Social Desirability,Environmental Attitudes,and General Ecological Behaviour in Children

Socially desirable responses have been widely discussed as potentially biasing self-reported measures of environmental attitude and behaviour assessment. The direct and moderating effect of social desirability on children has not been analysed before. By applying a Lie scale together with a two-factor environmental attitude set measure and a scale of self-reported General Ecological Behaviour (GEB) to 198 pupils, we found a moderate impact of Lie scores on only one of both attitude measures and a small impact on GEB. In a multiple regression analysis general behaviour was predicted by attitude, social desirability, and the interaction of both. Social desirability had no moderating effect on the relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour. Implications of these outcomes for research on environmental issues with children are discussed.     

Depicting Experiences

This paper argues that photography is a helpful tool in understanding the ways people experience the world. Five arguments are presented in order to support this statement, each built on the methodological idea that respondents are asked to take, or produce, their own pictures related to a particular phenomenon under investigation. The arguments are: new unconventional methods enhance educational inquiry; photos can serve as communication bridges between strangers; photography makes it easier to represent a situation; photos can be regarded as complex expressions of the photographer's relation to the world; finally, photos enhance the expressing of feelings. These arguments are further discussed in the context of outcomes of a study, which used photography to probe ecological understanding. It is concluded that a deliberate use of the methodology will enhance not only the way photos might be used in research but also enrich educational research aiming at capturing the way people experience and relate to the world surrounding them.     

The Playing Learning Child: Towards a pedagogy of early childhood

From children's own perspective, play and learning are not always separate in practices during early years. The purpose of this article is, first, to scrutinise the background and character of early years education in terms of play and learning. Second, to elaborate the findings of several years of research about children's learning in preschool related to the curriculum of early years education and, finally, to propose a sustainable pedagogy for the future, which does not separate play from learning but draws upon the similarities in character in order to promote creativity in future generations. Introducing the notions of act and object of learning and play (by act we mean how children play and learn and with the object we mean what children play and learn) we will chisel out an alternative early childhood education approach, here called developmental pedagogy, based on recent research in the field of play and learning, but also related to earlier approaches to early education.     

Copper(II) hydroxide on artefacts: Corrosion,conservation, colourants

Copper(II) hydroxide (as the rarely occurring mineral spertiniite) is formed under alkaline, oxidising conditions. It has been observed as a naturally occurring corrosion product of brass in sea water. But most occurrences on copper alloys are due to conservation treatments using basic solutions (sodium hydroxide or ammonia) or to intentional patination. Classical brass centrepieces (c. 1800), ‘cleaned’ with ammonia solution, developed a blue spertiniite patina in gaps, where evaporation was hindered. Additional to the danger of stress corrosion cracking this is another reason now outlawing this treatment. Copper pigment layers will transform to copper hydroxide when exposed to bases. The treatment of basic copper salts with bases has been used intentionally in the production of Bremen blue and similar pigments which can be composed of copper hydroxide as well.     

Knowledge management research & practice: visions and directions

This editorial paper outlines key directions for knowledge management research and practice. The editorial team presents the results from a small survey of academics and practitioners about the present and future of knowledge management, and the editors include their own informed views on how this journal can help promote scholarly inquiry in the field.     

Changes in student attributions due to the implementation of central exit exams

The central aim of standardized exit exams is to motivate students and teachers to work harder on critical subject matters and thus increase student achievement. However, the effects of the implementation of central exams on student motivation have not been analyzed in a longitudinal section until now. In the present study, the consequences of implementing central exams in the German states Bremen and Hesse on student attributions after the exams have been analyzed. We expected an increase in attributions to effort, teaching and luck, caused by the change in examination systems in Bremen advanced courses from 2007 to 2008. Differential results were expected for students perceiving themselves successful or not successful respectively. As a control, advanced courses in Bremen were compared to those in Hesse that did not pass through a change in examination systems at this time. The results point to an increase of attributions to effort and teaching in the total group, but none of attributions to luck. Additionally, as hypothesized, the change in attributions to effort occurred only for perceived successful and a change in attribution to teaching was found mainly for perceived unsuccessful students. The outcomes are interpreted and consequences for further studies are formulated.     

