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.     

Promoting prosocial behaviors through literature

Cathleen looked forward to visiting her older sister's nursery school. During the Thursday morning visit, Cathleen enthusiastically investigated blocks, sand, paints and a basket of toy trucks. As the visit drew to a close Cathleen's mother said: We've had a nice visit and now let's put away these toys, Cathleen. I'll put a truck in the basket and then you put one in. A few minutes later when the cleaning up was completed, Cathleen's mother hugged her and said, You're the best two-and-a-half-year-old helper in the world.Joan S. McMath teaches in the School of Curriculum and Instruction at Ohio University in Athens, OH.     

Studying construction work: Connecting classroom centers

Johnny has one hammer, one hammer, one hammer; Johnny has one hammer, Johnny has two, sings a small group of children in the woodworking center as they pound small cuts of wood with hammer and nails. Hey, Ronnie, put that block here. We're making a chimney for our house, directs one youngster in the block center. We can move in when we're finished, he tells his two companions.Laverne Warner is Professor of Early Childhood Education within the Division of Teacher Education at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Melissa Sepulveda is a kindergarten teacher at Lowery Elementary School in the Cy-Fair Independent School District in Houston, Texas.     

On defining quality of education

In this paper quality of graduates is distinguished from quality of education, which is renamed efficiency of education. The first concept is defined in a quantitative manner, the second by way of a set of 66 statements concerning the efficiency of education derived from judgements about the effectiveness of particular teaching methods in the achievement of different types of teaching objectives.Paper presented at the conference on Efficiency of Teaching Methods in Higher Education, organized by the University Teaching Methods Unit of the University of London, 6–7 April, 1976.     

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.     

Introducing micro-computers to micro-learners through play

Computers, once available exclusively to wealthy industries, are now rapidly becoming as familiar in preschool and kindergarten classrooms as block and crayons. Articles making claims such as Learning by Computers at Age 4 and Computers Preparing Preschoolers for Kindergarten now permeate the news media. Increasing numbers of child care centers, attempting to maximize public interest in computers, now readily advertise Computer Tutor in their literature. Computer Tutor is often even listed above other important qualifications such as certified teachers and professional affiliations of centers.Theresa Rubens has had extensive experience working with children in both family day homes and child care centers. Jennifer Poole is the Nursery Director at the First United Methodist Church in Carrollton, TX. James L. Hoot is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.     

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.     

Equity issues in local resourcing of education: Community financing of primary schools in Bhutan

Community financing is an important source of supplementary funds for education, particularly where governments are unable to meet all the needs of their peoples. While this is widely recognised, little empirical research has been conducted on the topic. This paper analyses patterns in Bhutan. It observes that until the 1990s few resources for education were provided by communities, but that the scale of financing has increased during the present decade. The paper notes that although communities have in general responded positively to government calls for local inputs, local resourcing has some problematic aspects. The paper focuses particularly on issues of regional, rural/urban and socio-economic equity, and shows how discussion of Bhutanese experiences contributes to the international literature.

---

Zusammenfassung Finanzierungen über die Gemeinde sind eine wichtige Quelle der Bezuschussung von Bildung, besonders dort, wo Regierungen nicht in der Lage sind, den Bedürfnissen der Bevölkerung gerecht zu werden. Obwohl dies weitreichend bekannt ist, gibt es kaum empirische Studien zu diesem Thema. Dieser Artikel befaßt sich mit der Situation in Bhutan. Es wird festgestellt, daß die Gemeinden bis zu den 90ern kaum Gelder für die Bildung zur Verfügung stellten, daß aber der Rahmen der Finanzierung in diesem Jahrzehnt gestiegen ist. Der Autor beschreibt, daß trotz einer allgemein positiven Antwort seitens der Gemeinden auf Forderungen der Regierung nach lokalen Finanzbeiträgen, Probleme hinsichtlich lokaler Finanzierungen bestehen. Insbesondere befaßt sich der Artikel mit Themen über regionale, ländliche und städtische und sozialökonomische Gleichheit und zeigt, wie die Diskussion über die Erfahrungen in Bhutan zur internationalen Literatur beiträgt.

