Impact of Process Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care on Academic Outcomes: Longitudinal Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis studies the association of pedagogical processes in early childhood care and education with outcomes in two academic domains: language and literacy as well as mathematics. It synthesizes evidence from 17 longitudinal studies in nine European countries with 16,461 children in regular center-based care spanning the period between ages 3 and 16. Results of a three-level meta-analysis provided small overall effect sizes for both global and domain-specific process quality, and indicated lasting associations with academic development over children’s school career (ES = .11, Cohen’s d = .22, and ES = .10, Cohen’s d = .20). Effects varied by outcome domain, type of process measure, and differences in adopted analyses, with important implications for pedagogical practice and future research.     

Student-customer orientation at a higher education institution: the perspective of undergraduate business students

Existing literature is polarized and primarily conceptual on the topic of student-customer orientation. Research into this phenomenon has failed to realize that higher education as such consists of several different educational experiences and has therefore addressed and studied the issue at too general a level, i.e. at the level of the higher education institution (HEI) as a whole, not at the level of educational experiences that an HEI provides. Based on a validated model of educational experiences, validated student-customer orientation questionnaire [Koris, R., & Nokelainen, P. (in press Koris, R., & Nokelainen, P. (in press). The student-customer orientation questionnaire (SCOQ): Application of customer metaphor to higher education. International Journal of Educational Management. [Google Scholar]). The student-customer orientation questionnaire (SCOQ): Application of customer metaphor to higher education. International Journal of Educational Management] and a survey conducted among business students (N?=?405) in Estonia, the aim of this article is to identify whether in which categories of educational experience and to what extent students expect an HEI to be student-customer oriented. The results of the study show that students expect to be treated as customers in some, but not all categories of educational experience that an HEI offers.     

Evaluating a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning in Sweden

This study reports on a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a Swedish municipality. The implementation was founded on two principles: (1) teaching should be informed by educational research; (2) to be successful teachers’ professional development needs to be based in everyday classroom practice. From these principles, AfL was chosen as a strand of educational research to inform teaching and ‘Teacher Learning Communities’ were chosen as a vehicle for professional development and for implementing AfL practices. Findings indicate that the project has been successful in bringing about a change in how teachers talk about teaching and learning and in changing teachers’ pedagogical practice towards AfL. Findings also suggest that AfL practices are mostly teacher-centred, which means that the teachers still take most of the responsibility for the assessment. This leads to high workload for the teachers and may also hinder students from taking responsibility for their learning.     

Dynamic in situ chromosome immobilisation and DNA extraction using localized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) phase transition

A method of in situ chromosome immobilisation and DNA extraction in a microfluidic polymer chip was presented. Light-induced local heating was used to induce poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) phase transition in order to create a hydrogel and embed a single chromosome such that it was immobilised. This was achieved with the use of a near-infrared laser focused on an absorption layer integrated in the polymer chip in close proximity to the microchannel. It was possible to proceed to DNA extraction while holding on the chromosome at an arbitrary location by introducing protease K into the microchannel.     

Internal and external influences on vocabulary development in preschool children

Competency in society's lingua franca plays a major role in the emergence of social disparities within education. Therefore, the present longitudinal study investigates vocabulary development and its predictors in preschool years. We focus on whether internal (phonological working memory) and external variables (preschool and home learning environment) have different impacts depending on parental native language. The study considers 547 children from 97 German preschools. Children's vocabulary was assessed at the ages of 3, 4, and 5 years. Latent growth curve models show that non-native German language children are characterized by reduced vocabulary at first assessment and lower progress compared to monolingual peers. Phonological working memory has a strong impact on all children's initial vocabulary but also on vocabulary growth in those whose parents speak German as an additional language. The effects of preschool and home learning environment are comparatively smaller.     

Staff Members’ Ideas about Visitors’ Learning at Science and Technology Centres

This study investigates staff members’ ideas and assumptions about visitors’ learning at science and technology centres. It also aims to explore in what ways their reasoning intersect with existing theories about learning within the field of science and technology centre research. The results of the study reveal that the staff members allude to learning processes differently by distinguishing organized from non‐organized learning, theoretical learning from practical hands‐on learning, and serious from non‐serious learning. According to most of the staff members, these also conclude with different learning outcomes. Further, a majority of the staff members state that they do not have any scientific knowledge about learning despite the fact that they work with the construction of new exhibitions. When discussing visitors’ learning, the staff members instead refer to personal experiences, professional experiences, professional education, and external references. When it comes to how they reason about the natural scientific content, nearly all express that they use references from the natural science community and researchers’ knowledge. The article moreover discusses in what ways a socio‐cultural approach may be used in order to understand how learning arises when visitors interact with exhibits.     

On the Relations Between Parents' Ideals and Children's Autonomy

In this article Doret J. de Ruyter and Anders Schinkel argue that parents' ideals can enhance children's autonomy, but that they may also have a detrimental effect on the development of children's autonomy. After describing the concept of ideals and elucidating a systems theoretical conception of autonomy, de Ruyter and Schinkel explore the ways in which the ideals of parents may play a role in the development of their children's autonomy. They show that abstract and complex ideals of parents (be it ideals for their children, ideals with regard to their parenthood, or their personal ideals) are most likely to enhance their children's autonomy. They also explain that an authoritative parenting style is most conducive to autonomy, although whether or not it does benefit children's autonomy also depends on the types of ideals pursued by parents.     

Grading of Student's Attainment: Purposes and Functions

Abstract

Lysne, A. 1984. Grading of Students' Attainment: Purposes and Functions. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 28, 149‐165. The article discusses the complex problem of evaluation and grading of students' achievement. During the 1970's a strong movement against the traditional formal grading and use of marks came up in many countries in the western world. The basic problem under question has been what type of reference measures should be used in grading students' achievement — measures of individual potentials or comprehensive norms or standards for attainment of skills and knowledge? The answer to this question depends, of course, on the type of functions the grades are supposed to serve. For individual guidance, it might be sufficient to give information about progress in relation to personal potentials, but that type of evaluation and grading can certainly not be used for selective purposes. A number of factors and viewpoints have to be taken into consideration when new reforms of grading systems for our schools are under discussion and planning.