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This paper examines the context of school exclusion in Northern Ireland. In doing so, we explore the political economy of exclusion, focusing in particular on the intersection of perspectives between four key stakeholder groups: principals (n = 7) and teachers (n = 31) in mainstream schools, representatives from an official education body (n = 8), and staff from Education Other Than at School (EOTAS) Centres (n = 4) who provide alternative education for young people who have been permanently excluded from mainstream schools or who have social, emotional, behavioural and well-being needs that cannot be met in mainstream schools. The study used qualitative data from individual and small group interviews and focus groups with the stakeholders mentioned above. School exclusion has been under-researched in Northern Ireland and this paper addresses this gap. Additionally, official exclusion data point to relatively low levels of temporary and permanent exclusions compared with the other jurisdictions of the UK, though why this is so remains unclear. The analysis draws attention to the use and prevalence of informal or unofficial school exclusions; claims of limited official support for schools; restricted collaboration between mainstream schools and alternative education; and a general consensus around limited resources to support pupils at risk and to train teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Permanent exclusion in Scotland has been all but eradicated, with one young person permanently excluded in 2022/23, and the rate of temporary exclusion has been consistently decreasing since 2007. However, a wide range of exclusionary practices other than formal exclusion impact children and young people's access to and experiences of education. This paper explores alternative education provision (AP) in Scotland, reflects on the quality and purpose of AP, and considers the grey areas between mainstream provision, exclusion prevention work, and 'alternative' provision. We compiled an inventory of AP in two Scottish local authorities, using desk research and interviews with local and national stakeholders, then mapped the provision we identified according to purpose, programme, and mode of provision. We identified a wide array of 'alternative' educational provision including a preponderance of part-time third-sector offerings and AP provided within mainstream schools, which may reflect the current prevention-focused Scottish Government policy approach to exclusion. We raise questions around what counts as alternative, explore issues around the instability of some provision, and highlight areas that require further research to ensure that those who are directed to AP are having their statutory entitlements met and receiving a meaningful education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative teacher education programmes have emerged in many countries as a new approach to recruiting, educating and placing teachers in underperforming schools. The media plays an important role in framing perceptions of these programmes and their teachers, including in Australia, but this has not been the subject of significant research to date. This study examines how one alternative teacher education programme—Teach For Australia (TFAus)—has been positioned and framed within the news media since its inception. It critically analyses the portrayal of TFAus and concomitant educational discourses to explore their connection to larger issues surrounding teacher education and teaching quality. Drawing on an analysis of 122 print/online media articles, we identify narratives related to prestige, benevolence and the 'alternative' nature of the programme, alongside a narrative critical of TFAus. Despite this critical narrative, in investigating and opening up a dialogue on the perceptions and depictions of TFAus, we posit that the programme—although controversial in nature—has generally benefited from print media coverage, advancing its reputation as a major contributor to education reform and champion of educational equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some actions are free and others are not. But free will also comes in degrees. This paper offers a novel account of degrees of free will, taking as its starting point the idea that an action is free to the extent to which the agent was sensitive, in acting, to reasons for or against performing that action. Though lip service is often paid to the idea that reasons‐sensitivity comes in degrees, however, the details turn out to be harder to pin down than one might initially have thought. I criticise three recent accounts of degrees of reasons‐sensitivity, arguing that none of them succeed in capturing our intuitions about degrees of free will in particular cases. I then defend an alternative approach, which combines a causal account of sensitivity with my own preferred metaphysics of degrees of causal contribution. As well as avoiding the problems faced by its rivals, I'll argue that this account provides a novel response to the situationist threat to free will, arising out of empirical studies purporting to show that 'situational factors' play a larger role in producing actions than we typically assume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded within current reform recommendations and built upon Giere's views (1986, 1999) on model-based science, we propose an alternative approach to science education which we refer to as the Evidence-Explanation (EE) Continuum. The approach addresses conceptual, epistemological, and social domains of knowledge, and places emphasis on the epistemological conversations about data acquisitions and transformations in the sciences. The steps of data transformation, which we refer to as data-texts, we argue, unfold the processes of using evidence during knowledge building and reveal the dynamics of scientific practices. Data-texts involve (a) obtaining observations/measurements to become data; (b) selecting and interpreting data to become evidence; (c) using evidence to ascertain patterns and develop models; and (d) utilizing