---

Resumen La financiación a través de la comunidad es una fuente importante de recursos adicionales para la educación, particularmente allí donde los gobiernos son incapaces de satisfacer todas las necesidades de sus habitantes. Si bien este es un hecho ampliamente conocido, existen muy pocos estudios empíricos sobre este tema. El trabajo analiza los modelos existentes en Bhután y observa que hasta los años noventa, eran pocos los recursos financieros provistos por las comunidades, mientras que durante la década actual han aumentado estos niveles de financiación. El estudio observa que, a pesar de que las comunidades, en general, han respondido de forma positiva a las llamadas del gobierno a realizar inversiones locales, la creación de recursos locales tiene algunos aspectos problemáticos. El trabajo se concentra particularmente en problemas de equidad regional, rural/urbana y socioeconómica, demostrando cómo la discusión sobre experiencias bhutanesas presta su aporte a la literatura internacional.

---

Résumé Le financement communautaire représente une source importante de fonds supplémentaires pour l'éducation, en particulier quand le gouvernement ne peut répondre à tous les besoins de la population. Bien que ce fait soit largement reconnu, il n'existe que peu de recherche empirique sur le sujet. Cet article analyse différents modèles existant au Bhoutan. Il constate tout d'abord que jusque dans les années 90, les communautés ne fournissaient qu'une faible partie des ressources de l'éducation, mais que cette forme de financement a augmenté au cours de la dernière décennie. Il relève également qu'en dépit de la réaction généralement positive de la part des communautés envers l'incitation du gouvernement à un financement local, ce modèle présente néanmoins des difficultés. L'article se concentre d'autre part sur les questions d'équitabilité entre régions, entre villes et provinces et entre niveaux socioéconomiques, et révèle que la discussion sur les expériences du Bhoutan contribue à enrichir la littérature internationale.

---

, , . , . . , 1990- , . , , . , , iqa- . , .

     

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.     

Creating prop boxes to stimulate dramatic play and literacy development

The sign says OPEN and five excited preschoolers are at play in a thematically based dramatic center. Their teacher has transformed a corner of the room into a shoe store, complete with materials designed to support the children's early literacy development.Cathleen S. Soundy is with the College of Education, Temple University, and Phyllis Wolf Gallagher is with the Education Department, Holy Name College, Philadelphia, PA.     

New Contents for New Media: Pavia Project Physics

This hypermedial project deals with a historical and conceptual approach to physics. The core of the project is a certain number of case studies, namely problems or phenomena recounted together with their different interpretations. All case studies present two levels of investigation: the first level is devoted to high school students, the second level is devoted to university students and high school teachers. Our project is directed at a new and better understanding and appreciation of scientific culture.Our methodology is a historical methodology: teaching physics and the history of physics are fellow-subjects. We are not interested in adding the history of physics to teaching physics, as an optional subject: the history of physics is inside physics.Since textbooks usually give one and only one explanation of each physical phenomenon – the true explanation – we would like, on the contrary, to present the phenomena together with different interpretations that factually occurred in the history of physics. We offer four different approaches to the subject of the case study: A. Phenomena, B. Textbooks, C. History and D. Maps.The basic unit of the hypermedia is the presentation , namely a coherent set of information endowed with a definite and complete meaning. From the media point of view, a presentation consists of pictures and/or animations, key-words and/or key-sentences and a speaker explanation. Each approach consists of a certain number of presentations.     

Between epistemology and hermeneutics

In this paper I discuss the hermeneutic and epistemological dimensions of science, and investigate the role which this discussion might play in science education. After a brief review of two main variants of hermeneutic conceptions of science, a general outline is given of the existential-ontological notion of science. Regarding the degree of objectification, the theoretical ways of projecting the world as a scientific theme lie on a continuum between the poles of pure hermeneutics and pure epistemology. Finally, some conclusions for a new pedagogy are drawn.     

