The British and curriculum development in West Africa: A historical discourse

THE BRITISH AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN WEST AFRICA: A HISTORICAL STUDY – Only recently have African nations begun to make their way towards establishing genuinely autonomous education systems incorporating elements of indigenous culture. The present study examines the historical development of curriculum in British West Africa in its links with the educational activities of the early Christian missionaries and the imposition of British colonial rule. For over 300 years, the curriculum content was essentially European in nature. African interests and cultural practices were largely excluded, as “bookwork” was favored over “handwork”. The colonial curriculum also helped introduce a new social order to West Africa, leading to the rise of new local elites reading, writing, and speaking foreign European languages. This study explores how the idea of a “civilized” person, promoted through the colonial school curriculum, developed new local elites with different sets of values and expectations that often made them strangers in their own societies. It also describes the connection between this curriculum and the repeated failure of education-reform efforts.     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Conceptual Framework on the Ozone Layer Depletion. Exploring the Associative Meanings of a Global Environmental Issue

This paper reports on a study conducted among Greek kindergarten teachers aiming to explore their conceptual frameworks on a major environmental issue of our times: the ozone layer depletion. The choice of this particular issue was premised on its novelty, complexity and abstractness which present teachers with difficulties in its teaching. A free word association task was employed to identify the associative meaning of the issue among the participant teachers. The study’s results revealed the existence of a simplistic, linear, cause-and-effect scheme in the teachers’ conceptual frameworks, the two poles of which are “solar radiation” and “its harmful results for human health”. Some of the well-known misconceptions and misunderstandings already emerged in previous research also arise in this study. Prominent among them are the deeply rooted confusion between the “ozone hole” and “greenhouse effect”, a general fusion of ideas concerning all environmental problems and an overemphasis on the harmful consequences of the ozone depletion on human health. Implications for kindergarten teacher education are also discussed.The present study is part of a research project that is co-funded by the European Social Fund and National Resources – (EPEAEK II) PYTHAGORAS II.     

Decomposition analysis of carbon reduction measures and carbon emission changes in five areas in China

Based on the analysis of primary energy consumption structure in five main provinces or municipalities in China, the factors that affect carbon emissions in the five study areas are analyzed quantitatively and comparatively with the decomposition analysis method. Empirical results demonstrate that the decomposition models of carbon emissions can be defined as “municipality model” and “provincial model”, and the population factor of “municipal model” plays a significant role in carbon emissions than that of “provincial model”. Either positive or negative effects of energy structure can be found in five different areas. However, there is a general trend that energy structure effort is becoming more and more important. Based on the characteristics and trends of carbon emissions in different areas, the carbon reduction measures are proposed as well.     

Student teachers' entry perceptions about teaching primary science: Does a first degree make a difference?

It is problematic whether primary teachers benefit by completing a first degree especially when the teaching of specific subjects, here science, is the focus of attention. This study reports the comparative results of interviewing thirteen Canadian and ten Australian student teachers, both about to commence their Bachelor of Education. The Canadian students had completed an initial degree while nine of the Australian students were school leavers. The interviews, which explored views about teaching primary science, were analysed with this factor in mind. Student teacher perceptions reported include: how to recognise a “good” primary science teacher; perceptions of self as a “good” primary science teacher; expectations of how the teacher education program could assist their science teaching; and whether (for the Canadian students) the initial degree will help in becoming a primary science teacher. Analysis of the interviews suggests possible influences a first degree (among other factors) may have on perceptions related to primary science teaching and raises questions about what is the best general approach for preparing primary teachers to teach science effectivly.     

A sense of place

Conclusion Places shape the stories of our lives. These stories become ongoing “ecological conversations”—i.e., expressions of the dialogue between ourselves and the environment (Lutts, 1985). When this conversation ends, so will our future. The development of healthy environmental awareness and concern starts with a feeling response to nature. Such a response comes primarily by way of firsthand positive experiences in the out-of-doors, especially in environments fostering a “sense of place” experience. Attention to creating a sense of place for young children can thus prove helpful in fostering a lifelong commitment to the natural environment. In designing “sense of place” play and learning spaces for young children, we are, indeed, designing the future as well.     

