Priority-setting in the roll out of South Africa’s National Integrated ECD Policy

The South African National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy was approved by the South African Cabinet in 2015. Given capacity and financial constraints, all services outlined cannot be implemented in a single step. Priorities must be set. We examine the budget implications (total cost and cost per child) and benefits of the four largest components of the Policy: interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes; home visits for at-risk mothers of children under 2 years of age; community-based playgroups for mothers and children, and center-based early childhood development services. Further, we identify which services are based on the strongest evidence, the value-based trade-offs that characterise the prioritising decisions, and which logistical factors favour alternative orderings of services. The interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes are low cost, based on sound evidence and would make use of the established healthcare infrastructure. Home visits for at-risk mothers are associated with improved development for targeted children and consequential benefits for caregivers and broader society. Playgroups are a promising low-cost intervention, but further evidence is required to determine their effectiveness. Centre-based services are expensive and generate smaller developmental returns, but provide childcare. The results highlight the value judgements required to determine the appropriate sequencing of interventions.     

Using the PCaRD digital game-based learning model of instruction in the middle school mathematics classroom: A case study

Currently there are few pedagogical models available for mathematics teachers who are interested in digital game-based learning. The Play Curricular-activity Reflection and Discussion (PCaRD) model attempts to address this, but lacks the needed exploratory research on its implementation within formal mathematics classrooms. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, this study examined three middle school teachers’ initial experience using PCaRD, the influence of this experience on their digital game-based learning knowledge, and their perceptions on how teaching with digital games impacts student achievement. The findings showed teachers feel PCaRD is a sound Pedagogical model, but needed more practice using it to fully realize its usefulness. Also teachers felt the need to make adaptions to PCaRD based on the composition of their class, and had difficulty implementing the reflection and discussion phases. Finally, teachers felt their low achieving students benefitted most from the use of digital games. Future directions for research are also discussed.     

The impact of formative and shared or co-assessment on the acquisition of transversal competences in higher education

The use of formative and shared or co-assessment has been shown to improve the motivation, involvement and learning of university students. The aim of this study is to analyse the effect that implementing these processes has on university students’ perception of their acquisition of transversal competences. The participants in the study were 1021 students from five Spanish universities taking degree courses in primary education or physical education and sport science. They all experienced formative and shared or co-assessment throughout a complete academic year of their courses. For the data collection, a Self-Perception Scale of Transversal Competences was created, which had adequate values of reliability and validity. Using a transversal design (inter-subjects), inferential statistical analysis was undertaken of the differences in means between the perception of a range of transversal competences before and after the course. The results show significant perceived improvements at the end of the course for most of the competences analysed, which indicates, among other thing, the value and importance of this type of assessment for the educational process.     

Was Hochschuldozierende aus Lehrevaluations-Rückmeldungen lernen k?nnen

The extent to which students profit from a university course depends on the lecturers?? approach to teaching, with a student-focused approach being more supportive for student gains in competences than a teacher-focused approach. Little is known, however, about how to foster a student-focused approach to teaching. In this paper, we want to investigate how to frame the feedback lecturers obtain from students?? course evaluations in such a manner that a student-focused approach to teaching is encouraged. In two studies using either a qualitative or a quantitative methodology it can be shown that providing lecturers with a feedback on students?? subjective gain in competences (output-focused teaching evaluation) is more effective in promoting a student-focused approach to teaching than a feedback on how satisfied students were with the lecturer (process-focused teaching evaluation). Results are discussed in the context of the Bologna reforms which demand a continuous evaluation of all university courses.     

Twelve- and Fourteen-Year-Old School Children Differentially Benefit from Sensorimotor- and Multisensory-Enriched Vocabulary Training

Educational Psychology Review - Both children and adults have been shown to benefit from the integration of multisensory and sensorimotor enrichment into pedagogy. For example, integrating pictures...     

A social-constructivist approach in physical education: Influence of dyadic interactions on tactical choices in an instructional team sport setting

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of dyadic verbal peer interactions in a team sport such as handball. Participants, 20 boys and 20 girls aged between 11 and 12, were assigned to two learning condition groups. The task was an instructional setting in team handball (2 attackers against 1 defender in each half court). The experimental group with verbal exchanges was expected to obtain higher performances in the post-tests than those who had not interacted verbally between playing sequences. The secondary objective was to investigate whether dyadic gender had an effect on tactical choice and cognitive skills in playing games. The experiment demonstrated the superiority of the dyadic verbal interaction group over the non-interactive group as regards tactical choices and action projects. It also showed gender differences since males performed better females with regard to action efficiency. The results are discussed within the theoretical framework of the social psychology of acquisition and development and within that of teaching for understanding. In conclusion, the socio-constructivist approach would seem to be pertinent in team sport decision-making tasks.     

Comment concilier,par l'education,la culture et la technique

Sans résumé

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The integration of culture and technical progress through education

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Die Integration von Kultur und Technik Durch die Erziehung

     

The influence of aspirations on higher education choice: a telecommunication engineering perspective

This paper analyses the influence of external factors that affect the decision-making process in the selection of telecommunications engineering studies. Particularly, we have studied the influence of factors related to the generation of expectations about the studies. A survey was conducted on a sample of 701 male and female telecommunications engineering students. The results show the existence of a direct relationship between the choice of telecommunications studies in non-vocationally oriented students and their expectations of finding a job more easily, getting higher salaries and more prestige. On the other hand, non-vocationally oriented students show similar academic performance to that of vocationally oriented students.