Excellence and choice: Friends or foes?

This paper explores the contrasts dividing the excellence and choice movements to date. The orientations of both are examined, along with key features and impacts of each. Particular attention is given the predicament and the challenge of at risk youngsters. Yet there are developments suggesting a growing mutuality between the two movements. The elaboration of a conception of Excellence that makes educational sense reveals the centrality of motivation to educational accomplishment. This in turn exposes the choice principle as an important aid to the pursuit of excellence.     

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.     

The effects of educational reform on the content and status of the social subjects in England and wales and the USA: A case study

Over the past decade educational reform has been taking place in the USA and in England and Wales. This paper traces the political pressures to change the social subjects curriculum on both sides of the Atlantic. In England and Wales the new National Curriculum aims to raise educational standards and to increase accountability through a national assessment system. In the USA the Federal Government has set to work on establishing national goals. There is evidence in both countries that the new curricula are emerging from a political process which imposes content and structures upon teachers with little consultation. The paper concentrates on how the social studies curriculum has been affected in this process. It explores the politics of curricular reform by comparing events in the USA and England and Wales and outlines the ways, particularly in the British context, in which the teaching profession has explored the limits of its power and has fought back against central control to make its voice heard.

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Zusammenfassung In den letzten zehn Jahren gab es eine Bildungsreform in den USA, sowie in England und Wales. Dieser Bericht studiert den politischen Druck, der zu einer Änderung des Curriculums in den Sozialfächern auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks geführt hat. In England und Wales soll das neue nationale Curriculum den Bildungsstandard anheben und die Verantwortlichkeit durch ein nationales Bewertungssystem steigern. In den USA begann die Bundesregierung mit der Festsetzung nationaler Ziele, die den Lehrern Inhalte und Strukturen mit wenig Mitbestimmungsrecht auferlegt. Der Artikel konzentriert sich auf die Auswirkungen dieses Prozesses auf das Curriculum der Sozialstudien. Er untersucht die Politik der Curriculums-Reform, in dem Ereignisse in den USA, England und Wales verglichen werden. Insbesondere im britischen Kontext werden Wege aufgezeigt, auf denen der Lehrberuf die Grenzen seiner Macht erforscht und sich gegen eine zentrale Kontrolle gewehrt hat, um Aufmerksamkeit auf sich zu ziehen.

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Resumen Durante la última década se ha realizado una reforma de la educación en los EEUU, Inglaterra y Gales. Este trabajo esboza las presiones políticas de cambiar los planes de estudio de los sujetos sociales a ambos lados de Atlántico. En Inglaterra y Gales, elNew National Curriculum aspira a crear estándares de la educación y a incrementar la responsabilidad a través de un sistema nacional de valoración. En los EEUU, el Gobierno Federal ha comenzado a trabajar en la fijación de objetivos nacionales. Es evidente que en ambos países los nuevos planes de estudios están emergiendo de un proceso político que impone contenidos y estructuras a los maestros, consultándolos poco o nada. El trabajo se concentra en el impacto que ha sufrido el curriculo de estudios sociales en este proceso. Explora la política de la reforma curricular comparando acontecimientos de los EE UU y de Inglaterra y Gales y proporciona una idea general de los modos, particularmente en el contexto británico, en los que la profesión de enseñanza ha explorado los límites du su poder y se ha defendido contra el control central para hacerse escuchar.

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Résumé Au cours de la dernière décennie, une réforme éducative a été engagée aux Etats-Unis, en Angleterre et au pays de Galles. Cet article retrace les pressions politigues qui ont été exercées pour remanier les thèmes sociaux dans les programmes des deux côtés de l'Atlantique. En Angleterre et au pays de Galles, le nouveau curriculum national a pour but d'élever les niveaux de l'enseignement et d'augmenter la responsabilité par un système national d'évaluation. Aux Etats-Unis, le gouvernement fédéral a entrepris d'établir des objectifs nationaux. Il est évident que dans les deux pays, les nouveaux programmes sont nés d'un processus politique qui a imposé aux enseignants des contenus et des structures en les consultant à peine. L'article se concentre sur les retombées de ce processus sur les programmes d'études sociales. Il étudie la politique de la réforme curriculaire en comparant les événements intervenus aux Etats-Unis et en Angleterre-pays de Galles et souligne, en particulier dans le contexte britannique, la façon dont le corps enseignant a épuisé les limites de son pouvoir et a résisté au contrôle central pour se faire entendre.

