From democratic school to civic and political participation / De la escuela democrática a la participación política y ciudadana

The aim of this article is to study the possible influence that exercising a representative role at school may have on secondary school students’ willingness to participate politically in society. In order to do this, an analysis was carried out of the answers given by 300 students between 13 and 18 years old, from a school with marked democratic practices, when asked about their experience of democracy at school and their intention to participate politically. The results show that students’ willingness to participate in society by means of conventional actions, such as voting, does not depend directly on whether they have exercised a representative role at school. However, non-conventional actions, such as attending demonstrations or supporting boycotts, does have a meaningful relation with the exercise of representative roles in the school. As a conclusion, we highlight that participating in the representation of the school influences the democratic formation of students and their willingness to participate politically in society, although this influence is more closely related to non-conventional actions, such as strikes, boycotts and demonstrations.     

Do they matter in education politics? The influence of political parties and teacher unions on school governance reforms in Spain

This article focusses on the evolution of the school governance model in Spain since the 1980s. In Spain and elsewhere in Europe, the state’s monopoly over education has softened and new forms of educational governance have emerged. This has resulted in the decentralization of decision-making authority to individual schools, municipalities, and regions and a significant increase in school autonomy. We explore from a political science perspective how partisan preferences and teachers unions have decisively shaped the reform trajectory. We show that leftist and center-right governments and different teachers’ unions have promoted different versions of school autonomy in line with their ideological rationales, resulting in a reconfiguration of the school governance model with each change in government.     

Theoretical framework and empirical evidence of students' cognitive processes in three dimensions of content,complexity, and time

In the literature, learners' cognitive development is mainly discussed with respect to changes in learners' content‐dependent knowledge (conceptual change or growth). Additional dimensions of time and complexity may also be taken into account to describe cognitive processes in at least three dimensions. We discuss these three dimensions of content, complexity, and time theoretically and show empirically what results can be found with such a framework. The primary database consists of 27 students who worked in groups of three on physics tasks during three sessions in an experimental setting. All activities were videotaped and analyzed in great detail. Results indicate that students' meanings always refer to a narrow area of content, are developed bottom‐up with respect to complexity, and show time‐dependent dynamics in which maxima of 30 seconds and 5 minutes are important time scales. Comparison with outcomes of additional experimental settings on the same topic with more and less advanced students indicate the results to have a greater validity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 616–648, 2003     

Schulabschluss und Ausbildungsberuf Zur Bedeutung der schulartbezogenen Bildungsbiografie

In der jüngeren Vergangenheit wurde wiederholt auf eine bislang wenig beachtete Form der ?ffnung des gegliederten Schulsystems hingewiesen: Die Entkopplung von Schulart und Schulabschluss, d.h. die M?glichkeit, Schulabschlüsse unabh?ngig von der besuchten Schulart zu erwerben. So kann die mittlere Reife in einigen Bundesl?ndern nicht nur an Realschulen, sondern auch an Hauptschulen erworben werden. Allerdings liegen bisher kaum Erkenntnisse dazu vor, inwieweit die Anschlussf?higkeit von gleichnamigen, aber an unterschiedlichen Schularten erworbenen Schulabschlüssen an den Ausbildungsmarkt variiert. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird diese Frage für die Bundesl?nder Nordrhein-Westfalen und Bayern überprüft. Genutzt werden die Daten der jeweiligen Landes?mter für Statistik zu den Eingangsklassen der Teilzeit-Berufsschulen (Schuljahr 2004/2005). Die Befunde weisen auf eine schulartbezogene Hierarchisierung der mit den mittleren Abschlüssen verbundenen Ausbildungschancen hin. Damit ist fragwürdig, ob die Entkopplung von Schulart und Schulabschluss einen substanziellen Beitrag zur ?ffnung des gegliederten Schulsystems zu leisten vermag.     

Comparing the Effectiveness of a Supplemental Computer-Based Food Safety Tutorial to Traditional Education in an Introductory Food Science Course

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether a Web-based computer tutorial for food safety is an effective tool in the education of food science and nutrition students. Students completing the Web-based tutorial had a greater improvement in pre-test scores compared with post-test scores and compared with students who attended lecture only. Students completing the tutorial indicated a favorable attitude toward computer-supplemented instruction.     