The instructional gestalt: A conceptual framework and design for educational research

Summary The argument is advanced in this paper that the pattern of educational investigation wherein comparisons are made between so-called “ experimental” and “ conventional” instructional procedures tends to be defective on three counts: the criteria are often inappropriate or contaminated; the assumptions of homogeneity within and independence between “ experimental” and “ control” conditions are met only when these conditions are very grossly conceived; and the results reflect masking and cancellation effects, thereby revealing relatively little about what transpires in an instructional setting. The Instructional Gestalt is proposed as a methodological framework for educational research focusing upon the interactive nature of learner, instructor, and environmental and course variables constituting the instructional setting. Data generated by explorations within this framework can lead to the formulation of hypotheses which, if subsequently supported empirically, can become principles for inclusion in a theory of classroom learning. The nature of investigations proceeding from the Instructional Gestalt framework was clarified by presentation and discussion of an illustrative study. Since this illustration was only a representation in miniature of the larger investigation, the generalizations about teaching-learning suggested by it are of limited scope and subject to change. Nevertheless, these generalizations do indicate the kinds of hypotheses resulting from studies within the Instructional Gestalt framework. This paper summarizes the rationale underlying research on the Instructional Gestalt proceeding under a grant from the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Portions of this rationale have been presented at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association in 1961 and 1962.     

Workplace correlates and scholarly performance of clinical pharmacy faculty

The workplace, especially the academic department or division, provides an intriguing research site for study of correlates of scholarly performance. The objective of this study was to estimate a correlate model of three-year scholarly performance of clinical faculty in colleges of pharmacy. Two-hundred and ninety-six clinical faculty in pharmacy responded to an author-developed questionnaire. The scholarly performance items factored into three dimensions: “Refereed Research,”, “Grants/Books Research,” and “Nonresearch Scholarship.” A fourth single-item variable, “Contracts,” was also used as a dependent dimension. Eight correlates, including two related to the departmental workplace, emerged as factors significantly explaining the variation in scholarly performance. The two most significant were “Off-Campus Conversations” and “Department: Percent Time in Research.” These results as well as others were contrasted with prior correlate studies and suggestions were made for future additional study.     

Students’ Persistence in a Distributed Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education: A Mixed Methods Study

The purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to identify factors contributing to students’ persistence in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Distributed Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in Higher Education by obtaining quantitative results from surveying 278 current and former students and then following up with four purposefully selected typical respondents to explore those results in more depth. In the first, quantitative, phase, five external and internal to the program factors were found to be predictors to students’ persistence in the program: “program”, “online learning environment”, “student support services”, “faculty”, and “self-motivation”. In the qualitative follow up multiple case study analysis four major themes emerged: (1) quality of academic experiences; (2) online learning environment; (3) support and assistance; and (4) student self-motivation. The quantitative and qualitative findings from the two phases of the study are discussed with reference to prior research. Implications and recommendations for policy makers are provided.     

The concept mapping heuristic as viewed by some Australian and Indonesian science teachers

This paper reports a study on concept mapping involving 14 Australian and 9 Indonesian science teachers. After a training and practice session in concept mapping, the teachers were surveyed on four scales: “Learning it”, “Teaching it”, “Useability by students”, and “Perceived benefits”. While the teachers' attitudes were generally favourable interesting differences were discerned among scales, among teachers of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, and between countries. Specialization: Social psychology of science learning, eco-culture and metalearning in science. Specializations: Eco-culture and metalearning in science; distance education delivery systems.     

Argumentation and indigenous knowledge: socio-historical influences in contextualizing an argumentation model in South African schools

This forum considers argumentation as a means of science teaching in South African schools, through the integration of indigenous knowledge (IK). It addresses issues raised in Mariana G. Hewson and Meshach B. Ogunniyi’s paper entitled: Argumentation-teaching as a method to introduce indigenous knowledge into science classrooms: opportunities and challenges. As well as Peter Easton’s: Hawks and baby chickens: cultivating the sources of indigenous science education; and, Femi S. Otulaja, Ann Cameron and Audrey Msimanga’s: Rethinking argumentation-teaching strategies and indigenous knowledge in South African science classrooms. The first topic addressed is that implementation of argumentation in the science classroom becomes a complex endeavor when the tensions between students’ IK, the educational infrastructure (allowance for teacher professional development, etc.) and local belief systems are made explicit. Secondly, western styles of debate become mitigating factors because they do not always adequately translate to South African culture. For example, in many instances it is more culturally acceptable in South Africa to build consensus than to be confrontational. Thirdly, the tension between what is “authentic science” and what is not becomes an influencing factor when a tension is created between IK and western science. Finally, I argue that the thrust of argumentation is to set students up as “scientist-students” who will be considered through a deficit model by judging their habitus and cultural capital. Explicitly, a “scientist-student” is a student who has “learned,” modeled and thoroughly assimilated the habits of western scientists, evidently—and who will be judged by and held accountable for their demonstration of explicit related behaviors in the science classroom. I propose that science teaching, to include argumentation, should consist of “listening carefully” (radical listening) to students and valuing their language, culture, and learning as a model for “science for all”.     