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Transactive Peer Tutoring: Distributing Cognition and Metacognition

ASK to THINK—TEL WHY®© is an inquiry-based model of mutual peer tutoring in which tutoring partners mediate each others' learning in a transactive manner. This tutorial model is designed as a person-plus cognitive partnership that supports the distribution of cognition and metacognition in order to promote complex, higher-level learning. This article focuses on what is being distributed during ASK to THINK—TEL WHY®© (i.e., the cognitive tasks of questioning, explaining, thinking, problem solving, as well as monitoring and regulation of learning) and how these cognitions are distributed across the tutoring pair and various aspects of their learning environment. Results of research on the effectiveness of using this model in classroom contexts has shown that the model promotes students' construction of new knowledge.     

Literacy from a linguistic and a sociolinguistic perspective

This paper examines the impact of two major approaches to literacy programs — the linguistic and the sociolinguistic. The principal difference between the two perspectives is that the linguistic negates the importance of sociological and ethnographic factors in a person's attaining literacy, while the sociolinguistic magnifies these influences. From one viewpoint, literacy is seen as cracking a linguistic code, while from the other, in Freire's (1987) phrasing, reading the world is necessary before reading the word. Academic/cultural literacy and functional literacy are examined as types affiliated with the linguistic perspective. Types of ethnographic literacy programs are analyzed to show their sociolinguistic orientation. The last section of the paper examines the language planning consequences of which perspective a country adopts and focuses on some recent literacy programs in Peru which incorporate elements of both the linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel untersucht den Einfluß zweier Ansätze zu Alphabetisierungsprogrammen — den linguistischen und den soziolinguistischen. Der Hauptunterschied zwischen beiden Perspektiven liegt darin, daß die linguistische die Bedeutung soziologischer und ethnologischer Faktoren beim lernen verneint, während die soziolinguistische Perspektive diese Einflüsse unterstreicht. Eine Seite versteht unter Lese- und Schreibfähigkeit die Lösung eines linguistischen Codes, während die andere Seite mit Freires (1987) Worten gesprochen, Lesen der Welt in seiner Wichtigkeit vor Lesen des Wortes stellt. Akademische/kulturelle Schreib-u. Lesefähigkeit und funktionelle Schreib- u. Lesefähigkeit werden als Beispiele untersucht, die eng mit der linguistischen Perspektive verbunden sind. Ethnographische Alphabetisierungsprogramme werden in ihrer soziolinguistischen Orientierung analysiert. Der letzte Teil des Artikels setzt sich mit den Folgen für Sprachprogramme auseinander, in Bezug zur eingenommenen Perspektive. Der Artikel konzentriert sich auf einige Alphabetisierungsprogramme in Peru, die beide Perspektiven einbeziehen.

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Resumen El trabajo examina el impacto de dos importantes enfoques de programas de alfabetización: el lingüístico y el sociolingüístico. La principal diferencia entre ambas ópticas reside en que la lingüística niega la importancia que revisten los factores sociológicos y etnográficos para la persona que está aprendiendo a leer y a escribir, mientras que la sociolingüística magnifica estas influencias. Desde un punto de vista, la alfabetización es considerada como la solución del código lingüístico, mientras que desde el otro, según las palabras de Freire (1987), se sostiene que antes de reading the word (leer la palabra) será necesario reading the world (interpretar el mundo). Estudia la alfabetización académico-cultural y la alfabetización funcional como disciplinas asociadas a la óptica de la lingüística. Analiza tipos de programas etnográficos de alfabetización para mostrar su orientación sociolingüístca. La última parte del trabajo examina las consecuencias de la planificación del lenguaje según la perspectiva que un país adopta, y enfoca algunos programas de alfabetización recientes del Perú, que incorporan elementos tanto de la óptica lingüística como de la sociolingüístic.

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Résumé Cet article étudie l'incidence des deux principaux modes d'approche des programmes d'alphabétistion, l'un linguistique et l'autre sociolinguistique. La différence principale entre ces deux perspectives est la suivante: La linguistique nie l'importance des facteurs sociologiques et ethnographiques dans le processus d'alphabétisation d'une personne, alors que la sociolinguistique amplifie ces facteurs d'influence. La première considère l'alphabétisation comme le décryptage d'un code linguistique, pour la seconde, selon l'expression de Freire (1987), il faut lire le monde avant de lire le mot. Les formes d'alphabétisation dites académique, culturelle et fonctionnelle sont présentées comme appartenant à l'optique linguistique. Des programmes d'alphabétisation ethnographique sont également examinés pour en montrer l'orientation sociolinguistique. La dernière partie de l'article analyse les conséquences sur la planification linguistique quand un pays adopte l'une ou l'autre conception, et termine par la présentation de quelques récents programmes d'alphabétisation au Pérou, qui intègrent des éléments à la fois linguistiques et sociolinguistiques.

