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In this world of rapidly evolving technologies, educational institutions often struggle to keep up with change. Change often requires a state of readiness at both the micro and macro levels. This paper looks at a tertiary institution that undertook a significant technology change initiative by introducing tablet based components for teaching a hardware course across nine campuses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using a Learning By Doing (LBD) philosophy. This paper adopts a readiness for change model (RFC) as a method of evaluating the results from a case study that captured the readiness perceptions of both students and faculty. A survey revealed that, while faculty thought that introducing tablets was a good idea and that there was a high level of RFC, they also thought that the students would learn more about hardware from desktop kits. The students' responses also indicates a high level of RFC with many describing tablets as easier to work on yet they were divided about which technology was better for learning hardware concepts. In this context a high level of readiness for change, while supported by LBD, did not necessarily equate to improved learning and effective change.

In this article John Raven responds to commentaries on his article, "Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions" (EJ1248321). Herein, he provides dialogues with individual authors that relate closely to his original theme and which seemed to merit further elaboration. He briefly addresses: (1) Piotr Oles' "A Response to Raven: Values-Based Education - Wanted!" (EJ1248543); (2) Tommy MacKay's "Commentary on Raven: Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions" (EJ1248679); (3) Steve Higgins' "Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions: Understanding the Educational Ecology" (EJ1248711); (4) Dave Putwain's "Response to John Raven: Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions" (EJ1248568); (5) Michael Wigelsworth's "A (Critical) Case for Evidence-Based Interventions in the Context of Social and Emotional Learning: Commentary on Professor Raven's Paper for Open Dialogue" (EJ1248381); (6) Richard Remedios' "Response to Raven on Evidence-Based Interventions in Educational Research, Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions" (EJ1248572); and (7) Stephen Gorard's "Commentary on 'Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread'" (EJ1248332).

The need to find ways of ameliorating a number of what seemed to be gross abuses of 'science', logic, and authority in relation to educational policy emerged as a priority whilst revisiting writings on early childhood and elementary education. In the current paper, it is argued that many of these abuses stem from the uncritical acceptance of reductionist science on the one hand and authoritarian, single-factor, attempts to remediate social problems on the other. Two questions then present themselves: 'What are the social forces which have led to this situation?' And 'How could we, as the British Psychological Society, and the Education Section in particular, intervene in this network of social forces?' The primary aim of this paper is to provoke a quest for answers to these questions.

In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of 'closing the gap' are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of 'science' and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading misinformation and thence the generation of draconian and destructive policies. The paper opens by returning to an unfinished debate arising out of a summary of the unanticipated and counterintuitive effects of interventions designed to close the 'attainment' gap between more and less advantaged pupils. This is used to illustrate the importance of studying the unintended as well as intended outcomes of interventions and the importance of considering whether those outcomes are desirable. More of the problems facing those who seek to contribute to evidence-based policy are then illustrated via a discussion of an 'illuminative' evaluation of competency-oriented, project-based, education carried out in environments around primary schools. The result is to highlight the need for comprehensive evaluation of educational projects and policies. 'Comprehensive evaluation' implies the evaluation of all short and long term, personal and social, desired and desirable, and undesired and undesirable effects of the programmes and policies under investigation. When this criterion is applied, it emerges that most of the published evaluations fall well short of the mark. Indeed, most of the conclusions that are drawn are seriously misleading. As a result, they contribute to the formulation and legitimisation of policies involving alarming levels of authoritarian state intervention in peoples' lives. The generation of such misleading information is much more widespread and serious than that exposed by the 'replication crisis'. It is argued that at the heart of this lies the pervasive deployment of reductionist science. Other serious deficits in the thinking and methodology of psychologists and educational researchers are then discussed. It is vital for psychologists to do what they can to rectify the situation. The paper concludes with an extensive discussion of ways in which the British Psychological Society (BPS) in general, and the Psychology of Education Section in particular, might contribute to this process.

Global demand for macroalgal and microalgal foods is growing, and algae are increasingly being consumed for functional benefits beyond the traditional considerations of nutrition and health. There is substantial evidence for the health benefits of algal-derived food products, but there remain considerable challenges in quantifying these benefits, as well as possible adverse effects. First, there is a limited understanding of nutritional composition across algal species, geographical regions, and seasons, all of which can substantially affect their dietary value. The second issue is quantifying which fractions of algal foods are bioavailable to humans, and which factors influence how food constituents are released, ranging from food preparation through genetic differentiation in the gut microbiome. Third is understanding how algal nutritional and functional constituents interact in human metabolism. Superimposed considerations are the effects of harvesting, storage, and food processing techniques that can dramatically influence the potential nutritive value of algal-derived foods. We highlight this rapidly advancing area of algal science with a particular focus on the key research required to assess better the health benefits of an alga or algal product. There are rich opportunities for phycologists in this emerging field, requiring exciting new experimental and collaborative approaches.

Although the diverse impacts of elevated dissolved CO2 and warming on organisms within various trophic levels in marine food webs are well documented, we have yet to explore the biological links across different levels of biological organization from primary producers to secondary producers on an evolutionary time scale in a high‐CO2 ocean. Here, we cultured a model marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (primary producer) in predicted future high‐CO2 and/or warming conditions for ~ 1250 d with an experimental evolution approach and then fed them to the clam Coelomactra antiquata (secondary producer). We present an in‐depth multi‐omics analysis along the methylome (primary producer)–transcriptome (primary producer)–metabolome (primary producer)–metabolome (secondary producer) continuum. Our results showed that the downregulated terpenoid backbone biosynthesis in the methylome and transcriptome lead to decreased pyruvate levels and upregulation of some pathways (such as phenylalanine metabolism) in the metabolome of the primary producer in the long‐term warming conditions. These changes in metabolomic profile in the primary producer were then transferred to the secondary producer, resulting in changes in abundance of some metabolites, such as decreases in pyruvate, and in pyruvaldhyde (also known as methylglyoxal), and increases in 2‐hydroxylamino‐4,6‐dinitrotoluene. Our study provides a new insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the trophic transfer from primary to secondary producers in a future high‐CO2 ocean and may provide more accurate projections of marine ecosystem services and functions over the next century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donating computers to schools in poorer communities with the altruistic hope of bridging some kind of "digital-divide" by providing access to modern technologies may seem commendable. Critics, however, would argue that these actions are ineffective, primarily serving the interests of the donators and may even damage the community. This paper reflects upon this controversy using, as a case study, one charitable project in Nepal that involved the donation of a set of computers to a remote high school that the author has been involved with.

This paper traces the origins of the educational system's widespread inability (despite outstanding exceptions) to achieve its most widely agreed goal -- i.e. to nurture and recognise the wide range of talents pupils possess. Among the reasons for this neglect is the absence of a shared framework for thinking about the nature, development, and assessment of high-level competencies. Unfortunately, more basic reasons include (i) the absence of a governance system which would facilitate experimentation, innovation, and learning, and (ii) a network of social forces which lead the system to concentrate on manufacturing and legitimising hierarchy in society. Evolving a new governance system and finding ways of harnessing the forces contributing to hierarchy thus become our top priorities.