Science Laboratory Classroom Environments at Schools and Universities: A Cross‐National Study∗

ABSTRACT

Because already existing classroom environment scales are unsuitable for science laboratory classes, a new instrument was developed and validated in a Class form (student's perceptions of the class as a whole) and a new Personal form (student's perceptions of his/her own role within the class). The instrument was cross‐nationally field tested with 5,447 students in 269 classes in six countries, and cross‐validated with 1,594 students in 92 classes in Australia. Each scale exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and factorial validity, and differentiated between the perceptions of students in different classes. Use of the new instrument revealed that: science laboratory classes are dominated by closed‐ended activities; Class form means consistently were more favorable than Personal form means; associations existed between attitudinal outcomes and laboratory environment; and the Class and Personal form each accounted for unique variance in student attitudes.     

The Educational System in Poland and other Central‐Eastern European Countries during the Transition Period

This article examines the developments and direction of change of the education systems which have taken place in the Vishehrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) during the past decade. Comparisons are made between the four countries focusing on the following areas: school reforms, change of the structure and non‐public schools.     

Universities in the Community‐The Role of the CCEs and Extension Services

The recent Green Paper, Higher Education. A Policy Discussion Paper, proposes that strategic planning be adopted by all tertiary institutions as part of a new style of management. ¹ 1. Higher Education. A Policy Discussion Paper, AGPS, Canberra, December, 1987. Chapter 7. This paper explains the nature and advantages of strategic planning, and the major elements involved in strategic planning within an analytical framework. Various strategies which can form part of the overall planning model are examined, with an emphasis on their financial aspects.

     

Delinquency and reputational orientations of adolescent at‐risk and not‐at‐risk males and females

This research investigated differences in delinquent activities and the reputational orientations of at‐risk and not‐at‐risk male and female adolescents. Initially, we sought to establish that adolescent males and females differed in these respects. This was found to be the case: males (n = 722) scored significantly higher than females (n = 738) on seven self‐reported delinquency variables and on eight reputation enhancement variables pertaining to social deviance, non‐conforming reputation, and power/evaluation private identity. When a sample of 31 at‐risk females was subsequently pair‐wise age matched with 31 not‐at‐risk females, at‐risk females scored significantly higher on all delinquency variables other than school misdemeanors. These at‐risk females also scored significantly higher on four reputation enhancement variables relating to social deviance and non‐conformity. Given that at‐risk females did not differ from their not‐at‐risk counterparts in level of involvement in school misdemeanors, we sought to determine whether this was also the case for at‐risk and not‐at‐risk males. An age‐matched sample of 91 pairs revealed that at‐risk males reported significantly higher involvement than not‐at‐risk males in all aspects of delinquency, including school misdemeanors. They also sought a more non‐conforming reputation. To explore the relationships between delinquency and reputation enhancement, a canonical correlation analysis was performed. All findings are discussed in the light of reputation enhancement theory.     

By‐Products of the College Classroom∗

Postmodern media scholarship suggests that mass media are best described as naturalized aspects of our cultural environment, raw materials we use in shaping our identities, our relationships, and our communities. Rather than being reliably produced and predictably consumed, mass‐media “texts” provide space for creative negotiation and even resistance between the author of a given media “text,” the receiver of that text, and the context in which the text is produced and consumed. In this landscape the role of religious educator is one of giving people access to the symbolic, narrative, and sacramental resources of our faith communities.     

Education and school‐to‐work transitions in post‐communist Poland∗

Abstract

Unemployment in Poland rose throughout 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 but the proportion of school‐leavers among the unemployed peaked in 1990. Unlike in most western market economies, the best‐ educated young people in Poland did not prove the least vulnerable to unemployment. This paper uses evidence from studies of young people in Gdansk, Katowice and Suwalki to argue that one reason why young people from professional and vocational secondary schools have not borne a heavier share of Poland's unemployment since 1990 has been the flexibility and responsiveness of these schools to Poland's new labour market conditions. Since the reforms many of these schools have contracted drastically. Some have closed. But others have thrived The latter have often benefited from favourable local labour market conditions, but their success has usually been at least equally due to their own resourcefulness in introducing new courses which teach skills that are in demand, and securing various kinds of sponsorship from employers. Three reasons are offered to explain the responsiveness of education in Poland to the changing labour market conditions: general support for ‘the reforms’, the schools’ experience of making informal deals with employers under communism, and the post‐communist authorities’ willingness to force unsuccessful schools to close and to see teachers made redundant.