Contents Volume 48 2002

Volume Contents

Contents Volume 48 2002     

Utopia Explored: Three Recent Fictionalizations of Fruitlands for Young Readers

Three recent novels for children offer fictionalizations of the year that Louisa May Alcott spent at the utopian community of Fruitlands: Little Women Next Door, by Sheila Solomon Klass [New York: Holiday House, 2000]; Becoming Little Women, by Jeannine Atkins [New York: Putnam, 2001]; and Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect, by Gloria Whelan [New York: HarperCollins, 2002]. This essay explores the strikingly different ways in which three different authors approached the project of presenting to children the inspiring but ultimately disillusioning story of a real-life dream of a utopian community that failed to come true.Claudia Mills is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado and the author of many children’s books, most recently Makeovers by Marcia and Ziggy’s Blue Ribbon Day (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005).     

Influence of a shared leadership model in creating a school culture of inquiry and collegiality

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a Local Systemic Change (LSC) initiative (N = 216) at Year 2 in a 5‐year plan. Key questions were: What is the extent of school and teacher involvement?; What is the impact on teacher preparedness, attitudes, and beliefs?; and What is the extent of institutionalization? The model of professional development used shared leadership (Lead Teachers & Study Groups) along with workshops in inquiry, content, and assessment. All teachers averaged 81 hours of participation by the end of Year 2; LTs averaged 161 hours. Longitudinal and episodic data were collected using multiple instruments, including Horizon Research Teacher Survey (Baseline and Year 2), SG and Lead Teacher surveys (Year 1 and Year 2), Context Beliefs About Teaching Science and Classroom Observation Protocol (Year 2). Gains in teachers' practices, beliefs, and professional culture (collegiality and department chair support) were measured at significance levels of .05. The results indicate that sustained and intensive professional development influences individuals and school culture. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 3–24, 2005     

The Complexity of Change in Universities

This paper relates to the implementation process of the Universitaetsorganisationsgesetz 1993 (University Organisation Act of 1993) at an Austrian university. In accordance with the idea of a managed university, the Austrian government aimed this law at transferring a greater scope of responsibility for strategic decisions and management issues from the ministry to the universities. The empirical basis is derived from a 2‐year, in‐depth field study showing that the transformation to a ‘simple’ management orientation is in itself complex. We suggest therefore a frame of reference that is based on an understanding of universities as complex and self‐referential organisations. This view explains changes in universities as nontrivial transformation and conceptualises the management of change in universities as a paradoxical intervention.     

Using a Professional Development Program for Enhancing Chilean Biology Teachers’ Understanding of Nature of Science (NOS) and Their Perceptions About Using History of Science to Teach NOS

A number of authors have recognized the importance of understanding the nature of science (NOS) for scientific literacy. Different instructional strategies such as decontextualized, hands-on inquiry, and history of science (HOS) activities have been proposed for teaching NOS. This article seeks to understand the contribution of HOS in enhancing biology teachers’ understanding of NOS, and their perceptions about using HOS to teach NOS. These teachers (N = 8), enrolled in a professional development program in Chile are, according to the national curriculum, expected to teach NOS, but have no specific NOS and HOS training. Teachers’ views of NOS were assessed using the VNOS-D+ questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of two modules about science instruction and NOS. Both the pre- and the post-test were accompanied by interviews, and in the second session we collected information about teachers’ perceptions of which interventions had been more significant in changing their views on NOS. Finally, the teachers also had to prepare a lesson plan for teaching NOS that included HOS. Some of the most important study results were: significant improvements were observed in teachers’ understanding of NOS, although they assigned different levels of importance to HOS in these improvements; and although the teachers improved their understanding of NOS, most had difficulties in planning lessons about NOS and articulating historical episodes that incorporated NOS. The relationship between teachers’ improved understanding of NOS and their instructional NOS skills is also discussed.