Torsten Husén: A case of ethnocentrism in U.S. educational research?

This paper documents and discusses the lack of reference by U.S. educational researchers to the work of noted Swedish social scientist and educational researcher, Torsten Husén. The paucity of U.S. textbook or journal citations of Husén's writings and research is interpreted as an example of cultural ethnocentrism and academic imperialism in U.S. educational and psychological research. Crosscultural perspectives, interdisciplinary analyses, and global learning are proposed as methods of overcoming the methodological parochialism, overspecialization, and international fragmentation Husén describes as characteristic of much educational and social scientific research.     

A two-dimensional analysis of student ratings of instruction

Student ratings of instruction were analyzed in terms of two global factors. One factor, which includes items on advanced planning, presentation clarity, and increased student knowledge, was named pedagogical skill. The other factor taps information about class discussion, grading, and the availability of help and was named rapport. Ratings on the skill factor did not covary with class size or the leniency of the instructor's grading but did correlate with a reasonable external criterion of student learning. Ratings of rapport correlated inversely with class size and directly with average class grade and showed only a weak relationship to the external criterion of student learning. The skill factor showed more interclass stability than the rapport factor. Previous research studies which have examined the reliability and validity of instructional ratings and their relationship to student grades and class size have reported inconsistent findings. These inconsistencies appear to result from an inappropriate unidimensional analysis of ratings which should be examined in terms of two of more separate attitude dimensions.     

The relationship between attributes of a children's radio program and its appeal to listeners

An approach was developed to investigate the link between attributes of a children's radio program and children's judgments of appeal. Program tapes were divided into 28 segments and were rated for the presence of 30 attributes. Through multidimensional scaling analysis, attributes were organized into six clusters of Superattributes on the basis of their co-occurrence across the 28 segments. Superattributes were labeled and assigned scores that reflected the degree to which each was present in the 28 segments. A sample of 42 children 8–12 years old listened to the test tapes and provided a written judgment of their interest in the program at each segment. Results revealed that the Superattributes Instruction, Intro Talk, and Jokes were negatively associated with children's interest, while Popular Music was positively correlated with interest. In planning programs and understanding the effects of radio on children, designers and researchers should pay special attention to those formats in radio programming that are familiar to children, especially popular music and instructional material.     

Education,democracy and development in a period of revolutionary change

The observation of the present global scene raises questions about the socioeconomic, political and cultural framework laying the ground for a constructive interaction between the three forces which greatly determine people's existence and survival, namely Development, Democracy and Education. In this approach reference is made to John Dewey's classical remarks about the interrelation between Democracy and Education. They are examined in the light of specific historical conditions which are exemplified by references to the history of the Bohemian Lands and the first Czechoslovak Republic as well as by a critical view of current events, revealing the anti-human perversion of Dewey's model.

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Zusammenfassung Ein Blick auf die gegenwärtige weltweite Szene wirft Fragen auf nach dem politischen und sozio-ökonomischen Rahmen, der Grundlage einer konstruktiven Interaktion der drei Kräfte ist, die vor allem die Existenz und das Überleben der Menschen bestimmen, nämlich Entwicklung, Demokratie und Bildung und Erziehung. Dieser Ansatz bezieht sich auf John Deweysklassische Bemerkungen über die Wechselwirkung von Demokratie und Bildung und Erziehung. Diese werden im Lichte spezifischer historischer Bedingungen untersucht, welche gleichermaßen am Beispiel der Geschichte der Böhmischen Länder und der ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik veranschaulicht werden, wie durch einen kritischen Ausblick auf zeitgenössische Ereignisse, die die menschenfeindliche Perversion von Deweys Modell offenbaren.

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Résumé L'observation de la scène actuelle soulève des questions au sujet du cadre socio-économique, politique et culturel qui constitue le fondement d'une interaction constructive entre les trois forces qui déterminent essentiellement l'existence et la survie des peuples, à savoir le développement, la démocratie et l'éducation. Cette approche se réfère aux remarques classiques de John Dewey sur l'interrelation entre la démocratie et l'éducation. On les examine en fonction de conditions historiques spécifiques illustrées par l'histoire des pays de la Bohème et de la première République tchécoslovaque ainsi que par une vue critique des événements actuels, qui révèlent la perversion misanthropique du modèle de Dewey.

