Main trends in graduate study in basic sciences in Turkish universities: a quantitative overview

This paper seeks to trace the development of graduate studies in basic sciences in Turkish universities from origins to the present day. The study includes a sketch of the historical background of higher education from its start in medieval madrasahs and Istanbul Darulfunun (The House of Sciences), to the transition into present-day university education, i.e., to the beginnings of modern graduate study and the emergence of new universities. Empirical statistics are given to substantiate the rapid growth of graduate study and of the number of degrees produced since the 1980s. The mean number of Ph.D. Degrees per year has increased from a few in a single university in the 1930s to nearly a hundred in today's twenty seven universities in Turkey in the 1980s. Finally, a quantitative overview of the growth trends in graduate study in basic sciences as well as an assessment of the present degree productivity of Turkish universities are presented.     

A description of effective college teaching in five disciplines as measured by student ratings

Student rating of teachers in five disciplines (science and math, education, social sciences, humanities, and business) were analyzed to determine which teacher attributes were important in predicting ratings of teaching effectiveness. Rating results from 1,439 courses taught at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale from 1973 to 1974 were used as data for this study. The results indicated that the instructor attributes rated as characteristic of effective instruction were highly consistent across disciplines, and the effective instructor was described as (1) knowing when students understood him, (2) increasing students' appreciation of the subject matter, (3) answering impromptu questions satisfactorily, (4) achieving the objectives of the course, and (5) giving several examples to explain complex topics.     

Practice-based Teaching: A self-study by two teacher educators at the graduate level

This article tells the story of a self-study conducted by two faculty members teaching foundational concepts in a Master of Arts in Teaching initial certification program. Our research question was: “How can we best teach foundational concepts with a practice-based approach that we consider to be critical to our teacher candidates' ability to be successful in their future teaching careers?” Gathering data over three semesters, this research required constant re-examination. Data indicated that candidates had the educational and life experiences to allow them to grasp concepts as they pertained to educational foundations. This did not necessarily mean that, as initial certification candidates, they would be more adept than their undergraduate counterparts in understanding how these concepts would influence their practice. This conclusion resulted in our understanding of the need for more purposeful scaffolding and extensive modeling. It also reaffirmed our need for having cooperating teachers who are theoretically aligned with coursework offered on campus.     

对外汉语本科专业基础教材参考文献的内容分析

文章以9本对外汉语本科专业基础教材中的参考文献为研究对象,对参考文献的数量、所涉学科领域、语种、类型等多方面进行系统考察与分析,探讨此类教材中使用参考文献的特点,并借此分析这些对外汉语本科教学类专业基础教材的优点和不足。研究发现,部分专业基础教材存在引文数量偏少,所涉学科较为狭窄,编者学术视野不够开阔的问题。作者据此对未来汉语国际教育本科专业基础教材的编写提出了一些建议。     

The graduate record examination as a predictor of graduate student performance: The case of criminal justice

Research on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as a predictor of graduate student performance has been marked by much debate. Thornell and McCoy (1985) have found that the relationship between student performance and the GRE may be sensitive to the discipline being studied. While unexplained to date, this disciplinary variation may be related to the differences in means and/or relative dispersions of GRE scores among disciplines. Further, there has been only one study (McKee, Mallory, and Campbell, in press) for criminal justice, the field with the lowest mean GRE score. This paper focuses on this neglected field. Data were collected from the files of 70 criminal justice majors in a master's program at a large midwestern urban university. The results indicate that GRE scores are largely unrelated to indicators of graduate student performance (GPA, grades in specific classes, and the completion of the M.A. degree). The one exception is a strong relationship between verbal GRE and graduate GPA. This relationship may indicate a nonlinear ceiling effect wherein verbal GRE scores affect GGPA, mainly in disciplines with means at the low end of the verbal GRE score distribution.     

Faculty accountability and faculty workload: A preliminary cost analysis of their relationship as revealed by PhD productivity

General concerns for faculty accountability are examined in the context of faculty workload and costs. Graduating a PhD student is used as the unit for analysis. The unit is compared to instructional productivity. The data came from a 10-year interval at a major graduate university. Six liberal arts departments with a 225-member faculty provide the PhD output and workload information. Work equivalents are determined from institutional and faculty self-reports. Graduating a PhD is found to be equivalent to one-third of a full workload. Implications are given for comparisons between programs within a university and between types of institutions in the larger system of higher education. Concerns also emerge for improved personnel practices with respect to faculty work assignments.     

Reforms of Educational Efficiency and Quality in Developing Countries: an overview

It is possible to distinguish different ‘themes’ of educational reform in developing countries. These can be categorised as planning/management and efficiency reforms, quality reforms, and curricular reforms; the first two only are discussed here. The first of these ‘themes’ has been typically dominated by the economist's agenda, the second by the educationalist's. Planning/management and efficiency reforms have been set within a context of overriding concern with educational expansion, with the consequence that insufficient attention has been paid to the quality of the educational systems being developed. Moreover, under prevailing conditions of austerity, the recent efficiency‐oriented solutions proffered by greater competition have served to exacerbate the disparities in the provision of quality education. Educational reform focused on quality has, perhaps, been the most intractable of the themes under discussion. What makes for a high quality educational system is a moving target. The pendulum swing has been away from state interventionism, but the state's role as regulator and equaliser of disparities may be on the return. The extent of the swing back will be dependent on the success of participatory strategies to involve the more marginalised stakeholders in all the different aspects of educational reform reviewed in this paper.     

