Some Simple Analytics of Access and Revenue Targets

If a museum faces a price inelastic demand and twin targets of a minimum number of visits and a minimum revenue, those targets need not be compatible. This paper explores the implications of such targets and shows that their compatibility depends critically on the admission price-elasticity. If the targets are incompatible it may be possible to engineer compatibility by shifting the demand curve. However, if the demand shift (eg resulting from advertising or improving the quality of the visitor experience) requires resourcing and is to be self-financing, it may or may not be possible to bring about compatibility.     

The Public Schools and Organized Football in Britain: Fresh Perspectives on Old Paradigms

Modern football, especially soccer, was the product of a fusion of ideas from both the public schools and wider society. In the period between 1830 and 1859 there were far more football teams outside the public schools than those within it, and while the ideas stemming from public schools were important in terms of the code that was established to regulate the game it was only when they were fused and applied with concepts from the wider society that they gained both effectiveness and popularity. The principal creator of this code was the football club at Sheffield, an organization that was easily the most influential and important in the period prior to 1870.     

The development of a system for supporting the lifelong learner

Given the rapidly changing skills needs of ‘post‐industrial economies’, lifelong learning forms an integral part of government policy within the UK and abroad. However, like the UK, most economies are faced with the problem of how to reach those sections of the community that have traditionally not embraced learning and educational opportunities. In this paper, the development and evaluation of a system designed to address this problem is described. The Lifelong Learning in London for All (L4All) project has investigated the concept of ‘trails’ as a way of organising lifelong learning opportunities. The L4All pilot system combines a set of web services to provide the functionality needed to support this central idea. The development process was outlined, and the findings of an empirical study were used to confirm proof of concept.     

Global citizenship education,technology, and being

ABSTRACT

Despite the widespread promotion of the global school, it remains unclear as to how citizenship education (global citizenship education, GCE) is developed. Educational bodies such as UNESCO, Oxfam, and the International Baccalaureate are in the full throws of developing models for GCE yet questions remain as to how such a sweeping notion might take effect. Educational frameworks replete with theoretical, political, pedagogical, and methodological conundrums permeate much global education discourse. Modes of GCE thinking range from post-colonial perspective, critical perspectives, postmodernism as well as an oratory utopianism. This article presents an alternate model of GCE promoting both technology and art as complicit in the exacting of a multifaceted GCE. The balancing of art and technology, as demonstrated, presents an ontological stance that acts as a foundation for the Proto-Global Citizen or ‘Weltburger’. This article aims to support educators seeking a further means of conceptualising GCE embodying diversification while embracing a GCE consciousness. Furthermore, the development of GCE through art and technology creates an opportunity for educators to realign disciplinary focus in light of the increasing incentive for schools to ‘go global’.     

How Can Teaching Aids Improve the Quality of Mathematics Education

The interplay among and connections between objects (structured or unstructured), images, language and symbols that lead to mathematical reasoning and the stating of mathematical propositions of very wide generality is well worth closer study. I believe that the subtle distinction between the way mathematical ideas are constructed from objects and the particular characteristics of the objects is often not clear in many teachers' minds. In the plenary, with the help of colleagues, using practical examples and situations, I would like to explore the distinction between the mathematical ideas that are being discussed in classrooms and the objects that are used in helping with abstractions. The use of interactive technology in the creation of mathematical meanings will form an important part of my colleagues' contributions.     

University students’ perceptions of summative assessment: The role of context

We report on a mixed-method study that compared students’ perceptions of summative assessment across two distinct disciplines – education and mathematics, at two research-intensive institutions in the UK. The disciplines chosen represent opposing positions in Biglan’s classification of academic disciplines, as well as having very different assessment practices. Results suggest that these education students prefer to be assessed by methods they perceive to discriminate on the basis of academic abilities. Moreover, they perceive the traditional closed-book examination as inadequate to assess the capabilities which are key to being successful in their subject, which fits some but not all of the general findings in the literature. However, comparing these results with those of an identical study with mathematics students, we find that the perceptions of summative assessment are very different. We account for that difference by suggesting that students’ epistemic beliefs play a role in shaping these perceptions and conclude that, in designing summative assessment in higher education, generalised and centralised forces for change need to be tempered by contextual and disciplinary factors.     

The construction of an aboriginal science bibliography

This research note concerns the construction of a bibliography of written materials about Aboriginal science and technology drawn from books, theses, dissertations, scientific and non-scientific journals, conference papers and newspapers etc. in fact, articles about the science and technology that relate in some way to Aborigines, from whatever source, have been included. The articles collected have been listed and classified using Hypercard and major issues and themes have been drawn out of these classifications. It is hoped that the bibliography will be of value in itself and that the categorisation of written materials with help curriculum developers. Specialisations: Science teacher education, chemical education, science education in developing countries, educational issues.     

Engineering flexible teaching and learning in engineering education

The key challenges for achieving flexibility in flexible mode programmes in engineering and technology include: the integration of the explicit and implicit content in potentially disparate and isolated study modules across the whole programme curriculum; ensuring the validity and consistency of policies for granting students advanced standing based on recognition for prior learning and workplace experience; developing learning materials and experiences that cater for a wide and diverse audience, while at the same time offering relevance to the individual student in their own context; creating innovative communication environments that bring remote students into both the directed and the discursive discussion that are an important part of the learning process; and the financial and resourcing sustainability of the development, maintenance and delivery of high quality flexible mode engineering and technology study programmes.     

Using Situational Interest to Enhance Individual Interest and Science-Related Behaviours

Situational interest is a relatively transient reaction to highly stimulating factors in the immediate environment, whereas individual interest is a relatively long-term preference for a particular subject or activity. It has been proposed that regular experiences of situational interest in a subject may eventually lead to the development of individual interest in that subject. Importantly, this should also result in an increase in behaviours related to that domain. For example, a student who develops an individual interest in science would be expected to spend more time on science-related activities such as reading about science, talking with other people about science, or watching science shows on TV. However, the extent to which this does happen has not yet been established. The purposes of this study were to find out whether regular experiences of situational interest in science classes can enhance individual interest in science and whether there is an associated increase in science-related activities. The participants were primary teacher education students who were enrolled in a semester-length science course. Data were collected using a survey, an interest inventory, open-ended questionnaires and interviews. It was found that regular experiences of situational interest during the course were associated with positive changes in individual interest in science and increased participation in science-related activities. These changes remained relatively stable over a delay period of 10 months after the end of the course.