     

Revitalizing the role of values and objectives in institutions of higher education: Difficulties encountered and the possible contribution of external evaluation

This article is concerned with improvement in institutions of higher education through enhancing the role of values and objectives in guiding effort and evaluating outcomes. The term objectives is used in a broad sense to include general statements of institutional purposes, more specific instructional, research and public service goals, and professional and personal objectives of the academic community, as well as the goals of clients and the larger community within which a college or university operates.Difficulties are identified that stand in the way of optimization in determining and reassessing basic objectives and in working with objectives once they are determined. The possible contribution of external evaluation is considered, including that of accreditation agencies and evaluation research. Two additional approaches are suggested: a governance audit and, especially, an optimization review. An outline is provided of points that could be considered in an optimization review. Attention is given to an institution having access to and drawing upon diverse perspectives and needed capabilities. The role suggested for the external evaluator is that of providing insights that facilitate an institution in developing its own capacity for sustained self-study and improvement.     

Exploring the Concept of ‘Habitus’ with Preservice Teachers Through the Use of Popular School Films

The thesis of this paper is that it is a productive venture to introduce preservice students to social theories that are typically not a part of teacher preparation programs. Examples of these theories are those associated with terms such as habitus, the carnivalesque, power / knowledge, seduction, detournement, the spectacle,la perruque, (the wig), and the art of making do,as well as others. In this paper, I describe a project that involved exploring the theory of habitus to problematize the tendency of preservice students to not think in terms of relations between what goes on in the classroom and what goes on in society. I introduced habitus by having preservice students read selected print materials and by having them view, analyze, and respond in writing to popular school films. Students also analyzed their experiences in classrooms in terms of habitus, making a connection between theory and practice.     

Modelling students' construction of energy models in physics

One of the main differences between novice and expert problem solving in physics is that novices mostly construct problem representations from objects and events in the experimental situation, whereas experts construct representations closer to theoretical terms and entities. A main difficulty in physics is in interrelating these two levels, i.e. in modelling. Relatively little research has been done on this problem, most work in AI, psychology and physics education having concentrated on how students use representations in problem solving, rather than on the complex process of how they construct them. We present a study that aims to explore how students construct models for energy storage, transformation and transfers in simple experimental situations involving electricity and mechanics. The study involved detailed analysis of problem solving dialogues produced by pairs of students, and AI modelling of these processes. We present successively more refined models that are capable of generating ideal solutions, solutions for individual students for a single task, then models for individuals across different tasks. The students' construction of energy models can be modelled in terms of the simplest process of modelling — establishing term to term relations between elements of the object/event world and the theory/model world, with underlying linear causal reasoning. Nevertheless, our model is unable to take into account more sophisticated modelling processes in students. In conclusion we therefore describe future work on the development of a new model that could take such processes into account.1. CHENE = CHaîne ENErgetique, or Energy Chain. (In French Chêne also means oak).2. Throughout the rest of the paper we use the following simple notation in order to avoid possible confusion between modelling as a process performed by the students, in the domain of physics, and AI modelling of the former modelling process: students' modelling in physics = modelling _SP ; AI modelling (of modelling _SP ) = modelling _AI .3. It has not been necessary to use more sophisticated strategies at the stage of our work reported here. The next system, modelCHENE, will directly address this issue.4. Note that what we refer to in this context as problem solving may in another context be viewed as construction of a qualitative representation for subsequent quantitative problem solving.5. The protocols indicate that students use this as a kind of anchor in their reasoning-some students returning to it in order to resolve impasses. As the current problem solver provides no mechanism for handling impasses we cannot model the reuse of information in any meaningful way.6. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this example.7. This provides the minimum distinction for our initial needs.8. Though there is a difficult step in deciding that the moving object really is the last unassigned object-since that requires setting aside any need to assign roles to, for example, connecting strings etc.9. At the moment we have to provide psCHENE with slightly different rulesets: providing rules with priorities would be more convenient.     