the patterns and models to propose and refine explanations. Throughout the transformations of the EE continuum, there are stages of transition that foster the engagement of learners in negotiations of meaning and collective construction of knowledge. A focus on the EE continuum facilitates the emergence of further insights, both by questioning the nature of the data and its multiple possibilities for change and representations and by reflecting on the nature of the explanations. The shift of emphasis to the epistemics of science holds implications for the design of learning environments that support learners in developing contemporary understandings of the nature and processes of scientific practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating complexity, cost and risk increase, it is difficult to make a proper decision. In such situations it is necessary to develop a model which simulates a decision maker's mind and consider both a dynamic and a fuzzy environment. In this study future oriented indices are presented which enable us to consider the effect of future changes in the index value during the decision making process. These future oriented indices are named provident indices. Also in this study to effectively integrate these multiple criteria into the decision making process, based on the analysis of the decision situation in such assessments, a suitable concept is selected. This method is based on the preference ranking organisation method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) which brings together flexibility and simplicity for the user and is therefore chosen for the enhancement towards the evaluation of fuzzy data on preferences, scores and weights. The model developed to investigate these impacts cannot perfectly reproduce all the events of the real system, but it can consider a fair number of elements of variability, which should be identified and analysed by considering present conditions and prediction about criteria values in future periods. Such a model may provide solutions with a high degree of robustness and reliability, comparable with those obtained by direct experimentation, but with a low computational cost. The uniqueness of this paper lies in two important areas: first, the incorporation of variability fuzzy and provident measures in the performance of alternatives into the decision making process; and second, is in the application of fuzzy PROMETHEE that provides the decision maker with effective alternative choices by identifying significant differences among alternatives and appropriate choices through considered future periods, and presents graphic aids for better interpretation of results. A comprehensive numerical example of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is provided to illustrate the results of the analysis. In a real-world manufacturing environment, the dynamics of an FMS and its stochastic characteristics require a specific approach for evaluation. This paper specifically focuses on FMSs due to the complexities involved in their proper evaluation that include factors such as high operational and managerial expertise in system implementation phases, high costs and risks. Due to these, evaluation, justification, and implementation of an FMS have been areas of major concern and importance for practitioners and researchers. In this case, various strategic, economic and operational criteria that envelop quantitative, qualitative, tangible, and intangible factors are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to (1) devise a standardized method of polishing and finishing acrylic resins, (2) eliminate the variable linked to the single operator, and (3) guarantee the reproducibility of the conditions in which smoothness surface values are obtained for comparative purposes. Twenty acrylic resin samples were fabricated (Lucitone, Dentsply). Samples in group 1 were manually polished by a single experienced operator, while samples in group 2 were polished using an isoparallelometer. Surface roughness was measured for both groups with a ± 0.01-μm resolution profilometer (Mahr, GD25). Data analysis showed that mechanical polishing results in a more uniform surface quality. This preliminary investigation underscores the merits of a standardized method for polishing dental acrylic resins. This approach can eliminate the effect of human factors, thereby making it possible to assess and compare the inherent features of each polished dental material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To evaluate the current evidence identifying risk factors for post-orthognathic mandibular condylar resorption. Methods: Studies published between January 1980 and August 2006 related to postorthognathic condylar resorption were identified by searching the following databases: PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, DARE, CENTRAL, and the Cochrane database of systematic reviews. The following keywords were used to identify relevant publications: condylar resorption, progressive condylar resorption, condylar atrophy, dysfunctional remodeling, and condylysis. A hand search of these papers was also carried out to identify additional articles. Results: A number of methodological flaws are present within the current literature, including the comparison of nonmatched patient groups and poor imaging techniques, which makes evaluation difficult. Significant risk factors identified for condylar resorption include being female with mandibular retrognathia associated with an increased mandibular plane angle, the presence of pretreatment condylar atrophy, and undergoing posterior condylar displacement and upward and forward rotation of the mandible at the time of surgery. Conclusions: Better-controlled studies are required to fully understand the link between condylar resorption and orthognathic surgery. A number of risk factors have been identified within this article. It is important for orthodontists to consider these, particularly when consulting patients for treatment and identifying patients who may require closer postsurgical follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fundamental