Fifth graders metacognitive knowledge: general or domain-specific?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the structure of metacognitive knowledge in fifth grade pupils and its relation to school achievement. Since the structure of metacognitive knowledge is controversially discussed with little empirical evidence for either its domain specificity or its domain transferability, the debate remains somewhat hypothetical up to date. In theory it is assumed that the development of metacognitive knowledge begins highly domain and situation-specific and becomes more flexible and domain-transcending with practice and experience (Borkowski et al. 2000). As standardized measures to assess metacognitive knowledge of students in the age group under investigation were missing, newly developed instruments were applied to assess the domain-specific metacognitive knowledge in reading and mathematics as well as domain-transcending metacognitive knowledge. The influences of domain-specific and general metacognitive knowledge on school achievement in the two domains were analyzed. While findings on the structure of metacognitive knowledge indicate some degree of domain specificity, they also point out a strong relation between general metacognitive knowledge and domain-specific metacognitive knowledge. The cross-sectional relation between metacognitive knowledge and academic achievement were relatively low. Implications for future research will be discussed.     

The permanence of a higher order discrete time system

~~The permanence of a higher order discrete time system@朱伟$Institute For Nonlinear System, Chongqing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, P.R. China~~the Technology Research Foundation of the State Ministry of Education (No. 02130)…     

Developmental dyslexia: Related to specific or general deficits?

The present study was designed to examine the question of whether developmental dyslexia in 12-year-old students at the beginning of secondary education in the Netherlands is confined to problems in the domain of reading and spelling or also is related to difficulties in other areas. In particular, hypotheses derived from theories on phonological processing, rapid automatized naming, working memory, and automatization of skills were tested. To overcome the definition and selection problems of many previous studies, we included in our study all students in the first year of secondary special education in a Dutch school district. Participants were classified as either dyslexic, garden-variety, or hyperlexic poor readers, according to the degree of discrepancy between their word recognition and listening comprehension scores. In addition, groups of normal readers were formed, matching the poor readers in either reading age or chronological age. A large test battery was administered to each student, including phonological, naming, working memory, speed of processing, and motor tests. The findings indicate that dyslexia is associated with deficits in (1) phonological recoding, word recognition (both in their native Dutch and in English as a second language), and spelling skills; and (2) naming speed for letters and digits. Dyslexia was not associated with deficits in other areas. The results suggest that developmental dyslexia, at the age of 12, might be (or might have become) a difficulty rather isolated from deficiencies in other cognitive and motor skills.     

Opportunity or exploitation? Women and quality assurance in higher education

Based on interviews with 18 UK women academics and managers on quality and power in higher education, this article interrogates the impact of quality assurance discourses and practices on women in higher education. Micro‐level analysis of the effects of audit and the evaluative state seem to suggest that hegemonic masculinities and gendered power relations are being reinforced by the emphasis on competition, targets, audit trails and performance (Morley, 2003a Morley, L. 2003a. Quality and power in higher education, Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Furthermore, pedagogic space for exploring social justice issues is closing with the emphasis on learning outcomes and student consumerism (Morley, 2003b Morley, L. 2003b. “Reconstructing students as consumers: new settlements of power or the politics of assimilation?”. In Higher education and the lifecourse, Edited by: Slowey, M. and Watson, D. Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Yet women are also gaining new visibility as a consequence of the creation of a new cadre of quality managers. Quality assurance, as a regime of power, appears to offer both repressive and creative potential for women. This article will explore whether quality signs and practices are gendered and whether these represent opportunity or exploitation for women in the academy.     

Teachers’ beliefs about low-achieving students and higher order thinking

The goal of this study is to characterize the patterns of teachers’ beliefs regarding low-achieving students and instruction of higher order thinking. Subjects are 40 Israeli teachers. Results show that 45% of the teachers believe that higher order thinking is inappropriate for low-achieving students. Findings suggest that teachers’ beliefs in this context are related to their general theory of instruction: viewing learning as hierarchical in terms of students’ academic level was found to be related to a traditional view of learning, i.e., seeing learning as progressing from simple, lower order cognitive skills to more complex ones. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Graphic organizers or graphic overviews? Presentation order effects with computer-based text

It has long been assumed that graphic organizers (GOs) should be presented to students following text as an organizer, rather than preceding text as an overview. Robinson et al. (Educational Technology Research & Development, 51(4), 25?C41, 2003) challenged this assumption by finding support for GOs as an overview. The present study further examined this issue by having 111 undergraduates view three GOs before (overview) or after (organizer) reading or listening to a narration of a 3,400-word text, followed by measures of retention and transfer. Students who received GOs as organizers transferred knowledge better than those who received GOs as overviews. Whether GOs should also be used as overviews, as prescribed by Robinson et al., is unclear and in need of further investigation.     

Open Source software in US higher education: Reality or illusion?

