population. Methods A total of 507 community-dwelling adults, aged 21-90 years were recruited into the study through random sampling, filling quotas of 20-40 participants in each sex and age group (10-year age groups between 21 and 60 years; 5-year age groups beyond age 60 years). Demographic data, height, weight and information on comorbidities were recorded. Habitual gait speed and spatiotemporal parameters were measured, and the average of three trials was recorded using the GAITRite system. Results Gait speed peaked in their 40s for both men and women, but the trajectories differed slightly across age groups. Although similar for men in their 50s and 60s, gait speed was significantly slower among those aged 71 years and older. For women beyond 50 years old, gait slowed with age. After adjusting for height, women were found to walk significantly faster and with a longer step length than men. Women also walked with a significantly narrower stride width and less external rotation of the feet. The lowest quintile for gait speed in our study cohort was 0.9m/s, below the recommended cut-off of 1.0m/s. Conclusion We established the reference values as well as the quintiles for gait speed and spatiotemporal gait parameters across adult age groups in a multi-ethnic Asian population. This contributes to a valuable database for gait assessment and evaluation of preventive or rehabilitative programs.

In this study, we reviewed 76 journal articles on employing drawing assessment as a research tool in science education. Findings from the systematic review suggest four justifications for using dra...

Student engagement in large Life Sciences classes can be problematic, especially with the course work done outside formal class contact hours. To enhance student engagement with the content outside...

Oral delivery of amphotericin B (AmpB) is desirable because it provides a more patient-friendly mode of administration compared to the current delivery approach akin with the marketed AmpB formulations. The goal of the study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of orally administered chitosan-coated AmpB-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (ChiAmpB NLC) administered to Sprague Dawley rats at a dose of 15 mg/kg. Orally administered ChiAmpB NLC resulted in a two-fold increase in the area under the curve (AUC

The healthcare industry is increasingly becoming more competitive, with patients now demanding a higher level of service quality. This study aims to model the impact of service quality (medical car...

This study aims to examine the effect of communication factors (e.g. uses of questions and multisensory media) and visitor factors (e.g. high level of interest and visualisation) on visitors’ mindf...

Background: Nature of Science (NOS) is defined to be the epistemology of science, and comprised of distinctive defining aspects. The representation of these NOS aspects in school science textbooks ...

The challenges of climate change adaptation in agriculture are examined through the lens of priorities for research, and the use of best management practices (BMPs) to better manage climate risks. The methods and results have two parts. Firstly, a case study from the northern grains region examines the use of BMPs for managing climate risks associated with both climate variability and climate change. A series of industry workshops developed and tested a suite of 24 BMP standards for growing dryland grain crops, including four BMPs on risk management based on the Australian Standards for Risk Management. Secondly, priorities for research on climate change adaptation in the primary industries sector are described and evaluated to assess needs for updating, in response to industry and environmental changes. The analysis reveals strong reasons for increasing the priority given to education and extension on risk management and for developing BMPs for both incremental and transformative adaptation, and especially for deriving methods to achieve widespread adoption of BMPs for managing extreme climatic events. Collaborative development of BMPs involving farmers’/industry/scientists is the process most likely to derive robust BMPs to withstand the complexities of climate risk and build greater resilience of communities and ecosystems.

The natural attributes of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO world heritage site listed for its natural beauty and biological diversity, are rapidly declining due to major threats from diffuse water pollution and climate change. The environmental, social, political and legal conditions that have enabled or blocked successful management of diffuse water pollution are analyzed. We find that the management approach has transitioned towards resilience-focused adaptive management of impacts from outside the marine park. Despite key enablers of adaptive governance, deep-seated political ideology is a major barrier to transformational adaptive governance to improve reef water quality.

Queenie Lin Ling Tan,1 Lilian Min Yen Chye,1 Daniella Hui Min Ng,1 Mei Sian Chong,1 Tze Pin Ng,1,2 Shiou Liang Wee1,3 1Frailty Research Program, Geriatric Education and Research Institute (GERI), Singapore; 2Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; 3Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Purpose: Community-based programs can increase and sustain physical activity participation in older adults, even for those who are physically frail. We studied the feasibility and potential effect of a 12-week structured Functional Power Training (FPT) program involving high velocities and low loads for older adults conducted in a common area of their housing estate.Patients and methods: The structured FPT program was conducted in collaboration with a health promotion social enterprise and a community service provider based in a public housing site. We recruited nine inactive residents as participants to the single, group-based, twice-weekly program. Attendance and adverse event(s) were recorded throughout the program. The Short Physical Performance Battery, Timed Up and Go (TUG), and 30s Sit-to-Stand tests were used to assess functional outcomes pre- and postprogram. The FRAIL Scale was used to assess their frailty status, and a postprogram experience survey was conducted.Results: Eight subjects (aged 74±10 years) completed the program with an average overall attendance of 90.3%, with at least five participants present for each session. Changes in functional outcomes showed a moderate-to-large effect with significant improvement in TUG (p

