‘Go,go on and go higher an’ higher’. Second‐generation Turks’ understanding of the role of education and their struggle through the Dutch school system

With reference to capital theories and rational choice theory, this paper aims to understand how abilities and schooling ambitions are intertwined with social class, gender and ethnicity. By drawing on 16 in‐depth interviews carried out with highly educated second‐generation Turks in the Netherlands, the paper discusses the resources, opportunities and educational attitudes of young people, together with the role of the school system and that of teachers in perpetuating ethnic inequalities in schooling, with special emphasis on gender differences in schooling ambitions.     

COLLEGE STUDIES AFTER 50 YEARS OF AGE: A QUEBEC EXPERIENCE

This article presents an examination of an academic program for older adults, offered at a junior‐college level educational institution in Montreal, Quebec. The authors recount the main events of the history of this francophone program and explain its underlying principles. They trace the evolution of the program within the college structure and examine its pedagogy. As well, they offer several results of the program and consider its future prospects. The authors conclude that the program, seen as a social practice, bears a significance for educational gerontology, for education, and for the larger context of contemporary society.     

Experiential and outdoor education: the participant experience shared through mind maps

This paper describes an analysis of mind maps capturing the experiences of the participants in an experiential and outdoor education course. The method of mind mapping is usually limited to a quantitative scoring analysis and comparative content analysis of concepts. As a consequence, the visual elements of the information are usually ignored, but to analyze the holistic information, it is necessary to analyze its visual elements. This intention underlines this study of five chosen pairs of mind maps made by participants in the outdoor course comparing their impressions at the beginning and end of the course. A qualitative review of the visual and symbolic levels of information found a significant impetus occurring in the participants’ view of their life journey and the possibility of changes due to the course experience. There is a visible tendency toward changes between first and second maps, from vague fears to acceptance of one's self, from polarity to holistically perceived reality, from vague concepts to colorful visual symbolism, from focus on the past to open acceptance of the future, from personality to community, and from the physical dimension of the experience to the spiritual or holistic level of the meaning of the experience.     

Feasibility of eyes open alpha power training for mental enhancement in elite gymnasts

Abstract

This study focuses on a novel, easy to use and instruction-less method for mental training in athletes. Previous findings suggest that particular mental capacities are needed for achieving peak performance; including attentional control, focus, relaxation and positive affect. Electroencephalography (EEG) alpha brain activity has been associated with neural inhibition during processes of selective attention, for improving efficiency in information processing. Here we hypothesised that eyes open alpha power training by music teaches athletes to (1) learn to self-regulate their brain activity, and (2) learn to increase their baseline alpha power, herewith improving mental capacities such as focusing the allocation of attention. The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled. Twelve elite gymnasts were either given eyes open alpha power training or random beta power training (controls). Results indicate small improvements in sleep quality, mental and physical shape. In our first attempt at getting a grip on mental capacities in athletes, we think this novel training method can be promising. Because gymnastics is one of the most mentally demanding sports, we value even small benefits for the athlete and consider them indicative for future research.     

Professional Identity Development of Teacher Candidates Participating in an Informal Science Education Internship: A focus on drawings as evidence

This study investigated the professional identity development of teacher candidates participating in an informal afterschool science internship in a formal science teacher preparation programme. We used a qualitative research methodology. Data were collected from the teacher candidates, their informal internship mentors, and the researchers. The data were analysed through an identity development theoretical framework, informed by participants’ mental models of science teaching and learning. We learned that the experience in an afterschool informal internship encouraged the teacher candidates to see themselves, and to be seen by others, as enacting key recommendations by science education standards documents, including exhibiting: positive attitudes, sensitivity to diversity, and increasing confidence in facilitating hands‐on science participation, inquiry, and collaborative work. Our study provided evidence that the infusion of an informal science education internship in a formal science teacher education programme influenced positively participants’ professional identity development as science teachers.     

Cooking the books

This article is the text of a talk given to the Summer School in Children's Literature held at Worcester in July, 1992.Adèle Geras has been writing books for children and young adults since 1976. She lives in Manchester.     

Specificity and overlap in skills underpinning reading and arithmetical fluency

The aim of this study was to examine unique and common causes of problems in reading and arithmetic fluency. 13- to 14-year-old students were placed into one of five groups: reading disabled (RD, n = 16), arithmetic disabled (AD, n = 34), reading and arithmetic disabled (RAD, n = 17), reading, arithmetic, and listening comprehension disabled (TRIPLE, n = 9), and typically developing students (NON-LD, n = 40). Multivariate analyses of covariance and variance component analyses showed that reading problems are characterised by difficulties with phonological processing and with rapid automatic naming. Problems with executive functioning and with digit span were typical for students with arithmetical fluency difficulties. RAD students had problems with phonological processing, rapid naming, executive functioning, and digit span. Impairments in number fact fluency, digit span, loudness perception, speeded sound manipulation, and coding, which all share a fluency component were common to problems with reading and arithmetical fluency.     

“To err is human”

The Emergence Of Youth Societies ... A Cross Cultural Approach. David Gottlieb, John Reeves, and Warren D. TenHouten. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 416. $7.95.)

University Choice. Klaus Boehm, editor. (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966. Pp. 400. $1.95.)

Pickets At The Gates. Estelle Fuchs. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 205. $2.95.)

Democracy and Education. John Dewey. (New York: The Free Press, 1966. Pp. 378. $2.45.)

Reading in the Elementary School. Jeanette Veatch. (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1966. Pp. 535. $7.00.)

Chinese Intellectuals and the West 1872–1949. Y. C. Wang. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1966. Pp. 557 $10.00.)

Learning in the Schools. Robert A. Davis. (Belmont, Calif. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1966. Pp. 231. $3.95.)

Setting Conditions for Creative Teaching in the Elementary School. James A. Smith, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1966. Pp. 207. Text Ed. $4.95.)