Lexical priming of nonword spelling in the regular orthography of Italian

In pronounced contrast to English, Italian orthography contains extremely regular sound-to-spelling correspondences and therefore Italian words could, in principle, be spelled perfectly correctly using nonlexical phoneme-to-grapheme conversion rules alone. If this were so, then there should be no lexical influence upon nonword spelling. However, the present experiment reports lexical priming effects for two inconsistently spelled segments in Italian words: Italian participants were more likely to spell the nonword tece as TECIE if they had just heard the word specie rather than pece and were more likely to spell the nonword cuodo as QUODO if they had heard the word quota rather than cuoco. These results suggest that Italian, despite its regular orthography, is not spelled purely nonlexically. It is argued that a dual-route model of spelling production can be applied to Italian.     

Vicarious learning from dialogue and discourse -- A controlled comparison

This study examined learning in the domain of sentence parsing and syntax tree-diagram construction. The aim of the study was to assess whether subjects could learn vicariously from recordings of interactions between a previous student and a tutor.Four intervention conditions and a control condition were compared. Subjects in a dialogue group (DL) read printed tutorial notes and subsequently vicariously viewed dynamic (animated) recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a previous student in the presence of a tutor.The discourse (DI) condition was similar except that subjects viewed recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a tutor who concurrently verbalised instructional discourse.In a third condition (DO), subjects viewed tree-diagram construction animation clips which were not annotated with either dialogue or discourse. In a linear text (LT) condition, subjects were given only printed tutorial notes. A control (CO) condition involved pre and post testing without any intervention.Results indicated that the dialogue condition was as effective as the discourse condition. This provides support for contention that re-usable dialogue is a useful resource for the vicarious learner. Another finding was that un-annotated animated diagrams were surprisingly effective. Several reasons for their effectiveness are suggested from the literature on instructional animations.     

The Pseudo-Conceptual and the Pseudo-Analytical Thought Processes in Mathematics Learning

This paper suggests a theoretical framework to deal with some well known phenomena in mathematical behavior. Assuming that the notions conceptual and analytical are clear enough in the domain of mathematical thinking, the notions pseudo-conceptual and pseudo-analytical are proposed and explained. Examples from mathematics classrooms, mathematics exams, and homework assignments are analyzed and discussed within the proposed theoretical framework.The notions pseudo-conceptual and pseudo-analytical proposed in this paper, actually narrow the extension of the notion cognitive by restricting it to the domain of meaningful contexts. Analysis of meaningless behaviors, it is claimed, requires a different theoretical framework. The attempt to analyze meaningless behaviors in the same way as meaningful behaviors is called here the cognitive approach fallacy.     

Growth in mathematical understanding: How can we characterise it and how can we represent it?

There has been a variety of approaches to the study of mathematical understanding, and some of these are reviewed before outlining the background to the model we are proposing for the growth of such understanding. The model is explained in detail and illustrated with reference to the concept of fractions. Key features of the model include don't need boundaries, folding back, and the complementarities of acting and expressing that occur at each level of understanding. The theory is illustrated by examples of pupils' work from a variety of topics and stages. Finally one of the practical applications of the theory, mapping, is explained in some detail.     

Making connections: the logical structuring of hypertext documents

The results from an experiment analysing hypertextual semantic linking is reported. In the study participants are asked to describe logical relationships between related, semi-related and unrelated paragraphs of text. It is concluded that existence and themes of relationships are (as expected) fairly consistently recognised, however, specific relationships do not readily fall into natural predicate like statements. Purely thematic relationships, or a palette of available relationships might be the more practical approach. Further work on dynamic linking in hypertext documents is also reported. Dynamic linking eliminates some of the problems associated with a mismatch between the mental models of authors and readers and allows the readers to construct their own hypertexts from linear documents. This approach offers useful data on logical connectivity in hypertext documents but also represents an alternative to conventional hypertext authoring and reading.     

