Assessment in a Rwandan higher education institution: a quest for aligned assessment to promote socio-economic transformation

Assessment in institutions of higher learning has been researched worldwide. However, there are gaps in research exploring the implications of assessment practices for learners’ access to the kind of knowledge enabling them to participate in their communities’ socio-economic transformation. This is the case in the African Great Lakes region, including Rwanda. This paper investigated the assessment practices at the University of Rwanda-College of Education to establish whether they enable students to access powerful knowledge for socio-economic transformation, which promotes critical thinking and creativity, or the knowledge of the powerful, which promotes memorization of knowledge produced by experts. The study adopted mixed methods, where 361 questions from 20 examinations papers for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 academic years were analysed using Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Interviews with lecturers and group discussions with students were conducted. The findings revealed that assessment practices heavily encourage the knowledge of the powerful, with limited focus on the socio-economic transformative knowledge. Such practices are unlikely to lead to national socioeconomic transformation, which the government expects from education. The paper recommends revisiting assessment practices in Rwandan higher education to instil in the graduates the required knowledge for active contribution to socio-economic transformation.     

Long-Term Memory for a Single Infancy Experience

Children's memory of a single infant experience was evaluated. Children in the experimental groups (N = 16 for 2.5-year-olds; N = 8 for 1.5-year-olds) had participated at 6.5 months in a study of auditory localization where they reached in the light and dark for a sounding object. They were reintroduced to the laboratory and the dark procedure they had experienced on that one occasion either 1 or 2 years previously. The first 5 trials were uninstructed; for the remaining 5 trials, children were instructed to find the sounding object. For half of the older group, a potential reminder of the infant procedure was introduced. The original infant rattle was sounded for 3 sec out of reach in the dark one-half hour prior to test trials. Equal numbers of age-matched inexperienced control subjects were also tested. The older children with infant experience reached and grasped the sounding object significantly more overall, and on instructed trials, than age-matched control children. Experienced 2.5-year-olds were also more likely to remain in the testing situation than children in the control group. The reminder facilitated uninstructed performance of the experienced children. Instructions to reach were helpful to all subjects. We conclude that children remembered aspects of a single experience that occurred when they were 6.5 months of age.     

Good teaching as a messy narrative of change within a policy ensemble of networks,superstructures and flows

This paper examines ‘good teaching’ within a policy ensemble where teachers’ subjectification and practices are underpinned by new modes of evaluation and enforcement. Although the paper is written with specific concern for teachers in the Republic of Ireland, the literature demonstrates that concerns raised resonate internationally. Theoretical frameworks are drawn from Bernstein’s pedagogic device and ‘rules of evaluation’ (2000, p. 34) and the tyranny of number, networks and superstructures found in policy research. The study includes a limited analysis of the policy ensemble in ‘Austerity Ireland’ and contextual understandings and perspectives of a purposive sample of experienced teachers (n = 54). Critical analysis generated three themes: multiple perspectives about ‘good teaching’, a strongly perceived pedagogy of oppression and low ethical trust in reported interactions at some schools and with the state inspectorate. Conclusions position ‘good teaching’ within the super-complexity of a messy narrative of change and flows enacted with a diversity of inquirers and institutions. The study questions the role of state inspectors as arbiters of ‘good teaching’ and challenges the academy of teacher education in assuring productive discursive gaps for education as a social responsibility for public-interest values.     

Self-directed professional development – Hope for teachers working in deprived environments?

Self-direction has been identified as a potential key to the success of professional development of teachers, especially those working in deprived environments. This paper develops a model for self-directed professional development using interview data from 55 Zimbabwean A-level Science and Mathematics teachers. It focuses on teachers' decisions about using ICT in their own professional development. Grounded theory analysis suggests seven themes underlying such decisions making, in turn representing two major attractors of self-directed professional development. These were identified as classroom efficacy, i.e. the ability to teach effectively, and professional efficacy, i.e. the ability to relate effectively within the teaching profession. This paper explores the potential of using these attractors to stimulate self-directed professional development within formal professional development programmes especially in disadvantaged communities.     

长江上游典型区耕地的土地生产潜力——以四川省彭州市为例

在土地利用分区的基础上,把长江上游典型区———四川省彭州市的耕地土壤资源分为3类农业利用亚区 :平原亚区、丘陵台地亚区和山地深丘亚区,采用目前国内外应用最广泛的“农业生态区域法”估算该区水稻、小麦、玉米、甘薯和土豆 5种作物的光温潜在产量,并根据各区的土壤属性,计算了土地生产潜力,在此基础上提出了相应的对策和建议.     

Are intensified physical education sessions able to elicit heart rate at a sufficient level to promote aerobic fitness in adolescents?

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of intensified physical education sessions on adolescents ages 11-16 years. They were divided into two experimental groups--high-intensity running group (HIRG) and high-intensity jumping group (HlJG)--and a control group (C). During the sessions, heart rate (HR) was monitored. There was no significant difference between mean HR for HIRG and HIJG, while the mean HR was significantly lower for C (p < .001). For both HIRG and HIJG, the mean HR was significantly higher for girls than for boys (p < .001). Our results suggested that these intensified physical education lessons require a high percentage of maximal HR in adolescents and can be used to improve aerobic fitness.     

An adaptive controller for nonlinear teleoperators with variable time-delays

In most real-life bilateral teleoperators the available physical parameters are uncertain and the communications exhibit variable time-delays. In order to confront these situations and only assuming that a bound of the time-delays is known, the present work reports an adaptive controller which ensures asymptotic convergence of both position errors and velocities to zero, provided that a sufficient condition on the control gains is met. Compared to previous related works that only treated constant time-delays, the stability analysis does not rely on the cascade interconnection structure of the local and remote nonlinear dynamics and the linear interconnection map. Instead, the paper employs a different Lyapunov candidate function that incorporates a strictly positive term, the local and remote position error. Some simulations, in free space and interacting with a rigid wall, and experiments, using two nonlinear manipulators, illustrate the performance of the proposed control scheme in the presence of uncertain parameters and variable time-delays.     

The Definitions and Onset of an Old Person in South-Western Nigeria

This paper investigates the definitions and onset of an old person in South-Western Nigeria. Conventionally, anyone who has reached the age of 60 or 65 years is regarded as the onset of an old person. But on contrary, this recent study is strongly emphasizing that 50 years and above is the onset of an old person in South-Western Nigeria. Obviously, the definitions and onset of an old person are controversial, yet, revealing in this paper. The study captured 13 Local Government Areas in Lagos state while 11 Local Government Areas were covered in Oyo state. The study employed focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs). However, 938 old persons were interviewed through questionnaire administration in Lagos and Oyo states of South-Western Nigeria. The univariate, FGDs, and IDIs were employed in the analyses of this research. The major findings of this study are the following: firstly, that there are different dimensions of the definitions of an old person that include frailty, inactivity, loss of strength, respect, blessedness, sickness, growing old, and inability to do hard work. Secondly, that someone who has reached the age of 50 years and above can be regarded as an old person, which is the onset of an old person in South-Western Nigeria society. On the basis of earlier findings, the study hereby recommends that anyone who has attained the age of 50 years and above should be recognized, regarded, and honored as an Elder by the State Government of South-Western Nigeria society where they are presently residing.