7.3 Summary The idea of discourse alerts us to a number of issues about the social construction of social problems. It suggests that we need to look beyond competing theories or perspectives to look at how knowledge is organised around central themes that allow the different theories to compete. Discourses define what the problem is, and it is because theories share the definition of the problem that they can compete and argue. Perspectives that start somewhere else – or do not share the definition of
6.1 Legitimating the powerful The labelling perspective associated with Berger and Luckmann focuses on the processes by which some behaviours and types of people become marked out for social disapproval – targeted by the wider society as different and requiring some form of social response. Its virtue is that it challenges conventional assumptions that social problems exist ‘out there’ as obvious and commonly understood facts. Berger and Luckmann's perspective stresses the importance of language in shaping how we de
5.1 Common sense revisited It is worth taking a little time to reflect on what we have discovered so far. Starting from ‘what everybody knows’ about a social problem – or what are sometimes called the common-sense understandings – allows us to see a number of things if we apply the scepticism of being a stranger in our own society. First, there is a question about whether particular issues are commonly understood to be social problems. As we have seen, there are views which say either that poverty
4.3 Summary In this section we have tried to sketch some of the main lines of division in social constructions of social issues. The distinction between the natural and the social in constructing the causes that underlie social issues is a profound and recurrent one. A ‘social’ orientation involves the construction of social causes and conditions as the explanations for social issues. However, it is also important to bear in mind that such an orientation will itself be complicated by differences of p
4.1 Natural/social In the previous section we looked at the issue of competing explanations of social problems. Here we want to take a rather different approach by starting from one of the major dividing lines between different types of explanation. These dividing lines are ones that recur in the definition, interpretation and explanation of a range of social issues: for example, patterns of inequality between men and women; crime and juvenile delinquency; the persistence of poverty, and so on. Despite the fact
Workshops in End-of-Life Training for Health Professionals in Children's Hospitals
This series of workshops provides skills to pediatric physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other health professionals that will improve their ability care for pediatric patients who are dying in the hospital. We have developed three workshops which each take about 90 minutes. These workshops feature videos of simulated doctor/patient interactions, worksheets, self-evaluations, and more. Click the "Sessions" tab for a complete view of the content for each workshop. We are working thi
The Cognitive Transfer and the Tutor's Role in a CBL Environment
In this paper we report on a longitudinal study of a Leonardo da Vinci program regarding the application of a Computer Based Learning environment in three EU countries, Greece, Germany, and Holland. The `` Orestis''CD-ROM was a multimedia CBL environment aimed at teaching young offenders the basic and advanced skills for the use and maintenance of a photo-copy shop. The complete project consisted of three phases: construction of the CD-ROM, application of the instructional methodology in the par
Knowledge Acquisition 2
Knowledge Acquisition 2 covers protocol analysis and advantages and disadvantages of knowledge acquisition
Bioluminescence: Living Light
This National Geographic lesson plan explores bioluminescent creatures and the underwater world in which they live. Using shoeboxes and black paint, students are directed to build a deep-sea model and inhabit it with fish made out of black construction paper. Students then use the model to describe how organisms use bioluminescence and learn about its use as camouflage. In addition to a detailed protocol, the lesson plan includes suggestions for assessments and links to additional information.
Lactic Acid Bacteria
This on-line exercise is focused on lactic acid bacteria, a group of related bacteria that produce lactic acid as a result of carbohydrate fermentation. It includes a protocol for the enrichment of lactic acid bacteria from enriched samples (like yogurt, sauerkraut, decaying plant matter, and tooth plaque). Three parameters are measured: growth, culture diversity, and pH. The exercise also includes instructions for the isolation of some of these bacteria by using the streak-plate method.
Motion Commotion
Students learn why and how motion occurs and what governs changes in motion, as described by Newton's three laws of motion. They gain hands-on experience with the concepts of forces, changes in motion, and action and reaction. In an associated literacy activity, students design a behavioral survey and learn basic protocol for primary research, survey design and report writing.
Falling Water
Students drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. They follow good experiment protocol, take measurements, calculate averages and graph results. In seeing how falling water can be used to do work, they also learn how this energy transformation figures into the engineering design and construction of hydroelectric power plants, dams and reservoi
Problems in the Design of Epidemiologic Studies (Grant Writing)
Presents the methodologic and logistic problems involved in designing and conducting epidemiologic studies. Students participate in the preparation of a research protocol for a study in a human population. Offers an opportunity to critically evaluate the adequacy and scientific merit of research protocols, develop an appreciation of the ethical aspects of conducting research involving human subjects, and apply methods and principles learned in earlier (340.601 - 603) and current courses to speci
Clinical Trial Protocol Development
Dr Phaik Yeong Cheah, Head of Clinical Trials at the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit in Bangkok, Thailand discusses clinical trial protocol development. This lecture is an introduction to the topic and gives an overview from initial concept through to GCP requirements, ethical considerations, study drugs and procedures and safety reporting.
The effect of grammar teaching (syntax) in English on 5 to 16 year olds’ accuracy and quality in w
One of two systematic reviews of research evidence using the EPPI protocol that consider the relationship between grammar teaching and written composition. It concludes that there is insufficient evidence to justify teaching syntax to improve writing.
A systematic review of the impact on students and teachers of the use of ICT for assessment of creat
This systematic review using the EPPI protocol reported on the impact of formative or summative assessment of critical thinking using ICT.
A systematic review of the characteristics of effective foreign language teaching to pupils between
A systematic review of research evidence using the EPPI protocol addressing the teacher competences required to teach foreign languages effectively in the later primary phase and the conditions which impact on effective teaching.
What is known about successful models of formative assessment for trainee teachers during school exp
A systematic review using the EPPI protocol of research evidence on formative assessment of trainee teachers
A systematic review of effective literacy teaching in the 4 to 14 age range of mainstream schooling
A systematic review using the EPPI protocol addressing the question ‘What are the professional characteristics, beliefs and classroom approaches of teachers of literacy in the 4 to 14 age range of mainstream schooling who have been nominated as effective?’
A systematic review of the impact of ICT on literature-related literacies in English, 5-16
A systematic review using the EPPI protocol. The impact of ICT is crucially mediated by teachers and the discourses they and their students use. Literary study continues to have a place in schools. Texts and textual practices are changing and outcomes depend on a developed view of what literature-based literacies comprise. This is one of five reviews with ICT and literacy as their focus.