Through the lens of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance, this article examines six water resources and water services frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America to understand enhancing and constraining contextual factors. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze each framework against four criteria: alignment; implementation; on-ground results; and policy impact. Four main target areas are identified for improving water governance: policy coherence; financing; managing trade-offs; and ensuring integrity and transparency by all decision makers and stakeholders. Suggestions are presented to support practical implementation of the principles through better government action and stakeholder involvement.

Computer simulation is commonly used to study production planning and control prior to actual shop floor implementation. The majority of simulations are discrete events and involve modeling of elem...

This study examines the verbal interactions among a group of pre-service teachers as they engaged in scientific discussions in a medicinal chemistry course. These discussions were part of the cours...

This third millennium has been variously characterized by sociologists, economists, and futurists as the Creative Age (Florida, 2002), the Digital Age (Thomas & Brown, 2011), and the Conceptual Age...

This study aimed to develop and examine the effects of a socially oriented gratitude intervention (SOGI) on secondary students’ gratitude level and interpersonal relationships. To these ends, we us...

Background: Researchers have indicated that assessment practices and methods should support learners’ construction of meaningful understanding of knowledge. Understanding students’ conceptions of assessment will enable us to construct more realistic, valid and fair assessments. Learners’ conceptualization of assessment would be imperative to serve as an essential reference to evaluate their learning progress.Purpose: This study evaluated and compared the Singaporean and Taiwanese middle school students’ conceptions of science assessment. Within-country gender comparisons were also explored.Sample: 424 Taiwanese and 333 Singaporean eighth graders were invited for a cross-country comparison.Design and methods: The participants completed a questionnaire named Conceptions of Science Assessment.Results: The findings showed that the summative assessment dominates in the Taiwanese classrooms, while formative and summative assessment are usually perceived in Singaporean classrooms. The Singaporean student...

Learning Analytics (LA) is both a growing trend and an increasingly prominent feature of contemporary twenty-first century teaching and learning that has captured the attention and imaginations of ...

Examine the inter-rater reliability of the Daniels and Worthingham (DW) manual muscle test (MMT) protocol for children with spina bifida between experienced and novice physiotherapists.Thirteen children with spina bifida (two males) aged 6 to 18 years were recruited from a spina bifida service in a state-wide tertiary children's hospital. Each child had the muscle strength of 19, and lower limb muscles were measured bilaterally by one experienced and one novice physiotherapist using the DW MMT protocol. Examiner and limb order were counterbalanced. Standard training and recording sheets were used. Agreement between raters was examined with quadratic weighted kappa (κInter-rater agreement between the experienced and novice raters was excellent (κThe DW MMT protocol, when used after standard training and with standard recording sheets, was reproducible for children with spina bifida, aged 6-18 years.

This study explored the relative salience of students’ personal strengths and teacher support in predicting academic risk status. The participants were Secondary One (S1, Grade Seven) students from Singapore who scored below the cohort’s mean score in a national test administered at the end of primary education, and were identified as low risk (n = 309) or high risk (n = 396), based on their S1 achievement score in the English Language subject. Logistic regression analysis was conducted with academic risk status as criterion variable and the following potential predictors: students’ background variables (i.e. socio-economic status, cognitive ability and initial achievement), personal strengths, teacher–student relatedness, and teacher autonomy and competence support. After controlling for the effects of the students’ background variables, teacher trust emerged as the strongest (negative) and most stable predictor of high-risk status; teacher alienation and teacher–student communication were found ...

Although vascular implantation has been used as an effective treatment for cardiovascular disease for many years, off-the-shelf and regenerable vascular scaffolds are still not available. Tissue engineers have tested various materials and methods of surface modification in the attempt to develop a scaffold that is more suitable for implantation. Extracellular matrix-based natural materials and biodegradable polymers, which are the focus of this review, are considered to be suitable materials for production of tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Various methods of surface modification that have been developed will also be introduced, their impacts will be summarized and assessed, and challenges for further research will briefly be discussed.

The EtOH extract of the roots of Paeonia veitchii afforded two new monoterpene glycosides paeonidanin I (1) and paeonidanin J (2), and a new dimeric monoterpene glycoside paeonidanin K (3). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic means and hydrolysis products.

