This insightful Handbook focuses on behaviour, performance and relationships in small and entrepreneurial firms.

After looking at the early careers of Wurtz's two mentors, Liebig and Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Rocke describes Wurtz's life and career in the politically complex period leading up to 1853. He then discusses the turning point in Wurtz's intellectual life—his conversion to the "reformed chemistry" of Laurent, Gerhardt, and Williamson—and his efforts to persuade his colleagues of the advantages of the new system. In 1869, Adolphe Wurtz (1817-1884) called chemistry "a French science." In fact, however, Wurtz was the most internationalist of French chemists. Born in Strasbourg and educated partly in the laboratory of the great Justus Liebig, he spent his career in Paris, where he devoted himself to introducing German ideas into French scientific circles. His life therefore provides an excellent vehicle for considering the divergent trajectories of French and German chemistry—and, by extension, French and German science—during this crucial period. After looking at the early careers of Wurtz's two mentors, Liebig and Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Rocke describes Wurtz's life and career in the politically complex period leading up to 1853. He then discusses the turning point in Wurtz's intellectual life—his conversion to the "reformed chemistry" of Laurent, Gerhardt, and Williamson—and his efforts (social and political, as well as scientific) to persuade his colleagues of the advantages of the new system. He looks at political patronage, or the lack thereof, and at the insufficient material support from the French government, during the middle decades of the century. From there Rocke goes on to examine the rivalry between Wurtz and Marcellin Berthelot, the debate over atoms versus equivalents, and the reasons for Wurtz's failure to win acceptance for his ideas. The story offers insights into the changing status of science in this period, and helps to explain the eventual course of both French and German chemistry.

This handbook deals with all aspects of contemporary language teaching and its history. Produced for language teaching professionals, it is also useful as a reference work for academic studies at postgraduate level.

Built around the concept of linguistic and cultural plurality, this book defines language as an instrument of action and symbolic power. Plurality is conceived here as : a complex array of voices, perspectives and approaches that seeks to preserve the complexity of the multilingual and multicultural enterprise, including language learning and teaching ; a coherent system of relationships among various languages, research traditions and research sites that informs qualitative methods of inquiry into multilingualism and its uses in everyday life ; a view of language as structured sociohistorical object, observable from several simultaneous spatiotemporal standpoints, such as that of daily interactions or that which sustains the symbolic power of institutions. This book is addressed to teacher trainers, young researchers, decision makers, teachers concerned with the role of languages in the evolution of societies and educational systems. It aims to elicit discussion by articulating practices, field observations and analyses based on a multidisciplinary conceptual framework.

This book presents current perspectives on theoretical and empirical issues related to the teaching and learning of geometry at secondary schools. It contains chapters contributing to three main areas. A first set of chapters examines mathematical, epistemological, and curricular perspectives. A second set of chapters presents studies on geometry instruction and teacher knowledge, and a third set of chapters offers studies on geometry thinking and learning. Specific research topics addressed also include teaching practice, learning trajectories, learning difficulties, technological resources, instructional design, assessments, textbook analyses, and teacher education in geometry. Geometry remains an essential and critical topic in school mathematics. As they learn geometry, students develop essential mathematical thinking and visualization skills and learn a language that helps them relate to and interact with the physical world. Geometry has traditionally been included as a subject of study in secondary mathematics curricula, but it has also featured as a resource in out-of-school problem solving, and has been connected to various human activities such as sports, games, and artwork. Furthermore, geometry often plays a role in teacher preparation, undergraduate mathematics, and at the workplace. New technologies, including dynamic geometry software, computer-assisted design software, and geometric positioning systems, have provided more resources for teachers to design environments and tasks in which students can learn and use geometry. In this context, research on the teaching and learning of geometry will continue to be a key element on the research agendas of mathematics educators, as researchers continue to look for ways to enhance student learning and to understand student thinking and teachers’ decision making.

Learner Autonomy and Web 2.0 explores tensions between the "classical" definitions of learner autonomy and the learning dynamics observed in specific online contexts. Some of the contributions argue for the emergence of actual new forms of autonomy, others consider that this is merely a case of "old wine in new bottles".

Alisa van de Haar sheds new light on the debates regarding the form and status of the vernacular in the early modern Low Countries, where both French and Dutch were spoken as local tongues.