SCIENCE AND RESEARCH OF SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY

Southeast University,located at central part of ancient capital city of Nanjing nearbeautiful Xuan Wu Lake,is one of the key universities operated direclty under the StateEducation Commission of China.Southeast University is one of the oldest institutions ofhigher learning in China.Its origins go back to 1902.Southeast University,with fullrange of disciplines and strong faculties,comprises of Graduate School,Faculty of Arts,Faculty of Sciences,15 individual departments of Engineering,Management School,Adult Education School and one Satellite College in Wuxi.It has 22 departments,43 un-     

RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND INFLUENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY∗

The purpose of this column is to keep religious educators abreast of relevant significant research in the general field of psychology. Its implications for methods and materials in religious education are clear. Religious educators may well take advantage of every new finding in scientific research.

Each section describes a group of findings which have been reported in PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS together with titles of these works so that those who wish may go to the original source.

This column is written as a service to religious educators by the Union College Character Research Project. All abstracts are used with permission of the periodical, PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS. The abstract numbers are Volume 35. Number 1, February 1961 and Volume 35, Number 2, April 1961.     

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN THEIR FUTURE

We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we use data from two groups of students studying mathematics: those who participated in an in-depth interview and those who completed an open-ended questionnaire. We found that their responses could be grouped into four categories: don’t know; procedural skills; conceptual skills; and professional skills. Although some students held clear ideas about the role of mathematics, many were not able to articulate how it would be used in their future. This has implications for their approach to learning and our approach to teaching.     

DO UNIVERSITIES HELP THE ECONOMY? THE CASE OF THE DEMOCRITUS UNIVERSITY OF THRACE

This article analyses the relationship between a dispersed‐campus regional university in Greece, the Democritus University of Thrace, and the local economy. The author is led to conclude that little connection or balance exists between the financial consequences of the operation of the university and regional development. The presence of the university has increased consumption without having created new jobs or research areas linked to the social structure or to the economic needs of the region.

     

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THERMAL PHYSICS IN EVERYDAY CONTEXTS

Thermal physics is in the realm of everyday experience, underlies current environmental concerns, and underpins studies in sciences, health and engineering. In the state of NSW in Australia, the coverage of thermal topics in high school is minimal, and, hence, so is the conceptual understanding of students. This study takes a new approach at exploring conceptions of students with a qualitative analysis facilitated by NVivo complemented with reference to sociocultural ideas of learning. A 2-part pen and paper question was given to 598 first year university students of different educational backgrounds (and therefore physics expertise). ‘The Question’ was based on 2 familiar scenarios and required the selection of a concept first, followed by an explanation. The results showed that concepts were favoured based on a student’s everyday experience and their curriculum through high school, and some were more effective than others in making scientifically congruent responses. The reported thermal physics alternative conceptions were also examined in our sample, and students’ reasoning behind such conceptions indicate that some conceptions do not inhibit scientifically congruent responses whilst others do. The results implicate language and the everyday experiences of the student in the teaching and learning of thermal physics.     

JOURNAL OF XINZHOU TEACHERS UNIVERSITY Vol.18 2002 Total Contents

（No．１）OnTheMusicandProsodyofCi………………………………………………………………PoemsZHANGYi（１）OntheWriters：CHENGengandCHENYuontheOccasionofJinYuan………………DynastyLIUDa－ke（８）TheThoughtAbouttheEnlightenment：AnImportantLiterarySubjectoftheWaro     

EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS IN SCIENCE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF LEBANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EPISTEMOLOGIES

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing have been investigated extensively in educational and developmental psychology research. Hofer??s framework on personal epistemology is adopted in the present study for assessing Lebanese university students?? epistemologies of science. Participants were 213 students in their first year of science-related studies at a private university in Beirut. Two instruments were used for data collection: The science-focused epistemological beliefs questionnaire (Hofer, 2000) and an 8-item instrument adapted from the modified version of the ??Views on Science?CTechnology?CSociety?? (Dogan & Abd-El-Khalick, 2008), and an additional item developed by the authors. Thirty students were purposively selected for completing the second instrument followed by a semi-structured interview. Data analysis yielded the following assertions regarding students?? epistemologies of science: (1) Scientific knowledge is liable to change; (2) the source of scientists?? knowledge is inherent to human??s construction, whereas the source of personal knowledge is independent from human subjectivity and based on external authority; (3) scientific knowledge is proven and validated through the concerted effort of scientists; and (4) absolute truth cannot be attained because of the lack of means to access knowledge. Findings highlighted the need to foster an academic culture that promotes students?? epistemologies and explicitly addresses the nature and processes of science in curricula and instruction.     

THE SOCIO‐ECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN FINLAND SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1

The socio‐economic background of new university students in Finland is analyzed at three levels: first, the overall change in the socio‐economic background of Finnish students in higher education since the Second World War; then with regard to changes in two regions: southern and southwestern Finland; and finally, with regard to disciplines studied. New students in medicine, law, economics, and technology are consistently found to come from upper socio‐economic classes. In the humanities and in education, on the other hand, the distribution according to socio‐economic background corresponds better to that of the whole population. In the near future, Finnish higher education will face new challenges. From the viewpoint of the economy, the golden years are now over. At the same time, equality has fallen out of fashion.

