Whitehead and a new look at teaching elementary science

If Whitehead is right, science teachers who try to increase student interest by making the science they teach more pure and by covering more material are going about their work in just the wrong way. Science, for purposes of precision in measurement, translates the dynamic world of feeling and force, of causal efficacy (for example, the San Francisco earthquake), into a static representation spatialized and given presentational immediacy (for example, the Richter scale). But notice that the Richter scale isn't very interesting (even as abstract art) apart from its connection, via symbolic reference, to the earthquake. Such reference is essential to give both a sense of reality and a feeling of interes to the subject, but it makes the science less pure, and it takes more time to cover the material. An example of teaching pure and impure formal logic is given as a case study.     

Emigration,internationalization, and “brain drain”: Propensities among British Academics

This research links two important higher education phenomena: potential brain drain among academics abroad and the U.S. academic labor market. The inquiry draws on the brain drain literature and is grounded primarily on a secondary analysis of a major survey (1989) of British university and polytechnic faculty members. The anlaysis shows that fully 40.0 percent of university faculty are seriously considering a move abroad with the substantial majority favoring the United States as a destination. Faculty characteristics—including academic field, research versus teaching orientation, rank, age, gender, and political identification—are correlated with faculty members' professed interest in emigration. The analysis also compares (former) polytechnic to university faculty as well as to a subset of Oxford and Cambridge faculty.     

The Frontier of Web-based Instruction

In spite of advances in course design software and experience with online offerings, the question of how web-based education affects teaching and learning remains largely unanswered, and the terrain of online learning remains largely unmapped. In this paper, through the stories of 10 faculties of education and one computer science instructor in Ontario, we map out a small piece of the frontier of web-based course delivery and plot a course for future exploration. We argue that most existing offerings take the form of a Lone Ranger or Greenhorn approach but that there is a need to move toward a strategic institutional Wagon Train approach that consolidates and integrates support for online teaching and learning. We argue, as well, that failures in online instruction cannot simply be attributed to improper instruction or inappropriate course design. Rather, at least part of the problem locates in the ways in which conversation is structured in the online environment.     

Student learning work: Grounds for anin situ analysis

The ethnomethodological programme of studies of work is drawn on to provide a general framework within which we might develop ways to undertake thein situ analysis of the competencies which constitute student learning activities. The objective of such research is to describe the locally managed and temporally organised nature of student learning work. Emphasis is placed on the development of methods of investigation which will enable us to describe the whatness of the work from within the setting of that work's accomplishment. The twin conceptions of the visibility and sequential order of student activities are discussed in detail. The implications of this approach for the notion of student learning are also examined.     

Certifying effect and consumer effect: Some remarks on strategies employed by higher education institutions

The term certification, as used in discussions concerning higher education, is clarified and a distinction made between terminal awards which do have a genuine certifying effect in the sense of procuring admission to a profession and those which do not. Institutions wishing to increase the value of the certifying effect of their awards, seek to do this by stimulating applications for entry to their institution. The longer the queue at the gate the greater the prestige of the terminal award. The ability to influence the certifying effect of an award does not, however, lie with the teaching institutions alone; business, the employers and the professions can, and increasingly do, determine the relative value of awards and of different ways of preparing for the exercise of a particular profession. The case of the business schools in France is described to illustrate how teaching institutions once they are established seek to increase the certifying effect of the diplomas they award by actually reducing the number of graduates. The numerus clausus, as applied to medical schools, provides another example of the same phenomenon. Such strategies lead to what the author describes as consumer effect. Once admittance to a prestige institution has been gained, entry to a position of influence and possibly affluence, is more or less assured. Students in such institutions, in both capitalist and communist countries, have exploited this by persuading teaching staff to acquiesce in a reduction of the demands made by the course, though some directors of institutions have begun to respond by failing more students, seeking to re-establish positions surrendered in the days of student unrest and by these and other means seeking to reduce consumer effect. Teacher training colleges provide an interesting example of institutions having a low but certain certifying effect, producing a high consumer effect. The possibility of deriving a general theory from the proposition put forward in the article is discussed.This is an improved version of an article published earlier in French: Effet certifiant et effet clientèle. Quelques remarques sur les stratégies des institutions d'enseignement supérieur dans les pays développés, ESPRIT, nov./dec. 1978. Translation: Sylvia Collot.     

