Anodic polarization curves revisited

An experiment published in this Journal has been revisited and it is found that the curve pattern of the anodic polarization curve for iron repeats itself successively when the potential scan is repeated. It is surprising that this observation has not been reported previously in the literature because it immediately brings into question the long accepted and well-known explanations involving a passive film. A qualitative and plausible explanation is provided from surprisingly simple principles for this new finding. Some important pedagogic conclusions have been derived from this work. It is noteworthy that the somewhat complicated phenomenon can be simply explained, thus providing two important lessons to students. First, even well-accepted scientific work studying simple processes may be incomplete and worthy of further study, and second, such processes may be explained simply at the undergraduate level. The contents of the paper also confirm that presenting curricular contents in a new and more correct manner is beneficial, interesting, and that research in curricular contents represents one of the important forms of educational research.

The power of anticipated feedback: Effects on students' achievement goals and achievement emotions.

In an experimental study (N = 153 high school students), we tested a theoretical model positing that anticipated achievement feedback influences achievement goals and achievement emotions, and that achievement goals mediate the link between anticipated feedback and emotions. Participants were informed that they would receive self-referential feedback, normative feedback, or no feedback for their performance on a test. Subsequently, achievement goals and discrete achievement emotions regarding the test were assessed. Self-referential feedback had a positive influence on mastery goal adoption, whereas normative feedback had a positive influence on performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal adoption. Furthermore, feedback condition and achievement goals predicted test-related emotions (i.e., enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, hopelessness, and shame). Achievement goals were documented as significant mediators of the influence of feedback instruction on emotions, and mediation was observed for seven of the eight focal emotions. Implications for educational research and practice are discussed.

Competing priorities: Singapore teachers’ perspectives on critical literacy

This paper explores a group of Singaporean English language teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about critical literacy as well as their perspectives on how best to teach literacy and critical literacy in Singapore schools. A face-to-face survey was conducted among 58 English language teachers by using open-ended questions. The survey covered various topics related to literacy instruction including text decoding, meaning construction, and critical analysis of texts. The participating teachers believed strongly that reading and writing are transactional and interactional practices. However, they were less certain in their beliefs about teaching critical literacy including the critical, analytical and evaluative aspects of text reading. Some teachers saw a conflict between using time on teaching critical literacy and preparing students to pass their exams. As critical literacy is not a requirement at exams, they found it difficult to justify using time teaching it. The results suggest that the teachers’ belief systems are strongly influenced by the broad macrostructure of the educational system in Singapore and their own educational experiences.

Getting the measure of derivational morphology in adult speech a corpus analysis using MorphoQuantics

This paper describes the methodology used to compile a corpus called MorphoQuantics that contains a comprehensive set of 17,943 complex word types extracted from the spoken component of the British National Corpus (BNC). The categorisation of these complex words was derived primarily from the classification of Prefixes, Suffixes and Combining Forms proposed by Stein (2007). The MorphoQuantics corpus has been made available on a website of the same name; it lists 554 word-initial and 281 word-final morphemes in English, their etymology and meaning, and records the type and token frequencies of all the associated complex words containing these morphemes from the spoken element of the BNC, together with their Part of Speech. The results show that, although the number of word-initial affixes is nearly double that of word-final affixes, the relative number of each observed in the BNC is very similar; however, word-final affixes are more productive in that, on average, the frequency with which they attach to different bases is three times that of word-initial affixes. Finally, this paper considers how linguists, psycholinguists and psychologists may use MorphoQuantics to support their empirical work in first and second language acquisition, and clinical and educational research.

What is outside? The early years foundation stage in England: outdoor facilities, organisation and staff attitudes

The purpose of this paper is to report on the facilities available, organisation of, and staff attitudes to early years outdoor education from schools within the south east of England, focusing on provision for children aged three to five. One component of the successful education of the child involves providing an ‘environment for learning’, including the facilities, layout and routines. This paper presents findings concerning the type and variety of facilities available outside; the various styles of organisation of the space; staff attitudes about: their roles, their aims for the environment, children’s behaviour and learning, and perceived drawbacks to practice. This paper draws on empirical data collected from schools within the University of Reading partnership. The findings suggest that although all early years settings must adhere to the statutory framework there are a range of facilities available, and there are a number of ways this environment is organised. Further there appears to be uncertainty about the adult role outside and the aims for activities. The conclusions drawn indicate that staff do not appear to be linking their aims for outdoor education to the facilities provided or to their actions outside. This means there is not a clear link between what staff provide outside and the declared ambitions for learning. This study is important as all educators need to be certain about their aims for education to ensure best outcomes for children. The implications of these findings for early years teachers are that they need to be able to articulate their aims for outdoor education and to provide the correct facilities to achieve these aims. Finally this study was undertaken to raise debate, posit questions and to ascertain the parameters for further research about the early years outdoor environment.

Making the tacit explicit: children's strategies for classroom writing

A key highlight of this study is generating evidence of children ‘making aware the unaware’, making tacit knowledge explicit. The research explores the levels of awareness in thinking used by eight 7–8 year-old children when engaged in school-based genre writing tasks. The focus is on analysing children’s awareness of their thought processes, using a framework originally devised by Swartz and Perkins (1989), in order to investigate ways in which children can transform their tacit knowledge to explicit within the writing process. Classroom ‘think aloud’ protocols are used to help children ‘manage their knowledge transfer’, to speak the unspoken. In their framework Swartz and Perkins distinguish between four levels of thought that they view as hierarchical and ‘increasingly metacognitive.’ However, there is little evidence in this study to show that levels of awareness in thinking are increasingly progressive and observations made during the study suggest that young writers move in and out of the suggested levels of thinking during different elements of a writing task. The reasons for this may depend on a number of factors which are noted in this paper. Evidence does suggest children in this age group are consciously aware of their own and others’ thought processes both with and without adult prompting. By using collaborative talk, their awareness of these thought processes is highlighted enabling the co-construction and integration of new ideas into their existing knowledge base.

At the Front: common traitors in West German war films of the 1950s

The article looks at the figure of the traitor in 1950s’ West German films about World War II. It focuses on the representation of Wehrmacht soldiers who entertain relations with the Soviet enemy and are therefore seen to betray their nation. The discussion of three well-known films – 08/15, Der Arzt von Stalingrad, and Unruhige Nacht – shows these ‘traitors’ to have a highly ambivalent function: their narrative punishment is part of German post-war exculpation, yet they are also reminders of German guilt and ethical responsibility towards the ‘other’.