Continuing Engineering Education and Environmental Management: How to Satisfy New Demands by New Settings—AnExample/Zusatzqualifikation 'Umweltmanagement in Bahia’—für Ingenieure und diejenigen,die mit ihnen zusammenarbeiten

The need for a more sustainable development is commonly acknowledged, but there are considerable problems for meaningful operationalization. This is still true today, even though relevant legislation is increasing, more suitable technologies are available and more financial resources can be called upon. Thus, the real stumbling blocks seem to be a lack of knowledge in various aspects: knowledge of new demands regarding one's own professional activities: comprehensive understanding of complex (eco)systems; and networking knowledge of how to secure inter-institutional and interdisciplinary communication and cooperation. To transfer the lacking knowledge—in most cases during an individual's working life and not before—requires both new contents and dimensions of flexibility and effectiveness not common to traditional teaching structures. Therefore, suitable learning infrastructures and methodologies have to be developed. Also, traditional knowledge selection and acquisition behaviour and established roles in knowledge transfer have to be questioned. As an example for tackling the problem in an innovative and efficient way, this article describes an environmental management course in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Participants have to hold an academic degree and have to be economically active to take part in the course. Learning on the course and working are interlinked so that one benefits the other. The keys for achieving this goal are the modular structure of the course, and a modified role of the participants, their employers, the tutors and professors. Many participants have an engineering and technical background, but they also have natural and social scientists, administrators, journalists and teachers as classmates.     

Gesticulating science: Emergent bilingual students’ use of gestures

This article examines how emergent bilingual students used gestures in science class, and the consequences of students’ gestures when their language repertoire limited their possibilities to express themselves. The study derived from observations in two science classes in Sweden. In the first class, 3rd grade students (9–10 years old) were involved in a unit concerning electricity. The second class consisted of 7th‐grade students (13–14 years old) working with acids and bases. Data were analyzed by using practical epistemological analysis (PEA). When students’ language proficiency limited their possibility to express themselves, using gestures resulted in the continuation of the science activities. Furthermore, both peers and teachers drew on the used gestures to talk about the science content. In some situations, the meaning of the gestures needed to be negotiated. Regardless, the gestures were always related to language. Both students and teachers participated in this process, but the teachers directed the communication toward the goal of the lessons: learning how to talk science. The study contributes to the field by showing the importance of paying attention to and valuing bilingual students’ use of gestures as a way to express scientific knowledge. In addition, it demonstrates how teachers might draw on students’ gestures to teach science and discusses the importance of creating multimodal learning environments. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 55: 121–144, 2018     

Designing and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Physlet-Based Learning Materials in Supporting Conceptual Learning in Secondary School Physics

Many educational researchers have investigated how best to support conceptual learning in science education. In this study, the aim was to design learning materials using Physlets, small computer simulations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials in supporting conceptual learning in secondary school physics. Students were taught in two different physics courses (conditions): one group of students (n = 40) was taught using Physlet-based learning materials, and the other (n = 40) was taught using expository instruction. To evaluate the designed materials, we assessed students’ thinking skills in relation to physics after the course and analyzed the results using an independent t test, multiple regression analyses, and one-way analysis of covariance. The results showed better thinking skills among students in the experimental group and supported a clear relationship between the physics course using Physlet-based materials and this improvement (p < 0.05). These results indicate that properly designed Physlet-based materials can effectively support conceptual learning.     

On the bus and online: instantiating an interactive learning environment through design-based research

The World Health Organization converted an award-winning experiential learning course that takes place on a bus traveling down the “cold chain” for time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products in Turkey to an online interactive learning environment through design-based research. Similarities and differences in the objectives of the two courses as well as the overlap in the learning activities, tools, and technologies deployed in courses are delineated. Many learning activities from the real bus course were successfully moved to the online course, but a few learning activities from the bus course could not be replicated in the online environment. However, several new and arguably more effective learning activities were implemented online that could not be accomplished on the bus. Design principles for developing online experiential learning environments were derived from the design-based research.     

