Experiencing Shared Inquiry Through the Process of Collaborative Learning

This article is based on an analysis of a qualitative research case study involving three British adult educational‐theological sites which were experimenting with collaborative learning. The focus of this practice‐based research was listening to and observing adults engaged in collaborative learning in order to elucidate what they perceived to be some integral values inherent in this learning approach. ‘Experiencing Shared Inquiry’ emerged as one of the hallmarks of collaborative learning. The dynamic engagement of hearts and minds in collaborative learning harnesses the collective wisdom of God's people. Two movements are enfolded within ‘Experiencing Shared Inquiry’: stimulating thinking through dialogue process and drawing upon the resources of the learning community.     

Teaching in contexts: Designing a competency‐based religious studies program

Over the last decade, the discipline of religious studies has promoted religious literacy as both an invaluable contribution to curriculum and an indispensable social good. While much has been written on the importance of the study of religion for the development of religious literacy, little attention has been given to the identification of the disciplinary skills and content knowledge (or what we refer to as religious studies competencies) a student develops through extended study of religion. In this essay, we present an example of how to integrate a religious studies competency‐based model into program design and implementation. We argue that the transition to a competency‐based religious studies program has two potential benefits. First, competency program design provides an opportunity to redesign and update religious studies programs in a more responsible manner that aligns with our students, institution, discipline, and profession. Second, competency program design facilitates the conditions where we can better avoid duplicating the much criticized world religions paradigm.     

Reflections on the WPA position statement on spirituality and religion

ABSTRACT

The WPA position statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry is a tremendous achievement. This is a field of research which has developed greatly in the last 25 years with increasing sophistication of methodology within the biomedical paradigm. However, I will argue that the reductionism necessary for quantitative scientific research flattens out the very particularity which makes the religions potent and active. There is a need to increase the use of qualitative research methods to give a fuller account of the health impact of the deep and rich lived experience within a faith community.     

Addressing Relationship Health Needs in Primary Care: Adapting the Marriage Checkup for Use in Medical Settings with Military Couples

The overall objective of this study was to pilot the Marriage Checkup (MC), a brief intervention for enhancing marital resiliency tailored to a military population, for use by internal behavioral health consultants (IBHCs) working in an integrated primary care clinic. The MC was revised to fit into the fast-paced environment of primary care (e.g., streamlined to fit within three 30-min appointments), and military-relevant material was added to the content. IBHCs working in primary care were then trained to offer the intervention. Thirty participants were enrolled in the study and completed a relationship checkup and one-month follow-up questionnaires. Analysis of post-test and one-month follow-up data showed statistically significant improvements in participants’ marital health compared to pre-treatment. The MC intervention appeared to be well received by both couples and IBHCs.     

Visual attention and academic performance in children with developmental disabilities and behavioural attention deficits

Despite well‐documented attention deficits in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), distinctions across types of attention problems and their association with academic attainment has not been fully explored. This study examines visual attention capacities and inattentive/hyperactive behaviours in 77 children aged 4 to 11 years with IDD and elevated behavioural attention difficulties. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 23), Down syndrome (DS; n = 22), and non‐specific intellectual disability (NSID; n = 32) completed computerized visual search and vigilance paradigms. In addition, parents and teachers completed rating scales of inattention and hyperactivity. Concurrent associations between attention abilities and early literacy and numeracy skills were also examined. Children completed measures of receptive vocabulary, phonological abilities and cardinality skills. As expected, the results indicated that all groups had relatively comparable levels of inattentive/hyperactive behaviours as rated by parents and teachers. However, the extent of visual attention deficits varied as a result of group; namely children with DS had poorer visual search and vigilance abilities than children with ASD and NSID. Further, significant associations between visual attention difficulties and poorer literacy and numeracy skills were observed, regardless of group. Collectively the findings demonstrate that in children with IDD who present with homogenous behavioural attention difficulties, at the cognitive level, subtle profiles of attentional problems can be delineated.     

The Rise of Voluntary Work in Higher Education and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business: Perspectives of Students and Graduate Employees

The Higher Education and Employment strand of the Learning for Life project focused on exploring some of the values of 169 students and graduate employees (Arthur et al. 2009a, b). A major theme suggested by participants, which arose naturally from the data and emerged from people’s accounts during in-depth interviews, involved the close relationship they felt existed between voluntary work and core values. It is this aspect of the project that is reported. There are several important and new findings that will be highlighted, including: voluntary work as a dimension for the development of character, personal development and a venue for developing people’s skills (which universities and employers often seek in their processes of recruitment); the types of voluntary work conducted by students and graduate employees; the role of ethnic minorities; people’s moral motivations behind engaging in voluntary work; the rise of the gap year volunteer; and the link between voluntary work at university and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the working world.     

A preliminary investigation of the relationship between induced rumination and state body image dissatisfaction and anxiety

The current study investigated the relationship between cognitive rumination and state body image distress using an experimental design. Specifically, the study examined whether participants induced to ruminate about an imagined negative body image event would report more body image dissatisfaction and anxiety compared to those induced to distract themselves. Ninety-nine undergraduate women completed two measures to assess depressive symptomology and baseline body image distress. All participants then silently read a body image scenario intended to evoke negative emotions. After reading the scenario, participants were randomized into one of two conditions, rumination or distraction, and were then re-administered the self-report measures. Statistical analyses revealed that the rumination group reported more state body image dissatisfaction and anxiety after the manipulation. The findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that a ruminative response style, specifically within a body image domain, predicts body image dissatisfaction and anxiety.     

The role of visual occlusion in altitude maintenance during simulated flight

The use of visual occlusion as a cue to altitude maintenance in low-altitude flight (LAF) was investigated. The extent to which the ground surface is occluded by 3-D objects varies with altitude and depends on the height, radius, and density of the objects. Participants attempted to maintain a constant altitude during simulated flight over an undulating terrain with trees of various heights, radii, and densities. As would be predicted if participants used occlusion, root-mean-square error was related to the product of tree height and tree density (Experiment 1) and to the product of tree radius and tree density (Experiment 2). This relationship was also found for simulated terrains with a more realistic mixture of tree heights (Experiment 4). The authors present a modification to an occlusion model (T. Leung & J. Malik, 1997) that can be used to approximate occlusion in the context of LAF, and they evaluate the modified model using the present LAF data. On a practical level, simulating 3-D objects is computationally expensive. The present results suggest that performance may be maintained with fewer objects if their size is increased.     

Event-related potentials, reaction time, and response selection of skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen

The differences in P300 latency, P300 amplitude, response selection, and reaction time between skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen have been investigated. Eight skilled and ten less-skilled right-handed batsmen each viewed 100 in-swing, 100 out-swing, and 40 slower deliveries displayed in random sequence from projected video footage whilst their responses and electroencephalograms were recorded. Logistic regression was used to derive a discriminative function for the P300 data. This was done to determine whether the skilled batsmen differed from the less-skilled batsmen on the basis of pooled P300 amplitude and latency data. All the batsmen were correctly characterised as being skilled or less-skilled. Logistic regression equations with reaction time and correctness of response data indicated that behavioural data do not correctly classify skilled performance. It is suggested that skilled cricket batsmen have a superior perceptual decision-making ability compared with less-skilled cricket batsmen, as measured by P300 latency and amplitude. This appears to be the first study showing a link between skill and cerebral cortical activity during a perceptual cricket batting task and it could pave the way for future studies on mental processing in cricket batsmen.