Search Results (3)

Assessment is a much-discussed dimension of school life, as it is deeply connected to teacher–student power relations, where teachers’ responsibilities for individual assessment and support coexist. Moreover, children’s views are hardly investigated in the research. Studies reflecting those aspects in inclusive school systems, such as the Italian one, are still rare. Assuming assessment is a social practice that shapes classroom differences, in our research project on “Children’s Perceptions of Performance in Primary Schools” (CrisP), we conducted 35 narrative interviews with 3rd graders from six schools, framed by classroom observations, to reconstruct their perceptions of performance and assessment and develop individual case portraits through Open Coding as defined within Grounded Theory and the Documentary Method. The study was conducted in the Province of Bolzano (Italy). Children seem aware of the teacher–child power relations that emerge in the assessment field and the reciprocity and interdependence of the two roles. In the reconstruction of Alice’s case, she demonstrates she trusts adults but can also work pragmatically on her position, redefining her power role that benefits from teachers’ services. Along with a brief overview of crucial findings and the reconstruction of Alice’s perceptions, we ask for implications for appropriate assessment practices in inclusive primary schools. Full article

Studying interactions of children with humanoid robots in familiar spaces in natural contexts has become a key issue for social robotics. To fill this need, we conducted several Child–Robot Interaction (CRI) events with the Pepper robot in Polish and Japanese kindergartens. In this paper, we explore the role of trust and expectations towards the robot in determining the success of CRI. We present several observations from the video recordings of our CRI events and the transcripts of free-format question-answering sessions with the robot using the Wizard-of-Oz (WOZ) methodology. From these observations, we identify children’s behaviors that indicate trust (or lack thereof) towards the robot, e.g., challenging behavior of a robot or physical interactions with it. We also gather insights into children’s expectations, e.g., verifying expectations as a causal process and an agency or expectations concerning the robot’s relationships, preferences and physical and behavioral capabilities. Based on our experiences, we suggest some guidelines for designing more effective CRI scenarios. Finally, we argue for the effectiveness of in-the-wild methodologies for planning and executing qualitative CRI studies. Full article

There is a lack of quantitative evidence concerning UK (United Kingdom) Armed Forces (AF) veterans who access secondary mental health care services—specialist care often delivered in high intensity therapeutic clinics or hospitals—for their mental health difficulties. The current study aimed to investigate the utility and feasibility of identifying veterans accessing secondary mental health care services using National Health Service (NHS) electronic health records (EHRs) in the UK. Veterans were manually identified using the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) system—a database holding secondary mental health care EHRs for an NHS Trust in the UK. We systematically and manually searched CRIS for veterans, by applying a military-related key word search strategy to the free-text clinical notes completed by clinicians. Relevant data on veterans’ socio-demographic characteristics, mental disorder diagnoses and treatment pathways through care were extracted for analysis. This study showed that it is feasible, although time consuming, to identify veterans through CRIS. Using the military-related key word search strategy identified 1600 potential veteran records. Following manual review, 693 (43.3%) of these records were verified as “probable” veterans and used for analysis. They had a median age of 74 years (interquartile range (IQR): 53–86); the majority were male (90.8%) and lived alone (38.0%). The most common mental diagnoses overall were depressive disorders (22.9%), followed by alcohol use disorders (10.5%). Differences in care pathways were observed between pre and post national service (NS) era veterans. This feasibility study represents a first step in showing that it is possible to identify veterans through free-text clinical notes. It is also the first to compare veterans from pre and post NS era. Full article