A tracer study of Lebanese upper secondary school students

This paper presents data arising from a tracer study of 90 terminating Beirut upper secondary school students. Nearly all the students intended to transit to university, about half of them to science and technology programmes, and subsequently did so. Median anticipated earnings upon graduation were realistic, but a lack of information or guidance about higher education and career options was noted by a considerable proportion. The results of the study are discussed with reference to the as yet poorly elucidated dynamics of schooling with regard to attrition and transition to higher education and employment in Lebanon.     

关于中职院校物理力学的探讨

中职院校力学是物理学的基础,是专门研究物质机械运动规律的一门学科,它的一些基本概念和规律是物理学最重要、最基本的概念和规律,贯穿着物理学的始终。本文简要阐述力学教材在中学物理中的地位;初中、中职物理教材中的力学内容之间的联系,以及对中学教材中力学内容的探讨。     

Cross-sector collaboration in upper secondary school vocational education: experiences from two industrial towns in Sweden and Norway

This study explores industry–education collaboration on vocational education and training (VET) in upper secondary schools in Sweden and Norway, with particular attention to the initiatives, organisation and operational management, and aspects of robustness and lock-in effects. The case studies include two upper secondary schools situated in manufacturing based towns, which are similar in size and industrial structure, and have the dual system of education. Pupils come from these towns and other places in the surrounding region. The research design is based on a mixed-method approach, including interviews and other sources of information from schools and industry. This covered organisational and operational levels, corporate motives and arrangements, industrial composition, labour market conditions, and other regional and national characteristics. The results demonstrated how shared goals of improving the reputation and quality of VET and meeting industries’ needs for skills formed in two distinct organisational models. These findings raise concerns about the robustness of these collaborations, since how changes occur in companies’ economic situations may affect their ability and motivation to participate in VET training. The authors conclude that the arrangements have had success but may create a lock-in-situation regarding the companies’ ability to restructure and develop new skills for new sectors.     

Gender and intercultural competence: analysis of intercultural competence among upper secondary school students in Denmark and Norway

Abstract

The pluralisation of European societies has produced national and cultural diversification, increasing the need for communication and understanding to support recognition, equality, justice, self-determination and identification with others. This paper responds to the social and political challenges accompanying immigration by focusing on gender differences in intercultural competence among a selection of Danish and Norwegian secondary school students. Data came from questionnaires given to 895 students from four schools—two Danish and two Norwegian. One major finding was gender differences in intercultural competence, which is discussed using inclusive citizenship theory, gender socialization theory and feminist standpoint theory. For the control variables, cultural capital theory and intergroup contact theory were used to analyse students’ experiences of school diversity and their intercultural competence. School diversity contributed moderately to greater intercultural competence while moderate differences arose between national samples. Finally, teaching implications are discussed.     

A framework for teaching scientific inquiry in upper secondary school chemistry

A framework for teaching scientific inquiry in upper secondary chemistry education was constructed in a design research consisting of two research cycles. First, in a pilot study a hypothetical framework was enriched in collaboration with five chemistry teachers. Second, a main study in this community of teachers and researchers was conducted on the process of designing teaching scientific inquiry based on the enriched framework. Also, the enactment by five teachers and 80 students (age 17) of a designed inquiry module on “Diffusion: moving particles” was studied. This resulted in a theoretically and practically founded framework for teaching scientific inquiry, in which an iterative cycle of inquiry for students and a student inquiry community are essential. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:788–806, 2010     

Key topics for quantum mechanics at secondary schools: a Delphi study into expert opinions

This article describes a Delphi study aiming to investigate which quantum mechanics topics experts consider to be important to teach at the secondary level, and what arguments these experts give. A series of three questionnaires was administered to experts in the fields of quantum physics, mathematics, chemistry and biophysics (n?=?17, 12, 11 for the first, second, and third questionnaires, respectively; the number of participants changed due to attrition). Several experts from this group (n?=?9) were also interviewed. Results show that there is consensus on the topics considered to be important, i.e. duality, wave functions and atoms. Experts mainly based their topic ranking on relations between concepts, and on what quantum mechanics topics they consider to be fundamental. The topics that were considered less important were often described as too difficult or too complex.     

Educating ‘Discouraged Workers’: cultural diversity in the upper secondary school

Through a qualitative study of the experiences of young people in the second year of post‐compulsory education in schools in four contrasting Scottish labour markets, we investigate the existence of a ‘discouraged worker’ effect. We argue that in the modem upper secondary school, which contains pupils with a range of attainment levels, it is possible to identify a number of distinct orientations to school life and suggest that the types of opportunities available within local labour markets affect young people's decisions to remain at school. We suggest that cultural responses to the school have become more individualised and that ‘discouraged workers’ can be identified in both the middle and the lower attainment bands.     

