State-formation,teaching techniques,and globalisation as aporia

This paper conjoins Derrida's analysis of aporia and boderlines with Foucault's genealogical sensibilities to rethink the attribution of recent events in education to globalisation. Three analytical domains are linked to historicise student-teacher interaction: studies of pedagogical techniques, sociological analyses of the state, and philosophical conceptions of Being and desire. This confluence of domains makes apparent multiple efforts to transgress noncrossable borders in educational work, suggesting new conceptualisations of justice and ethical responsibility in the analysis of classroom life.     

The role of sweeteners in the diet of young children

The health and nutrition implications of high sugar intake for young children are discussed. Infants and young children prefer foods that taste sweet. Sugar substitutes used in moderation can provide a compromise for child care providers who want to offer nutritious food which young children will eat. This study examined sweetener preferences of young children, including a new sweetener (Sweet One^®). Participants (3–8 years of age) sampled a beverage and plain cottage cheese sweetened with either sugar or Sweet One^® as part of a sensory difference test. They also ranked four vanilla puddings sweetened with sugar and three FDA approved sweeteners. In the difference test, the subjects were able to tell the difference between sugar and Sweet One^® in the beverage, but not in the cottage cheese. There was no consensus among the panelists for a sweetener preference in the rank-order test.     

Personal and Contextual Influences on Township School Learners’ Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning

Learners’ self-regulation, which includes motivational variables, is influenced by personal variables within learners themselves, as well as by contextual factors. A great deal of research has focused on personal variables in learners that influence their self-regulated behaviours; yet contextual influences that operate outside of formal schooling of township school learners, although generally acknowledged, remain under-researched. The research presented in this paper explored 14 secondary township school teachers’ perceptions of the factors that influence learners’ motivation to achieve academic success. A better understanding of contextual motivational factors could influence teaching and learning, as well as provide the needed support that ultimately will enhance the academic achievement of South African township school learners. Participants perceived autonomy-supportive, extrinsic motivation, schools as positive learning environments, study and job opportunities, community projects, friends and peers, poverty, and encouragement from the local community as strong sources of motivation.     

Students' expectations about the processing demandsof teacher-made tests

History teachers (N=22) and their 11th-grade students (N=451) rated the importanceof four types of questions (verbatim, paraphrase, inference and skill items) by indicating the degree to which these questions were to be expected in an upcoming teacher-made test about a particular textbook chapter. In addition, teachers classified their actual tests according to these four question types. Importance ratings of individual students showed a low correspondence with those of their teacher and no correspondence with the actual test questions (as classified by their teacher). However, teachers' importance ratings also showed a considerable number of discrepancies with the actual test questions. These findings suggest that in study-test situations, more clarity is needed about processing demands.     

Public Demonstrations of Chemistry in Eighteenth Century France

The purpose of the paper is twofold: (1) To contrast the longstanding tradition of private and public courses of chemistry with the public demonstrations of physics. Whether taught in public institutions such as the Jardin du Roi or by apothecaries in their officines chemistry demonstrations were not for the entertainment of their audiences. Rather, they were intended to train people in pharmacy and natural philosophy. (2) By the end of the eighteenth-century, however, pneumatic chemistry prompted a new style of presentation and experimentation more similar to experimental physics, as shown by the famous experiment of water decomposition and recomposition performed by Lavoisier in 1785.     

Teaching through an ethics of belonging,care and obligation as a critical approach to transforming education

This paper considers the experiences of a New Zealand family and their ‘disabled’ daughter Clare’s ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ in her early childhood centre and the implications of these experiences for shifting from a discourse of ‘inclusion’ to ‘belonging’ based on ‘an ethics of care and obligation to others’. I argue that the meanings and understandings of ‘inclusion’ for disabled children in education are variable and that they often default to dominant deficit discourses whilst believing themselves to be ‘inclusive’. I also argue that we must consciously develop a critical awareness of how exclusionary power operates in society and in our own settings. In this paper, I present ideas drawn from a ‘pedagogy of listening’ and Te Whaariki – The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum to critically reflect on some of the early childhood education experiences of Clare and her family. I suggest that teachers’ use of critical reflective ‘child’s questions’ can be used as tools for educational transformation towards the full and meaningful participation of disabled children in education.     

An Instrument for the Assessment of Cross-Curricular Skills

An instrument was constructed to assess the level of competence of students (aged 15-16) on eight cross-curricular skills. The instrument, further to be called the cross-curricular skills test (CCST), consisted of 56 multiple-choice items. In the first section cross-curricular skills are defined as general skills which can be taught and practiced in curricula for different disciplines. In the second section we describe how eight cross-curricular skills were selected for testing. We also explain why we decided to compose the test of multiple-choice items, an item-format that is not a customary one for measuring general skills. In the third section we report administration of the test to 465 students in a pilot study and 9,000 students in the main study. Quantitative data are presented concerning p -values, reliability, internal structure, and construct validity of the CCST. Qualitative data were derived from observations, thinking aloud protocols and analysis of the test content. The data warrant the claim that CCST is a valid and reliable test for cross-curricular skills. It is suitable for students of 15-16 years of age and allows administration in large samples. In the final section we discuss some limitations of the test and suggest directions for future research on assessment of cross-curricular skills.