Educational research in Latin America

Educational planning specialist at Unesco's Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC). Former staff member of the World Bank and Coordinator of the Latin American educational research exchange network (REDUC), he was also Head of the Chilean Educational Planning Office (1965–70). Co-author of Development of Educational Planning Modelsand of Eight Years of their Lives.     

Educational research networks in Latin America

During the last ten years research papers of good quality on Latin American education have risen from almost nothing to more than 100 a year, and the original three or four research centres have multiplied ten times. Diffusion has improved through regional distribution of journals and through opportunities for personal exchange, though this is handicapped by salary levels and poor communications. Networks, of which ten years ago there were only five, are expanding, and may be identified under sponsoring organizations or by topics. Many reasons for the high level of activity may be advanced, which include the key role played by journals, pay off from previous graduate training, facilities such as the use of computers, higher standards of librarianship and new sources of funding. Knowledge from previous research is also being put to use, and improvement programs are receiving support from research, but the danger exists that research may be transformed into an elite exercise.

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Zusammenfassung Während des letzten Jahrzehnts ist die Anzahl von Forschungsarbeiten guter Qualität über das Bildungswesen in Lateinamerika fast aus dem Nichts auf über 100 pro Jahr gestiegen, und die ursprünglich drei oder vier Forschungszentren haben sich verzehnfacht. Die Verbreitung hat sich durch regional zirkulierende Zeitschriften und durch Gelegenheiten zu persönlichem Austausch verbessert, obwohl dieser durch noch niedrige Gehälter und unzureichende Kommunikationsmittel behindert Netzwerke — vor 10 Jahren gab es nur fünf — haben sich vermehrt und können nach Förderorganisationen oder nach Themen klassifiziert werden. Für die Vielfalt der jetzigen Aktivitäten können verschiedene Gründe angeführt werden, u.a. die Schlüsselrolle der Zeitschriften, die Früchte früherer Universitätsausbildung, neue Möglichkeiten wie Gebrauch von Computern, höheres Bibliothekarsniveau und neue Finanzierungsquellen. Ausserdem werden durch frühere Forschung erworbene Kenntnisse angewandt und Verbesserungsprogramme durch Forschung unterstützt. Allerdings besteht die Gefahr, dass die Forschung einen elitären Charakter annehmen könnte.

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Résumé Au cours de ces dix dernières années, les articles sérieux concernant la recherche dans le domaine de l'éducation en Amérique latine, sont passés d'un nombre infime à une quantité depassant la centaine chaque année, et les trois ou quatre centres de recherche qui existaient à l'origine se sont multipliés par dix. La diffusion s'est améliorée grâce à la distribution régionale des publications spécialisées, et aux opportunités d'échanges personnels, bien que le handicap des bas salaires et des communications difficiles soit considérable. Les réseaux d'information qui, il y a dix ans, n'étaient qu'au nombre de cinq, se développent et peuvent être classés d'après les organisations qui les prennent en charge ou d'après leurs sujets d'enquête. On peut avancer de nombreuses suggestions pour expliquer ce haut niveau d'activité, entre autres le rôle-clef joué par les publications spécialisées, l'amortissement de la formation antérieure des enseignants, des facilités telles que l'usage des ordinateurs, un niveau plus élevé des bibliothécaires, et de nouvelles sources d'investissement. Les expériences de la recherche précédente sont aussi utilisées et les programmes d'amélioration reçoivent une aide de la recherche, mais le danger subsiste que cette recherche soit transformée en un exercice d'entraînement de l'élite.

     

Some challenges for educational research in Latin America

Founding director of the Centro de Estudios Educativos (Centre for Educational Studies) in Mexico City and of the Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Educativos(Latin American Journal of Educational Studies). He was in charge of the National Programme of Educational Research of the National Council for Science and Technology. He now carries out research at the Regional Centre for Adult Education and Functional Literacy for Latin America. His recent publications include: La política de alfabetización de seis países latinoamericanos, Participatory Research: A New Research Paradigm?and Elementos para una propuesta orientada a elevar la calidad: La enseñanza tutorial.     

Educating cities in Latin America

This article considers the development of educating cities from a political perspective, illustrating in detail the diversity of organisations and individuals involved and the challenges they are facing. Bearing in mind that educating cities were established from the 1990s onwards in Europe and spread to other continents from there, the purpose of this article is to demonstrate how this proposal was adopted in Latin America. After discussing the basic aims of educating cities, the paper focuses on the Latin American experience, giving examples of existing projects within the educating cities initiative. The authors are particularly interested in the contrast between the political intentions of educating cities on the one hand and the social, economic, political and cultural world on the other hand. They observe that in this context there is a danger of the individual being forgotten, which contradicts the actual intention of the educating city concept. They also discuss the problem of who should carry out the realisation of educating cities and how the various stakeholders might coordinate their actions. Contemplating new directions at the end of their paper, the authors sum up a number of guidelines and offer recommendations for action in developing educating cities.     