The structure of subject matter content and its instructional design implications

This paper discusses the analysis of subject matter structure for purposes of designing instruction. The underlying assumption is that subject matter structures provide an important basis for deciding how to sequence and synthesize the modules of a subject matter area. Four types of fundamental structures are briefly described and illustrated: the learning hierarchy, the procedural hierarchy, the taxonomy, and the model. Then a theoretical framework is presented for classifying types of subject mater content — both modules and structures. Finally, some implications of these content classifications are discussed. The classification of modules is hypothesized to be valuable for prescribing strategies for the presentation of single modules, and the classification of structures is hypothesized to be valuable for prescribing strategies for selecting, sequencing, synthesizing, and summarizing related modules. The need to take into account more than one kind of structure in the process of instructional design is emphasized.     

On the nature of problems

This paper is an attempt at clarifying the concept of problem, and originates from a concern for improving the teaching of problem solving.The following categories are identified and employed in the analysis of several examples of problems and related notions: (a) the formulation of a problem, i.e. the definition of the task to be performed, (b) the context in which the problem is embedded, (c) the set of suitable solutions, (d) the methods of approach that could be employed in solving the problem.Commonalities as well as contrasts among specific examples are used to identify important elements of problems. The study suggests a possible classification of types of problems of educational interest, and draws some implications for the choice and use of problems in classroom instruction.     

Adolescent Activism for Postmodern HIV/AIDS Education: A New Social Movement

The present research argues that YELL (Youth Education Life Line), a committee of the group AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), faces limitiations in its effort to pressure for frank HIV/AIDS education, not only because of its postmodern approach to education, but also its lack of political and economic resources. Using Touraine's perspective on social movement and the postmodern approach to education, the present research argues that resource mobilization and identity paradigms combined, rather than separately, offer a better theoretical understanding of the new social movement that adolescent activism for frank HIV/AIDS education represents.     

A Comparison of Student Achievement and Satisfaction in an Online Versus a Traditional Face-to-Face Statistics Class

In this study we examined differences between online distance education and traditional classroom learning for an introductory undergraduate statistics course. Two outcome dimensions were measured: students final grades and student satisfaction with the course. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicated that there was no significant difference in grades between the online and traditional classroom contexts. However, students enrolled in the online course were significantly less satisfied with the course than the traditional classroom students on several dimensions. This finding is inconsistent with the no significant difference phenomenon, described in Russells (1999) annotated bibliography, which supports minimal outcome differences between online courses and face-to-face courses.Jessica J. Summers and Tiffany A. Whittaker are Assistant Professors, and Alexander Waigandt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri–Columbia. Dr. Summers holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include the study of social contexts of motivation, academic classroom community, and cooperative learning. Dr. Waigandt holds a Ph.D. in Community and School Health from the University of Oregon. His primary research interest is in demographic analysis. Dr. Whittaker holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include model selection methods in structural equation modeling and multiple regression, interpretation of score reports in computer-based testing, and the effects of missing data on the recovery of item and person parameters in the item response theory framework.     

“The good university teacher” as perceived by the students

Many universities, recognizing the student as the main consumer of college instruction, have begun to seek his views regarding the quality of teaching. In this study the Israeli student's concept of a good teacher has been investigated. A sample of second year university students were asked to select the three most important characteristics of a good teacher from a list of fifteen.It was shown that students attached primary importance to method of instruction. Of secondary importance was the teacher's ability to spark intellectual growth. Research talents, personality, and academic status were of relatively little concern. Social science, life science, law and medical students all concurred in emphasizing the importance of the teacher's ability to communicate ideas, whereas humanities students stressed his ability to stimulate thinking.It appears that undergraduate students rate teachers by their ability to transmit knowledge rather than according to the university's criteria of research and publication.The concepts good teacher and effective instruction are used interchangeably in this article, although they are not identical.     

Can Mathematics Education and History of Mathematics Coexist?

Despite the wide interest in combining mathematics education and the history of mathematics, there are grave and fundamental problems in this effort. The main difficulty is that while one wants to see historical topics in the classroom or an historical approach in teaching, the commitment to teach the modern mathematics and modern mathematical techniques necessary in thepure and applied sciences forces one either to trivialize history or to distortit. In particular, this commitment forces one to adopt a Whiggish approach to the history of mathematics. Two possible resolutions of the difficulty are (1) radical separation – putting the history of mathematics on a separate track from the ordinary course of instruction, and (2) radical accommodation – turning the study of mathematics into the study of mathematical texts.     

