English and German academics’ perspectives on metrics in higher education: evaluating dimensions of fairness and organisational justice

Higher Education - Many contemporary analyses criticise metrics-based evaluation in the higher education context as a neoliberal technology, notwithstanding the different national contexts and...     

Teaching functions in a graphic milieu: What forms of knowledge enable students to conjecture and prove?

In many countries, the first concepts of calculus (such as functions)are taught by looking at examples, noticing their properties and generalizing from them in some implicit ways. Students have no means to discuss the general truth of a statement, or to examine the validity of a theorem, relative to the mathematical field. This knowledge is nonetheless required by teachers at the university level. The question is, therefore, if it is possible to organize activities for beginning calculus students, which would nevertheless lead them to working on statements and validity of theorems. This paper presents a teaching approach related to the concept of function, which aimed at leading students working within a graphic milieu to producing, discussing and testing the validity of mathematical statements and theorems. The intention of the approach was to use the procedural aspect of the graphs to provide a favorable milieu for linking the intuitive and the formal knowledge(such as required at the university for establishing proofs). The approach was experimented with a group of students. After the experiment, the students indeed became able to think of functions as objects and to engage with questions of validity of mathematical statements.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Critical Science and the History of Child Development's Influence on Early Education Research

Often early childhood educators who fail to frame their research or research methods in positivist traditions or theories of developmental psychology find themselves marginalized in their own field. A reason for the lack of recognition or acceptance of critical theoretical perspectives in early childhood education is the century-long domination of psychological and child development perspectives in the field of early childhood. A second reason relates to the important separate institutional histories of early and elementary education in the United States within academia. This paper explores both the disciplinary and institutional history of early childhood education in an effort to explain the continuing lack of acceptance of critical science perspectives in the field. The costs of this reliance in the past and for the future are discussed.     

What is the target?

Reconciling the differential perspective with the Piagetian perspective is a very difficult task. The Piagetian perspective admits the existence of interindividual differences but interprets them as noise masking the universal logical succession of structures, whereas the differential perspective views development as consisting of "vicarious processes." As a matter of historical fact, the main aim of the "procedural studies" carried out in Geneva was to introduce concrete microgenesis into the macrogenetic Piagetian model.     

Household‐level demand for cable television: A probit analysis.

The authors explore demand for cable services in individual households and find that the quality of over‐the‐air reception, interest in nonprogramming entertainment services, and service quality directly affect that demand. The study also explores demographic and behavioral differences in demand for basic and pay services and outlines their implications for cable systems operators.     

Participation in organized sports,physical education,therapeutic exercises,and non-organized leisure-time physical activity: how does participation differ between childhood cancer outpatients and healthy peers?

Most childhood cancer survivors are insufficiently active. Researchers are focusing on strategies to increase physical activity (PA). However, a detailed understanding of participation in specific types of PA is missing, meaning current strategies may lack relevant information. Thus, our study sought to analyze participation in different types of PA commonly engaged in by children: organized sports, physical education in school (PES), therapeutic exercise, and non-organized leisure-time PA. Thirty-eight childhood cancer outpatients and 51 healthy children completed questionnaires. Compared to healthy children, childhood cancer outpatients, especially those who are shortly after cessation of inpatient treatment, participated significantly less often in organized sports and PES and significantly more often in therapeutic exercise compared to the healthy children. Considering organized sports and PES afford children unique social benefits and provide the potential to motivate lifelong activity, future efforts should be placed on ensuring children with cancer can access these types of PA. Educating parents, teachers, and coaches, exploring referral pathways to exercise professionals and providing individual support may enhance participation rates in organized PA and should be investigated.     

Does endurance training improve red blood cell aging and hemorheology in moderate-trained healthy individuals?

ObjectiveTo examine the impact of a 6-week endurance training on red blood cell (RBC) aging and deformability of healthy participants to detect possible improved hemorheological and performance-related adaptations.MethodsA total of 31 participants (17 females and 14 males) performed a 6-week moderate training protocol (three 1-h running sessions per week at 70% of maximal heart rate). Blood was sampled before and after the training. RBCs from each participant were fractioned according to density and age into 4 RBC subfractions. Subfractions were examined for changes of RBC properties, including aging distribution, RBC deformability, RBC microparticles, and phosphatidylserine concentrations. RBC and plasma nitrite levels were measured as indicators of nitric oxide metabolism.ResultsAerobic performance, peak oxygen consumption, ventilatory thresholds, velocity at the aerobic–anaerobic threshold, and lactate at exhaustion improved after training. The relative amount of both young RBCs and old RBCs increased, and the amount of the main RBC fraction decreased. Phosphatidylserine externalization and RBC-derived microparticles decreased. Overall deformability expressed as shear stress required to achieve half-maximum deformation to theoretical maximal elongation index at infinite shear stress improved in unfractioned RBCs (p < 0.001). Nitrite decreased in total (p = 0.001), young (p < 0.001), main (p < 0.001), and old (p = 0.020) aged RBCs and in plasma (p = 0.002), but not in very old RBCs.ConclusionThese results indicate that non-endurance-trained healthy participants benefit from a regular moderate running training program because performance-related parameters improve and a younger RBC population with improved RBC properties is induced, which might support oxygen supply in the microcirculation.     

Language and Development in Multilingual Settings: A Case Study of Knowledge Exchange and Teacher Education in South Africa

The quality of a country’s human-resource base can be said to determine its level of success in social and economic development. This study focuses on some?of the major human-resource development issues that surround the implementation of South Africa’s policy of multilingualism in education. It begins by discussing the relationship between knowledge, language, and human-resource, social and economic development within the global cultural economy. It then considers the situation in South Africa and, in particular, the implications of that country’s colonial and neo-colonial past for attempts to implement the new policy. Drawing on the linguistic-diversity-in-education debate in the United Kingdom of the past three decades, it assesses the first phase of an in-service teacher-education programme that was carried out at the Project for Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) based at the University of Cape Town. The authors identify key short- and long-term issues related to knowledge exchange in education in multilingual societies, especially concerning the use of African languages as mediums for teaching and learning.     

From career information to career knowledge: Self,search, and synthesis

Conclusion To say we are living in the information age is now a cliche, yet phrases often become cliches because they encapsulate a complex idea in an easily understood and remembered manner. Certainly, counselors have more information for their clients than ever before. Computer-based systems, video recorders, videodiscs, and fax machines greatly increase the power of the counselor to inform. However, the role of the counselor goes beyond informing to facilitating the growth of attitudes and behaviors associated with healthy, productive, autonomous lives. A crucial aspect of this facilitation is helping people use information so that for each individual it becomes the knowledge he or she needs in life.It is hoped that the model of self, search, and synthesis provides a way of looking at clients and information that is helpful to counselors. In the poem with which this article began, the seeker does have a fleeting moment of sight beyond the surface picture. Although it does not last, the seeker is able to conclude, perhaps triumphantly, For once, then, something.Deborah Perlmutter Bloch is Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Baruch College, City University of New York, 17 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York, 10010.     

Children, Families and Change: International Perspectives

This special issue draws from several disciplines, including early childhood care and education, social and family policy, and economics to examine global trends affecting children and their families in rapidly changing environments. Authors' and guest editors' experiences and data drawn from ten countries help frame issues of importance to early childhood researchers, educators, policy-makers, and advocates. As the end of the century approaches, such cross-national perspectives on issues affecting the lives of children and families become increasingly relevant to our field. The introduction provides several contextual and theoretical frameworks through which to make connections between the articles in this special issue.