objective of data integration in the market research context is to accurately estimate intersections between variables from different surveys. Standard techniques map data in one direction -- from one survey on to another. It is argued that this is capable of achieving only partial success, and that two intersecting approaches are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many (if not most) accounts of scientific modelling assume that models can be decomposed into the contributions made by their accurate and inaccurate parts. These accounts then argue that the inaccurate parts of the model can be justified by distorting only what is irrelevant. In this article, I argue that this decompositional strategy requires three assumptions that are not typically met by our best scientific models. In response, I propose an alternative view in which idealized models are characterized as holistically distorted representations that are justified by allowing for the application of various (mathematical) modelling techniques. 1   Introduction 2   The Decompositional Strategy    2.1   Mechanistic modelling and decomposition    2.2   Accounts of explanation that require decomposition    2.3   Accounts of idealization that require decomposition    2.4   Robustness analysis and decomposition    2.5   Scientific realism and decomposition    2.6   Three assumptions of the decompositional strategy 3   Against the Decompositional Strategy    3.1   Many scientific models don't decompose that way    3.2   Many idealizations distort difference-making features 4   An Alternative Approach: The Holistic Distortion View of Idealized Models 5   Conclusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Building upon previous literature and insights from natural corpus data, this paper questions the theoretical bases and applicability of Information-Structural categories, such as topic and focus, and proposes an alternative approach to this field. In the proposed framework, so-called "information-structural" phenomena are epiphenomenal effects of diverse linguistic devices, related directly to a broad array of primarily intersubjective, interactional and discourse-structuring aspects of communication and language. The paper presents cross-linguistic data that support this view and proposes the ensuing directions for the systematic study of these phenomena. Highlights • Universal definitions of IS-categories (topic, focus) involve circular methodology • IS-categories are epiphenomenal effects of heterogenous linguistic devices • Diverse intersubjective, interactional and grammatical categories trigger IS-readings • Case studies from English, Hebrew, Burmese and Quechua demonstrate this diversity • Bottom-up approach to IS as typology of categories that trigger diverse interpretations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There can be ethical understanding of organizational policy issues and that is important. However, there can be policy understanding about what the organization should do without understanding of individual level responsibility. There can be cognitive understanding of both policy and individual level ethics responsibilities and that is important. However, there can be cognitive understanding without affective, emotive concern. Intellectual understanding without affective concern can lead to understanding without motivation. There can be cognitive understanding and affective concern and that is important, but not enough. There can be cognitive understanding and affective concern without effective political method. An action-learning approach to organizational ethics can join cognitive understanding of policy and individual level issues with both affective concern and effective political method. Joining of cognitive understanding, affective concern, and effective political method can stimulate and enable ethical character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of business ethics has continued to remain a major item on the agenda of corporate America for the last twenty years. Regrettably, this longevity of interest has not been matched by equal attention to the pedagogical methods and techniques used to address these issues. The current mode of teaching business ethics generally involves reliance on "war stories," case studies, and seminars. Today's dynamic environment creates pressures for higher levels of ethical behavior by business. Many ethical challenges faced by contemporary managers are not easily resolved by existing guidelines, and require managers to expand their scope of analysis in attempting to arrive at satisfactory resolutions. Literature can be an especially alternative source of insights, as authors are able to highlight behaviors that may not be available from traditional sources. Historically, the use of literature in examining business ethics has been focused primarily on novels such as The jungle, Babbit, and The Great Gatsby. Plays are more useful than novels in attempting to inculcate moral and ethical values since they more sharply address the interactions of characters, and the reader becomes more involved in their situations. The plays selected for analysis, Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, have intense plots and characters and allow the reader to observe a wide range motives, emotions, and traits. This untraditional approach to teaching business ethics enhances the ability to relate to the increasingly complex ethical issues facing the individual and the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on alternative approaches to traditional methods for the retention of palatial lift prosthesis. The alternative methods include the use of the Swing-Lock method in which a removable partial denture is used to provide fixation of an anterior maxillary prosthesis, and the use of resin-bonded etched castings instead of using orthodontic bonds in the recontouring of abutment teeth. It mentions the advantages and disadvantages of using the Swing-Lock Concept in plataial lift construction and discusses the problems regarding the use of resin-bonded etched castings in treating neurologically impaired patients.