The non-education of Kurds: A Kurdish perspective

Educational provision in Kurdistan (embracing parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) violates most of the language-in-education requirements of international law. The same is true for Kurds in diaspora in most parts of the world. Linguistic and cultural genocide is attempted, with the tacit complicity of the West. The future of Kurdish education depends to a large extent on the political situation in the Middle East. Political solutions are needed before educational problems can be tackled. Within international law, a new interpretation by the UN Human Rights Committee of Article 27 in the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN 1986) might give grounds for hope for the future.

---

Zusammenfassung Bildungsmöglichkeiten in Kurdistan (einschließlich Teilen Irans, Iraks, Syriens und der Türkei) entsprechen nicht den internationalen Forderungen zur Sprachpolitik in der Bildung. Das gleiche gilt für Diaspora Kurden in den meisten Teilen der Welt. Mit stillschweigender Übereinkunft des Westen wird der linguistische und kulturelle Massenmord angestrebt. Die Zukunft der kurdischen Bildung hängt größtenteils von der politischen Situation im mittleren Osten ab. Bevor jedoch das Bildungsproblem gelöst werden kann, braucht man politische Lösungen. Innerhalb des internationalen Gesetzes könnte eine neue Auslegung des Artikel 27 im Internationalen Convent über zivile und politische Rechte (UN 1968) durch das Menschenrechtskommittee der Vereinten Nationen Hoffnung für die Zukunft bringen.

---

Resumen La educación prestada en Kurdistán (que comprende partes de Irán, Iraq, Siria y Turquía) viola la mayor parte de las exigencias que el derecho internacional establece en cuanto a la educación en la lengua correspondiente del individuo. Esto también rige para los kurdos, que se encuentran en la diáspora, en muchas partes del mundo. Con ello se intenta un genocidio cultural, con la complicidad tácita del mundo occidental. El futuro de la educación kurda depende en gran medida de la situación política de Oriente Medio. Se requieren soluciones políticas que permitan abordar los problemas de la educación, Dentro del derecho internacional, puede dar lugar a esperanzas una nueva interpretación que el Comité de Derechos Ilumanos de las Naciones Unidas hizo del artículo 27 en el Convenio Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos (UN 1986).

---

Résumé Les formes d'enseignement dispensé au Kurdistan (partagé entre l'Iran, l'Iraq, la Syrie et al Turquie) violent la plupart des exigences envers les langues dans l'enseignement établies par le droit international. La même constatation est valable pour la diaspora kurde disséminée sur la quasi-totalité de la planète. Il ya a en fait tentative de génocide linguistique et culturel, avec la complicité tacite de l'Occident. L'avenir de l'éducation kurde dépendant dans une large mesure de la situation politique au Moyen-Orient, les problèmes pédagogiques ne peuvent être abordés que si la situation politique est résolue. Dans le adre du droit international, une nouvelle interprétation de l'article 27 de la Convention internationale des droits civils et politiques par le Comité des droits de l'hommes (ONU 1986) pourrait donner un nouvel espoir pour l'avenir.

---

( , , ) . . . . 27 (, 1986).

     

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.     

The decline of the nation-state and the education of national minorities

Many forces are shifting the role of the nation-state and altering our fundamental understanding of how it should function. The author argues that the transplanted European model of the nation-state has become dysfunctional, creating national minorities, serving as an ideological cloak for various forms of oppression and opposing forms of education that would promote diversity of languages and cultures. The decline of territorial sovereignty under the forces of globalization, the move to supranational forms of organization and the emergence of sub-national areas of economic and social development (often city-regions) provide a new range of opportunities for development of minority schooling.

---

Zusammenfassung Viele Kräfte verändern die Rolle des Nationenstaates und ändern damit auch unser grundsätzliches Verständnis zu dessen Funktion. Der Autor argumentiert, daß das übertragene europäische Modell des Nationenstaates außer Funktion gesetzt und damit nationale Minderheiten geschaffen wurden. Somit besteht ein ideologischer Deckmantel für verschiedene Arten von Unterdrückung und Widerstand gegen Erziehungsarten, die eine Vielfalt der Sprachen und Kulturen fördern würden. Der Verfall territorialer Unabhängigkeit unter den Kräften der Globalisierung, die Bewegung hin zu einer supranationalen Form der Organisation und die Schaffung regionaler Gebiete wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Entwicklung (oft Stadtbezirke) bieten neue Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten hinsichtlich der Schulbildung für Minderheiten.

