On Change and Diversity: The Role of Governmental Policy and Environmental Influences

This article addresses the issue of change in the government‐university relationship. As has become increasingly clear for both analysts of higher education policy and for administrators in higher education institutions, a fundamental shift in the relationship between national governments and higher education institutions is taking place in many western European countries. In some countries, these changes are occurring at greater speed than in others, but the movement to what has been labelled “state supervision” is quite dominant. The first part of the article analyzes the rationale for this change at system level by tracing its historical imperatives; after which it discusses the concept of the supervisory governance model. The second part focuses in particular on one of the key objectives of higher education policy, namely diversity, and addresses the question of the extent to which a supervisory governance strategy can contribute to the attainment of this objective and what doing so implies for the role and function of higher education institutions. By focussing on the specific issue of diversity, the authors intend to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between governments and higher education institutions that is implied in the supervisory model.     

Impact of commercial search engines and international databases on engineering teaching and research

For the last three decades, the engineering higher education and professional environments have been completely transformed by the ‘electronic/digital information revolution’ that has included the introduction of personal computer, the development of email and world wide web, and broadband Internet connections at home. Herein the writer compares the performances of several digital tools with traditional library resources. While new specialised search engines and open access digital repositories may fill a gap between conventional search engines and traditional references, these should be not be confused with real libraries and international scientific databases that encompass textbooks and peer-reviewed scholarly works. An absence of listing in some Internet search listings, databases and repositories is not an indication of standing. Researchers, engineers and academics should remember these key differences in assessing the quality of bibliographic ‘research’ based solely upon Internet searches.     

Primary pre-service teachers' pedagogical reasoning skills

This paper discusses a preliminary investigation into primary pre-service teachers' pedagogical reasoning skills. Results from this investigation led to the development of a problem-based learning model which focused on improving primary pre-service teachers' pedagogical reasoning skills. The problem-based learning model uses pedagogical reasoning as the basis for creating problem situations for the pre-service teachers to investigate. The paper reports on pre-service teachers' views on the use of the approach to improve their pedagogical reasoning skills. Specializations: science teacher education, learning in science, chemistry education. Specializations: student learning, conceptual change, technology education, curriculum evaluation.     

相转移催化在多效唑合成中的应用研究

本文讨论了相转移催化剂在多效唑合成中的作用原理。通过反复试验,确定了多效唑三步合成中相转移催化剂的最佳用量。     

西北地区少数民族女性教育及社会化发展研究

西北地区少数民族整体素质的培养与提高影响到西北地区综合素质的提高,而西北地区少数民族女性受教育的状况影响到少数民族自身整体素质的提高,也影响到对少数民族下一代的教育。制约西北地区少数民族女性发展的主要因素有:自然条件的影响,社会经济形态、政治形态的历史影响,少数民族封闭心理的制约,女性自卑心理的影响。对西北地区少数民族女性社会化发展的问题进行思考,从深层次上对西北地区少数民族女性的教育及社会化发展进行探讨,具有现实意义。     

An Elaboration of the ‘Bottles Test’: a revised and extended alternative verbal procedure for the assessment of conservation of liquid quantity

Abstract A sample of 40 children aged six to eight years took part in a balanced repeated measures design experiment in which conservation of liquid quantity was assessed in two different conditions. The first condition comprised the traditional Piagetian paradigm. The second condition employed sealed bottles which were inverted or otherwise manipulated to achieve transformations. Moreover, in this condition the need to ask the critical conservation question twice (inherent in the traditional procedure) was avoided by requiring children to select pairs of bottles from an array of four bottles and children were also allowed to make the transformations themselves. The results showed that more children conserved in the ‘bottles’ conditon.     

Response to the discipline review of teacher education in mathematics and science

This paper relates to a study commissioned by the Department of Employment, Education and Training to evaluate the impact of the Discipline Review of Teacher Education in Mathematics and Science. The major datagathering strategies employed in that study have been to visit every higher education institution in Australia involved in teacher education to interview relevant staff and to seek information by mail from other bodies to whom recommendations of the Review were addressed. This paper reports a supplementary activity, the analysis of citations of the Report of the Discipline Review in the journal of the Australasian Science Education Research Association,Research in Science Education. This research reveals that there has been relatively little critical analysis of the Review, somewhat surprising in the light of its significance for science teacher education. Further the citations in the journal suggest that the Review Report has struck a responsive chord with those involved in the science education of primary school teachers. Its impact on secondary teacher education would appear to be less significant. This difference is explored in the context of professional education. Specializations: science education, teacher education. Specializations: international education, educational measurement, science education.