Higher Education in Latin America

This article presents an analysis of, and proposals for, international co-operation in higher education. It focuses on Latin American higher education, its current situation, and the expected transformation of the goals of higher education in the context of international co-operation. Education in the Twenty-First Century must be part of the world economic order. As such, it must attend to human necessities. One of the most important goals of the Twenty-First Century should be the building of a new kind of solidarity among human beings, one in which higher education systems will play an important role. The author describes the challenges that globalization poses to Latin American higher education.     

Instructional technology research and development in a US physics education group

The purpose of this brief paper is to provide insight into the kinds of work being done by an education research group in a US physics department. As will be evident, instructional technology raises many interesting questions and lends itself to a wide variety of studies. References and contacts are provided for readers wanting more detailed information on the research. The paper is based on a presentation given at the Workshop on Best Practices of ICT Use in a University Environment, 24 September 2004, in Zürich.     

Evaluating multigrade school reform in Latin America

This paper describes three multigrade school reforms in Latin America: (1) Colombia’s Escuela Nueva, (2) Guatemala’s Nueva Escuela Unitaria, and (3) Chile’s MECE‐Rural. Each reform endowed primary teachers and students with special training and instructional materials, and encouraged new kinds of instruction in rural classrooms, with the goal of improving student learning. The paper discusses the challenges to evaluating school reforms in a rural context. It then reviews the international literature on each reform, assessing whether reforms were effectively implemented and whether they caused improvement in student outcomes. Even in the best cases, multigrade schools were not fully implemented. There is consistent evidence of positive effects on student achievement. Yet, the causal interpretation of evaluation findings is severely limited, especially in Guatemala and Chile. It concludes with suggestions for improving multigrade evaluations.     

Educational Neuromyths Among Teachers in Latin America

Neuroscientific knowledge has undeniably gained interest among educators worldwide. However, not all “brain facts” believed by teachers are supported by science. This study sought to evaluate the belief in these so‐called neuromyths among 3,451 Latin American teachers. We found that, consistent with prior research among teachers in other geographic areas, teachers in Latin America hold major misconceptions about neuroscience, especially as it relates to factual information about its structure and functioning. Differences across South American nations were observed with moderate and slight effect sizes for general knowledge of the brain and neuromyths, respectively. Teachers working in higher education had slightly superior performance. Teachers at all levels who reported knowing more about the brain, however, were more likely to believe invalid assertions known as neuromyths. These results shed light on trends in the field of education, hoping to encourage the development of strategies aimed at correcting the use of science as it relates to education. The implications regarding teaching practice, policy, and teacher training are discussed.     

Conceptualising Education for All in Latin America

In this paper we discuss issues in conceptualising the education of poor and marginalised adults in Latin America. Our starting point is the World Education Forum 'Dakar Framework for Action' affirmation that education is the key to sustainable development, peace and stability. We argue that a reconceptualisation of the education of adults, informed by an understandingof adults' everyday and work practices, may help us understand the ways in which education can contribute to these goals. Such an analysis requires both a socio-cognitive and a political dimension in order to take account of the cognitive abilities and agency as citizens of those whom Frantz Fanon memorably called 'the wretched of the earth'.     

美国教学设计的过去、现在与未来——访"第二代教学设计之父"戴维·梅瑞尔博士

编者按:戴维·梅瑞尔(Davici Merrill,1937),美国犹他州立大学教育技术系荣誉退休教授,当代著名教学设计专家和教育心理学家,美国夏威夷杨百翰大学和佛罗里达州立大学客座教授.1964年梅瑞尔读研究生的时候正是加涅<学习的条件>书稿完成之际.同样是1964年,梅瑞尔获得了教育心理学博士学位,开始了其长达45年的学术生涯,成为了今天教学设计领域一位声名卓著的学者和公认的学术领袖,至今还活跃在许多的学术场合.45年中学习理论发生了从行为主义到认知主义到建构主义的转变;45年中教育技术领域走过了从视听教学到多媒体教学到网络教学的转变.梅瑞尔在45年的学术生涯中,一方面推进了加涅所开创的教学设计研究,丰富并发展了第一代教学设计的理论体系;另一方面对其所开创的第二代教学设计以实现教学设计的自动化为己任,因此被称为"第二代教学设计之父".作为第二代教学设计的领军人物.面对今天困扰着教育技术领域的众多理论和实践问题,梅瑞尔仍然在努力寻求着诸多问题的答案:比如学习科学的挑战,专业发展的极不稳定,研究人员的浮躁,教学设计扑朔迷离的未来等等.梅瑞尔对于美国教学设计过去的反思、现状的分析和未来的展望值得中国教育技术领域的每一位专业人员仔细研读,并对我国教育技术领域的教学设计理论与实践的发展具有指导意义,为此本刊特组织国内的学者针对梅瑞尔对于美国教学设计过去的反思、现状的分析和未来的展望这一主题与戴维·梅瑞尔展开了交流与对话.