Introducing innovative approaches to learning in fluid mechanics: a case study

The purpose of the current article is to examine the impact of laboratory demonstrations and computer visualizations on learning in a third-year fluid mechanics course at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). As a first step, on entering the course, students were exposed to a laboratory demonstration focusing on the nature of waves. Students were subsequently taught the theory of wave mechanics in a regular class along with exercises. Finally, the computer algebra system Maple was used to simulate physical properties of the waves using the mathematical equations. The illustrations throughout the paper are examples of some of the pedagogical devices that students were exposed to during the project. The students enjoyed the demonstrations, but there are some indications that the interventions did not help to improve learning of phenomena.     

关于中师女生体育教学的研究

中师女生的生理，心理正向成熟发展，但情绪上敏感，含蓄，耐疲劳能力差。因此，应注重开展健美操，游戏，体操等项目教学，培养中师女生的终生体育观，努力使她们成为专业思想牢固，心理品德健康，政治思想好，业务水平高，素质全面，富有创新精神的年轻教师。     

Promoting inclusive education in secondary school in Norway: a national programme for teacher development

There is a great need in many countries for extended and new teacher competence to meet the challenges of inclusive education. This paper presents a national programme for developing new teacher competence in secondary schools in Norway. The programme was developed and implemented during the 1990s, its aim being to start a continuing process in schools directed at promoting inclusive education and improving the quality of education for pupils with special educational needs. Further, the paper presents some findings from a national survey of 2240 teachers and school administrators in 104 schools one year after the implementation of the programme. The survey partially replicated a survey carried out before the programme started. The purpose was to give an overall picture of the situation with respect to teacher competence in special needs and inclusive education, and the impact of the competence building programme on teacher practice, and to identify possible system changes in schools.     

量子力学中的么正矩阵

对量子力学中的几种具有代表意义的么正矩阵的性质作详细的讨论。     

Problem solving in Swedish mathematics textbooks for upper secondary school

The aim of this study is to analyse how mathematical problem solving is represented in mathematical textbooks for Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis comprises dominating Swedish textbook series, and relates to uncovering (a) the quantity of tasks that are actually mathematical problems, (b) their location in the chapter, (c) their difficulty level, and (d) their context. Based on an analysis of 5,722 tasks from the area of calculus, it is concluded that the textbooks themselves contain very few tasks that can be defined as mathematical problems, and that those that are mathematical problems are found at the end of a chapter at the most difficult level, and are presented in a pure mathematical context. Implications are discussed.     

Adolescent moral judgement: A study of UK secondary school pupils

Despite a recent world‐wide upsurge of academic interest in moral and character education, little is known about pupils’ character development in schools, especially in the UK context. The authors used a version of the Intermediate Concept Measure for Adolescents, involving dilemmas, to assess an important component of character—moral judgement—among 4053 pupils aged 14–15. Data were generated in 33 UK schools of varying types between February 2013 and June 2014. Results showed that compared with US samples, the pupils’ scores were, on average, low, suggestive of tendencies towards ‘self‐interest’, ‘not getting involved’ and ‘conformity/loyalty to friends’. Judgements varied by subscales assessing ‘action’ and ‘justification’ choices; pupils more successfully identified good actions than good justifications, but generally struggled more to successfully identify poor actions and poor justifications. Highest scores were for a dilemma emphasising ‘self‐discipline’ and lowest for ‘honesty’, with ‘courage’ in between. Overall average results were significantly and positively associated with being female, having (and practising) a religion and doing specific extra‐curricular activities. Differences in schools were also noted, although the kinds of school (e.g. public/private, religious/secular) were unrelated to student scores.     

Storylines in the physics teaching content of an upper secondary school classroom

ABSTRACT

Background: Physics is often seen as a discipline with difficult content, and one that is difficult to identify with. Socialisation processes at the upper secondary school level are of particular interest as these may be linked to the subsequent low and uneven participation in university physics. Focusing on how norms are construed in physics classrooms in upper secondary school is therefore relevant.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify discursive patterns in teacher–student interactions in physics classrooms.

Design and methods: Three different physics lessons with one class of students taught by three different teachers in upper secondary school were video-recorded. Positioning theory was used to analyse classroom interaction with a specific focus on how physics was positioned.

Results: We identified seven different storylines. Four of them (‘reaching a solution to textbook problems’, ‘discussing physics concepts in order to gain better understanding’, ‘doing empirical enquiry’ and ‘preparing for the upcoming exam’) represent what teaching physics in an upper secondary school classroom can be. The last three storylines (‘mastering physics’, ‘appreciating physics’ and ‘having a feeling for physics’) all concern how students are supposed to relate to physics and, thus, become ‘insiders’ in the discipline.

Conclusions: The identification and analysis of storylines raises awareness of the choices teachers make in physics education and their potential consequences for students. For example, in the storyline of mastering physics a good physics student is associated with ‘smartness’, which might make the classroom a less secure place in general. Variation and diversity in the storylines construed in teaching can potentially contribute to a more inclusive physics education.     