---

Resumen Son muchas las fuerzas que están cambiando el papel que desempeña el estado-nación y que alteran nuestro concepto básico de cómo este debería funcionar. El autor argumenta que el modelo europeo trasplantado del estado-nación se ha vuelto disfunctional, creando minorías nacionales y sirviendo de manto ideológico para encubrir diferentes formas de opresión y de oposición a una educación que intenta promover la diversidad de lenguas y culturas. El ocaso de la soberanía territorial bajo las fuerzas de globalización, el cambio hacia formas de organización supranacionales y el surgimiento de sectores subnacionales de desarrollo económico y social (frecuentemente en regiones urbanas) proveen un nuevo tipo de oportunidades para el desarrollo de una educación escolar de minorías.

---

Résumé De nombreuses pressions modifient le rôle de l'Etat-nation et transforment notre conception fondamentale de son fonctionnement. L'auteur expose que le modèle européen d'Etat-nation qui a éé transposé dans d'autres régions est maintenant atteint de dysfonctionnement, car il crée des minorités nationales, sert de prétexte idéologique à différentes formes d'oppression et fait obstacle à des modèles d'éducation qui encourageraient la diversité des langues et des cultures. Le déclin de la souveraineté territoriale sous la pression de la mondialisation, l'évolution vers des formes d'organisation supranationales et l'apparition de concentrations régionales du développement éconnomique et social (souvent en tant que régions urbanisées) constituent de nouveaux stimulants pour l'élaboration d'une scolarité adaptée aux minorités.

---

, . , - , , . , ( -) .

     

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.

---

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.

---

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.

     

Modern education in ‘non-Western’ societies in the light of the world systems approach in Comparative Education

The mainstream of Comparative Education may be criticized from two directions: Firstly, for what we may call its overwhelming case and country-study tradition, which tends to neglect theoretical and integrative approaches of what should be the focus of attention: defining, conceptualizing and questioning human education and its respective institutions and processes — the school, family education, adult education, etc. — as the raison d'être of educational science, of which Comparative Education is an integral part. Secondly, for largely ignoring education in non-Western countries, either by sheer ommission of non-Western perspectives, experiences and studies or by the widespread tendency to separate non-Western realities into special branches such as thnicity and education, educational problems of the Third World or multi-cultural education. The world systems approach to Comparative Education proposed here tries to remedy these shortcomings in that it offers, firstly, a radically generalized theoretical perspective, because it aims at a theory of the modern school as it emerges from a global and comprehensive concept of comparison. Secondly, it presumes that non-European countries are not the outside world to our or their European or Western experiences, but instead that they form an integral part of what in short is to be termed the modem world. Hence non-Western societies have to be integrated into a truly comprehensive framework of comparative education, the object of which is to describe, analyse and understand the world-wide existence of structurally similar yet socially differentiated and ideologically distinct nation-state controlled education systems.