As institutions of Higher Education try to balance limited resources with the rising costs of technology, some institutions are turning to Open Source software for campus-wide applications such as course management systems and portals. The assumption is that Open Source will provide the flexibility to build pedagogically sound learning environments while increasing technology efficiencies. This paper outlines the current state of Open Source software deployment in US Higher Education based on a survey of 772 Chief Academic Officers and Chief Information Officers conducted in 2006. The results indicate that Carnegie classification is a critical differentiator of awareness, adoption, and perceptions of Open Source software applications, with perceived cost of ownership being the key driver of Open Source adoption. Moreover, the study shows that institutions have made little progress in the development of polices and procedures for Open Source regulatory compliance and security. The study serves as a baseline for future research into the conditions for successful use of Open Source for supporting integrated learning environments that deliver campus-wide efficiencies.

Fair contest or elite sponsorship? Entry settlements in Australian higher education

Significant change to Australian higher education occurred between March, 1987 and March, 1996, under the direction of a Federal Labor Government. At one level, the period witnessed an increase in the provision of higher education and variation in the criteria used to grant student entry. Such change represented a crisis in higher educations traditional or qualified-entry settlement which led to its resettling around a more diversified-entry arrangement. The organising logic of this diversified-entry was characterised by the discourses of contest (fairness in competition) rather than sponsorship (selection by association), although the latter appears to have been just better hidden.     

On the margins or at the center? Distance education in higher education

Abstract

This reflection focuses on the position of distance education in today’s global higher education. Firstly, it identifies three types of convergence of distance and campus-based education – dual mode, add-on/blended, and full convergence – arguing that the last type has yet to be fully realized due to the complexities involved. It then critiques the interplay between the two, concluding that despite being influenced by campus-based instructional delivery in its early days, distance education is now influencing campus-based education. Implications of convergence are also discussed. Arguably, distance education universities should be proud of the increasing presence of distance education in campus-based universities and have confidence in maintaining their advantages. As for campus-based universities, a systems approach is needed if they intend to take advantage of this ‘unorthodox’ mode of education. Finally, it is suggested that both campus-based education and distance education are at the center of higher education because they are now equally conventional.     

Is higher placement stability in kinship foster care by virtue or design?

Prior research has repeatedly documented higher placement stability for children who enter kinship care rather than non-relative foster care. However, little is known about why, and under what circumstances, kinship care is more stable. This study uses longitudinal state administrative data to explore possible explanations. Results suggest that, while children in non-relative foster care are indeed at higher risk of any placement move than their peers in kinship care, this appears to be partly driven by child selection factors and policy preferences for kinship care. That is, the gap is not explained primarily by different rates of caregiver-requested moves. However, the gap was sizably smaller among select high-risk subgroups of foster children, suggesting that higher stability in kinship care may be partly explained by differences in the characteristics of children entering kinship care (versus non-relative foster care). Moreover, a large portion of the gap is explained by children in non-relative care being moved into kinship care; a move that is likely the result of policy preferences for kinship care rather than a defect in the initial placement. In sum, these results suggest that kinship care provides only a limited stability advantage, and the reasons for that advantage are not well understood.     

The Bologna Process and higher education in Mercosur: regionalization or Europeanization?

Over the past two decades regional agreements have become more significant in educational and training. This paper situates and analyses the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Bologna Process and the Lisbon Strategy and explores their influence on the integration of higher education systems in Mercosur (the Southern Common Market of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). Mercosur is still a customs union, and the project of integrating higher education is at an early stage. Lacking organically established regional bodies, coordination of integration in Mercosur has focused on summits and meetings of officials. However, in a context of unequal maturity in regional integration, there is emerging evidence that the EHEA project is influencing the reforms of national systems of higher education and even Mercosur’s model for a regional area of higher education. A nascent Europeanization of higher education systems in the Mercosur region is emerging, by-passing Mercosur’s regional structures. The formulation of policies has been permeated by policy transfer from Europe to national territories within Mercosur.     

Fostering higher‐order thinking in science class: teachers’ reflections

The study reported in this article aimed at exploring what teachers know and do about fostering higher‐order thinking skills in teaching science, and how they see themselves involved in achieving this end. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with 11 teachers experienced in teaching high school physics, which is considered a relatively difficult but well‐established discipline. The findings highlighted a diversity among the teachers in four areas: meta‐strategic knowledge of the concept of higher‐order thinking; practical utilization of instructional strategies related to fostering higher‐order thinking in the classroom; beliefs about students’ abilities to acquire higher‐order thinking skills; and self‐perception regarding teaching towards higher‐order thinking. Regarding the second area, for example, some of the teachers reported using teaching strategies in class that could impede the development of students as autonomous thinkers; others occasionally try to foster higher‐order thinking among their students but regard this as a way of conveying subject content better; only a minority of the teachers see the fostering of higher‐order thinking as an important objective of teaching physics. In summary, teachers are frequently puzzled or uncertain about the entire issue of fostering higher‐order thinking in school. Introducing elements of constructivist pedagogy combined with the specific steps aimed at fostering higher‐order thinking into the science class is required to make the development of higher‐order thinking a regular ingredient in science teaching within the current schooling.     

