Intersecting discourses of militarism: military and academic gendered organizations

This paper critically discusses the role of the interpreter in the validation of the prior learning of recent immigrants arriving in Sweden by drawing on a perspective from the sociology of translation. The recent immigrants’ difficulties with speaking the local language is usually described as the main problem when it comes to validating their prior learning. As a result, the use of interpreters is proposed to facilitate the assessment process. The current literature largely sees the interpreter’s role in the validation of prior foreign learning as unproblematic. The interpreter is described as a neutral means of transmitting the knowledge, skills and experience of the immigrant in an objective way to the assessor. In this paper I criticise this view of the interpreter as a neutral, objective tool. I argue that the role of the interpreter is not given, but enacted during the validation process. Furthermore, the study shows that, far from transmitting information from the immigrant to the assessor, the interpreter is profoundly implicated in the construction of the knowledge that materialises in the assessment results.     

The Complexity of Teacher Questions in Chemistry Classrooms: an Empirical Analysis on the Basis of Two Competence Models

With regard to the moderate performance of German students in international large-scale assessments, one branch of German science education research is concerned with the construction and evaluation of competence models. Based on the theory-driven definition of competence levels, these models imply a correlation between the complexity of a question or a problem, its difficulty and the cognitive demands that are required to answer or solve it. The aim of the study was to apply two competence models in order to analyse the complexity of questions that chemistry teachers use to promote learning in class as well as to compare the results of this analysis. Two model-based coding schemes were constructed and evaluated on the basis of interrater reliability before analysing the teacher questions in 40 chemistry lessons. The results show that between 60 and 65 % of the questions refer to low complexity levels. Although there is a considerable correspondence between the results (69.2 %), neither model can be considered as redundant. These findings are discussed with regard to the level and the development of students’ skills in science.     

Architektur Multimedialer Informationssysteme

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Architektur Multimedialer Informationssysteme

     

An educational–psychological conceptualisation of interest

In educational psychology, the concept of interest is interpreted as a content-specific motivational variable that can be investigated and theoretically reconstructed. An important analysis lies in the manifold interrelations between interest, learning and human development. This paper presents a “person–object theory of interest” and outlines developmental aspects such as: (a) the ontogenetic transition from situational to individual interest, (b) the relation between interest development and (c) the growing “self” and the assumption of a dual regulation system.     

Digitale Medien im Schulsystem

Organisationsentwicklung und der Einsatz digitaler Medien in der Schule wurden bislang vornehmlich als zwei voneinander unabh?ngige Prozesse betrachtet. Dabei spielen Koordinations- und Abstimmungsmechanismen zwischen Schule und Schulbeh?rden sowie innerhalb der Schule aufgrund der Komplexit?t digitaler Medien eine wesentliche Rolle, wenn ein unterrichtsintegrierter Einsatz erreicht werden soll. Mit dem Vergleich der organisatorischen Einbettung digitaler Medien im Schulsystem dreier L?nder (Deutschland, USA und Gro?britannien) konnten Bedingungen bestimmt werden. die für eine nachhaltige p?dagogisch-didaktische Nutzung von Bedeutung sind. Nur durch ein Zusammenspiel von Organisations-, Personal- und Unterrichtsentwicklung auf der einen Seite und durch technisch-organisatorische Ma?nahmen (IT-Management) zur dauerhaften Sicherung des Betriebs und der Funktionsf?higkeit der IT-Infrastruktur auf der anderen Seite l?sst sich eine nachhaltige Gestaltung und Implementierung digitaler Medien in die Organisation Schule erreichen.     

Best-bet channels for integrated soil fertility management communication and dissemination along the agricultural product value-chain: a comparison of northern Ghana and western Kenya

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to comparatively assess the most suitable channels for dissemination of agricultural innovations along the entire information value chain.

Design/Methodology/Approach: We calculated information scores to measure channel preference from a randomly selected sample of farmers: 285 in Tamale, Ghana and 300 in Kakamega, Kenya. Using t-tests we compared the information score differences of different channels between farmers who adopted Integrated Soil Fertility Management and those who did not.

Findings: The highest information scores were observed for radio along the entire value chain for both locations. However, farmers in Tamale prefered interpersonal channels for processing information. Radio and farmer field days had the highest rankings for production information at both locations. Radio, workshops and interpersonal channels (traders and neighbours/friends/relatives) were best-bet channels for marketing and procesing information.

Practical implication: Extension agents should place more emphasis on channels such as radio, farmer field days, and workshops as they may offer more efficient delivery of information packages at all levels, whilst recognizing the central role of interpersonal channels.

Theoretical implication: The nexus between the uses and gratification, adoption, diffusion of innovations theories and the collaborative communication theory on one hand, and the agricultural product value chain framework on the other, is highlighted. Farmers’ preference for information channels is not predicated on the stage of the value chain.

Originality/Value: In the current context of weak agricultural knowledge and innovation systems in African agriculture, agricultural producers are poorly informed about the current innovations. This study furnishes empirical evidence on the best-bet information channels to be used by extension workers and change agents to disseminate and communicate system innovations.     

Public Internet Usage Points in Schools for the Local Community – Concept, Implementation and Evaluation of a Project in Bremen, Germany

Experts agree that citizens of the information society will need new and additional skills in the future that are connected with the effective and efficient use of digital media technologies. Today, there is unequal access and use of those technologies, which is described as the 'digital divide'. In a unique project, the State of Bremen (Germany) has created Public Internet Usage Points in 25 schools. These 'Web.Punkte' offer access to computers and Internet for the community and support for external users by students. The project is embedded into a larger context of building a regional infrastructure for lifelong learning. Starting with interpretations of lifelong learning, this paper tries to combine those views with concepts to bridge the digital divide, explaining organizational barriers and success factors. Using formative evaluation, the results of the project will be highlighted and arguments for a regional learning network will be drawn.     

What is actually discussed in problem-solving courses for prospective teachers?

The aim of this study is to characterize the discourse of two problem-solving courses for prospective teachers. The data, consisting of audio recordings and field notes, were examined from a dialogical approach combined with the theory of contextualization. I show not only the substantial differences between the two classroom discourses but also elaborate on plausible reasons for the divergency found. The findings then serve as a basis for a discussion of how to develop a problem-solving course within the mathematics teacher program.