Gilles Deleuze : the problem of aesthetic constructions with case studies on the architectural projects of Louis Kahn

Analyses the late aesthetic writings of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, arguing that : Deleuze continuously refers to modern art and architecture as models of modernist thinking; his method can serve in the analysis and creation of architecture; this can be demonstrated through analysis of the work of architect Louis Kahn.

Social skills training and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

This study implemented social skills training as an adjunctive to psychostimulant medication with a sample of 14 boys with ADHD, compared to a control group of 14 ADHD boys whose treatment consisted of psychostimulant medication only. Results indicated that social skills training provides additive effects on some aspects of social functioning, over and above those of medication only. Findings are discussed in terms of their contributions to the understanding and treatment of the social difficulties in childhood ADHD. Costs and benefits of this approach to treatment are also considered.

The energetics of self-paced motor skills

In activities such as walking individuals can select an optimum speed that minimises energy expenditure. When learning to row, individuals initially selected fast inefficient stroke rates but learned to become more efficient by taking longer, slower strokes. The research showed, therefore, that optimum pacing depends on extensive practice and sensitivity to energy cost helps us to change movements in order to become more efficient.

Developing english skills through reflective portfolios in Hong Kong universities

This research concerns the use of portfolios by teachers of English (L2) to assist non-native speakers in Hong Kong universities to complete their studies in English. Portfolios as an English learning tool have yet to win converts from the ranks of language teachers in Hong Kong chiefly because of concerns about reliability and fairness. Two recent initiatives in Hong Kong have, however, prompted a reappraisal of the place of portfolios in English language learning. They include the use of learning portfolios in secondary school and ePortfolios by university students for learning and employment purposes.

As an English (L2) teacher of many years, I initiated my research to investigate the experiences of seven university students in Hong Kong in using reflective portfolios for English learning. Three research questions framed my research: 1) in what ways can reflective portfolios impact on L2 learning strategies? 2) what are the effects of reflective portfolios on progress in L2 acquisition as perceived by students? 3) what are the perceptions of university students towards reflective portfolios as a method of L2 learning?

To gain a holistic understanding of the complex phenomena under scrutiny, a case study methodology and grounded theory were utilised, the former to organise and generate qualitative data, and the latter to analyse data from three sources provided by the seven participating students: semi-structured interviews, portfolio artefacts, and weekly learning diaries.

There were two levels of data analysis. For the first level, analysis focused on coded data from portfolio artefacts, diary entries and interview transcripts as reported by students. The second level involved analysis from the Confucian and sociocultural perspectives. I pursued interpretation and continuous refinement of the data by using techniques drawn from grounded theory. The findings revealed that students generally employed a wide spread of L2 learning strategies in the cognitive, meta-cognitive, and socio-affective domain, reported increased awareness of effective language strategies, and considered portfolios a means of supporting time management and record-keeping, and a site for extended writing practice through reflection.

The findings suggest that students display a cyclical, context-specific shift in learning conception from quantitative to qualitative. Connected to this is students’ apparent ability to formulate strategic responses to externally imposed demands. It is found that such responses are culturally triggered, underpinned by Confucian beliefs. Although the Confucian tradition emphasises respect for established authority, the findings point to students’ creative re-configuration of mental schemata to engender change in role enactment and power relations, with the portfolio as a mediating tool of their experiences.

Based on the findings, I argue that my research has addressed the three research questions and contributed to two crucial aspects of L2 learning. The first pertains to the need for a balanced view of individual effort and social context in second language acquisition, corroborating the significant link between context and learner engagement. Another contribution centres on an enhanced understanding of the relationship between portfolios, reflection and L2, where students’ diaries in English and portfolio artefacts enable them to engage in critical reflection and to identify strategies for L2 improvement.

Gifted are lifted higher : an exploration of the development of higher order thinking skills of gifted students playing strategy games

Strategy games can provide an opportunity to develop higher order thinking skills in students gifted in mathematics. Extending and engaging gifted students is a demanding task. This paper reports on a twelve-week project undertaken with a group of nine gifted lower secondary school students. These students played and analysed five traditional strategy games. Following this experience, they were asked to create a challenging strategy game of their own. This paper discusses the rationale for the use of traditional strategy games, outlines the methodology employed, explains the selection of specific games and describes the observed improvement in students' higher order thinking skills.

Parametric modelling of architectural surfaces

Parametric modelling is gaining in popularity as both a fabrication and design tool, but its application in the architectural design industry has not been widely explored. Parametric modelling has the ability to generate complex forms with intuitively reactive components, allowing designers to express and fabricate structures previously too laborious and geometrically complex to realise. This alIows designers to address a project at both the macro and micro levels of resolution in the governing control surface and the individual repetitive component. This two level modelling control, of component and overall surface, can allow designers to explore new types of form generation subject to parametric constraints. Shading screens have been selected as the focus for this paper and are used as a medium to explore form generation within a given set of functional parameters. Screens can have many applications in a building but for the purpose of the following case studies, lighting quality and passive sun control are the main functional requirement. A set of screen components have been designed within certain shading parameters to create a generic component that can automatically adapt to any given climatic conditions. These will then be applied to surfaces of varying degrees of geometric complexity to be analysed in their ability to correctly tessellate and create a unified screening array true to the lighting requirements placed on the generic component.