---

Zusammenfassung Die Hauptrichtung der Vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft kann zwei Ansatzpunkte zur Kritik geben. Erstens vernachlässigt ihre überwiegende Tradition der Fallstudien und Länderstudien theoretische und integrative Ansätze dessen, was eigentlich ihr Schwerpunkt sein sollte: die Definition, Konzeptualisierung und Hinterfragung menschlicher Erziehung und ihrer entsprechenden Institutionen und Prozesse wie Familienerziehung, Erwachsenenbildung usw. als die grundlegende Aufgabe aller Erziehungswissenschaft, deren integraler Bestandteil die Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft ist. Der zweite Ansatzpunkt der Kritik ist die weitgehende Nichtbeachtung von Erziehung und Bildung in nicht-westlichen Ländern, entweder aufgrund eines völligen Fehlens nicht-westlicher Perspektiven, Erfahrungen oder Studien oder aufgrund der weitverbreiteten Tendenz, nicht-westliche Erscheinungen in spezielle Untergebiete abzuspalten wie Ethnopädagogik, Bildungsprobleme der Dritten Welt oder multikulturelle Bildung. Der hier vorgeschlagene WeltsystemAnsatz der Vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft versucht, diese Unzulänglichkeiten zu überwinden. Hierzu wird, erstens, eine radikal verallgemeinerte theoretische Perspektive angeboten, die auf eine Theorie der modernen Schule abzielt, so wie sie sich aus einem weltweiten und umfassenden Vergleich heraus ergibt. Zweitens wird davon ausgegangen, daß außereuropäische Länder nicht eine Außenwelt für unsere oder deren europäische oder westliche Erfahrungen darstellen, sondern daß sie stattdessen integraler Bestandteil dessen sind, was man abgekürzt die moderne Welt nennen kann. Deshalb müssen nicht-westliche Geselleschaften in einen wirklich umfassenden Rahmen der Vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft mit einbezogen werden mit dem Ziel, die weltweit verbreitete Existenz strukturell ähnlicher, sozial und ideologisch jedoch unterschiedlicher, staatlich kontrollierter Bildungssysteme zu beschreiben, zu analysieren und zu verstehen.

---

Résumé Le courant majeur de l'éducation comparée peut être critiqué de deux points de vue. Premièrement, pour ce qu'on peut appeler sa tradition excessive d'études nationales ou d'études de cas, qui tend à négliger les approches théoriques et intégrantes de ce qui devrait être son centre d'intérêt, c'est-à-dire définir, conceptualiser et remettre en question l'éducation humaine, ses institutions et processus respectifs (l'école, l'éducation familiale, l'éducation des adultes, etc.) comme la raison d'être des sciences de l'éducation, dont l'éducation comparée fait partie intégrante. Deuxièmement, on peut le critiquer parce qu'il ignore en grande partie l'éducation dans les pays non occidentaux, soit en omettant purement les perspectives, les expériences et les études non occidentales, soit par la tendance répandue qui consiste à diviser les réalités non occidentales en sections spéciales comme l'ethnicité et l'éducation, les problèmes d'éducation du Tiers Monde, ou l'éducation multiculturelle. L'approche mondiale de systèmes de l'éducation comparée proposée ici tente de remédier à ces carences en offrant, premièrement, une perspective théorique fondamentalement généralisée, parce qu'elle vise à une théorie de l'école moderne tout en émergeant d'un concept de comparaison global, complet et général. Deuxièmement, elle présume que les pays non européens ne constituent pas le monde extérieur à nos expériences européennes ou occidentales ou aux leurs, mais plutôt qu'ils font partie intégrante de ce qu'on peut appeler en résumé le monde moderne. Donc, les sociétés non occidentales doivent être intégrées dans un cadre vraiment général d'éducation comparée, dont l'objet est de décrire, analyser et comprendre l'existence de par le monde de systèmes éducatifs d'Etat structuralement similaires, mais socialement diversifiés et idéologiquement distincts.

     

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.     

An innovative model for collaborative reform in Elementary School Science Teaching

This article received the Innovations in Teaching Science Teachers award at the 1996 meeting of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science. The award is made possible by Delta Education.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. TPE-9050015). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Talk,read, joke,make friends: Language power for children

The lusty birth cry with which most babies enter the world is the first in a long series of vocal behaviors which ever increase in communicative effectiveness as a child grows through infancy into the preschool years. By the time a child enters elementary grades, he or she can understand and use thousands of words (Honig, 1982b). Pronunciation is almost entirely comprehensible. The child uses the main grammatical rules very well such as adding ing for the progressive tense, or ed for the past tense, or using negation correctly as in I don't like liver (De Villiers & De Villiers, 1979; Elliot, 1981). Children can understand double meanings for words by four years of age. A child might explain to you that A turn is when your car turns around a corner, and it also is when you take turns on the playground. Linguistic humor becomes possible as the child becomes able to play with and make a play on words (Honig, 1988). Alice Sterling Honig teaches at Syracuse University in the Department of Child and Family Studies, College for Human Development, in Syracuse, NY. She is an editorial board member of Day Care & Early Education.