Curricular innovation in an undergraduate medical program: What is “appropriate” assessment?

In post-secondary education, there is a widely-held belief in a “gold standard” for evaluative studies of curricular innovations. In this context, “appropriate” assessment is understood to refer to experimental designs and statistically significant differences in group outcomes. Yet in our evaluative study of a medical undergraduate program, we did not find these concepts to be particularly applicable. Based on our experience, we now feel that it is appropriate to assemble an eclectic mix of scientific findings, show how they have been used for program improvement, and articulate the program’s theoretical rationale and social significance. In the absence of statistically significant differences, this comprehensive argument can be used to justify the deployment of curricular innovations. The same may be true of other educational programs that target hard-to-measure changes in affective domains.     

Four dialogues and metalogues about the nature of science

We analyse and explore, in the form of dialogues and metalogues questions about the dialogic nature of beliefs and students belief talk about the nature of science and scientific knowledge. Following recent advances in discursive psychology, this study focuses not on students' claims but on the discursive resources and dialogical practices that support the particular claims they make. We argue that students' discourse is better understood as a textual bricolage that is sensitive to conversational context, common sense, interpretive repertoires, and textual resources available in the conversational situation. Our text is reflexive as it embodies the discursive construction of knowledge and undercuts any claims to authoritative knowledge. The very conception of “belief” is itself an expression or construction from within the mundane idiom.... We learn to use “belief” in conditions when the “objective facts” are unknown or problematic and we want to indicate the tenuous character of our claim.... The notion of “real world” or “objective reality” is embedded in an extensive, pervasive language game which includes as an intelligible move or possibility the use of the very concept of “belief” itself. (Pollner, 1987, p. 21)     

English phonological specificity predicts early French reading difficulty in emerging bilingual children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the predictive value of a dynamic test of English and French lexical specificity on at-risk reading classification in 13 at-risk and 44 not at-risk emerging English (L1)–French (L2) bilingual Grade 1 children (M = 75.87 months, SD = 3.18) enrolled in an early French immersion program in Canada. Lexical specificity was assessed with a computerized word learning game in which children were taught new English (e.g., “foal” and “sole”) and French (e.g., bac “bin” and bague “ring”) word pairs contrasted by minimal phonological differences. The results indicated that the dynamic test of lexical specificity in English contributed significantly to the prediction of children’s French at-risk reading status at the end of Grade 1 after controlling for French phonological awareness and nonverbal reasoning skills. However, French lexical specificity did not predict children’s reading risk classification in French after controlling for French phonological awareness. Thus, it may be feasible to identify at-risk status in emerging bilinguals using dynamic measures in their stronger language.     

Academic marxism and communisms’ fall

Peter Shaw is consulting editor ofAcademic Questions and Will and Ariel Durant Professor of Humanities for 1990–1991 at St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ 07306. This essay was originally presented as part of the panel “Academic Utopianism: Its Past and Its Future” at “Strategies for the Nineties,” the second national conference of the National Association of Scholars, held June 8–10, 1990. The panel focused on what impact, if any, the fall of European Communism would have on academic Marxism in the United States.     

Interactive technology: Can children construct their own technological design briefs?

This paper presents a study of the design questions that children ask as they work technologically in school. Thirty-nine school aged children's technological work on “cubby building” is mapped and discussed. Data sources included video recording, worksamples, photographs with annotations of work in progress and when completed, and ethnographic field notes. The findings support the view that children's design questions and briefs arise at various points throughout the lesson sequence, demonstrating the iterative nature of design, make and appraise within and across lessons. The formulation of design questions evolved as children interacted, negotiated, played and worked in technological ways. For young children, playing with the “product” or “process” was an important part of working technologically. For the older children, the possession of technological skills for joining materials to achieve the desired outcome was a key factor.     