The article discusses a survey pertaining to the use of personalized systems of instruction (PSI) in management education. The PSI method has been used with some success in the psychology, physics, and engineering fields. In this study two PSI sections were compared with two traditional management lecture/discussion sessions. The research found there was no significant differences in academic performance between those using PSI and those using traditional methods. The PSI group performed slightly better on the common final examination.

This study explored the training of prospective and practicing mathematics teachers in alternative assessment and its impact on their attitudes toward alternative assessment methods and their beliefs about the nature of mathematics. Data were collected from 51 prospective teachers and 50 practicing teachers who took a course on alternative assessment in mathematics. Findings indicated a significant change in the correlation between the positivist and constructivist dimensions of their beliefs about the nature of mathematics following the course. No significant differences were found between the prospective and practicing teachers’ beliefs either before or after the course nor in their attitudes toward alternative assessment after the course. Before the course, however, the two groups differed significantly in their attitudes toward alternative assessment. Findings also revealed significant changes in attitudes toward alternative assessment and beliefs about the nature of mathematics following participation in the course. These changes in attitudes and beliefs were accompanied by a shift in the nature of the assessment tasks written by the participants. Participants who demonstrated more positive attitudes and constructivist beliefs tended to write more conceptual problems and less procedural exercises. Implications for mathematics teacher training and professional development in alternative assessment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sense of school belonging has a powerful effect on students’ emotional, motivational, and academic functioning, yet there have been few attempts to listen to students’ views on school belonging, or to seek their opinions on how best to promote it. Managed move protocols to facilitate a move to an alternative school were developed in the UK as a positive alternative to permanently excluding (expelling) students whose place at the school is no longer considered viable by school management. However, the ‘success’ of these protocols has been defined in a manner which does not take full account of their affective impact on this vulnerable group of children and young people (CYP). Previous research has identified a need for greater personalization of the managed move transition process and fuller incorporation of CYP views. This study sought to understand how secondary school students who have undergone a managed move experience school belonging. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). A sense of school belonging resulted from positive relationships with peers and an attendant sense of safety, security, and acceptance. Participants expressed both the desirability and perceived difficulty of forging relationships in a new school and acknowledged the value of sensitive and subtle support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After an outside evaluator identified key areas of improvement, the Education Department at the Bruce Museum refocused staff responsibilities in order to meet audience needs. To utilize staff effectively, the department underwent a radical restructuring, transitioning from a traditional vertical structure to a horizontal, integrated management style. Adopting a horizontal management structure is not without its challenges, but the outcomes are significant. As a result, attendance for school and family programs has increased substantially. Three principal features of staff interactions – clear expectations, communication, and flexibility – have been the keys to the success of this restructuring. While every museum will face various challenges adopting a nontraditional staffing structure, this article provides methods to successfully rethink management at any institution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigated secondary mathematics teachers' attitudes toward alternative ways of managing instruction on geometric proofs. Participants assigned to different experimental conditions viewed storyboard episodes of instruction. Some episodes showed instruction we hypothesized teachers would recognize as routine. Other episodes showed instruction that we hypothesized teachers would recognize as departures from routine. We found that, when participants were shown storyboards that represented what routinely happens in classrooms, positive and negative markers of attitude in their reactions to the storyboards occurred with equal frequency. But when presented with departures from routine, participants’ reactions included significantly more negative than positive markers of attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the transformation of the methodological toolkit for teaching humanities and sciences in the Russian Federation. The method of case study, being widely spread in modern higher education research, is used as an example to illustrate the attempts to implement the best practices of foreign educational technology into tertiary academic process in Russia. The authors provide some historical aspects of introducing case studies in modern teaching practice. The article features peculiarities of the Soviet approach to the structure of cases. Content analysis helps to identify similarities and differences in Soviet/post-Soviet approaches to case study construction and brings into focus the problem points which reveal misinterpretation and/or misuse of didactic materials designated as cases. The approach suggested in the article implies presenting the content of a case study as a