The communication skills used by deaf children and their hearing peers in a question-and-answer game context

Communication is frequently characterized by a sequence of questions and answers. Little is known about how well students who are deaf or hard of hearing (deaf/HH) understand their hearing classmates in the context of an inclusive setting. This study explored the communication skills used by deaf/HH children when asking and answering questions in a “trivia” game with their hearing peers. Thirty-four children with normal hearing and 34 children with a hearing loss ranging from mild to profound (>90 dB HL) participated in this study. Each of the 34 dyads included 1 child with normal hearing and 1 child with hearing loss, matched by gender and grade level at school. Dyads were videotaped and analyzed. Pairs were compared in terms of their capacity to repeat the question, strategies used to seek information, and accuracy of responses. Results showed that the group of hearing children was able to repeat more questions verbatim compared to the deaf/HH children. The deaf/HH group required a significantly greater number of repetitions, sought a greater number of general clarifications, and correctly answered more questions compared with the group of hearing children. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of peer communication and pragmatic skill development.

Using simulated patients to develop doctors' skills in facilitating bahaviour change : addressing childhood obesity

Objectives : This study aimed to describe the application, feasibility and outcomes of using simulated patients (SPs) to increase the skills of general practitioners (GPs) delivering a behavioural intervention to reduce childhood overweight and mild obesity.

Methods : Five female actors were trained as SPs. A total of 67 GPs from 46 general practices in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, conducted two simulated consultation visits regarding healthy lifestyle family behaviour change, during which they practised their skills and received formative feedback. The GPs and SPs rated GP performance immediately after each consultation. Subsequently, 139 parents of overweight or obese 5–9-year-old children rated GP performance during real-life consultations. Other measures included child body mass index (BMI) Z-scores (at baseline and at a 9-month follow-up) and GP-reported levels of comfort and competence and the perceived value of SP visits.

Results : Simulated patient ratings, but not GP self-ratings, of GP performance predicted both parent ratings of real-life consultations (Spearman's rho 0.39 for correlation with SP rating at Visit 1) and subsequent reductions in BMI Z-scores between baseline and follow-up (Visit 1, rho − 0.45; Visit 2, rho − 0.46). GP levels of comfort and competence were maintained during and after the SP visits. A total of 95% of GPs rated simulated consultations as useful, although only 18% said they would pay for them.

Conclusions : Simulated patient assessment may predict real patient feedback and clinical outcomes, helping to identify doctors who require further training in behaviour change techniques. Randomised controlled trials may establish whether SPs actually raise skills or improve outcomes.

A preliminary evaluation of the world's largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs

Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) is an entrepreneurial training program created, sponsored and disseminated by the International Labour Organization. SIYB is, arguably, the world’s largest skills enhancement program for entrepreneurs. SIYB has been in operation since the early 1970s and currently operates in almost 80 countries. During the last decade, more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, thousands of trainers and hundreds of small enterprise development organizations around the world have participated in it (Samuelsen 2003). Surprisingly for an education program of this magnitude and potential global importance, there has been relatively little program evaluation performed. What evaluation has been conducted has been unsystematic, qualitative and unsatisfactory (Harper 1985).

Meanwhile, in the nation of Botswana, since the mid seventies, there has been a huge growth in programs devoted to the training of small and medium entrepreneurs. The SIYB program has formed a significant component of this entrepreneurial training effort in Botswana (ILO 1996). SIYB training was initially supported by the United Nations and later by the Botswana government. Since its introduction into Botswana in1983, the SIYB program has been evaluated only once, in 1993 (Samuelsen 2003). The methods used (subjective questionnaire administered to an unsystematic sample of past participants) fails to provide a satisfactory evaluation of the program. So, in Botswana and worldwide, the world’s largest entrepreneurial training program continues to run in the absence of any knowledge concerning its efficacy. This paper describes the various elements of the SIYB program and places it in the context of the data-rich Botswanan environment. The descriptive work is a necessary predicate to creation of a research design capable of providing the detailed, critical program evaluation that has been so conspicuously lacking throughout the history of the SIYB initiative.

Student responses to activities designed to develop generic professional skills

This paper reports on student responses to a range of assessment activities in a final-year engineering unit. Existing assessment activities were supplemented with new activities, the overall aim being to link the assessment activities more effectively to the material being studied, and to develop a range of generic skills important in professional engineering practice. A class survey was undertaken at the beginning of the semester to establish the initial attitudes to the new assessment activities. This was followed up with an end-of-semester survey to determine the change in perceived value of the assessment activities, and to collect student feedback regarding the activities. The perceived value of the assessment activities was determined using a Likert rating scale, while student feedback was collected using open-ended questions. The assessment activities evaluated were group work, case study investigation, report writing, oral presentation, group self-assessment, industrial interviews, and written reflective journals. The responses indicate that engineering students value a range of assessment activities. They value highly visits to real engineering organizations, and—contrary to popular belief —value and enjoy oral presentation exercises.

Rudolf Steiner : occult crank or architectural mastermind?

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) saw architectural creation as a means of apprehending our place in the cosmos and his esoteric system of Anthroposophy aimed to demonstrate the correspondence between the spiritual and material worlds. Much of the literature available on Steiner tends to polarize him as either a creative genius or eccentric oddity, with architectural historians generally tending to adopt the latter view. Despite the fact that Steiner's architectural conceptions have remained marginal, the highly acclaimed works of many Anthroposophically inspired architects suggest that his gnostic perceptions may have something worthwhile to offer contemporary architecture.

Generic skills : do capstone courses deliver?

Generic skills are increasingly the focus of universities worldwide and are often developed in professional practice courses. This paper presents qualitative findings from students regarding their perceptions of the generic skills they developed during a capstone course in an Information Systems program. The study found that the capstone course improved their collaborative team-work, presentation skills and ability to apply skills/knowledge to new situations. The paper also demonstrates that students’ perceptions of generic skills were more closely tied to the discipline than university-wide generic skills. This lends support for generic skills policy/practice to be driven bottom-up rather than top-down.

Training divided attention and memory skills of older adults

The study examined whether divided attention and memory skills of older adults could be improved through video game training. The findings show that limited training with the games cannot enhance these skills. However, greater amounts of training could improve these vital skills amongst older adults.