The correlation between education and earnings - a comment

In this note, Blaug's article in Volume 1, No. 1, is criticised on the grounds that the economic interpretation of the correlation between education and earnings is based on a mistaken view about the nature of capital; and hence human capital theories are logically incoherent.     

Much ado about nothing: Science and hermeneutics

Insofar as the basic concepts (in particular, meaning, interpretation, text) and theses of Martin Eger's hermeneutics of the sciences are intelligible they are not distinctive, and insofar as they are distinctive they are unintelligible and/or lack backup arguments. Ambiguity characterises much of the argument. James Cushing's elaboration of hermeneutics, using the history of quantum mechanics as an illustration of its supposed strengths, does nothing to rescue the position against the criticisms here levelled at Martin Eger's formulations of it.     

Legal Notes When May a College Regulate an Instructor's In-Class Speech? Recent Guidance from the Sixth Circuit

In a recent opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a community college instructor has a constitutional right to utilize the words nigger and bitch in the context of a classroom discussion in a course on interpersonal relations. This article discusses this case in the context of other court decisions concerning a college's right to regulate an instructor's classroom speech. Implications for personnel evaluation in the higher education setting are discussed.     

The applicability of democratic principles and the mission of the university

The university's mission of serving as a fortress for freedom of speech, inquiry, and criticism of established truths is inextricably connected with democracy. Such a mission can be pursued only in a climate of genuine political and academic freedom. Three other aspects of democracy in the university are discussed: equality of access, university governance, and the public utility of the university. It is argued that equal representation or one man one vote cannot be applied in university governance because it comes into conflict with the notion of competence—a conflict that cannot be resolved by taking votes. Interest groups inside and outside of the university cannot be allowed to interfere with the free pursuit of knowledge. The internal audit, that is, peer review (by, ultimately, the international community of scholars) has to take precedence over vertical review by government bureaucracy.     

Different aspects in designing mathematics education: Three examples from the Freudenthal Institute

Three teaching designs are offered. They were developed for 12 to 16 year old pupils taking into account their personal differences in terms of gender (in Making Up the Cube), culture (in Mecca), knowledge, and use of calculators in The integrating calculator. The designs concern the representation of three-dimensional objects in the plane, directions and great circles on the sphere, and exploration of the integrating calculator.     

Three-dimensional symmetry

The errors made when high-school students locate reflections in horizontal, vertical or slanting mirrors were examined. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-six perspective drawings, each portraying an upright transparent cube containing a two-sided mirror, was given to 394 Australian students from grades 7, 9 and 11. On a corner, an edge, or a face of each cube was drawn either a point or a straight-line segment. The task was to draw its image (reflection). Analysis of errors revealed a strong tendency towards horizontal or vertical sliding, suggesting that the edges of the cube act in much the same way as a horizontal-vertical background grid does in the two-dimensional case.     

Educational language planning and linguistic identity

There are cases in which a high form of a language is taught and used in formal situations, but linguistic variation is also caused by geography, ethnicity and socioeconomic class. Certain variants are regarded as inferior and restricted in expressive capacity, and are disadvantageous. The paper suggests that it is possible to map each person's linguistic identity in two dimensions: the number of languages spoken, and the situation-specific variants of each language. Further, it is argued that the distance between a low variant and a high standard form of a language may present to the low learner of a standardized mother tongue a barrier just as great as that posed by the learning of a related foreign language to a speaker of the high variant. It is proposed that greater tolerance be exercised in acceptance of variation and in recognition of linguistic identity, so that this can be built on in the necessary and desirable expansion of linguistic competence, rather than being devalued. The relevance of the communicative approach to language teaching is touched on.