Preventing and confronting school bullying: A comparative study of two national programmes in Norway

Efforts to prevent and curb school bullying have resulted in a proliferation of anti‐school‐bullying programmes, many based on intuitive appeal rather than systematic evidence. This article presents a comparative analysis of two Norwegian programmes whose developers have demonstrated the effectiveness of their interventions: the Olweus Programme and the Zero Programme. By probing the key components of these programmes, the article provides schools with information about two prominent anti‐school‐bullying programmes that, to varying degrees, and mainly based on quantitative evaluations, have been found to work. In weighing up the potential of lesson drawing (both nationally and cross‐nationally), schools will attach significance to the probability of positive effects, to issues concerning intensity of implementation, and to the prospect of adapting programme content to school culture and school‐specific problems. It is important too that schools keep up to date with current research in the field, including studies that offer qualitative insights.     

Teaching Huygens in the rue Huygens: Introducing the history of 17th-century mathematics in a junior secondary school

This article gives an account of the teaching of some aspects of 17th-century mathematics in a French junior high school. The mathematics was taught in the context of interdisciplinary, or thematic, studies focusing the attention of all students in different subjects upon a specific period in French history. Extracts of original works by Leibniz and Huygens were read; connections between mathematics and technology were made; some historical puzzles were investigated; and a variety of mathematical problems arising out of the texts were worded upon. Class reactions were uniformly enthusiastic.This paper was originally presented in French to ICME 6 (International Congress on Mathematics Education) in Budapest during 1988. It was translated by Chris Weeks and was first published in 1990 in a publication of the British Mathematical Association — History in the Mathematics Classroom, John Fauvel (ed.).     

A piece of resistance: exploring behaviour assessment and political subjectification in a Swedish upper secondary school

In 2007, students at a Swedish Upper Secondary School engaged in a series of protests and demonstrations against the implementation of a written assessment of student conduct. This article explores the motivations and manifestations of this resistance, mainly by analysing debate articles and web material from the student union that organized the protests, but also by drawing on news articles, policy documents and interview material in order to grasp how this resistance was received by advocates of the conduct assessment. Making use of Mouffe’s and Rancière’s theories on political dissent, as well as Foucauldian power perspectives, the article discusses the students’ resistance in relation to political subjectification, concluding that it serves as an important manifestation of individual as well as collective engagement in school democracy, and personal student integrity.     

Learning achievement in upper secondary school chemistry in Thailand: some remarkable sex reversals

The problems of girls’ underachievement in school science and in particular the physical sciences, has been widely documented in recent years. The findings of this study in Thailand do not confirm the previous findings. Girls in upper secondary schools outperform their boy counterparts in practical skills, theoretical knowledge of chemistry and attitudes to science. The differences in practical skills are greater in the earlier grades, but in theoretical knowledge the larger differences are in the later grades. These findings negate the possible validity of a biological interpretation of these sorts of sex differences.

Some of the possible social sources of bias common in the school systems of Western societies are not present in Thailand. The majority of chemistry teachers are women and curriculum development was in the hands of women. However, the content of the course and its accompanying materials are not obviously very different from modern chemistry courses elsewhere. On the other hand, there does appear to be cultural evidence that may make laboratory activities in chemistry more natural to girls in Thailand.

In Thailand both boys and girls at these levels of schooling are required to take all three sciences, viz., physics, chemistry and biology. The study raises major questions about the choice that exists within the curriculum of many Western countries and the extent to which this ‘choice’ becomes a major avenue for the biases of society to be reflected in the school system.     

A longitudinal study of upper secondary school students’ values and beliefs regarding policy responses to climate change

Abstract

This article explores changes of environmental values and beliefs among secondary school business and economics students regarding government and market solutions to climate change. The quantitative study is longitudinal and a survey was administrated to students at two occasions including 212 participants in the first measurement. Results show a small significant increase in importance for altruistic, biospheric and egoistic value orientations at average. At an individual level, there are substantial movements over time. Nearly two-thirds of the students changed the strength of their value orientations over time. Taxes and legislation were regarded as the most effective solutions to climate change, however there was a decrease in seeing market prices as important mechanisms for change. Analysis suggested no direct relationship between change in environmental value orientation and change in norms. However indirect associations were mediated by changing beliefs in the efficacy of education and information and the efficacy of tax policies. For example, students who became more egoistic and more convinced about the efficacy of tax were less likely than others to be willing to take personal actions.     

Interpreting experimental data: the views of upper secondary school and university science students

In this paper we examine students' views about the interpretation of experimental data within a specified science context. A written survey was completed by 731 science students drawn from upper secondary schools and universities in five European countries. An additional 19 upper secondary science students were interviewed individually after they had completed the survey. A minority of students emphasized the role of models in the interpretation of the data, despite the emphasis placed on theoretical models within the survey text. A substantial proportion of respondents focused on the quantity and quality of the data to be interpreted. Post-survey interviews showed that many students had difficulty in articulating a view concerning the role of theoretical models. Our data support previous studies, typically involving younger respondents, which have found that science students tend not to recognize the role of theoretical models in the interpretation of data.