The Law of Unintended Consequences: The ‘Real’ Cost of Top-Down Reform

In most jurisdictions around the world,governments, in the name of economiccompetitiveness, have imposed comprehensive andquite dramatic changes on state schools. Mostchanges require a more centralized and rigorouscurriculum for pupils, a plethora ofaccountability measures and mandatoryin-service for teachers, and carefully definedand more onerous responsibilities for schoolleaders. The province of Ontario is nodifferent. Since 1995, its educational systemhas experienced quite revolutionary changes– all instituted with break-neck speed. At thesame time most schools in Ontario are employinginternal change strategies to address theseoutside pressures. These change forces havecoalesced to redefine the work and lives ofteachers and school leaders in many intendedand unintended ways. There is a substantialliterature on both external and internal changeforces, but very little has been written aboutthe conjunction of these change forces with thepersonal side of change for teachers andleaders. Based on two studies undertaken by theInternational Centre for Educational Change atthe Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation/University of Toronto, this paperexamines the unintended consequences of thesechange forces on the teachers and principals ofone secondary school in Ontario, Canada. Theteachers and leaders of Lord Byron High Schoolare not averse to change and are generallyquite content to do whatever is in the bestinterests of their students. The school has along history of innovation and change and areputation for attending to a wide diversity ofstudent needs.Through the use of multiple conceptual lenses,this paper addresses the unintendedconsequences of systemic change to the schooland its teachers and principals. At a time whenteacher shortages and teacher morale aregrowing problems for many educationaljurisdictions, this investigation will point toan urgent need to build better bridges ofunderstanding between policy makers and policyimplementers, and for researchers to provideresearch that is more sensitive to the work andlives of real people in real schools.     

Child-methods in secondary mathematics

An earlier research project, the Concepts in Secondary Mathematics and Science (Mathematics) project, identified both a hierarchy of levels of understanding in different areas of secondary mathematics, and a number of particular errors which were made by significant proportions of the children tested. Preliminary consideration of these errors and the strategies which appear to have given rise to them suggests that the use of informal naive methods which are limited in their applicability is widespread even at fourth-year level. The suggestion is made that there may be two systems of mathematics coexisting in the secondary school classroom: the formal taught system, and a system of child-methods which are based upon a counting, adding-on or building-up approach, and by which children attempt to solve mathematical problems within a human-sense framework. The difficulties which some children appear to experience in mathematics is suggested to be due in part to these children's non-initiation into the formal taught system. The implication of such a view for teaching and research are indicated.     

Equity issues in local resourcing of education: Community financing of primary schools in Bhutan

Community financing is an important source of supplementary funds for education, particularly where governments are unable to meet all the needs of their peoples. While this is widely recognised, little empirical research has been conducted on the topic. This paper analyses patterns in Bhutan. It observes that until the 1990s few resources for education were provided by communities, but that the scale of financing has increased during the present decade. The paper notes that although communities have in general responded positively to government calls for local inputs, local resourcing has some problematic aspects. The paper focuses particularly on issues of regional, rural/urban and socio-economic equity, and shows how discussion of Bhutanese experiences contributes to the international literature.

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Zusammenfassung Finanzierungen über die Gemeinde sind eine wichtige Quelle der Bezuschussung von Bildung, besonders dort, wo Regierungen nicht in der Lage sind, den Bedürfnissen der Bevölkerung gerecht zu werden. Obwohl dies weitreichend bekannt ist, gibt es kaum empirische Studien zu diesem Thema. Dieser Artikel befaßt sich mit der Situation in Bhutan. Es wird festgestellt, daß die Gemeinden bis zu den 90ern kaum Gelder für die Bildung zur Verfügung stellten, daß aber der Rahmen der Finanzierung in diesem Jahrzehnt gestiegen ist. Der Autor beschreibt, daß trotz einer allgemein positiven Antwort seitens der Gemeinden auf Forderungen der Regierung nach lokalen Finanzbeiträgen, Probleme hinsichtlich lokaler Finanzierungen bestehen. Insbesondere befaßt sich der Artikel mit Themen über regionale, ländliche und städtische und sozialökonomische Gleichheit und zeigt, wie die Diskussion über die Erfahrungen in Bhutan zur internationalen Literatur beiträgt.

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Resumen La financiación a través de la comunidad es una fuente importante de recursos adicionales para la educación, particularmente allí donde los gobiernos son incapaces de satisfacer todas las necesidades de sus habitantes. Si bien este es un hecho ampliamente conocido, existen muy pocos estudios empíricos sobre este tema. El trabajo analiza los modelos existentes en Bhután y observa que hasta los años noventa, eran pocos los recursos financieros provistos por las comunidades, mientras que durante la década actual han aumentado estos niveles de financiación. El estudio observa que, a pesar de que las comunidades, en general, han respondido de forma positiva a las llamadas del gobierno a realizar inversiones locales, la creación de recursos locales tiene algunos aspectos problemáticos. El trabajo se concentra particularmente en problemas de equidad regional, rural/urbana y socioeconómica, demostrando cómo la discusión sobre experiencias bhutanesas presta su aporte a la literatura internacional.