     

Constructing national and European identities: the case of Greek‐Cypriot pupils

The European Union’s increasing attention to social and cultural matters has been expressed through the notions of European citizenship and identity which are to be developed among children, adolescents and adults. Whether, and if so, how, children perceive a European identity to coexist with national identities is a challenging and relatively under‐studied question. This paper presents part of the findings of a study conducted in December 2000 which explored the ways in which 140 10‐year‐old Greek‐Cypriot pupils constructed their national and European identities. Results indicated that, despite positive attitudes towards Europe, pupils attributed little significance to the European identity, whereas national identities were extremely important. The discourse developed revealed essentialist and a‐historical representations of national identity, and an instrumentalist approach to Europe. Social psychological insights from self‐categorization theory are employed to explore whether the two identities were construed as in the same or different typical levels of abstraction. These findings are discussed within the broader socio‐political context of Cyprus and European integration.     

Within the European Periphery: education and labor mobility in twentieth‐century Spain

The essay presents a novel estimate of human capital in Spain during most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as measured by average years of schooling at the three main educational levels. The new estimate confirms long‐term, regional and gender trends already identified by literacy levels. It shows that most of the human capital embodied in the Spanish population until well into the second half of the twentieth century was due to expanded primary schooling rather than to secondary or university studies and it identifies the Civil War of 1936 as one of the most serious setbacks during two centuries of slow and irregular human capital accumulation. Primary schooling determined labor mobility in twentieth‐century Spain during the 1920s and the 1960s as people moved away from agriculture and into industry and services. The decision to migrate was a household rather than an individual one: the education of those who did not emigrate – elder males and females of all ages – was as relevant as that of the actual emigrants. The Civil War and the early years of the Franco regime, by contributing to the depletion of the stock of human capital, had negative effects upon labor mobility as recently as the 1960s.     

Ability Grouping——Learners' and Teachers' Perception at Chinese Universities

This study showed that difference in students’perceptions toward ability grouping existed.Even though teachers and scholars expected that ability grouping could help students to become more positive motivated and satisfied with studying in the class thus narrowing the gap between advanced and beginning level students,there were still problems showing that ability grouping should be modified.     

Acculturation and teacher ratings of hispanic and Anglo‐American students∗

Robert Albert examined key conceptual shifts in the pertinent professional literature language over the first part of the 20th century in his 1969 American Psychologist article, “Genius: Present‐Day Status of the Concept and Its Implications for the Study of Creativity and Giftedness. “ His findings indicated profound changes in pertinent terminology in the professional knowledge base after 1945 from an emphasis on concepts such as genius, eminence, fame, and distinction to giftedness, talent, and creativity.

The goal of the current project was to investigate empirically changes in conceptions of exceptional ability and performance, as reflected in the professional literature published since 1969. Over 28,000 articles were culled from three data bases: Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO and Exceptional Children Educational Resources (ECER). Conceptual themes and types of research were analyzed for a sample of the articles, drawn from the midpoint year of each decade.

Significant results include: an increase in the number of articles relating to creativity; a rise in the number of practice‐oriented articles; and a small but steady increase in the number of articles employing qualitative research methods. Articles were also analyzed for evidence of a “paradigm shift” also discussed in the literature; however, the paradigm shift was not significantly reflected in practice. Implications are addressed relative to the conceptual trends in the literature and qualities of the knowledge base.     

Work‐based Learning and Universities in the U.K.: a review of current practice and trends

This article is concerned primarily with university‐related work‐based learning in the UK. The authors trace the development of work‐based learning from its early days to the wide variety of styles and scale currently being practised. In the wake of the Dearing Report, they review the experience of work experience and sandwich courses; the move from work experience to work‐based learning; work‐based learning for those in work; and work‐based learning through technological transfer. The authors identify key variables which appear to determine the nature of different styles of work‐based learning including the tension between the twin purposes of international competitiveness and student personal development, and the willingness of the universities to move from their traditional control of the curriculum to allow a greater variety of learning experiences. The authors focus on the emergence of learner‐managed three‐way partnerships between the learner, the university, and the employer based on real‐time, work‐based projects as a way of reconciling economic benefit with personal development as purposes for work‐based learning. The article concludes by identifying some of the key educational issues which such schemes raise and identifies possible future directions in which they might develop.     

Assessment and the improvement of education∗

This article explores the school coordinator role in initial teacher training (ITT) in England. Recognising that mentoring is fully embedded and highly researched in ITT, it argues the role of the coordinator, while integral to partnerships, is far less researched. This paper investigates tensions in the role, between managing programme-wide quality assurance, teaching professional studies and developing school-based mentors. These questions were explored through multi-site case-studies with four HEIs and their partner schools in four linked phases of data collection. Data analysis established a range of different conceptualisations of the role, with only limited evidence of a development role with their mentors. The authors argue for policies which establish a more coherent conceptualisation of the role, and an agreed nomenclature. A key recommendation is to free coordinators from bureaucratic demands on their time to enable them to exemplify a new ‘professional multilingualism’.