Validation of the Test of energy concepts and values for high school

The Test of Energy Concepts and Values (TECV) was developed to assess knowledge about and attitudes towards energy for grades 9–12. The TECV, a modification of the Energy Knowledge and Attitude Test,

1 See: National Assessment of Educational Progress. Energy knowledge and attitudes: a national assessment of energy awareness among young adults. Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, 1978.

consisted of 35 knowledge and 39 attitude items. The reliability for the attitude and knowledge sections was 0.70 and 0.76, respectively. Factor analysis was done for the attitude and knowledge sections separately. Item comparison showed that TECV students responses were very similar to the young adults response to the National Assessment instrument.     

The Rise of Computing Research in East Africa: The Relationship Between Funding,Capacity and Research Community in a Nascent Field

The emergence of vibrant research communities of computer scientists in Kenya and Uganda has occurred in the context of neoliberal privatization, commercialization, and transnational capital flows from donors and corporations. We explore how this funding environment configures research culture and research practices, which are conceptualized as two main components of a research community. Data come from a three-year longitudinal study utilizing interview, ethnographic and survey data collected in Nairobi and Kampala. We document how administrators shape research culture by building academic programs and training growing numbers of PhDs, and analyze how this is linked to complicated interactions between political economy, the epistemic nature of computer science and sociocultural factors like entrepreneurial leadership of key actors and distinctive cultures of innovation. In a donor-driven funding environment, research practice involves scientists constructing their own localized research priorities by adopting distinctive professional identities and creatively structuring projects. The neoliberal political economic context thus clearly influenced research communities, but did not debilitate computing research capacity nor leave researchers without any agency to carry out research programs. The cases illustrate how sites of knowledge production in Africa can gain some measure of research autonomy, some degree of global competency in a central arena of scientific and technological activity, and some expression of their regional cultural priorities and aspirations. Furthermore, the cases suggest that social analysts must balance structure with culture, place and agency in their approaches to understanding how funding and political economy shape scientific knowledge.     

What is it about education that makes us healthy? Exploring the education-health connection

Reviews of the evidence conclude that correlations exist between measures of education and physical health and that a substantial element of this correlation results from the effects of learning upon health. Closer examination reveals that the correlations between education and health change across levels of education, and depend upon when during the life course education is experienced, the type of health condition and the national context. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these variations with a view to developing fuller understanding of the mechanisms through which learning affects physical and psychological health. Such an understanding throws light upon the importance of context in relation to the impacts of education upon health.     

Semantic integration of government data for water quality management

Normative models of e-government typically assert that horizontal (i.e., inter-agency) and vertical (i.e., inter-governmental) integration of data flows and business processes represent the most sophisticated form of e-government, delivering the greatest payoff for both governments and users. This paper concentrates on the integration of data supporting water quality management as an example of how such integration can enable higher levels of e-government. It describes a prototype system that allows users to integrate water monitoring data across many federal, state, and local government organizations and provides novel techniques for information discovery, thus improving information quality and availability for decision making. Specifically, this paper outlines techniques to integrate numerous water quality monitoring data sources, to resolve data disparities, and to retrieve data using semantic relationships among data sources taking advantage of customized user profiles. Preliminary user feedback indicates that these techniques enhance quantity and quality of information available for water quality management.     

‘Challenge and support’: the role of the critical friend in continuing professional development

Abstract

In this paper, the writer, a senior teacher in a comprehensive school, describes his role as a critical friend to two teachers who were undertaking self‐initiated action research projects as part of a school‐based, award‐bearing curriculum development scheme offered in conjunction with the local higher education institute (HEI). He concludes that such a relationship, in providing both challenge and support for colleagues who are attempting to improve practice, is a powerful vehicle for the professional development of teachers and has a positive impact on whole‐school development.