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Résumé Le financement communautaire représente une source importante de fonds supplémentaires pour l'éducation, en particulier quand le gouvernement ne peut répondre à tous les besoins de la population. Bien que ce fait soit largement reconnu, il n'existe que peu de recherche empirique sur le sujet. Cet article analyse différents modèles existant au Bhoutan. Il constate tout d'abord que jusque dans les années 90, les communautés ne fournissaient qu'une faible partie des ressources de l'éducation, mais que cette forme de financement a augmenté au cours de la dernière décennie. Il relève également qu'en dépit de la réaction généralement positive de la part des communautés envers l'incitation du gouvernement à un financement local, ce modèle présente néanmoins des difficultés. L'article se concentre d'autre part sur les questions d'équitabilité entre régions, entre villes et provinces et entre niveaux socioéconomiques, et révèle que la discussion sur les expériences du Bhoutan contribue à enrichir la littérature internationale.

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Swedish Universities towards Self-Regulation: A New Look at Institutional Autonomy

Swedish universities are required to change towards more effective self-regulation as the government has recently reduced state steering and devolved further responsibilities to them. In this paper, self-regulation is related to the concept of autonomy, a concept which is analysed on the two dimensions of purpose and authority, resulting in four models of state governance and consequently in a different space of action for the institutions. However, in order to develop self-regulation, the space granted must also be used effectively to realise autonomy. Six Swedish higher education institutions are analysed concerning how they have used their new space of action and what restrictions they have met in their efforts for self-regulation.     

Assumptions Underlying Performance-Based Budgeting

Interest in performance budgeting is growing despite a lack of research on its effectiveness. U.S. states have largely used incremental and formula budgeting processes to fund higher education. However, more than half of them are experimenting with some form of performance budgeting. There have been similar attempts to reform budget practices in the U.S. in the past, but most of these processes have been largely abandoned. Governmental performance budgeting for higher education assumes policy objectives are stable, complex decisions on budget trade-offs can be made at governmental levels on the basis of data, institutions operate as bureaucracies, resources can be linked to outcomes, outcomes are identifiable and can be agreed upon, accountability can be achieved through budget policies, and current practices create incentives to enrol unqualified students. These assumptions are not realistic. Consequently, performance budgeting will not meet proponents expectations and will suffer the fate of past budget fads.     

La socialisation des jeunes dans les villes du Tiers-Monde — le cas de l'Afrique

Résumé Les villes du Tiers-Monde sont des laboratoires du changement et de la formation. A partir de la situation de l'Afrique, on étudie ici les processus de socialisation des jeunes dans un environnement où se cotoient tradition et modernité. Les facteurs conduisant à l'exode, les différents circuits de prise en charge des migrants, la nécessité d'affronter la nouvelle vie dans un milieu complexe et souvent impitoyable, créent une situation et un processus d'apprentissage de la vie et du métier féconds d'initiatives et d'innovations. Cet entrainement à la vie est assuré par un réseau informel tissé par des nouvelles interactions sociales et par l'action des masses média.

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Third-World cities constitute quasi-laboratories for the study of change and learning. The present article takes the African situation of merging traditional and modern elements as its starting point and analyzes young people's socialization processes in this context. As a consequence of the activities of migrant organizations, the more general circumstances leading to migration and the fact that people are faced with a new lifestyle in a complex and often merciless environment, an atmosphere is created where learning for life and vocational training abound with initiative and innovation. This learning for life is borne by the informal fabric of new social interactions and the influence of the mass media.

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Zusammenfassung Städte der Dritten Welt stellen in gewisser Weise Forschungslaboratorien dar, in denen Veränderungen und Bildungsprozesse beobachtet werden können. Vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwärtigen Situation Afrikas werden im nachfolgenden Artikel Sozialisierungsprozesse von Jugendlichen in einem Umfeld untersucht, in dem Tradition und Moderne miteinander verschmelzen. Aus der Arbeit der diversen Hilfsorganisationen für Migranten, den allgemeinen Faktoren, die zu Migrationsbewegungen führen, und der Notwendigkeit für den Einzelnen, sich einem neuen Leben in einem komplexen und oft schonungslosen Milieu zu stellen, ergeben sich initiativ- und innovationsreiche Lernprozesse für Leben und Beruf des Einzelnen. Diese Bildung für das Leben wird durch die informelle Struktur neuer sozialer Interaktionen und durch die Einwirkung der Massenmedien gewährleistet.

