On the Pragmatics and Problematics of Defining Beauty and Character: The Greek Poet Lucian (120-200) Engages Exacting Portraitures and Difficult Subjects

Although best known as a satirist of the classical Roman era, Lucian's (c120-200CE) Essays in Portraiture and Essays in Portraiture Defended provide considerable insight into the problematics of people knowing and defining objects (along with the consequential and related matter of people sharing their definitions of reality with others). Engaging notions of admiration, beauty, and character in these two statements, Lucian not only faces the task of establishing viable frames of reference for linguistically defining the essence of a woman deemed to be particularly beautiful and gracious but also assumes the challenge of defending one’s preferred definitions of particular subject matters from others who do not share these views. Whereas Lucian uses the works of prominent sculptors, painters, poets, and philosophers as reference points in articulating beauty and grace, this paper also acknowledges the perils of people who sincerely express their viewpoints on others even when these descriptions of others are cast in clearly positive terms. Lucian may be a lesser-known classical Greek (Syrian) author, but he is an astute observer of human endeavor. Lucian’s work on portraiture also has a striking cross-cultural and transhistorical relevance for a more enduring pragmatist emphasis on human knowing and acting. Not only is Lucian (a) explicitly attentive to the necessity of people establishing frames of reference for describing objects to others in meaningful terms, but he also overtly recognizes (b) the multiple viewpoints that people may invoke with respect to describing particular objects, (c) the resistances that people may encounter from others, and (d) the importance of speakers articulating the foundations for their claims amidst contested notions of reality. Approached from an interactionist perspective (Mead 1934; Blumer 1969; Strauss 1993; Prus 1996, 1997, 1999), wherein attention is given to the more general matters of people acquiring perspectives, defining objects, and sustaining particular notions of reality, this paper uses Lucian’s materials on portraiture as a cross-cultural and transhistorical resource both for assessing (and qualifying) existing interactionist conceptualizations of human group life and for suggesting some more particular areas of inquiry to which contemporary scholars may attend.

THREE HOSPITAL POEMS: EMPOWERED CONFESSIONAL SELVES IN ROBERT LOWELL’S „WAKING IN THE BLUE”, ANNE SEXTON’S „YOU, DOCTOR MARTIN” AND SYLVIA PLATH’S „NEVER TRY TO TRICK ME WITH A KISS”

This article examines three hospital poems by the American confessionalists Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. Writing in the mid1950s, they opted for „unacceptable” topics which were related to their personal experiences. Typically, the poetry of these poets remains as challenging for the modern reader as it was for their contemporaries. In introducing shocking events and intimate details to their work, they made an important development to portraying lived experience in fiction, which did not come without attacks for their perceived „narcissism”. In this article I argue that their bold writing about difficult subjects has created empowered poetic selves which rather than reflect any narcissism on part of the authors, predate and invite interpretations of the „other”. Their reproduction of illness (depression) is, consequently, devoid of the standard metaphors associated with the respective disease.

Neuropoly: An Educational Board Game to Facilitate Neurology Learning

Introduction: Neurology is arguably one of the most difficult subjects to teach and study in the medical curriculum. Educational games (EG) may be a valid option to enhance motivation in neurology residents.Methods: We developed an educational board game (Neuropoly) to assist in teaching neurology. We present here an overview of the game, as well as the results of a pilot study aimed at determining: (a) the efficacy of the game in teaching certain neurological concepts; and (b) student compliance and satisfaction with the EG.Results: The pre- and post-play questionnaire scores differed significantly (3.2 ± 1.7 vs. 7.8 ± 1.6, p < 0.001). Our group of residents, showing an overwhelmingly positive response, very well received the game. The questions were rated as above average regarding difficulty.Conclusion: The “Neuropoly” educational board game has been shown to be interesting, efficient, and motivational among first- and second-year neurology residents. Novel educational methods for complex medical disciplines should be developed, with board games being a viable and inexpensive approach.

The Life and Scientific Personality of Ibn Al Dehhan en-Nahvi, the Sibeveyhi of His Era

There Nahiv is one of the most important branches of the Arabic language. In history, there have been many scholars who have been trained in this field and have produced extremely valuable works. One of the scholars who have a great place and importance in the science of Nahiv is undoubtedly Ibn Dehhan en-Nahvi. Ibn Dehhan en-Nahvî (d.569), despite his value in nahiv and his great contribution to this science, İbn Dehhan is unfortunately not recognized enough. The number of scientific studies that provide information about him, just as in the world is almost non-existent in Turkey. He has recovered the appreciation of the scholars of his time for his scientific value. İn fact, because of his depth in nahiv science he was called “Sibeveyh of nahiv science”. He generally discussed the controversial and difficult subjects of nahiv science. Since this nahiv scholar was one of the leading sixth-century nativists and his name was mentioned in many languages and nahiv books, as well as the frequent mention of his name and works in biography sources, we deemed it necessary to consider his life and his scientific personality in our study. Thus we hope that it will to the recognition of this scholar and his scholarly personality who has a major role in the field of Arabic language and grammar.