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) E2 protein, which inhibits the E6 and E7 viral oncogenes, is believed to have anti-oncogenic properties. Here, we challenge this view and show that HPV-18 E2 over-activates the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) and induces DNA breaks in mitosis followed by aneuploidy. This phenotype is associated with interaction of E2 with the Mitotic Checkpoint Complex (MCC) proteins Cdc20, MAD2 and BUBR1. While BUBR1 silencing rescues the mitotic phenotype induced by E2, p53 silencing or presence of E6/E7 (inactivating p53 and increasing BUBR1 levels respectively) both amplify it. This work pinpoints E2 as a key protein in the initiation of HPV-induced cervical cancer and identifies the SAC as a target for oncogenic pathogens. Moreover, our results suggest a role of p53 in regulating the mitotic process itself and highlight SAC over-activation in a p53-negative context as a highly pathogenic event.

In view of high mortality and morbidity rates associated with vascular access-associated bloodstream infection (VAABSI) in hemodialysis patients, clinical practice guidelines recommend empiric antibiotic therapy for suspected vascular access-related infections. We aim to describe the microbiology of confirmed VAABSI and evaluate the choice of empiric antibiotics, and whether they are prescribed in concordance with the in-house antibiotic guidelines.This was a single-center, retrospective, observational study conducted in a tertiary hospital. All adult hemodialysis patients aged 21 years and above who had confirmed VAABSI with positive blood culture results dated from January 2011 to June 2012 were recruited. Relevant information was retrieved electronically from the hospital patient online database, SCM 5.5 Sunrise Enterprise Gateway.A total of 144 episodes of VAABSI were recorded from 118 patients. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) accounted for 64.2% (68/106) of the gram-positive infections. Gram-negative organisms grew in 26.4% (38/144) of blood cultures and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common organism isolated. The recommended in-house guideline was used as empiric therapy in 24 episodes of VAABSI (16.7%). Five patients died due to VAABSI and none were prescribed antibiotics in concordance with in-house guidelines.Empiric antibiotics against MSSA and MRSA, as well as gram-negative organisms, especially P. aeruginosa, should be used in patients with suspected vascular access-related infections in our institution. Monitoring of microbiological profile is necessary to guide timely administration of appropriate empiric antibiotics. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the relationship between adherence to in-house guidelines and patients' outcomes.

Australian communities are lobbying governments to improve regulation of the Coal Seam Gas (CSG), a fast growing industry. This article examines the effect of CSG extraction on agriculture, water resources and ecosystems in Queensland where CSG development is most intense. Supporters of the industry view Queensland's regulatory framework as ‘best-practice’. Whilst policy documents adopt an ‘adaptive management’ framework, legislation provides an enabling environment for industry, allowing unlimited volumes of groundwater to be extracted as a by-product. In an important agricultural region, the Darling Downs, irrigators who access groundwater in the same area as the CSG mining are experiencing water quality and quantity problems. Regulation provides limited ‘make-good’ arrangements for individuals if groundwater wells suffer impact. While potential impacts on individual wells and farmers are locally significant, there is limited recognition of cumulative risk management of CSG development at the regional s...

Using a participatory learning approach, we report on the delivery and evaluation of a climate change and risk assessment tool to help manage water risks within the agricultural sector. Post-graduate water-professional students from a range of countries, from both developed and emerging economies were involved in using this tool. Our approach included participative learning tools – group discussion, software, and risk matrices. The materials developed met the needs of the students, allowing these students to incorporate their learning and adapt the package of materials for use in their home countries. Analysis of evaluations show that the tools and materials are particularly useful and emphasizes the need for sound learning materials and tools, funding to deliver training, and policy support to accelerate education and adoption of authentic climate change adaptation practices. The expected benefits for water professionals about climate change will be translated into improved socioeconomic and environmenta...

Tropical estuary wetlands are important for aquaculture and wildlife. However, many of them receive large amounts of anthropogenic heavy metals annually. Here, the transformation of spiked heavy metals, namely, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, and the effects of salinity on their transformation in wetland soils after an eight-month-long incubation under moisture-saturation conditions were studied in the Pearl River estuary in China. Cd exhibited high mobility and bioavailability, with 12.2% to 25% Cd existing in the exchangeable fraction. Other heavy metals primarily existed in the reducible and oxidisable forms, and less than 2% were bound to the exchangeable fraction. Compared with the controls, contents of none of the metals associated with residual forms were significantly altered. These results imply that most exchangeable metals, except for Cd, transformed into other stable fractions through an eight-month-long ageing process, but not into the residual fraction. Thus, transformation from non-residual to ...