     

“Knowing” vs “seeing”. problems of the plane representation of space geometry figures

There is necessarily a loss of information when moving from a geometrical object to its drawing, but pupils (even sixth graders) frequently have the illusion that they can, thanks to a drawing sufficiently sophisticated and close to the object, make a representation of it in which there is no ambiguity at all.Similarly, when reading a drawing, they tend to regard the properties of the drawing as properties of the object itself. To illustrate this knowing vs seeing conflict, two examples, studied in three French sixth classes, are given: one of coding, the other of decoding a drawing. They show clearly that it is necessary, at high school level, to make the rules for drawing space geometrical figures explicit, these rules being not the concern of more or less hazy conventions, but of projective geometrical properties.     

Some aspects of the individual-difference modelling of causal attribution

A review of some contemporary studies based on an individual-difference model of student learning is presented. The exploratory fitting of conceptual models of student learning to atypical individual-similarity data structures is discussed, and an experimental categorisation procedure for producing such structures is outlined. Insofar as the features of some established conceptual models of student learning do not fit such atypical structures, either by virtue of their conceptual parsimony, or their underlying conceptual assumptions, the fitting of a locus model to such structures is explored. It is argued that, within the student experience of learning framework, conceptual models of student learning need to incorporate such additional dimensions of variation if such models are to be employed in individual-difference studies of student learning.     

Policy communities,issue networks and the formulation of Australian higher education policy

Governments in most western countries consult extensively with clientele groups in the process of formulating higher education policy. The nature of these consultative mechanisms, in turn, influences the manner in which decisions are made, and the substance of policy outcomes. This article explores the changing style of government-interest group interaction in Australia over the decade 1985–94 and how these changes have effected the way policy is determined. It is argued that Australia has gone through three phases over that time. Until 1987 policy was formulated by a stable policy community. From 1988–90, when a number of major reforms were introduced, this framework was replaced by a brief period of state direction. During the early 1990s a new environment characterised by unstable issue networks emerged.     

Education for work: Reflections towards a theory of vocational education

By integrating aspects of a philosophy of work and a sociology of work, this article draws conclusions relevant to framing a theory of vocational education. Education for work is accepted in this paper as the common central meaning of the term vocational education. The two concepts, education and work, are first examined separately: work is seen to include recreational and occupational work, while occupational work is seen to fall on a continuum ranging from constrained to unconstrained occupational work. Education and training are distinguished. After a discussion of the conceptual links which might be drawn between education and work, recommendations are made about the aims, the place, and the curriculum of vocational education within the general institution of education.

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Zusammenfassung Durch die Integration von Aspekten einer Philosophie der Arbeit und einer Soziologie der Arbeit kommt der Verfasser dieses Artikels zu Schlußfolgerungen, die eine Theorie der Berufsbildung entwickeln. Bildung für die Arbeit wird in diesem Artikel als die allgemeine, zentrale Bedeutung des Begriffes Berufsbildung verstanden. Die beiden Begriffe Erziehung, und Arbeit werden zunächst einzeln untersucht: Arbeit umfaßt hier Freizeit- und Berufsarbeit; Berufsarbeit ist ein Kontinuum von mehr oder weniger vorgegebener Tätigkeit. Es wird zwischen Bildung und Ausbildung unterschieden. Im Anschluß an eine Diskussion über begriffliche Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Erziehung und Arbeit werden Vorschläge über Ziele, Einordnung und Curriculum der Berufsbildung innerhalb des allgemeinen Systems der Erziehung unterbreitet.

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Résumé En intégrant des aspects d'une philosophie et d'une sociologie du travail, cet article tire des conclusions pertinentes pour l'élaboration d'une théorie de l'éducation professionnelle. L'éducation pour le travail est prise dans cet article au sens commun central du terme éducation professionnelle. Tout d'abord, on examine séparément les deux concepts éducation et travail: on considère que le travail inclut les occupations récréatives et professionnelles alors que le travail professionnel est vu en tant qu'un continuum allant du travail professionnel contraint au travail non contraint. On distingue l'éducation de la formation. Après une discussion sur les liens conceptuels qui pourraient être établis entre l'éducation et le travail, des recommandations sont faites sur les objectifs, la place et le contenu de l'éducation professionnelle au sein de l'institution générale de l'éducation.

