Room For Choice Research Articles

Pupil's role in educational design: Exploring what it means to have a say in primary school

AbstractThis case study aims to explore the role of pupils in educational design and what it means to have a say in primary school. Although many educational offers use the slogan ‘pupil‐centred’ approach, examples are scarce in which children are seen as partners, let alone co‐designers. It is therefore important to investigate to what extent pupils are involved in the design process and decision‐making in a primary school context. Concepts such as co‐determination, participation, room for choice and competence were discussed. This small‐scale study shows that the school policy regarding participation and co‐design mainly concerns parents but not pupils as much. Teachers have different perspectives about the importance of children's participation. In general, they would like to involve the pupils more in the design process. The lack of time and educational inspection's demand for standardised outcomes are limiting factors. The pupils believe that they sometimes influence how lessons are conducted at school and are allowed to choose how they work on the subject. In general, they feel positive about their competence.

Terrorism and Violence between the Islamic Political Perspective and the Duplication of Western concepts

The idea of ​​the research revolves around a topic, that Islamic Sharia represents the conclusion of the permanent laws that the Creator established for the children of Adam, and it cannot be said that the Creator placed in it what harms humanity, in its existence or what restricts its freedom, or that its provisions do not fit our world today, otherwise we would have We have come across referring to His inability to know what will happen in human life.
 Today's terminology of violence varies between: violence, crime, terrorism and other innovative political terms, but the Arabic language gives a wide space for these terms, and the differences between them.
 Islamic Sharia did not support violence, except in a limited legally justified scope, and it has always been looking for options that allow room for choice and tolerance, but at the same time it allows wide options in jurisprudence, without imposing restrictions on it except within the scope of achieving the supreme interest of Sharia, the country, society and individuals.

Diketone-mediated photochemical reduction of selenite to elemental selenium: Role of carbon-centered radicals and complexation

The reduction of highly toxic selenite (Se(IV)) to insoluble elemental selenium (Se(0)) is an effective strategy to alleviate the toxicity and to recover valuable Se from contaminated waters. Acetylacetone (AcAc) and diacetyl (BD) were found to be able to photoreduce Se(IV) into selenium nanoparticles. However, the kinetics and molecular mechanisms of the diketone-mediated Se(IV) reduction are still open to discussion. Herein, the photo-reduction of Se(IV) was studied with the two diketones and sulfite as reductants, as well as TiO2 as a photocatalyst. The results demonstrate that the two diketones were more effective and robust than sulfite. The reduction rate constants of Se(IV) in the UV/diketone systems were 5.1–6.5 times higher than those of UV/sulfite in a wide pH range (1.0–8.0) and without the need for deoxygenation. Compared with UV/TiO2 reduction, no complicated separation processes were needed after reduction with UV/diketones. After 1 h of irradiation, the recovery rates of Se(0) were 82% and 75% in UV/AcAc and UV/BD, respectively. Interestingly, the reactions that occurred in the UV/AcAc and UV/BD systems were unexpectedly different. On the base of reactive species scavenging experiments and quantum chemical calculations, acetyl radical (CH3C•(O)) and its hydrated product (CH3C•(OH)2) were found to play dominant roles in the UV/BD system, whereas the role of photo-induced complexation between hydrated AcAc and Se(IV) might not be neglected in the UV/AcAc system. Such a difference provides us with some room for choice and adjustment in the further application of UV/diketones for the treatment of Se(IV)-laden wastewater or for the reduction of some other similar metalloids.

Effects of the reform of the Dutch healthcare into managed competition: Results of a Delphi study among experts

BackgroundIn 2006 a major healthcare reform was introduced in the Netherlands, implying managed competition. This study explored the level of consensus on the outcomes and desired changes of this new system, and differences between stakeholder groups. MethodsA three-round Delphi-study was conducted among Dutch healthcare insurers, health economists, and professionals in general practice (GP) care and mental health (MH) care. In the first round, 20 experts indicated the most important advantages and disadvantages of the Dutch managed competition, and desired changes. Experts in the second (n = 106) and third round (N = 88) rated the importance of the 88 factors identified in the first round. ResultsOnly healthcare insurers reached consensus on important advantages (i.e. improved efficiency; room for choice). Health economists reached almost no consensus on any factors. GP and MH-care professionals reached most consensus on disadvantages (i.e. focus on price over quality, increased bureaucracy) and desired changes (i.e. reduce bargaining power of healthcare insurers; increase attention for care of complex patients); half of them suggested abolishment of managed competition. ConclusionGP and MH-care professionals were most dissatisfied and suggested several changes or even abolishment of the 2006 reform; healthcare insurers mentioned some benefits. This level of dissatisfaction among health care professionals indicates that there is room for improvement, preferably developed in conjunction with stakeholders.