Differentiation as measured by the Classroom Practices Survey: a validity study updating the original instrument

The Classroom Practices Survey assesses educators’ use of differentiated instruction with students achieving at average and high levels. The purposes of this study were to investigate if the Classroom Practices Survey (1) yields reliable and valid data from the groups for which it was originally designed and (2) can be used to evaluate teachers’ differentiation practices for students who achieve at low levels. Participants included 648 elementary teachers who completed the Classroom Practices Survey for students achieving at high, average and low levels. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original six-factor model was not supported by the current data. Model fit was improved with a four-factor model, but did not reach the recommended values for good model fit. Further research and possibly modifications are needed before this tool is used by researchers and schools. This study highlights the importance of periodically evaluating instruments and revising them if necessary.

     

研究生素质教育评估指标体系构建探析

通过关键要素调查法和专家问卷法筛选,确定了研究生素质教育评估的二级指标及其权重,从而初步建立了用以评估研究生培养单位素质教育成效的指标体系。     

Approaches to learning by undergraduate students: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this study was to determine if the success of students at a highly selective combined baccalaureate/MD degree program is affected by their different approaches to learning. One hundred freshmen students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine (UMKC) were surveyed using the Lancaster Approaches to Studying Inventory (short survey by Entwistle, 1981). Analysis of the data indicates that the learning styles of students from this combined-degree school tend to be similar to the learning styles of students from other baccalaureate-degree programs in medicine. It appears there are some relationships between approaches to learning and success in the program. This association between learning styles and success also appears to be related to gender differences.Presented at the Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Louisville, KY, May 13–16, 1990.     

科学社会学诞生的历史回顾

回溯一门学科的诞生过程,对于从整体上把握该门学科具有重要意义。科学社会学作为社会学年轻的分支之一,促成其诞生的原因是多方面的。其中,培根、孔德等哲学家和思想家对科学与社会互动关系的开戗性研究,贡献比较突出。尤为重要的是,知识社会学为科学社会学的诞生开辟了道路、提供了范例、输送了人才等。科学社会学两大研究传统的奠基作分别是默顿的《十七世纪英格兰的科学、技术与社会》和贝尔纳的《科学的社会功能》。     

A Scientific Discourse on Education in the Crisis: sociology of education in the Federal Republic of Germany

The discourse on German education in sociology and economics is investigated as an intertwined process of politico‐educational events, adoption of problems by social scientists, reactions to general ideological topics and redefinitions within a changing spectrum of theoretical contexts. It is argued that the present crisis of educational reform and crisis of the scientific discourse on education have their roots in the nature of the reconstruction of. the German society after the Nazi‐period. The former common ideological basis of the discourse is factionised and a new theoretical foundation is out of sight.     

Insiders,outsiders, and the community college: A sociology of knowledge perspective

It is proposed that a more comprehensive view of the community college would emerge if a sociology of knowledge perspective toward analyses of that institution were adopted. Robert K. Merton's discussion of insiders and outsiders is applied to the often conflicting images of the role of the community college found in analyses of those affiliated with that institution (insiders) and those who view it from the vantage of the university (outsiders). It is suggested that a synthesis of insider and outsider perspectives is possible.     

Curriculum reform and ‘Quality Education’ in China: An overview

This paper provides an overview of Chinese government attempts to promote a revised school curriculum reflecting a more holistic approach to education under the banner of suzhi jiaoyu (“quality education”), and positions the policies in the Chinese historical, educational, social and economic context. While the push has inspired innovative reforms in a number of schools and met with considerable in-principal support, on a wider scale implementation of the reforms is hampered by insufficient resources, conceptual ambiguity and conservative resistance. The goals of the new curriculum are still not reflected in the examinations and frequently conflict with teacher, student and parental goals in a society where examination outcomes have life long consequences.     

Contributions from sociology of science to mathematics education in Brazil: logic as a system of beliefs

In Brazil, mathematics education was associated with Jean Piaget’s theory. Scholars in the field of education appropriated Piaget’s work in different ways, but usually emphasized logical aspects of thought, which probably lead to an expansion of mathematics education influenced by psychology. This study attempts to extend the range of interlocutions and pose a dialogue between the field of mathematics education in Brazil and the sociology of science proposed by David Bloor. The main point of Bloor’s theory is that logical-mathematical knowledge is far from being true and universal and is socially conditioned. In particular we will be discussing the first principle of the strong program, which deals with conditions that generate beliefs promoted by education policies in Brazil, such as the MEC/USAID treaties. In this case the “naturalization of logic” was stimulated by a widespread diffusion of both Piaget studies and the Modern Mathematics Movement.     

Numbers and Narratives: Further reflections in the sociology of education

A realist framework, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, is advocated for the sociology of education. The case for a 'numbers and narratives' approach is supported by an analysis of several fundamental problems. Realist forms of sociological explanation require specification of properties at the three distinct levels of social structure, individual disposition, and action within social practice. It is argued that the quantification of these properties is most satisfactorily achieved within a materialist theory of measurement. Many of the problems that arise with quantitative work are shown to have their origin in an inadequate theory of measurement and to be sustained by an unsound concept of 'statistical explanation'. It is concluded that the most satisfactory response to these problems, however, lies not in the celebration of qualitative work, situated in a relationship of opposition, but in the development of an integrated structure-disposition-practice explanatory scheme for the sociology of education.