     

Styles of scientific thinking

It is a main contention of this paper that the history of science is not so much a story of the progressive advance in our understanding and discovery of the facts of nature, but rather, an account of different ways of seeing things; where the things thus seen are to a considerable extent themselves the result of realizational processes operating in terms of some theory or other. But further, such theories are in turn controlled by some respective methodology which has its history: with the latter itself a record of different views about those elements believed to be essential for any adequate constructionof scientific theories. The paper then distinguishes between three views, the rationalist, the empiricist, and the systemic processing of scientific facts; the last-named view operating under the guidance of certain leading maxims and principles. Finally, the paper formulates a triadic type of methodology whose three components mirror the three views just mentioned: the probative, the explicative and the systemic components; which in turn are then shown to generate three corresponding ontologies.     

Vicarious learning from dialogue and discourse

This study examined learning in the domain of sentence parsing and syntax treediagram construction. The aim of the study was to assess whether subjects could learn vicariously from recordings of interactions between a previous student and a tutor.Four intervention conditions and a control condition were compared. Subjects in a dialogue group (DL) read printed tutorial notes and subsequently vicariously viewed dynamic (animated) recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a previous student in the presence of a tutor.The discourse (DI) condition was similar except that subjects viewed recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a tutor who concurrently verbalised instructional discourse.In a third condition (DO), subjects viewed tree-diagram construction animation clips which were not annotated with either dialogue or discourse. In a linear text (LT) condition, subjects were given only printed tutorial notes. A control (CO) condition involved pre and post testing without any intervention.Results indicated that the dialogue condition was as effective as the discourse condition. This provides support for contention that re-usable dialogue is a useful resource for the vicarious learner. Another finding was that un-annotated animated diagrams were surprisingly effective. Several reasons for their effectiveness are suggested from the literature on instructional animations.     

Occupational interests of Barbadian adolescents

A sample of 850 adolescents in the Caribbean island of Barbados indicated their general interest in 90 locally available occupations which were designated male, female or either sex in accordance with judgements of present employment of the sexes in these positions, and named up to three jobs for which they had particular preference. Results showed sex to have a pervasive influence on both general interest and particular job choice, although both males and females were most strongly attracted to modern sector, mid/high status managerial positions. Implications for career guidance in schools, and for further research, are discussed.     

Research and scholarship: Perceptions of senior academic administrators

This paper reports selected findings from the first stage of a study on the research role within academic work in Australian universities. These findings come from the interview component of the study and discuss the perceptions that senior academic administrators hold on research and scholarship. The analysis of the interviews indicates that research covers a wide and varied range of activities across the disciplines found in a university and therefore needs to be defined broadly. However, research has three major attributes: new knowledge, enquiry and publication of results and views. Scholarship was perceived to be part of the research process, providing the context for good research by adding the element of breadth to the depth of research. In addition, scholarship describes the manner of pursuing a serious, sustained line of enquiry as well as the dissemination process.     

The American mixture of higher education in perspective: four dimensions

Several nations are currently considering privatization of parts of their higher education systems. This paper, mainly based on the American experience, examines privatizing public institutions as an alternative to establishing solely private institutions.Institutions are analyzed along four dimensions: (1) ownership (public or private); (2) control (external or internal); (3) financing (public or private funds); and (4) mechanisms for public financing (who controls fund distribution and how). There are varying mixtures along these four dimensions both within countries and around the world, with the American system exhibiting the widest range of combinations. Six categories are described, including four common in the U.S.: I. Independent private, where institutions are independent in ownership, in control, and in basic financing; II. Dependent private, independent in ownership and financing but dependent in control; III. Independent public, dependent in ownership but independent in control and substantially independent in financing; IV. Semi-independent public (state/guild type), dependent in ownership, mixed in control, and heavily dependent in financing (less common in the U.S., but typical of Italy and Latin America); V. Semi-independent public (state/trustee/guild type), where control is shared among state, academic guilds and lay boards of trustees but with mainly state-controlled financing; and VI. Dependent public, the model in the Communist nations.Kerr traces the historical path that led to the mixed American system and examines some of its positive consequences, which include institutional autonomy, diversity, and flexibility. Negative results include possible over-responsiveness to short-term pressures, as from the labor market or student preferences for courses of study, and from supporting business or industry.The author concludes that the American experience with privatized public institutions may serve as a model for those elsewhere who now seek greater institutional differentiation, autonomy, and flexibility within national systems of higher education.