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Untapped Potential (untapped + potential)
Selected AbstractsThe Unfulfilled Promise of Classroom AssessmentEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2001Richard J. Stiggins The purpose of this article is to review the status of classroom assessment as we enter the new millennium. Four key research summaries are reviewed to describe the dismal state of classroom assessment affairs during the past century. Then four critically important developments are cited as reasons for optimism about the future of classroom assessment. Finally, the author details a five-part action plan for tapping the heretofore untapped potential of classroom assessment as a powerful school improvement tool. [source] Research use and support needs, and research activity in social care: a cross-sectional survey in two councils with social services responsibilities in the UKHEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 5 2008Cooke Jo BNurs MA RGN HV cert NDN Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of research activity, research use, research interests and research skills in the social care workforce in two UK councils with social service responsibilities (CSSRs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted of the social care workforce in two CSSRs (n = 1512) in 2005. The sample was identified in partnership with the councils, and included employees with professional qualifications (social workers and occupational therapists); staff who have a role to assess, plan and monitor care; service managers; commissioners of services; and those involved with social care policy, information management and training. The survey achieved a response rate of 24% (n = 368). The Internet was reported as an effective source of research information; conversely, research-based guidelines were reported to have a low impact on practice. Significant differences were found in research use, by work location, and postgraduate training. Most respondents saw research as useful for practice (69%), and wanted to collaborate in research (68%), but only 11% were planning to do research within the next 12 months. Having a master's degree was associated with a greater desire to lead or collaborate in research. A range of research training needs, and the preferred modes of delivery were identified. Support to increase research activity includes protected time and mentorship. The study concludes that a range of mechanisms to make research available for the social care workforce needs to be in place to support evidence-informed practice. Continual professional development to a postgraduate level supports the use and production of evidence in the social care workforce, and promotes the development of a research culture. The term research is used to include service user consultations, needs assessment and service evaluation. The findings highlight a relatively large body of the social care workforce willing to collaborate and conduct research. Councils and research support systems need to be developed to utilise this relatively untapped potential. [source] Nonclassical forces: Seemingly insignificant but a powerful tool to control macromolecular structuresJOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 14 2008Michiya Fujiki Abstract Strong chemical forces such as covalent and ionic bonds are responsible for building discrete molecules, nature dwells on noncovalent forces weaker by three orders in magnitude, like the hydrophobic effect, hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals forces. Despite being weak, they possess the potential to drive spontaneous folding or unfolding of proteins and nucleic acids and the recognition between complimentary molecular surfaces. The power of these forces lies in the cooperativity with which they act, thereby generating a cumulative effect of many bonding interactions occurring together. Many ongoing research aims to translate the potential of these forces to the synthetic world to create desired structures with specific chemical functions. Achieving this offers unlimited opportunities for designing and synthesizing the most complex structures with specific applications. This highlight aims to reflect the critical role these noncovalent forces play in controlling macromolecular structures, which hold immense untapped potential for applications defying conventions, and briefly touches on the concept of homochirality in nature based on chiral and weak noncovalent interactions in synthetic nonpolar Si-catenated polymers. It sheds some light on the discovery and characterization of Si/F-C interactions in fluoroalkylated polysilanes in chemosensing of fluoride ions and nitroaromatics with a great sensitivity and selectivity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 4637,4650, 2008 [source] Design, technology, and science: Sites for learning, resistance, and social reproduction in urban schoolsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2001Gale Seiler The teaching of science through activities that emphasize design and technology has been advocated as a vehicle for accomplishing science for all students. This study was situated in an inner7-city neighborhood school populated mainly by African American students from life worlds characterized by poverty. The article explores the discourse and practices of students and three coteachers as a curriculum was enacted to provide opportunities for students to learn about the physics of motion through designing, building, and testing a model car. Some students participated in ways that led to their building viable model cars and interacting with one another in ways that suggest design and technological competence. However, there also was evidence of resistance from students who participated sporadically and refused to cooperate with teachers as they endeavored to structure the environment in ways that would lead to a deeper understanding of science. Analysis of in-class interactions reveals an untapped potential for the emergence of a sciencelike discourse and diverse outcomes. Among the challenges explored in this article is a struggle for respect that permeates the students' lives on the street and bleeds into the classroom environment. Whereas teachers enacted the curriculum as if learning was the chief goal for students, it is apparent that students used the class opportunistically to maintain and earn the respect of peers. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 746,767, 2001 [source] | ||||||||||