Programming education in the frameworks of reverse engineering and theory of didactical situations

Education and Information Technologies - This study aims to evaluate the teaching of the programming process carried out through scenarios related to daily life within the framework of Reverse...     

Examining the role of sentence openers,role assignment scaffolds and self-determination in collaborative knowledge building

Educational technology research and development - Scaffolds establish a cognitive connection with the students and what they want to express. Supporting the collaborative knowledge building process...     

Challenging ideals of connected learning: the networked configurations for learning of migrant youth in the Netherlands

New infrastructures that dramatically change our possibilities for knowledge production and learning have also brought forward ideals on ‘new’ connectivity. Two important ideals of connectivity are that of the individual who tailors his or her knowledge among expansively dispersed resources, and the ideal of access to multiple, diverse resources that provide individuals rich learning opportunities. In order to better understand what cultural norms are implied in our ideals of connectivity, we argue, they must be tested in the crucible of empirical data through the analysis of the actual socio-technical practices of different social and cultural groups. Through a combination of ego-network analysis and a qualitative, in-depth discursive approach, we analyze the networked learning practices of three ethnically different groups in the Netherlands from an extensive research study called ‘Wired Up'. We comparatively describe Dutch youth as ‘unrooted' learners, Moroccan-Dutch youth as ‘routed' learners, and Turkish-Dutch youth as ‘rooted' learners. We propose the idea of the Networked Configuration for Learning as a means to contrast the learning opportunities individuals and groups have in relation to particular offline and online connections, their historical geographies, the development of learning ‘places’, and particular learning affinities.     

Schlechte Zeiten für Bildung: Globalisierung,Deregulierung und Privatisierung im Ländervergleich Türkei und Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Because of the forced reductions in state activities that are observed worldwide as a result of the increasingly unrestricted growth of competition, national public institutions of education are under escalating pressure. Both in basic and in higher education, a creeping process of privatization is occurring, while more and more of the costs of education are being passed on to the citizen. This applies to both industrialized countries such as Germany, and to Turkey. The international dimension of this subversive process, which is also drastically affecting the prospects for academic research, is seldom critically addressed in eduational discourse. Instead, the field is dominated by a high-brow attitude to the globalization process which sees it as helping to promote world citizenship.     

Conceptualising educational changes: A social innovation approach

The intention of the authors in this article is to contribute to the discussion concerning educational change by implementing the concept of social innovation. We argue that the application of the concept of social innovation makes it possible to better understand the process of implementation as well as sustainability and the social impact of educational changes. In the article, an integrated model of social innovation has been constructed and applied in conceptualising two consequent radical educational changes accompanying the post-communist changes in Estonia. As a result, the authors conclude that the concept of social innovation provides a promising framework, which facilitates the understanding and analysis of radical educational change. The social innovation approach is useful in identifying the different levels of change and assessing how deep the changes have been. However, in education systems in neo-liberal countries, where competition is one of the basic values, educational changes, even though becoming part of the everyday practices of actors, may redistribute power, rather than having an empowering effect for the majority of the main actors.     

Perspectives on interdisciplinary undergraduate research

Undergraduate Research (UR) provides deeper experiential learning opportunities for students while increasing their self-efficacy, academic success and motivation to pursue graduate studies. Many real-world problems require an integrated solution and collaboration across different disciplines; therefore, it is important that students develop skills to work across disciplines on challenging research problems. As types and complexity of UR increase, Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research (IDUR) has become more prevalent, but little is known about it. We define IDUR as “student-faculty collaboration to examine, increase, and share new knowledge or works relevant to research questions the investigation of which necessitates an interdisciplinary approach”. From the faculty perspective, and based on the results of a national sample of higher learning institutions in the U.S., we outline the enablers of and barriers to IDUR and provide quantitative and qualitative insights. Survey results show that, irrespective of the size of the institution at which they work, faculty members value mentoring students conducting IDUR although it brings with it some challenges. Our findings may help institutions better facilitate IDUR projects and inform faculty development opportunities that deepen student learning and retention via enhanced curricula in which IDUR is embedded.