collection of documents related to a certain topic. The case study "Istanbul in the life and work of the artist Martiros Saryan" demonstrates that a case can have invariable and variable parts to reflect the specificity of the didactic task within the discipline. Such approach is expected to support students' cognitive activity, develop creativity in searching additional sources and missing materials, improve efficiency of students' autonomous work on solving complex problem solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some shared characteristics may be found among folk high schools in the Nordic countries - such as the role as a pedagogical alternative to the public-school system, the frequency of boarding schools and the Informal relations between teacher and student - they have originated and developed differently. Based on previous research, this introduction points out such national differences related to both philosophical foundations and geopolitical factors. Before introducing the articles for the thematic issue, a table is presented which depicts the number of folk high schools, offered credits and types of courses in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this study is to propose a new method for structural assessment of topside structures on offshore installations subjected to hydrocarbon explosions. In the present study, lots of dispersion and explosion scenarios are selected by probabilistic approach, and analyzed for definition of actual explosion loads. Then, sets of actual explosion loads from CFD simulation are transferred by interface program between CFD and FEA, and nonlinear structural consequence analyses is performed. The structural consequences under actual explosion loads investigated by FEA are used for a consequence exceedance curve which is a new method for structural assessment proposed in this study. The consequence exceedance curve can reduce uncertainties from simplification of load, structure and procedure. In addition, it can be directly found the structural behavior of topside structure under explosions at risk acceptance level by consequence exceedance curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel models are often used to evaluate hypotheses about relations among constructs when data are nested within clusters (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002), although alternative approaches are available when analyzing nested data (Binder & Roberts, 2003; Sterba, 2009). The overarching goal of this article is to suggest when it is appropriate and advantageous to analyze such nested data within a single-level framework and when utilization of multilevel models presents advantages. The decision hinges on the research questions to be addressed, the scope of the data, and the measurement structure of any constructs hypothesized at the cluster level (Kozolowski & Klein, 2000; Marsh et al., 2012). We demonstrate models using several different data sets, including single-level and multilevel hierarchical linear models and confirmatory factor models. For these demonstrations, observational data from students nested within schools are used, as well as data from a classroom-based cluster randomized trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate student opinion on use of CAL in the MBBS 2nd professional experimental practical pharmacology curriculum.Also to get their views on the advantages and disadvantages of using CAL over traditional methods. A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted at HIMS, Dehradun and Uttarakhand. After explaining the purpose of the study, voluntary inform consent was taken from the subjects before the start of the study. Students were instructed on experiments followed by computer simulation of the same. Thereafter avalidated self-designed questionnaire form was duly filled by each respondent.Out of the total 98 students, 88 (90%) of these thought that CAL is an effective method of teaching practical aspects. They also agreed to the fact that CAL should be conducted as an adjuvant to practical classes. Majority of students agreed that using CAL was advantageous to them .CAL is accepted as a welcome change byundergraduate students. However on the other hand practical knowledge of how to do the experiment is lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, the industry has profoundly integrated the use of digital resources in their production process. However, these assets are rarely re-used for the training of the users, operators and technicians that have to interact with these objects. Furthermore, although training and learning environments are classical applications of virtual reality, the design of these environments is generally ad hoc, i.e. dedicated to specific operations on specific objects, hence requiring the intervention of programmers whenever a modification of the pedagogical scenario is required. In this article, we propose a methodology to design adaptable virtual environments, by separating the role of the different protagonists that play a part in the creation of learning environments. In particular, its goal is to allow the teachers to implement different scenarios according to the level of the trainees and to the pedagogical objectives without the intervention of computer scientists. An example of adaptable wind turbine environment is shown, with three different learning situations: simulator, safety training and preventive maintenance training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent review of existing rubrics designed to help researchers evaluate the internal and external validity of single-case design (SCD) studies found that the various options yield consistent results when examining causal arguments. The authors of the review, however, noted considerable differences across the rubrics when addressing the generalization of findings. One critical finding is that the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) review process does not capture details needed