Force spectroscopy on the single-molecule level allows the investigation of intramolecular as well as interdomain and intermolecular interactions of both synthetic and natural polymers. In these experiments, a single molecule is usually stretched between two strong attachment points. The force then increases with increasing extension. Under certain conditions, however, force-extension curves result in force plateaus; an increase in extension is observed under constant force. These plateaus do not depend on pulling speed and therefore indicate transitions at equilibrium. Here we present single-molecule data where carboxymethycellulose (CMC) molecules are pulled out of a polymer film into a poor solvent. The resulting force-extension curves show not only one but up to seven force plateaus. The step height from one force plateau to the next is nonuniform but follows a characteristic spacing. This is the first time that nonuniform force plateaus are reported for polymer molecules. A simple model for the polymerpolymer and polymer-solvent interactions explains the measured data. In this model the new solventpolymer interface gain during the pull is minimized by the formation of a tightly packed polymer bundle. By introducing a parameter for the product of effective radius of the polymer multiplied by surface tension, as well as a second parameter describing the interaction between polymer strands in the bundle, one finds excellent agreement between predicted and measured plateau heights. This model, therefore, provides a basis to investigate the interactions of polymer chains and the influence of solvent in well-defined geometries using single-molecule force spectroscopy.

This article considers the implications of using visual methods in research with primary school aged children. The research explored the meanings children made of reading at school. Visual methods, through drawing, were part of the research design. The children resisted drawing in a range of ways, including ripping pages out of books and leaving pages blank, or they used drawing to make meaning of their lives outside the context of the research topic, in particular indicating an adherence to normative gender identities. Through initial analysis these methods were framed as 'art that didn't work'. It was only through treating everything as data-thinking about silences and absences, as well as what the children did draw, that it was possible to reposition the data as useful for understanding the impact of drawing as a method. The article argues that whilst in previous research, visual methods have often been hailed as straightforwardly positive for working with children: they increase participation, access to research, and promote pupil voice; in this research a far more complex set of power relations emerged around drawing. Findings indicate drawing does not work as a method to enhance children's participation in the research process. While the paper is methodological in nature, it also contributes to our knowledge of children's agency, and agency as resistance. The article disrupts assumptions that such methods are 'good' at providing a mouthpiece for vulnerable groups such as children, to explore their identities.

This paper examines the experiences of children learning to read in a multi-ethnic London primary school. The data are drawn from doctoral research, based on ethnographic fieldwork, with children aged six to seven years and ten to eleven years. Reading is revealed as a strongly emotional realm for children. The children are weak to resist teacher assessment of themselves, but nonetheless seek to create consoling narratives against what they perceive to be the negative identity of 'poor reader'. The data are distinctive, as resistance to school hierarchies and strong feelings about educational failure are manifested in the narratives of children as young as six years old.

The paper discusses the design and construction of a temporary structure in a neglected urban space. Researchers consulted and worked with members of a youth club in a deprived area of an English city to try to enable spatial appropriation through participatory design. It was found that age-and classbased relationships greatly constrained participants' sense of appropriation. Participants did, however, appropriate the co-design process in enthusiastic ways centred on the transgression of adult norms. The article concludes with reflections on how constraints on marginalised youth agency can inhibit participatory approaches.

This paper explores learning to read for minority children who are emergent readers (aged 6–7). The research took place in a multicultural, multi-faith inner city primary school. The research concerned children learning to read and the meanings they made of the books they learnt to read with. The article concludes that using reader-response with young children can help us understand children’s worlds and lived experiences with reading and learning to read at school. The combination of harnessing reader-response in qualitative, sociological research, which brings together concepts from literature studies, and methodologies from the Sociology of Childhood is a novel approach explored here. The article contributes to new knowledge around the issue of involving children in the teaching and learning of literacy from children’s own perspectives.