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Three-dimensional symmetry

The errors made when high-school students locate reflections in horizontal, vertical or slanting mirrors were examined. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-six perspective drawings, each portraying an upright transparent cube containing a two-sided mirror, was given to 394 Australian students from grades 7, 9 and 11. On a corner, an edge, or a face of each cube was drawn either a point or a straight-line segment. The task was to draw its image (reflection). Analysis of errors revealed a strong tendency towards horizontal or vertical sliding, suggesting that the edges of the cube act in much the same way as a horizontal-vertical background grid does in the two-dimensional case.     

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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Awareness and use of academic research by doctoral students

Relationships between graduate education and academic research are intuitively accepted, but have been given limited examination. Using concepts suggested by Merton and Hagstrom, this study developed measures of recognition and association to assess student awareness of ambient research in their departments. Usefulness of campus research for the respondent's own work was explored in terms of the kinds of utility and its relative importance compared to other resources. A mailed survey of a sample of Ph.D. recipients in 18 departments from a major research university brought a 68% usable return, 470 subjects. Findings show a high level of research awareness, about 70%. The major utilities of research for doctoral students are identified as the theoretical leads and basic data sources.     

An invasion in the classroom: influence of an ill-structured innovation on instructional and epistemological beliefs

In this article, the actual impact on students' instructional and epistemological beliefs of systematic attempts to implement a problembased, collaborative and technologicallyrich learning environment in regular, internationallyspread, secondary school classrooms is described. Although the literature suggests that learning environments do affect both categories of beliefs, empirical evidence is currently limited. To study the effects of learning environments, classroombased learning environments were redesigned in various respects. The change entailed the implementation of a problembased, collaborative and technologicallyrich environment to replace the more regular contentdriven, teachercentred and textbookbased environment. The implementation of the innovation was hypothesised to result in a change of both the instructional and epistemological beliefs of students. Moreover, these beliefs were expected to evolve in the direction of the assumptions underlying the innovative environment. A classical pretest and posttest study resulted in the confirmation of the first hypothesis. However, for the second hypothesis, the opposite was found: students' beliefs strengthened in a direction that contradicts the basic principles underlying the designed environment. The study highlights that a poor implementation of potentially powerful learning environments can result in unexpected and even undesirable side effects.     

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.     

Consciously Thinking About Consciousness

Merker hypothesized that because mobile creatures move around and must constantly readjust their map of the world and because the demands are so great for continually processing information for a map of the world, evolution has created a space in the brain where such preprocessing has been eliminated. This space he calls consciousness with the preprocessing in the unconscious. Using Merker's view, this paper explores the process of changing paradigms, giving advice and the implications for learning.     

Strategies for enhancing learning in the “blow-off” course

Lower division courses are typically perceived by students as blow-off courses. We can overcome this image. This paper contrasts active and passivelearning environments, and describes efforts to create an active, critical learning environment in both Introduction to Sociology and The Family System-typical lower division courses in Sociology. A review of grade distributions, quantitative course evaluations, qualitative course evaluations, and a survey asking students to subjectively compare the active learning course structure to the typical multiple choice format provide evaluation data. Finally, the paper discusses problems in using these innovations.Randy Stoecker recently received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota, and has been exploring alternative pedagogies since 1982. He has published in the areas of social theory and social movements. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meetings, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1988. Many thanks for insightful comments by Tuck Green, Ron Berger, and an anonymousInnovative Higher Education referee.     

Training,stability and control

This paper presents a system-theoretic approach to the analysis of the problem of training formally relating it to the control of an abstract dynamic system, the adaption automaton of the trainee. The utility of this formulation and the possibility of basing real training strategies upon it are discussed, and it is argued that further constraints upon the automaton are both necessary, and available, in so far as the theory corresponds to practical reality. The minimal constraints generate an extended theory in which training is related to the stability of the adaption automaton. More practical constraints lead to theoretical foundations for strategies of feedback or adaptive training. Corresponding to each set of constraints a training theorem is proved which demonstrates that the constraint is adequate to lead to a simple universal training strategy.Although this paper is highly theoretical it is argued that the formal concepts introduced correspond to intuitive models of the phenomena of learning and training which are implicit in the design of many training systems. It is hoped that the formal analysis will throw new light on these implicit assumptions and help to clarify discussion of practical approaches to training, including the possibility of computer-aided instruction given on our present level of knowledge of human cognitive skills or individual students.     