Vocational education and the binary higher education system in the Netherlands: higher education symbiosis or vocational education dichotomy?

The Netherlands has a binary higher education system in which academic education and higher professional education at EQF levels 5–8 co-exist. There is also secondary vocational education at EQF levels 1 up to 4. In this paper, I analyse policy documents resulting from the Bologna Process and argue that under neo-liberal conditions, higher professional education brings opportunities for both students and employers, but also creates a socio-economic tension in terms of employability. The gap between higher professional education and secondary vocational education adds to the formation of a labour market in which higher professional education graduates are prepared to an international labour market but employability pressure is being put on lower skilled employees, creating unequal employability opportunities for vocational education graduates.     

Is race or ethnicity a predictive factor in Shaken Baby Syndrome?

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have concluded that shaken baby syndrome occurs more often among Whites than among Blacks. The purpose of this study was to determine whether race is a predictive factor in Shaken Baby Syndrome when population and referral patterns are considered. METHODS: A retrospective medical record review of closed head injuries due to child abuse during the time period January 1992 to July 1997 was conducted at three pediatric tertiary care medical centers in North Carolina. Patients included children, ages 0-4 years, identified from medical record reviews and child abuse databases. Only North Carolina residents were included. The specific rates of shaken baby syndrome in Whites versus non-Whites in the referral area were computed. RESULTS: The difference in the rate of shaken baby syndrome from the referral area was not statistically significant among Whites versus non-Whites (26.7/100,000 versus 38.6/100,000, p = .089) Most of the perpetrators were male (68%), and most victims (76%), lived with their mothers and biologic father or mother's boyfriend. CONCLUSION: Race was not a significant factor in predicting shaken baby syndrome in the referral area studied, and therefore is not a useful factor in targeting groups for intervention.     

Supporting students with impairments in higher education: social inclusion or cold comfort?

This paper uses a discursive analysis to examine the experience of ‘inclusion’ from several stakeholder groups in one university. The research team included disability support staff at the institution, external disability consultants and academic researchers. A critical focus group investigation centred on four groups: students who were identified as having an impairment (SWIs), academic staff (teachers), administrators and students who did not identify as having an impairment (non‐SWIs). Interviews had facilitators with both research and disability expertise. Groups recounted different experiences of inclusion. SWIs, drawing on a rights discourse, emphasised a lack of resourcing and barriers created by the teaching staff. In contrast, teachers, administrators and (to a lesser extent) non‐SWIs emphasised the importance of social inclusion, reflecting discourses around needs and humanist notions of care and support, which largely seemed to miss the core of SWI concerns about recognition of their technical competence. For all groups, questions around disclosure of disability were of greater concern than tensions between needs and rights or the recent publication of a Code of Practice for the higher education sector. The findings challenged some of the researchers’ own assumptions, with unexpected implications for practice.     

The expansion of educredit in Latin American higher education: Promise or peril?

Credit facilities for students in Latin American universities have grown rapidly in recent years. The implications of this development are critically examined with particular attention to the inhibiting influence of loan-based higher education on the freedom of the student as an individual.     

Growth or steady state? A bibliometric focus on international comparative higher education research

The study combines a bibliometric approach with a content analysis of abstracts of articles to explore the patterns of international comparative higher education research in leading international journals. The overall data set covers 4,095 publications from the Web of Science for the period 1992–2012 and the amount of international comparative articles in this data set is analyzed utilizing a geographical coding. Contrary to a general proliferation of international and global trends in higher education, the results of the analysis most importantly reveal a relatively steady state of international comparative higher education research over the past 20 years. Further patterns examined show that international collaborative articles have a much higher share in international comparative research compared to non-comparative research, small-scale country clusters are preferred for comparison and there is a dense network of comparative clusters between Europe and the US. Finally, rationales for these patterns are discussed, as well as potential implications.     

First Chance,Second Chance or Last Chance? Resistance and response to education

This article reports findings from two studies, both of which used resistance theory to explain students' response to education. One study focused on an inner-city primary school characterised by high student opposition to both teachers and schooling. The other study examined how students, previously considered failures in mainstream education, responded to a 'second chance' programme aimed at providing access to tertiary education. Each study considered the relationship between students, teachers and the curriculum, and how this relationship was produced, negotiated and transformed within the everyday culture and language of the students. The first study identified conditions which led students to reach a decisive moment in their lives where a free, and arguably final, choice was made to reject school and education more generally. The second study identified factors in students' lives, both educational and personal, which led either to the educational access they desired or further frustration and failure. In reporting these findings, this paper will explore the theoretical and empirical common ground, and also the tension, between each study, thus offering a deeper understanding of student response to education along a broad educational continuum.