Recent research reveals that students' interest in school science begins to decline at an early age. As this lack of interest could result in fewer individuals qualified for scientific careers and a population unprepared to engage with scientific societal issues, it is imperative to investigate ways in which interest in school science can be increased. Studies have suggested that inquiry learning is one way to increase interest in science. Inquiry learning forms the core of the primary syllabus in Singapore; as such, we examine how inquiry practices may shape students' perceptions of science and school science. This study investigates how classroom inquiry activities relate to students' interest in school science. Data were collected from 425 grade 4 students who responded to a questionnaire and 27 students who participated in follow-up focus group interviews conducted in 14 classrooms in Singapore. Results indicate that students have a high interest in science class. Additionally, self-efficacy and leisu...

Specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools create niche areas in an attempt to attract the best students, establish the school status, and justify their privilege to valuable resources. One Singapore STEM school does this in applied science learning to differentiate its curriculum from the national prescribed curriculum. Reflecting on the issues of curriculum innovation from the perspective of a teacher and head of department in this school, the second author discusses the constraints in curriculum innovation in a specialized school context embedded within a larger system of the national curriculum. We reflect on her experiences in designing, planning, writing, and implementing applied science courses and the challenges in having to simultaneously address the standardized assessment guidelines.

Universities need to be aware of the impact of knowledge management (KM) in order to become world-class academic institutions. This research fills an unexplored gap in regards to the impact of KM enablers (i.e. trust, knowledge self-efficacy, reciprocal benefits, top management support, organizational rewards, organizational culture, KM system infrastructure and KM system quality, openness in communication, and face-to-face (F2F) interactive communication) on knowledge sharing (KS) that supports research collaboration by faculty members. No prior research has focused on the impact of KM enablers that influence research university members to share knowledge. A self-administered questionnaire was employed on members of five research universities in Malaysia to collect data; subsequently, 421 usable responses were analysed using partial least squares path modelling. KS by members was influenced by trust, organizational rewards, organizational culture, KM system quality, openness in communication, and F2F int...

This paper examines learning of science in 15 grade nine classrooms by analyzing the type of talk that teachers engaged in. Using transcripts from audio recordings that are part of the Singapore Corpus of Research in Education database, annotations were carried out on the phrases of teacher talk using Mortimer and Scott's framework for meaning making in science classrooms. Interpreted from a sociocultural view of science learning and based on text coverage per 1,000 words spoken by teachers and students, we analyzed the content of instruction and found that (1) teachers in all three sub-disciplines of science used the least number of words to make statements of generalizations, with chemistry teachers privileging description more than physics and biology teachers, while physics teachers use more words for explanation when compared with biology and chemistry teachers and (2) teachers from all three sub-disciplines depended more on empirical justification than theoretical justifications. These findings sugg...

Due to the scarcity of cross-cultural comparative studies in exploring students' self-efficacy in science learning, this study attempted to develop a multi-dimensional science learning self-efficacy (SLSE) instrument to measure 316 Singaporean and 303 Taiwanese eighth graders' SLSE and further to examine the differences between the two student groups. Moreover, within-culture comparisons were made in terms of gender. The results showed that, first, the SLSE instrument was valid and reliable for measuring the Singaporean and Taiwanese students' SLSE. Second, through a two-way multivariate analysis of variance analysis (nationality by gender), the main result indicated that the SLSE held by the Singaporean eighth graders was significantly higher than that of their Taiwanese counterparts in all dimensions, including ‘conceptual understanding and higher-order cognitive skills’, ‘practical work (PW)’, ‘everyday application’, and ‘science communication’. In addition, the within-culture gender comparisons indica...

A new primary science syllabus with strong inquiry focus has been implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we attempted to understand how teachers experience the emphasis of inquiry-based curriculum under the current educational conditions that is routined and highly teacher fronted. We invited 50 pre-service and 41 in-service teachers to participate in survey questionnaires and narratives, reflective writings, and group discussions related to science inquiry which formed our data corpus. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding was carried out using NVivo8, with over 80% inter-rater coding agreement level. Three key aspects of teachers’ perceptions of science inquiry were revealed: (1) teachers’ responsibilities as facilitators, (2) privileging content knowledge rather than process skills, and (3) pressure of assessment systems in current educational contexts. These understandings bring out conflicts of inquiry teaching between teacher- and student-centredness, content and process, and cur...