Fast and slow health crises of Homo urbanicus: loss of resilience in communicable diseases, like COVID-19, and non-communicable diseases

Fast and slow health crises of Homo urbanicus: loss of resilience in communicable diseases, like COVID-19, and non-communicable diseases

Meat Species Identification: Amplification Refractory Mutation System-Polymerase Chain Reaction–Based Assay

True verification of meat species is critical for religious, economical, legal, and/or public health concerns. Current methods available for verification of meat species are very time-consuming and/or costly. So considering the necessity, a novel polymerase chain reaction assay (PCR)–based ARMS (amplification refractory mutation system) type identification assay for detection of 6 most common mammalian species—Equus asinus (donkey), Equus caballus (horse), Bos Taurus (cow), Bubalus bubalis (buffalo), Capra hircus (goat), and Canis lupus familiaris (dog)—was described in present study by designing species-specific forward primers against variable regions and a single universal reverse primer against a very conserved region of nuclear beta actin (ACTB) gene by investigation of areas of homology and variation. As compared with conventional designing of primers, ARMS type primer designing is a better alternative as it allows more room for choice and offers differentiation of closely related species by exploiting just a single nucleotide base difference. PCR bands of 128, 229, 273, 362, 710, and 796 bp were generated on electrophoretic gel for buffalo, donkey, cow, horse, dog, and goat meat species respectively. Besides singleplexing, duplex (multiplex) PCR for donkey and horse, donkey and goat, and donkey and buffalo were also performed which successfully generated corresponding bands. The method is a simple and straightforward setup; results can be interpreted easily in a short time and do not need validation by sequencing. Results of the present study clearly demonstrate that the method can be used as an identification tool for differentiation between cow, buffalo, goat, donkey, horse, and dog species.

Play and constructs of childhood

Children and childhood have been conceptualised in various ways over the years. One early conceptualisation of childhood was that of the child as evil, based on the concept of original sin, as children were a product of their parents’ intimacy. Within this construct, children are seen as destructive and driven by their own needs, pleasures and desires. Based on this construct, the adult is seen as the ‘good’ one, whose duty it is to keep the moral order and instil obedience. Interactions between the child and the adult are unequal – the adult holds all the power and the child, who is considered a threat, is more or less powerless. The adult is always right and children should ‘speak only when spoken to’, with a strong need for discipline. ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ is an example of adults conceptualising children as evil. Play, in this conceptualisation, might be seen as problematic, an imposition on the adult world. Play is therefore restricted, adult-controlled and rule-bound, with little room for choice or initiative on the part of the child. This article examines 10 constructs of childhood (Sorin and Galloway, 2005), their relationship to adult constructs and how play would be envisaged for each of these.

Learning Maths The Fun Way With Magic Maths

Mathemagics or ‘Magic Maths’ consists of a series of non-conventional maths formulas that turn Mathematics into a fun subject and create innovative minds. The magical system could help steer the country towards a knowledge economy. The magic formulas, based on Ancient Indian Scriptures, were in use by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Intel Corporation, Microsoft, IBM and India, for its competitive exams preparations. The high speed mental mathematics could speed up math calculation by up to 1500 % and turn students into human bio-calculators. Mathemagics presents varieties of methods which can be used according to one’s needs in solving even the most difficult math problems. This is unlike the conventional system consisting of rigid, sometimes monotonous, procedures that are uniformly applied to all problems of a given type. The conventional method of calculation was not user – friendly with hardly any room for choice and experimentation. A seemingly difficult calculation like 998 x 997 can be solved in less than five seconds and even mentally. There is also a unique method to check the accuracy of answers to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in keeping with the basic needs of students for faster calculations with 100 % accuracy. Innovation of the formula would make students become more confident and gain self – esteem while cultivating an interest for numbers and help eliminate math – phobia in them. The system also opens a new horizon for mathematics lovers as it presents a wider platform for experimentation in the subject. Besides, it promotes development of the right brain which governs the ability to solve complex calculations that require the use of visualization, photographic memory, speed reading and sub-conscious learning together with the left – brain that is employed by students for 90 % of subjects taught at school.

Checks and balances outside the government: an introduction to the symposium

The symposium brings together case studies that are all about reasonably successful experiments in institution building and policy making by interactions between public and private spheres. The cases deal with the provision of information enabling market to perform, law making, and the control of political discretion and public bureaus. Each in its own way, they show how agents have room for some reasoned choice, although eventually this room for choice is narrowed by the emergence of stabilized institutions that come to shape in a rather permanent way the environment within which they later operate. The common characteristic across these case studies is the non-Parliamentarian process through which process of experimentation, rationalization and institutionalization takes place.