Upward academic mobility for the non-secondary school graduate: Some avenues open to young adults in West Germany

In many nations, adults without a secondary school diploma have, in increasing numbers, returned to formal education in order to qualify for admission to higher institutions. The Federal Republic of Germany has been among the leaders in efforts to facilitate such upward academic mobility. Therefore, this article deals with some of the most important developing or newly-created institutions or practices aimed at encouraging those young West German adults most likely to succeed. Status elevation of non-academic schools, e.g., largely in engineering, to Fachhochschulen, as well as creation of in part vocationally-oriented, yet higher education-preparatory secondary schools, are discussed. The article stresses the role of adult education and especially those day and evening institutions (Kollegs and Abendgymnasien) specifically designed to qualify young adults for academic studies. While these schools take into account the relative maturity of their students and the recently-initiated course electivity of West German secondary schools, they have not as yet attracted, in sufficient numbers, such previously disadvantaged groups as workers, women, and rural residents. Other measures in the direction of upward educational mobility are extensive regional television-based programs (Telekollegs), recently-enacted official regulations governing correspondence education, and external school-leaving examinations varying from state to state.Finally, attention is given to a number of current issues pertaining to upward academic mobility. Among them is the fact that the growing tendency of young people to attend a secondary school, instead of merely completing the upper elementary school, increases the number of students interrupting their school attendance. That fact, in turn, compounds both the difficulties resulting from admission restrictions in many academic fields and the unemployment picture for university graduates. There is doubt as to whether added centralized efforts can offer solutions to these problems.     

Connecting Teacher Beliefs to the Use of Children’s Literature in the Teaching of Mathematics

This article presents examples that illustrate how teachers use childrens literature in the teaching of mathematics. The examples are related to four curriculum ideologies that have influenced mathematics education in the USA for the last 75 years. It discusses why it is relevant to help teachers understand the ideological positions that influence their use of childrens literature during mathematics instruction, summarizes the four ideological positions, and presents results of a study of how teachers ideological positions relate to their use of childrens literature in the teaching of mathematics. The study examines two research questionsCan an instructional tool be developed that will highlight for teachers the different ways in which they and others use childrens literature to teach mathematics? and Can that instructional tool stimulate teacher discussion and reflection about their own beliefs and the ideological nature of the instructional environment in which they learned (as students) and teach (as teachers)? Study results indicate that both questions can be answered in the affirmative.     

The American mixture of higher education in perspective: four dimensions

Several nations are currently considering privatization of parts of their higher education systems. This paper, mainly based on the American experience, examines privatizing public institutions as an alternative to establishing solely private institutions.Institutions are analyzed along four dimensions: (1) ownership (public or private); (2) control (external or internal); (3) financing (public or private funds); and (4) mechanisms for public financing (who controls fund distribution and how). There are varying mixtures along these four dimensions both within countries and around the world, with the American system exhibiting the widest range of combinations. Six categories are described, including four common in the U.S.: I. Independent private, where institutions are independent in ownership, in control, and in basic financing; II. Dependent private, independent in ownership and financing but dependent in control; III. Independent public, dependent in ownership but independent in control and substantially independent in financing; IV. Semi-independent public (state/guild type), dependent in ownership, mixed in control, and heavily dependent in financing (less common in the U.S., but typical of Italy and Latin America); V. Semi-independent public (state/trustee/guild type), where control is shared among state, academic guilds and lay boards of trustees but with mainly state-controlled financing; and VI. Dependent public, the model in the Communist nations.Kerr traces the historical path that led to the mixed American system and examines some of its positive consequences, which include institutional autonomy, diversity, and flexibility. Negative results include possible over-responsiveness to short-term pressures, as from the labor market or student preferences for courses of study, and from supporting business or industry.The author concludes that the American experience with privatized public institutions may serve as a model for those elsewhere who now seek greater institutional differentiation, autonomy, and flexibility within national systems of higher education.     

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.     