Science, Society, and Technology—Three Cultures and Multiple Visions

The article reviews the strikingly divergent viewpoints of intellectuals—scientists and non-scientists—about Science and Technology. It shows that while scientists implicitly accept the difference between Science and Technology, to non-scientists that difference is irrelevant. The most important differences between Science and Technology that lie in their relative scales, outputs and accuracy of predictions are highlighted. The complexity of and difficulty in trying to quantify the contribution of science and technology to economic growth are discussed. Views of science and technology that include their societal perceptions are recommended.     

Common logical errors in English and Chinese

A test of logic using implicational and disjunctive sentences was given in English to first-language English speakers, in Chinese to first-language Chinese speakers, and in English to Chinese students in an English language university. No differences in overall performance were found on the if...then sentences. Differences among groups on or sentences were not attributable to Whorfian differences in logical thinking. It was deemed likely that poor command of English, or perhaps low confidence in English, led to slightly lower scores among the bilingual group.     

The role of reflection in mathematics learning

Reflective abstraction is central to the theory of constructivism as put forth by von Glasersfeld. In coming to know, persons make major cognitive advances by taking their actions as objects of thought. Leamers move beyond being in the action when they engage in reflection. There are serious limitations in the explain-practice method of instruction and active learning. Performing even self-generated mathematical operations does not have the power which results from reflecting on the activity. Problem-centered learning, an instructional strategy which has been shown to provide rich opportunities for reflection, is examined. The nature of reflection in mathematical activity is also considered.     

Jekyll and hyde in the classroom: A comparative case study in educational failure

This article describes the curriculum Enrichment Program (CEP), an attempt at partial privatization in a Jerusalem elementary school. Although the school was part of the free public education system, under the CEP parents could pay for their children to receive extra teaching over and above the basic curriculum. Because of a high drop-out rate and other problems, the project was terminated after a short period. The author examines the reasons for the failure of the scheme and analyses its wider implications.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel beschreibt das Curriculum Enrichment Program (CEP — Curriculum Erweiterungsprojekt), ein Versuch zur teilweisen Privatisierung einer Grundschule in Jerusalem. Obwohl die Schule Teil eines freien öffentlichen Bildungssystems war, stand es den Eltern frei, gegen Bezahlung erweiterten Unterricht über das Grundcurriculum hinaus für ihre Kinder zu erhalten. Das Projekt wurde schon nach kurzer Zeit aufgrund von hohen Schulversagerquoten und anderen Problemen beendet. Der Autor untersucht die Gründe für den Fehlschlag des Systems und analysiert die weiteren Auswirkungen.

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Resumen Este artículo describe un proyecto de ampliación del programa de enseñanza Llamado Curriculum Enrichment Program (CEP) como un proyecto de privatización parcial que se realizó en una escuela de primera enseñanza de Jerusalén. Si bien la escuela formaba parte del sistema de educación pública, el CEP ofrecía la posibilidad de que los padres pagaran una instrucción adicional al programa básico para sus hijos. A causa de una elevada cuota de bajas y de otros problemas, el proyecto fue terminado poco tiempo después. El autor examina las razones del fracaso de este delineamiento y analiza las consecuencias de mayor trascendencia.

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Résumé Cet article décrit le projet d'enrichissement des curriculums, qui était une tentative de privatisation partielle dans une école primaire de Jérusalem. Bien que cette école fasse partie du système d'enseignement public, ce projet donnait l'option aux parents de payer pour que leurs enfants reçoivent un enseignement supplémentaire, en dehors du curriculum de base ou supérieur à celui-ci. En raison du taux élevé d'abandons et d'autres problèmes, le projet fut interrompu après une courte période. L'auteur étudie les raisons de l'échec de ce modèle et en analyse les répercussions indirectes.

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University and community: Evolving perceptions of the African university

For the past two decades universities in Africa have been engaged in a re-examination of their relationship with society. In the light of this, the popular characterization of the African university as reflecting colonial, international, stages of development, or levels of integration models, appears inadequate to describe the challenge involved in creating an African identity for the university. Similarly, conceptions of the university as an instrument for creating an educated, planned or changed society or to think of it in terms of preserving and reflecting the dominant features of society, seem inadequate to describe fully the demands of contemporary and future society upon the university. A new framework of thought is urgently required; such a framework would encompass the desired aims of both the university and society and the relationships - dynamic and organic - between them. This article attempts to formulate such a framework and indicates its implications for the structure, content and operation of the university in Africa.     

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.     

“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.