for report readers to evaluate generalization. This conclusion is reasonable if considering only the WWC's SCD design standards. It is important to note that these standards are not used in isolation, and thus generalization details cannot be fully understood without also considering the review protocols and a tool called the WWC SCD review guide. Our purpose in this commentary is to clarify how the WWC review procedures gather information on generalization criteria and to describe a threshold for judging how much evidence is available. It is important to clarify how the system works so that the SCD research community understands the standards, which in turn might facilitate use of future WWC reports and possibly influence both the conduct and the reporting of SCD studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the current state of art in research on alternative questions. Alternative questions stand at the confluence of three major topics in semantics, pragmatics, and syntax: questions, disjunction, and intonational meaning/focus. We focus on these components of alternative questions as themes in our survey, arguing for an emerging consensus that (i) disjunction in alternative questions must be modeled in an alternative-sensitive way, leading to 'non-classical' treatments where disjunction interacts directly with the semantics and/or pragmatics of questioning (here the debate is about the exact details of this interaction), (ii) to understand alternative questions the interaction of the question structure with intonation and especially focus must be explored, and (iii) a major missing piece in existing work is an exploration of the cross-linguistic picture. In particular, there are many languages where alternative questions involve a specialized coordinator, which calls into question the uniform treatment of disjunction in alternative questions in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To allay public concerns that state graduation examination mandates might unfairly hinder some students' educational attainment prospects, most states with exit exam requirements offer alternative routes to earning a regular high school diploma. In spite of poor public documentation of alternative route usage rates, some exit exam states' alternative credentialing policies have been linked to their relatively high reported graduation rates. Hoxuever, there is little empirical evidence that these alternative route policies blunt the reported negative effects of exit exam requirements on diploma attainment in the general student population. Purpose: We investigate the consequences of several distinct state exit exam-alternative route graduation policy combinations on the subsequent educational attainment of tenth graders in the graduating class of 004. Research Design: Data for our study are drawn from the cohort of U.S. tenth graders (N = 13,636) sampled by the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002-2006. We use logistic regression models to estimate the relationships between state exam difficulty-alternative route policy combinations and two educational attainment outcomes: high school diploma acquisition and postsecondary school enrollment. Conclusions: While we find no relationship between exit exam policies and students' subsequent postsecondary school enrollment, we conclude that students subject to relatively difficult state exit exams are less likely to earn a regular high school diploma than those not subject to an exam requirement. Estimating our models in the subsample of English language learner students as a model plausibility check, we observe marginally significant, but sizable, negative effects of both minimum-competency and more-difficult exit exams on diploma attainment. Our results suggest that alternative route options neither eliminate, nor appreciably attenuate, more-difficult exit exams' negative impact on diploma attainment in the general student population or among English language learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waldorf education, an independent alternative to public schooling, aims to produce holistically healthy graduates in a formulation that rejects the conventional distinction between education and health. Also striving to bridge that divide, this article characterizes the pedagogically salutogenic techniques Waldorf teachers use in pre-kindergarten (pre-K) and lower grade classes and explicates the ethnomedical understandings underlying them. Waldorf teachers position children as budding participants in a unified field of spiritual and other forces, prioritizing whole-child activities that keep these forces healthfully motile. Their work entails a critique not only of mainstream public schooling's ostensibly pathogenic 'head-to-head' focus, but also of the biomedical approach to pediatric health. My analysis of this conjoined critique takes into account the cultural, structural, and existential realities within which Waldorf education's salutary pedagogy is daily framed and fabricated. Further, it explores the implications for anthropology of attending to movement as a key feature of healthful human experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of ‘non-traditional’ proof-related activities or theorems that can be explored through paper folding by university and high-school students. These theorems were encountered through playful acts of paper folding by the author. The author used these activities successfully with preservice teachers. The paper contains proof outlines for each theorem. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the conceptual and intellectual challenges faced by the founders of modern probability theory. Topics include the emergence of alternative approaches to solving probability problems, an article by Reverend Thomas Bayes presented at the Royal Society meeting in London, England in 1763 regarding probability, and the book "History of Inverse Probability From Thomas Bayes to Karl Pearson," by A. I. Dale.