Characteristics and careers of Canadian university presidents

This statistical study of Canadian university presidents was prompted by the discovery that there is no systematic demographic information available on university administrators in Canada. The vitae of 98 current Canadian university presidents and their immediate predecessors were collected and statistics such as age and length of tenure were compared with those of American counterparts. The Canadian university presidents assumed office at about 49 years of age and held office for about eight years. They tend to be born in geographical proximity to the institution they will head and to circle it geographically during their careers. A former association with the University of Toronto, either as a student or teacher, was common. There appears to be a career ladder which includes a decanal and/or vice-presidential position, particularly in central Canada; few presidents move to a second presidency, although several move into what might be termed an academic superstructure. Few Canadian presidents majored in the field of Education as a student or teacher and there is generally poor representation from the Arts as compared to the U.S.; on the other hand, the hard sciences are well represented. The implications of these tendencies are discussed.     

Language factor: Does it affect children's performance on word problems?

48 children from primary 4 in private and public schools (24 from each) were asked to solve 10 arithmetic word problems (involving more or less as the cue word) presented in English and in their native language. Retrospective clinical interviews were also conducted to find out how each child analyzed the meaning of each problem, before deciding which operation to use to solve it. The results revealed that both public and private school children performed better both in skills and in strategies when problems were presented in their native language than when presented in English, but only public school had the result to be significant (P<.025). Also data obtained from the interviews are in accord with psycholinguistic theories concerning the polarized comparative pair of less and more.     

La Croissance des depenses publiques d'education en Allemagne: 1829–1989

Résumé Le retournement de conjoncture du début des années 1970 s'est traduit par un renouveau des travaux relatifs aux cycles longs de type Kondratieff. Face à la fluctuation atypique de certaines variables (prix, production, etc ...), les acquis théoriques antérieurs semblaient avoir épuisé leur capacité explicative. Il devenait nécessaire d'énoncer et de vérifier des hypothèses nouvelles pour expliquer les traits originaux de la crise de structure qui se dessinait. Les résultats des travaux développés au sein du groupe de recherche en Histoire Quantitative et Théories du Long Terme de l'Université de Montpellier I répondent à cette nécessité. Ils introduisent une relation entre les dépenses engagées pour le développement des hommes (salaires, éducation, santé etc ...) et celles consacrées à la croissance matérielle.

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The downturn in the economic situation in the early 1970s gave rise to new work on long-term Kondratieff cycles. Given the atypical fluctuation in some variables (prices, production, etc.), previous theories appeared to have exhausted their ability to explain events. To explain the original features of the structural crisis that was developing, it has become necessary to put forward and test new hypotheses. The results of work carried out by the research group on Quantitative History and Long-Term Theories at the University of Montpellier I meet this requirement. They introduce a relationship between expenditure on human development (wages, education, health, etc.) and that devoted to material growth.

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Zusammenfassung Die Verschlechterung der wirtschaftlichen Situation in den frühen 70ern gab der Arbeit an langfristigen Kontratieff — Zyklen Aufschwung. In Anbetracht der atypischen Fluktuation einiger Variablen (Preise, Produktion, usw.) schienen vorangegangene Theorien die Ereignisse nicht mehr erklären zu können. Um die Ursachen der sich entwickelnden strukturellen Krise erklären zu können wurde es notwendig, neue Hypothesen aufzustellen und auszuprobieren. Die Ergebnisse der von der Forschungsgruppe über Quantitative Geschichte und Langzeittheorien an der Universität von Montpellier I durchgeführten Studien erfüllen diese Anforderungen. Sie stellen Ausgaben für die menschliche Entwicklung (Lohn, Bildung, Gesundheit usw.) und Ausgaben für materielles Wachstum in Relation.

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Resumen La degradación de la situación económica a comienzos de los a~nos setenta ha originado un nuevo trabajo sobre ciclos Kondratieff de largo plazo. Dada la fluctuación atípica de algunas variables (precios, producción, etc.), las teorías previas aparentemente habían agotado su capacidad de explicar los hechos. A efectos de explicar las características originales de la crisis estructural que se estaba desarrollando, surgió la necesidad de adelantar y comprobar nuevas hipótesis. Los resultados del trabajo realizado por el grupo de investigación de Historia Cuantitativa y Teorías de Largo Plazo de la Universidad de Montpellier I satisfacen estos requisitos. Ellos introducen una relación entre los gastos y esfuerzos destinados al desarrollo humano (salarios, educación, sanidad, etc.) y aquellos dedicados al crecimiento material.

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