Analysis of written language of a language learning disabled (dyslexic) college student and instructional implications

This paper examines spontaneous writing of a college student with a history of language learning problems. Writing samples, collected from tests and papers in college courses, were analyzed for syntactic complexity, spelling, grammatical errors, semantic errors, and organization. Metacognitive factors were analyzed by examining student’s responses to questions about his perceptions about writing. Results showed: (a) the dyslexic student produced syntactically complex structures comparable to nondyslexic writers; (b) the student averaged 9% spelling errors per essay and 17 grammatical errors per essay; (c) primary semantic errors were inappropriate word choices, incorrect determiners, and overuse of “so” as a transition; (d) major problem with organization involved difficulties with expanding an idea beyond “saying the same thing in a different way;” (e) metacognitive strategies included difficulties with separating self from writing and recognizing ambiguity in writing. The paper then describes six instructional strategies to assist in remediation of the student’s writing problems. Paper presented at the Second Miami University Sentence Combining Conference, October, 1983.     

The “System of Chymists” and the “Newtonian dream” in Greek-speaking Communities in the 17th–18th Centuries

The acceptance of new chemical ideas, before the Chemical Revolution of Lavoisier, in Greek-speaking communities in the 17th and 18th centuries did not create a discourse of chemical philosophy, as it did in Europe, but rather a “philosophy” of chemistry as it was formed through the evolution of didactic traditions of Chemistry. This “philosophical” chemistry was not based on the existence of any academic institutions, it was focused on the ontology of principles and forces governing the analysis/synthesis of matter and formulated two didactic traditions. The one, named “the system of chymists”, close to the Boylean/Cartesian tradition, accepted, contrary to Aristotelianism, the five “chymical” principles and also the analytical ideal, but the “chymical” principles were not under a conceptual and experimental investigation, as they were in Europe. Also, a crucial issue for this tradition remained the “mechanical” principles which were under the influence of the metaphysical nature of the Aristotelian principles. The other, close to the Boylean/Newtonian tradition, was the integrated presentation of the Newtonian “dream”, which maintained a discursive attitude with reference to the “chemical attractions”–“chemical affinities” and actualised the mathematical atomism of Boscovich, according to which the elementary texture of matter could be causally explained within this complex architecture of mathematical “punkta”. In this tradition also coexisted, in a discursive synthesis, the “chemical element” of Lavoisier and the arguments of the new theory and its opposition to the phlogiston theory, but the “chemical affinities” were under the realm of the “physical element” as “metaphysical point”.     

Constructing an understanding of water-quality: Public perceptions and attitudes concerning three different water-bodies

Summary Data from the interviews discussed in this paper, along with other interview data from over 150 respondents at Hamilton Lake, Karapiro Lake and the Waikato River, are documented and discussed in Happs (1986). Overall results suggest that groups such as “residents”, “active users” and “passive users” provided varying, and often unpredictable responses to questions concerning water appearance and quality. The influence of media reports, anecdotes and personal bias was evident in many responses with prior “knowledge” and attitudes mediating in decision-making. It seems likely that the whole question of public perception and understanding of environmental phenomena is a complex issue which cannot be reduced to the identification of single variables which determine human response. Rather, a web of interrelated factors may lead to a subjective construction of understanding about water quality. Impartiality and the consideration of available evidence should be important elements in reaching conclusions about water quality. This investigation had led to results which suggest that many members of the public might have difficulty in arriving at objective conclusions about the appearance and quality of water-bodies.     

德育如何看待"利己"

One of the main reasons of the fact that Chinese moral education could hardly get out of its predicament is that “self-regard” has been simply and unilaterally interpreted as the absolute opposite to morality, where “self-regard” is merely regarded as the source of “everything evil”, and the fact that it is also the source of “everything good” is neglected. Actually, “self-regard” is the nature of human beings who go for benefit and avoid harm, which is inevitable and reasonable. It is not naturally opposite to altruism, for there is no problem concerning morality in self-regard itself, though there might be some in the means adopted. Therefore, the aim of moral education is not to deprive a person of his/her intention of self-regard, but to normalize the means he/she might adopt, so that he/she could suitably benefit himself/herself as he/she benefits others. It is proven by the past experience and the present situation that the key premise for the Chinese moral education to get out of its predicament is to set up a correct understanding over self-regard. Translated from Xueshu Yanjiu 学术研究 (Academic Research), 2005, (6): 117–120