An extension to the internal/external frame of reference model to two verbal and numerical domains

Beside interindividual social comparisons, intraindividual dimensional comparisons in which students compare their achievements in one subject with their achievements in other subjects have an impact on their academic self-concepts. The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh (1986) assumes that dimensional comparisons lead to negative paths from achievement in one subject (e.g., math) to self-concept in another subject (e.g., English). In the present study, the I/E model was extended to two verbal domains (German as the native language and English as a foreign language) and two numerical domains (mathematics and physics). Grades and domain-specific academic self-concepts ofN=1440 students from 63 classes were assessed. In support of the extended I/E model, (a) math, physics, German, and English achievement were positively correlated, as were; (b) self-conceptswithin the verbal and numerical domains, while; (c) self-conceptsbetween the verbal and the numerical domains were almost uncorrelated; (d) positive paths were received from math, physics, German, and English achievement on the corresponding self-concepts; (e) negative paths were found from achievement in one domain to self-concept in the other; (f) positive paths were found from math (physics) achievement to physics (math) self-concept. Finally, (g), almost no effects were found within the verbal domain, i.e., from English (German) achievement to German (English) self-concept. Therefore, there is some support for the I/E model between domains; whereas effects from achievements on self-concepts within the domains were not negative.     

Scaling of upper-body power output to predict time-trial roller skiing performance

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to establish the most appropriate allometric model to predict mean skiing speed during a double-poling roller skiing time-trial using scaling of upper-body power output. Forty-five Swedish junior cross-country skiers (27 men and 18 women) of national and international standard were examined. The skiers, who had a body mass (m) of 69.3 ± 8.0 kg (mean ± s), completed a 120-s double-poling test on a ski ergometer to determine their mean upper-body power output (W). Performance data were subsequently obtained from a 2-km time-trial, using the double-poling technique, to establish mean roller skiing speed. A proportional allometric model was used to predict skiing speed. The optimal model was found to be: Skiing speed = 1.057 · W ^0.556 · m ^?0.315, which explained 58.8% of the variance in mean skiing speed (P < 0.001). The 95% confidence intervals for the scaling factors ranged from 0.391 to 0.721 for W and from ?0.626 to ?0.004 for m. The results in this study suggest that allometric scaling of upper-body power output is preferable for the prediction of performance of junior cross-country skiers rather than absolute expression or simple ratio-standard scaling of upper-body power output.     

Statewide low-stakes tests and a teaching to the test effect? An analysis of teacher survey data from two German states

Governments worldwide are changing their educational policies to improve student performance. Some of these reforms involve the introduction of high-stakes testing, which often creates negative effects such as ‘teaching to the test’. This article deals with the use of low-stakes testing in the German states of Hesse and Bremen, and analyses whether statewide low-stakes testing produces comparable results to the use of high-stakes tests from the perspective of teachers. Moreover, it seeks to identify the factors responsible for the observable teaching to the test effect, above and beyond the use of statewide exams. The data come from surveys carried out in the framework of a longitudinal study funded by the German Research Foundation. Hesse and Bremen introduced statewide exit exams in several subjects in 2007 and 2008 as low-stakes tests. Our quasi-experimental study has been evaluating these implementations since 2007.     

(Empirische) Bildungsforschung – notwendig außeruniversitär?

In this paper, the so far hardly explored history of empirical educational research (Bildungsforschung) in West Germany between 1945 and the 1990s is examined and roughly surveyed. The focus is on the 1950/1951 established German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) in Frankfurt on the Main, whose foundation was closely linked to the policy of the US occupation forces in Germany. Also considered is the history of the Berlin Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB), which was founded in 1963. It is suggested that the Frankfurt institute was a pioneer of educational research and that its foundation took place quasi-necessarily as a non-university institute due to the political and scientific context conditions at the time. Therefore, the history of the MPIB can be understood adequately only on the background of the DIPF’s history and the further development of educational research should be analyzed with special regard to the specific conditions of non-university research in Germany. Looking ahead, the desideratum of a transnational history of empirical educational research in West Germany is outlined which basically fathoms the development of science as a result of complex interactions with other social knowledge and action fields.