Currently traditional institutions of higher learning are facing more robust competition from alternative educational programs and non- traditional institutions offering certificates and degrees. In addition to this competition the programs offered by the traditional institutions of higher learning are being called into question by graduates; the parents of graduates and the potential employers of these graduates. Parents and graduates are questioning the cost /benefit of a college degree and employers are discounting the relevance of a GPA as an attribute for entry level positions. The authors briefly discuss the introduction of the Collegiate Learning Assessment Test (CLA+). The test is designed to be administered to graduating seniors and the test results will serve as evidence that a graduate possesses the skills considered to be essential by potential employers. The authors point out that the CLA+ is a summative assessment measure. They contend that assessment programs must also include formative assessment measures. The authors propose that assessment programs should be a continuing component of each and every class within each and every degree program offered by the traditional institutions of higher learning. Formative assessment efforts must begin at the level of the individual class and must be linked to statements of both teaching and learning objectives relevant to the course content. From an analysis of syllabi that were used in an introductory Marketing course, the authors have chosen to illustrate unsuitable teaching and learning objectives The authors point out the necessity of informing faculty members about the elements of effective and measurable teaching and learning objectives. The authors then present a series of teaching and learning objectives derived from their experience in revising an important introductory or portal course. .Finally, the authors contend that the structure and language of the teaching and learning objectives presented in the article can be generalized to programs and courses in a variety of academic disciplines and offer some suggestions for the conduct of assurance of learning (assessment) efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the description of measurement methodology of moisture transport in unsaturated porous materials using Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique on the example of measurement of capillary uptake phenomenon in the sample of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). In the paper there are presented basic principles of the TDR method as a technique applied in metrology, its potential for measurement of moisture in porous materials like soils and porous building materials. Second part of the article presents the experiment of capillary rise process in the sample of AAC. Within the experiment moisture content was monitored in the sample exposed on water influence. Monitoring was conducted using TDR FP/mts probes. Preparation of the measuring setup was presented in detail. The TDR readouts post-processing, graphical presentations of the obtained results, short discussion and comparison of TDR readouts to gravimetric measurement were also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines an alternate approach to the "flipped" classroom paradigm for an upper level history class using a blended on-line and inclass format. The concept of the flipped classroom has received increasing emphasis based on its potential to create a student-centered learning environment that incorporates practical instruction along with collaborative techniques. The use of flipping has largely been tied to the incorporation of video technology either in the form of a student practicum or an instructor lecture via on-line delivery combined with a classroom meeting involving collaboration and/ or application exercises in the faceto- face session. With respect to flipping the history classroom, this paper offers the results from an upper division history course in which historical primary sources were introduced in the on-line portion of a hybrid class. The use of the primary sources also included a bi-modal collaborative mechanism, since students collaborated by sharing their thoughts prior to class and the start of the class incorporated a student-centered collaborative exercise based on the primary sources. This collaborative discussion on the primary sources served as the gateway into the broader topic discussion. This paper describes this process and uses student feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of this methodological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]