A Matter of Choice: Strategy and Discretion in the Shadow of World War II

American policy-makers are predisposed towards the idea of a necessary war of survival, fought with little room for choice. This reflects a dominant memory of World War II that teaches Americans that they live in a dangerously small world that imposes conflict. Critics argue that the ‘choice versus necessity’ schema is ahistorical and mischievous. This article offers supporting fire to those critiques. America's war against the Axis (1941–45) is a crucial case through which to test the ‘small world’ view. Arguments for war in 1941 pose overblown scenarios of the rise of a Eurasian super-threat. In 1941 conflict was discretionary and not strictly necessary in the interests of national security. The argument for intervention is a closer call that often assumed. This has implications for America's choices today.

Medical Error and Medical Truth: The Placebo Effect and Room for Choice in Ayurveda

I attempt to relativize allopathic medicine, or Modern Establishment Medicine (MEM), specifically in the context of the ayurvedic medical system of India, and to promote Daniel Moerman’s concept of the medical “meaning response” as a preferable conceptualization of the phenomena usually subsumed under the name “placebo.” Finally, I suggest that once these steps have been taken, a space opens up in which informed ayurvedic practice – indeed, any human activities aimed at promoting health – may find a valid place.

You'd Better Be Committed: Legal Norms and Normativity

There are many ways in which one may come to be committed to something. Commitment can be the result of an act of will; it can also be the culmination of some underlying disposition/sensibility. Part of the challenge in articulating our commitment to morality consists in understanding the interaction between its passive (we are all committed to morality just in virtue of being human) and its active (if it is to engage our responsibility, there has to be room for choice) dimensions.In this paper, I seek to understand the role that this notion of commitment has to play in our understanding of both moral and legal normativity, as well as its link with the wider issue of response-dependence (an issue which Gardner's own definition of norm as a kind of reason inescapably engaging the attention of any rational being without further ado conveniently sets aside).

Consumers' Freedom of Choice: Lessons from the Cellular Market (Hebrew)

Consumers choosing a cellular calling plan typically have many options to choose from. While the number of firms may be small, each offers a large number of calling plans, each one dealing with many options for each of the different types of services included in the contract (voice communication, text messages, video and media offering, and more). The variety offered is usually seen as creating room for choice, something consumers value highly. In this paper we investigate the cognitive load induced by what may be called 'hyper-choice' conditions in the cellular market. Assessing all of the different options requires mental effort, and from a certain point most humans' ability to actually compare offerings - diminishes. We survey the psychological literature on cognitive overload, review experiments and empirical studies relevant to choice generally and the telecom market specifically, and apply them to current cellular markets. Is the large number of alternatives to consider actually detrimental to consumers? Overly large variety may serve as a way to confuse consumers and steer them towards options preferred by the offering firms, who are aware of cognitive biases and use them to construct optimal (for them) contracts. Competition between such firms suffers as a result - consumers' ability to compare among them is low, and their ability to tacitly collude increases. Two legal implications are discussed: consumer protection and antitrust law. (Note: Downloadable document is in Hebrew)

Values in the care for young persons with Prader–Willi syndrome: creating a meaningful life together

Caregivers sometimes feel frustrated by present emphasis on self-determination in the care for individuals with an intellectual disability. They are confronted with situations in which there is a conflict between providing high quality care and respecting the client's autonomy. Such conflicts are prominent in the care for people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). This condition is characterized by overeating behaviour which frequently leads to serious obesity. The central question in the present study is how persons involved, parents and professional caregivers, deal with the problems of the prevention of obesity in young individuals with PWS in everyday life. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 parents and 14 professional caregivers of 18 persons with PWS. The interview data were analysed using the constant comparative method as described in grounded theory. On the basis of analysis of the interviews four values emerge that parents and professional caregivers indicate as relevant and directive to their acting towards the child or the client: physical health, well-being, freedom and responsibility, and a liveable life. Furthermore, caregivers mentioned several enabling and limiting conditions that influence these values. And they named several interventions they used to realize the values. Of importance is the question how to create life in such a way that it is acceptable and meaningful for everybody involved. By building up a relationship to which acceptance and trust are central, a certain amount of independence and responsibility can be promoted. By creating trust it is possible to deal with rules in a less rigid way and to look where there is room for choices.

Keuzes en patronen in de techniekgeschiedenis van Nederland in de twintigste eeuw

Choices and patterns in the history of technology in the Netherlands during the 20th centuryTechniek in Nederland in de twintigste eeuw (TIN 20) is an impressive work. However, the voluntaristic picture of the modernisation process that it paints requires, in our opinion, some qualification. This essay argues that the authors of TIN-20 have failed to adopt a clear and consistent position on who was making the choices about technological development and how far the key actors really had any room for choice at all. Moreover, when the time frame is extended to include the entire period from c. 1500 onwards, the degree of continuity and repetition in the technological development of the Netherlands turns out to have been higher than the authors of TIN-20 suggest. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Techniek in Nederland in de twintigste eeuw' (J. Schot, H. Lintsen, A. Rip, A. Albert de la Bruhèze).