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Zusammenfassung Es gibt Fälle, in denen eine hohe Form einer Sprache gelehrt und in formellen Situationen gebraucht wird, aber linguistische Veränderungen werden auch durch Geographie, ethnische Identität und sozialkonomische Klassen hervorgerufen. Gewsse Varianten gelten hinsichtlich ihres Ausdrucksvermögens als unterlegen und restriktiv und sind unvorteilhaft. In dem Artikel wird vorgeschlagen, die linguistische Identität jedes Einzelnen in zwei Dimensionen darzustellen: die Anzahl der gesprochenen Sprachen und die situationsspezifische Variante jeder Sprache. Weiterhin wird argumentiert, daß die Distanz zwischen einer niedrigen Variante und einer hohen Standardform einer Sprache für den niedrigen Lernenden einer standardisierten Muttersprache ebenso schwierig ist wie das Erlernen einer verwandten ausländischen Sprache für denjenigen, der die hohe Form spricht. Es wird vorgeschlagen, größere Toleranz durch Akzeptieren der Variation und Anerkennung der linguistischen Identität zu üben, so daß man darauf die notwendige und wünschenswerte Erweiterung der linguistischen Fähigkeit aufbauen kann anstatt sie zu entwerten. Die Relevanz des kommunikativen Ansatzes zum Unterrichten einer Sprache wird kurz behandelt.

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Résumé Il existe des cas où une haute forme d'une langue est enseignée et utilisée dans des situations formelles, mais la différentiation est causée également par la géographie, l'ethnicité et la classe socioéconomique. Certaines variantes sont considérées inférieures, d'une capacité expressive limitée, et sont désavantageuses. L'article suggère qu'il est possible de tracer l'identité linguistique de chacun dans deux dimensions: le nombre de langues parlées, et les variantes de chaque langue reliées à des situations spécifiques. En plus, on raisonne que la distance entre une variante basse d'une langue et la haute forme standard peut présenter à l'apprenant, ayant la forme basse d'une langue maternelle standardisée, une barrière aussi grande que celle qui se dresse devant celui qui parle la variante haute et qui apprend une langue étrangère apparentée. On propose donc qu'une tolérance plus large soit exercée en acceptant la variation et en reconnaissant l'identité linguistique, afin que cette dernière serve de fondation pour l'élargissement nécessaire et souhaitable des compétences linguistiques, plutôt que d'être dévalorisée. La relevance de l'approche communicative à l'enseignement des langues est mentionnée.

     

Frequency norms and structural analysis of algebra story problems into families,categories, and templates

The goal of this study was to develop a framework for classifying algebra story problems and to determine observed frequencies for each problem type. A total of 1097 algebra story problems were selected from ten standard algebra textbooks. These are divided into eight families based on the nature of the source formula involved; for example, nearly 300 problems were classified in the time rate family because they were based on the source formula, distance = rate x time or output = rate x time. Each family was divided into problem categories based on the general form of the story line; for example, the time rate family consisted of motion, current, and work categories. Each category was divided into templates based on the specific propositional structure of the problem; for example, there were a dozen templates for motion problems such as overtake, closure, round trip, etc. This article describes the procedure for generating families, categories, and templates and provides frequency counts for each observed template. Implications for fostering productive research and instruction are discussed.This research was supported by grant NIE-G-78-0162 from the National Institute of Education. Requests for reprints should be sent to: Richard E. Mayer, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.     

Real-time simulation in computer-assisted instruction

Large scale computer-assisted instruction systems generally impose severe constraints upon the demands that individual users may make. Nevertheless, it is possible to overcome these problems and a program is described which teaches students how to fly a specific maneuver through real-time simulation of the flight of a student-controlled airplane. This is achieved in spite of the fact that the student is flying his plane through the use of a manually controlled analog input device. Both computational and educational implications are discussed.Contractual support for this work was provided in part by the Life Sciences Program Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Contract number F44620-70-C-0105. Dr. Charles Hutchinson was the scientific monitor of the contract.     

Alternatives to the entrepreneurial university: New modes of knowledge production in community service programs

Globalisation has significantly altered patterns of research and development, and production. In turn, this has generated new organisational forms and practices in higher education knowledge production. As a result, a strong trend towards the 'entrepreneurial' university has emerged, characterised by increasing market-like behaviour and governance. Within the dominant neo-liberal global consensus, this primarily serves the market and the private good. However, this is a growing counter concern for higher education's contribution to equity, community development and the public good. Drawing from various case studies, focusing on South Africa, this paper identifies the higher education-community partnership model as a complementary alternative to the entrepreneurial university. It is shown that knowledge production in these partnerships closely resembles so-called mode 2, applications-driven knowledge production. Potentially, however, the partnership model integrates and mutually enhances experiential learning, relevant research and community development.     