Discharge of dyes from industries such as textile, cosmetic, paint and ink is one of the main concerns around the world nowadays. In the present study, locally available brown seaweed, Sargassum binderi was used to remove a basic dye – Basic Yellow 11 (BY11) – from aqueous solution. In batch sorption process, affecting parameters such as sorbent dosage, ionic strength and agitation rate were investigated for the optimum removal of BY11. The optimal sorption of BY11 (with more than 80% of uptake) was attained by contacting 1 g of dried S. binderi at 200 rpm in 100 mg/L of BY11 solution containing 500 mmol/L NaCl. By considering the effect of sorbent dosage, the adsorption mechanisms complied well with the Freundlich model (R 2 = 0.94) which suggested that the adsorption of BY11 could be attributed to the functional groups on the cell wall via the multiple layer adsorption process. Value of an important Freundlich constant (n) is 1.27, indicating a favourable adsorption process. The results of pres...

The call for inquiry science to be a part of the school science curriculum is popular in many parts of the world. While some research in this area revealed success stories of students' learning when they are engaged in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry activities, others are more sceptical about how these activities impact students' learning in and of science. Using the microanalysis of classroom talk in a grade-six science classroom dealing with the conversion of energy, we illustrate the dilemma in communicative approach used by a teacher when using an inductive hands-on activity to teach canonical science content. We unravel the complexity between dialogic–authoritative approaches in establishing learning as well as the need to fulfil the teaching purposes set for each lesson. Here we illustrate how the use of fine grain analysis of classroom talk and interaction can reveal the details of classroom learning, such as mismatch of teaching purposes and adopting appropriate approach to fulfil...

The main objectives of enucleation, evisceration or secondary orbital implants are to replace orbital volume and obtain good motility and adaptation of the implant and the external prosthesis. We describe our experience using autologous dermis graft sutured to Tenon and conjunctiva following evisceration, enucleation and any reconstruction requiring either a primary or secondary orbital implant, even those with large tissue loss.A retrospective case series of patients who received an autologous dermis graft to assist in closure of a Tenon's capsule and conjunctiva at the time of placement of secondary orbital implants or evisceration or enucleation with fornices retraction or tension in tissues. We also describe how and from where to take the dermis graft.72 patients were included and all received orbital porous polyethylene implants: 28 patients had secondary orbital implants, 36 patients had evisceration and 8 patients had enucleation. Implant size was 20 mm in most cases, but went to 22 mm. Follow-up ranged from 3 to 36 months. No intraoperative complications were observed in donor or receptor area. 8 cases had incipient ischemia of the dermis graft, but were treated and resolved with autologous serum.Implant exposure is due to bad surgical technique, an inadequate implant size or excessive tension on the suture. Dermis autologous graft allows moving the orbital implant anteriorly because it replaces surface to suture Tenon and conjunctiva without tension, so a good adaptation of a thinner external prosthesis is possible, resulting in better motility.

To alleviate teachers’ reluctance toward practical work, there has been much discussion on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, teaching materials, and failsafe strategies for practical work. Despite these efforts, practical work is still regarded as a challenging task for many elementary science teachers. To understand the complexity of teachers’ conflicts in practical work, this study examines teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning that influence teachers’ decision‐making and action on teaching practical work. More important than knowing technical–rational aspects of practical work is to understand the internal contradictions that teachers have to resolve within themselves regarding their capabilities and beliefs about science teaching and practical work. Using stories and experiences of 38 third‐year university students in a science method course in Korea, we seek to understand the conflicts and negotiations that they experience as they make decisions regarding practical work throughout their ...

In this paper, we provide specific examples of the educational promises and problems that arise as multiliteracies pedagogical initiatives encounter conventional institutional beliefs and practices in mainstream schooling. This paper documents and characterizes the ways in which two specific digital learning initiatives were played out in two distinctive traditional schooling contexts, as experienced by two different student groups: one comprising an elite mainstream and the other an excluded minority. By learning from the instructive complications that arose out of attempts by innovative and well-meaning educators to provide students with more relevant learning experiences than currently exist in mainstream schooling, this paper contributes fresh perspectives and more nuanced understandings of how diverse learners and their teachers negotiate the opportunities and challenges of the New London Group's vision of a multiliteracies approach to literacy and learning. We conclude by arguing that, where multili...

The purpose of this paper is to identify tensions in teacher–student interaction in a high school biology laboratory. Using micro‐analytic analysis of classroom talk, the interaction between the students and a teacher working in the biology laboratory session on Reproduction in Plants is studied. The two tensions highlighted here are tension with textbooks as authority and tension with the teacher as authority. Tension with textbooks as authority originates from an over‐reliance on generalizations expressed in textbooks resulting in the inability of learners to appreciate alternatives and exceptions. Tension with the teacher as authority stems from the task design and varying levels of control that a teacher has over the learner and the learning process. The genesis of the two forms of tensions in the laboratory is different and they are tackled differently by the participants to yield different outcomes. While science educators have conducted intensive research over the past two decades on the effects of...