Bedside teaching: an invaluable tool in undergraduate medical education

AimsBedside teaching is one of the most important modalities in medical education. Sir William Osler stated, “Medicine is learned by the bedside and not in the classroom”. Despite this, the use of bedside teaching in the undergraduate curriculum has been declining, potentially due to changes in course design, increasing clinical workloads and reducing inpatient numbers. In my role as a Clinical Teaching Fellow (CTF), I have aimed to maximise bedside teaching and promote it as the primary approach for student learning.MethodAs a CTF, I deliver teaching to students from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh during their placements in NHS Lanarkshire. Weekly teaching is provided to groups of 2-4 students, with around 50% of sessions delivered ‘at the bedside’.Within psychiatry, there is a vast range of potential bedside teaching topics. Given the length of time required to conduct a full psychiatric history and mental state examination (MSE), teaching sessions instead focus on one specific component of the patient interview, for example, assessing perceptual abnormalities or delusions, conducting a substance use history or exploring social circumstances and the functional impact of illness. This approach allows for more focussed feedback and teaching. Session structure is based upon Cox's model of bedside teaching, which I have modified slightly for the psychiatry setting.Student feedback has been collected via an anonymous electronic end-of-block questionnaire.ResultQualitative feedback reveals that students in NHS Lanarkshire value bedside teaching, with one student describing it as “informative, comprehensive and relevant for upcoming exams and clinical practice”.There are a number of potential barriers to consider when delivering bedside teaching in psychiatry. These include issues identifying suitable patients who can provide informed consent to participate and the ethical concerns regarding exploring difficult subjects such as suicide risk assessment with patients for purely educational purposes.These issues can be overcome; in inpatient units, there is usually a small cohort of patients who are able to consent and engage in student teaching, and difficult subjects can alternatively be addressed during role-play or simulation sessions.ConclusionDespite its challenges, bedside teaching can be an enjoyable and rewarding approach in undergraduate medical education, with feedback revealing it is positively received in NHS Lanarkshire. By utilising Cox's model and focussing on specific aspects of MSE and history-taking, bedside teaching is more accessible and an invaluable tool for psychiatric teaching. Clinicians and educators are encouraged to keep the patient at the centre of student learning.

PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS UNDERSTANDING FRACTION DIVISION USING RECTANGLE REPRESENTATION

Fraction division is one of the most difficult subjects in elementary school. Not only elementary students but many prospective teachers don’t understand the fraction division concept yet—most of them using a keep-change-flip algorithm to solve fraction division problems. A study using rectangle representation was conducted by us to prospective teachers. This study aims to see whether this rectangle representation will make prospective teachers understand or not. To do so, we made a mixed-method study with 80 prospective teachers as participants. The results show that 53,75% of prospective teachers use the keep-change-flip algorithm without understanding the concept of fraction division, and just 15% of prospective teachers understand fraction division. We assume that most prospective teachers still can’t imagine how fraction division works in a real-life context. They remember what they used to do to finish the fraction division problem that their teacher has introduced in primary school. Based on the results, we conclude that the study with rectangle representation still needs an improvement, whether the teacher’s explanation or the rectangle media.

Making Sense of Collaborative Writing: A Student-Experience-Based Perspective

<p>The present study examines four pairs or eight students who wrote their creative writing assignments collaboratively. As opposed to the popular view, which stated that writing is one of the most difficult subjects to learn for EFL students, many studies have reported that collaborative writing (henceforth CW) is regarded as a technique that can improve students’ productive writing skills to a great extent. The researchers would like to see how effective CW was for the students who did their writing assignments with their pairs by employing a qualitative case study to examine the eight students’ experiences in writing their essays and fictional stories. The researchers wanted to know why some students could adapt to this learning model, and others faced some problems or failed to achieve the target of learning outcomes. Opened-ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews are used to elicit data from the students. The first pair was the most successful example of partnership in writing since they opened themselves for critiques and suggestions. In contrast, the second pair had some problems that disturbed their collaboration as they did not seem to open themselves for critiques and suggestions. The third pair failed to do an effective partnership because they could not solve problems that blocked their cooperation right from the beginning. The fourth pair found their way for an effective collaboration when they opened themselves for critiques and suggestions. The success or failure in the partnership heavily depends on each student collaborator's willingness to open themselves for criticism and suggestion.</p>

Exploration of Challenges Among Gifted and Talented Children

Most gifted students love to study, work hard to complete cognitive tasks, and wanted to have more difficult subjects for enhancing their intellectual capability. However, they are unable to do so in their regular classes even in their special gifted group. Some of the challenges faced by gifted and talented students are teachers’ stigma, negative peer attitudes, difficulty understanding others, problems related to perfectionism, as well as impatience and intolerance. Thus, there is a dire need to cater the social and emotional issues of these students. Counselors may be unaware and unable to respond to these concerns because they are not well-trained to counsel this unique population. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the characteristics of gifted and talented students, challenges that they face and the need for counseling approaches to address all these issues to unleash the learning and development of gifted students.

MODERN APPROACHES TO TEACHING SIGHT SINGING AND EAR TRAINING

Sight singing and ear training are difficult subjects to teach. Over the past decade, however, many new technological tools were developed that support educational endeavors. Several of those tools, SmartMusic, SingSnap, EarTrainer (MusicDictation.app), and YouTube, were used at the beginning college-level aural skills courses to enhance sight singing and ear training instruction, especially in the context of enhancing audiation skills. This article summarizes their use within aural skills courses and present experimental and anecdotal evidence of increased sight singing and ear training skills. More specifically, experimental (test) data as well as anecdotal (essay) evidence showed that (1) students were much higher motivated to complete exercises compared to ‘traditional’ aural skills exercises, (2) in a shorter period of time, students performed much better than in ‘traditional’ exercises of at least the same difficulty, (3) the students’ audiation abilities increased much more as a result of the exercises, compared to ‘traditional’ exercises, and (4) students showed a greater increase in solfege proficiency, compared to ‘traditional’ exercises. The teaching approaches we have discussed also led to a greater independence from in-person instruction.