Turning to Others to Learn about Self

Turning to Others to Learn about Self J. E. Tiles Learning from Asian Philosophy. By Joel J. Kupperman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. viii + 208. Paper $19.95. In order to learn from Asian philosophy it is not sufficient to learn something about Asian philosophy. In addition to learning what is to be found in Asian philosophical texts, these texts must also be used as resources to advance one's own understanding of philosophical issues and problems—much as one might draw on the works of Aristotle or Augustine and of John Locke or John Rawls. Joel Kupperman has been learning from Asian philosophy for over thirty years, and has assembled Learning from Asian Philosophy to bring that experience together and make it more widely available. The core of his book consists of nine previously published articles supplemented by one that is previously unpublished. These ten taken singly or in pairs form the kernels of six parts, each with a new introductory essay and a brief (one- to four-page) "afterword." Kupperman draws most extensively on the ancient East Asian philosophers Confucius, Men cius, and Zhuangzi and to a lesser extent on Buddhism, and there is occasional input from the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gītā. His interests center on ethics and moral psychology. Two of the six parts deal with self: its formation and its fluidity. A third examines the extent to which a self should allow room for choice, and the place of choice in ethical theorizing. The remaining three parts deal with the scope, the demands, and the strategies for communicating ethics. The lessons Kupperman draws from Asian philosophy are rich and yet capable of further refinement; the concepts he uses to frame these lessons are familiar and yet call for further clarification. It is in part because it both opens paths and draws the reader to travel further along them that Kupperman's book is an exemplary illustration of how we in the West can profit from resources available outside our own traditions. The best tribute this reviewer can pay to this successful book is to attempt to venture further along these paths (in the second through fourth sections below), but before doing so it would be useful to take a look at Kupperman's line of approach. Matters of Method Skimming the book's Introduction, some readers of this journal may well hear alarm bells when they reach the fifth sentence. There Kupperman states that his "goal will [End Page 246] be to gain contributions to philosophical enterprises that are, in the end, primar ily Western rather than Chinese or Indian" (p. 3). Is not the first step to any genuine understanding of the East on the part of Westerners the realization that the enterprises are radically different? Is not the failure to appreciate this what commonly leads those who practice Western styles of philosophy to dismiss Asian traditions as containing little or nothing of value? Kupperman is well aware of the differences in these enterprises. The caution in one of his infrequent digressions on method—"we must not expect Confucian and Western philosophers to be answering exactly the same questions" (p. 103)—is posted in general terms on the back cover: "the two traditions [East and West] do not, by and large supply different answers to the same questions. Rather, each tradition is searching for answers to its own set of questions . . . ."1 Indeed, what Kupperman suggests should be the way to profit from trade with the East, at least within his areas of interest, is not to seek a wider range of answers to familiar questions but to find ways to supplement the arguably inadequate diet that feeds on these familiar questions. We stand to gain not by finding exotic doctrines to import but by coming across "reminders of problems or lines of thought that we might have forgotten about or ignored" (p. 3). Of course, we will have to "be cautious of imposing alien philosophical frameworks" (p. 86) and to be "wary of possible misinterpretation or over-interpretation" (p. 109), but our own intellectual economies can in some instances become healthier and more prosperous if we undertake to explore issues...

Room for choice

Room for choice

Acquiring the teaching culture: how beginners embrace practices different from university teachings

Factors and processes involved when beginning secondary school teachers modify or abandon practices learned at the university were investigated through participant observations and in‐depth interviews over a three‐year period. Teachers used a strategic adjustment strategy that included some characteristics of reflective teaching. They were active participants in their own socialization. Practices that were neither preferred nor based on university teachings were adopted. As thoughtful responses to workplace constraints, these practices were selected consciously and were modified on the primary basis of situational need rather than theoretical, personal, or authority preferences. Some workplace factors were viewed as barriers that precluded the use of preferred practices. Other factors were regarded as pressures but appeared to allow room for choice.

Conventionality in Distant Simultaneity

In his original paper of 1905, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”, Einstein described a procedure for synchronizing distant clocks at rest in any inertial system K. Clocks thus synchronized may be said to be in standard signal synchrony in K. It has often been claimed that there are no logical or physical reasons for preferring standard signal synchronizations to any of a range of possible non-standard ones. In this paper, the range of consistent non-standard signal synchronizations, first for any one inertial system, and second for any set of such systems, is investigated, and it is shown that the requirement of consistency leaves much less room for choice than is commonly supposed. Nevertheless consistent non-standard signal synchronizations appear to be possible. However, it is also shown that good physical reasons for preferring standard signal synchronizations exist, if the Special Theory of Relativity yields correct predictions.The thesis of the conventionality of distant simultaneity espoused particularly by Reichenbach and Grünbaum is thus either trivialized or refuted.