Research on the relationships between higher education and the world of work: Past achievements, problems and new challenges

The review of major research approaches and themes suggests that research on the relationships between higher education and the world of work has been closely linked during the recent three to four decades to changing themes of policy and practise. There were some indicators of research in this area being an agent of subordination of higher education to the employment system, being quantitative-structurally biased, tending to reproduce the actors' myths and being stuck in the over-education debate. A closer look, however, reveals that the range of research approaches is very broad and that a common core of themes and approaches emerged which provides the opportunity of examining controversial hypotheses. It is finally suggested that research in this area should be based on anticipation of likely changing conditions in the future, e.g. trends towards precarious or flexible employment, towards a mass or abundance paradigm, towards a 'life-long learning society' and towards an 'international' or 'global' labour market.     

Women in higher education

The high level of admissions of women into higher education in Japanis analysed in the context of examining revised views about the highereducation of women resulting from changes in the traditional view of therelationship between higher education and social values. Despite the shiftin womens educational expectations, there is still clear evidence that agender track continues; typically men congregate in four year institutionswhilst women focus on Junior Colleges and on particular courses of studydeemed to be appropriate for women. The gender track is furtherdemonstrated by detailed studies of the Junior College and the WomensCollege. Womens employment opportunities are shown to have been affected byrestrictive attitudes of employers which tended in the past to impose onwomen particular modes of employment. The reasons for the emergence of achange in these attitudes in the latter part of the 1980s are explored andthe impact of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1986 is examined. Thearticle concludes by considering the wider implications for women, both inthe work-place and in society more generally, of these developments. It isnoted that highly educated Japanese women tend to hold more conservativevalues and may see their education as an expression of their social statusrather than a way of increasing their earning power. The recentestablishment of a number of courses in Womens Studies may well have aninfluence upon future developments in ideas about women and higher educationin Japan.     

The Changing Debate on Internationalisation of Higher Education

Internationalisation, the growing border-crossing activities between national systems of higher education is losing ground to globalisation, increasing border-crossing activities of blurred national systems which is often employed to depict world-wide trends and growing global competition. This article addresses recent issues of knowledge transfer. It points out tensions between increasing diversity in higher education and efforts to facilitate recognition of prior studies on student mobility. It shows the diversity of steering and management policies with respect to internationalisation and globalisation. Finally, it asks whether globalisation of higher education has to be viewed as a manifestation of turbo-capitalism or could be viewed instead as a move towards global understanding.     

Designing Instructional Text

The context of the book and its contents are outlined; its aim of providing guidelines derived from empirical research for the design of instructional text is emphasized. One of the book's particular proposals-structuring of text by the controlled use of vertical space-is examined, and the relative merits of vertical and of horizontal space are discussed. The review then presents the book's arguments from research evidence for certain design practices. These arguments are found to be, typically, ease of production and cost-benefit, rather than the justification of benefit for the user. The book is held to be putting forward a programme-not merely a set of guidelines-the chief characteristic of which is simplicity of form, in contrast to what the book sees as the irrational forms of traditional typography. The review considers some possible virtues of traditional typography, and, in the design of some tabular matter, alternatives are suggested to the approaches of the book and of traditional typography. In a concluding evaluation of the book, the attempt to provide for typographic design generally applicable to research findings is questioned. Alternative paths for research in this field are suggested.     

Evaluating women's homemaking and volunteer work experiences for college credit

This project developed methods and materials to assist colleges in evaluating the competencies which women acquire from their nonmarket (volunteer work and homemaking) experiences. Competencies were identified through interviews and questionnaires of women's activities. Next an informal task analysis of each activity was conducted to develop a list of the competencies involved, the I Can lists. A twelve step counseling process, based on the use of the I Can lists, is described. The paper also discusses methods of dealing with faculty and administrative concerns about this type of experiential learning evaluation.The author wishes to thank Marlaine Lockheed and Abigal Harris for their assistance in this research.Paper presented at the conference on Continuing Education Programs for Women—Issues and Trends, Columbus, Ohio, May 12, 1978.