     

THE UNIVERSITY PASTORATE MOVEMENT∗

Building on the author's experience in leadership development in Roman Catholic parishes and recent work in the field of congregational studies, this essay examines the religious educator's role as a catalyst in the transformation of the culture of the local church. As an alternative to an instructional/schooling approach to religious education, the paper proposes a model of congregational education directed specifically to the transformation of the corporate life of the faith community by its members working together to reshape concrete behaviors, structures, and roles in order to carry out the church's mission and ministry.

This argument is developed through a discussion of foundational assumptions about the significance of congregational life for the church's educational mission and a brief case study illustrating central dynamics in the process of congregational education. The paper concludes with observations about the range of skills required of congregational educators, especially their ability to understand and evaluate the complex dynamics of congregational life in a disciplined way.     

UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE∗

For the future, academic management training programmes should focus upon needs expressed at institutional level without reference to national co‐ordinators; however, some national networks could and should be exploited in support of institutional objectives. A distance learning project for university managers would benefit from co‐operation with local expertise. Where this is unavailable, distance education should first concentrate upon building up a local organization for distance education so that costs will not be prohibitively high. Present funding schemes favour academic rather than administrative/management links; therefore, trainers must adopt imaginative approaches in order to create opportunities. Amongst these are management training linked to academic visits and management and administrative training tied to industrial liaison and brokerage.

     

STUDENT COMPARISONS OF EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES AT THE TWO‐YEAR COLLEGE AND THE UNIVERSITY: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Student evaluations of instruction were obtained from two groups. Students in the first group were “reverse transfer” students (N = 97) who completed their freshman year at a university and then transferred to a two‐year college for their sophomore year. Students in the second group were “early transfer” students (N = 78) who completed their freshman year at a two‐year college and then transferred to a university. All students had one year of attendance at a two‐year college and one year at a university. The purpose of the study was to analyze the ratings of both groups of students with regard to their academic experiences at the university and at the two‐year college. An adaptation of the Student Instructional Report (SIR) was used to obtain ratings on overall college experiences from all students at the end of their sophomore year. The findings revealed: (1) considerable similarity of ratings given to the two‐year college and the university, (2) differences between ratings of early transfer and reverse transfer students, and (3) generally high ratings for both the two‐year college and the university.     

THE EFFECTS OF EPISTEMIC BELIEFS IN SCIENCE AND GENDER DIFFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ SCIENCE-TEXT READING: AN EYE-TRACKING STUDY

The primary purpose of this study was to explore not only the effects of epistemic beliefs in science on science-text reading but also the gender differences in epistemic beliefs and the reading process. The interactions between gender and epistemic beliefs during reading were also explored. A total of 25 university students, 13 male and 12 female, were paid to participate in the study. The scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) questionnaire was used to probe the subjects’ epistemic beliefs in science, while the eye-tracking method was employed to record their science-text reading process. It was demonstrated that the participants in the study had developed sophisticated SEBs. Complicated SEBs were associated with higher cognitive attention to the reading of data-related information but less mental effort to fact, scientific explanations, and the microview photos. As for the gender difference, female students displayed less mental effort in comprehending scientific explanations, but attended more to data and the microview graphic. It is argued that female learners are better at processing textual information. Interactions between SEBs and gender were found and discussed.     

具有皇后气质的QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

不知在安大略省的皇后大学在1841年创立时,是否已经考虑把自己塑造成具有皇后的气质:高傲、自信、卓而不群,相当有钱,多有骄人之处,以至与这个名称相符。无论怎样,事实是:皇后大学的确不凡,这里的学生更聪明,更好看,更强壮,更快乐,更具优越感,也更喧闹,更活力盎然,甚至更干净。     

UNIVERSITY STUDIES AS A LIFE‐CYCLE STAGE

This article is based on a series of studies of students at the University of Jyväskylä conducted by the author in 1981, 1984, and 1986. The series focussed on the life‐stages of students, asking such questions as what the basic life‐world structures of students are, how the ability of students to think scientifically develops, and what characterizes the period of university studies as a stage of life. The data were collected by interviewing a total of 204 students who had reached different stages in their studies and represented different disciplines. The method used was that of the semi‐structured thematic interview; the data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The life‐styles of students and their problems change during the courses of their individual academic experiences. A freshman's problems centre around the loosening of home ties and the learning of independent responsibility. During the next two years, the studies themselves and student‐life assume a central position, while questions relating to the founding of a family, entering work‐life, and the risk of experiencing financial difficulties come to the fore at the end of the undergraduate period. The development of the scientific thinking of students lines up with the life‐stages sketched above. The initial emphasis on the learning of facts gives way to a relativistic and critical way of appraising science and research. This more sophisticated approach to knowledge can lead to a personal theoretical point of view and to individual commitments at the end of the academic experience.