What do Children Aged Four to Seven Know about the Digestive System and the Respiratory System of the Human Being and of Other Animals?

The object of this paper is to learn what little children know about the inside of their bodies before they have studied these particular aspects at school. The data for our project were collected by means of drawings made by 342 Spanish children aged four to seven. They were required to depict where the food, drink, and air which enter their bodies go. In addition to this, we intend to study how the ideas of children evolve during three consecutive years. For this purpose, a group of 32 subjects was monitored. Our findings show that the children recognise specific organs in their own bodies which they associate with the intake of food and air. Furthermore, they usually extrapolate those organs to other animals they are familiar with. Their ideas about the digestive system are more adequate than the ones about the respiratory system, though their ideas improve as they become older, above all those concerning the digestive system. Taking these findings as a basis, this paper suggests some points to be taken into consideration for teaching purposes.     

Stress in international work: Stressors and coping strategies of RNGO international directors

This study examines how international directors in religiously-affiliated nongovernmental organizations (RNGOs) cope with workplace stress. Interviews were conducted with directors from eight RNGOs who oversee programs in seven international regions. Findings reveal they experience three major stressors: difficulties communicating with others abroad, lack of funds, and dealing with constant travel. Overall, directors encounter these unique stressors due to the international demands of RNGO work, including international travel, fundraising for international programs, and intercultural communication. Moreover, they cope with stressors by striving for physical/mental health, pursuing/providing education, putting family first, seeking support, facilitating stakeholder communication, and planning ahead. Directors rely on problem-centered and emotion-centered coping, but they also describe the beneficial outcomes of avoidance-centered coping. Since only a few directors use prayer as a coping strategy, RNGOs must recognize that employees rely on secular and spiritual coping when developing organizational practices and programs related to stress management.     

The role of Internet use and parental mediation on cyberbullying victimization among Spanish children from rural public schools

Cyberbullying victimization research on individual and familial correlates is scarce in Spain. By building upon previous studies, this research examines the role of Internet usage and parental mediation in online victimization. Spanish children from rural public schools (10–12 years; n?=?1068) completed a self-report questionnaire which measured being cyberbullied, Internet use and parental mediation strategies. Logistic regression analyses examined the association among cyberbullying victimization, online activities, intensity and purposes of online communication, and restricting, evaluating and co-using parental mediation. The results show that Internet use, specifically online communication, increases the likelihood of cyberbullying victimization. Conversely, monitoring software installed on the computer, joint creation of rules regarding the time spent online and personal information shared help lessen the likelihood of online victimization. The results are examined in the light of previous research, while implications for practice and future research are considered.     

Strategies that challenge: exploring the use of differentiated assessment to challenge high-achieving students in large enrolment undergraduate cohorts

Academics teaching large and highly diverse classes are familiar with the inevitable effect this has on promulgating teaching and assessment practices to ‘middle of the distribution’, thus ignoring the distribution extremes. Although the literature documents a wide range of strategies for supporting poor-performing students in large class settings, very little work has been reported on catering for more capable students who may feel frustrated and poorly challenged in such settings. This paper reports on the introduction of alternative assessment tasks into two first-year science units of study, with the aim of providing more challenging learning opportunities for high-performing students. It analyses student engagement with and perception of alternative assessment, and concludes that such opportunities are well received by students, even when no additional marks are available nor special credit recognition given for completing an advanced task.     

“Tell me about”: a logbook of teachers’ changes from face-to-face to distance mathematics education

Educational Studies in Mathematics - In 2020, the emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought a drastic and sudden change in teaching practices, from the physical space of the classrooms to the...     

How full is your luggage? Background knowledge of zoo visitors regarding sharks

For the general population, sharks have a reputation that does not really fit with their biological and ecological nature. Informal surveys often classify sharks as dangerous, aggressive and/or man-eaters. This apparent common knowledge seems difficult to detach from the conscience of many worldwide zoo visitors, even with the help of shark-focused educational programmes. As so, how can zoos and aquariums contribute to a change in this paradigm? Are the education and conservation strategies effective to the average zoo visitor? In this study, young visitors’ perceptions regarding sharks were assessed with the goal of identifying a valid Learning Progression, thus helping to update and develop different and more effective educational strategies and methodologies. The study took place at Zoomarine, an oceanographic park located in southern Portugal, with visitors aged between 8 and 16. A case study was conducted using a qualitative research approach (drawings and interviews) resulting in a Learning Progression Hypothesis. The proposed Learning Progression is composed of three knowledge levels for the participants’ biological perceptions regarding sharks. The results of this study showed a clear predominance of anthropomorphic and anthropocentric visions, as well as a utilitarian view of sharks and ecosystem, thus conditioning the visitors’ epistemological knowledge.     

Academic Understandings of and Responses to Bologna: a three-country perspective

This article aims to describe how academics in England, Denmark and Portugal understand the Bologna Process, their attitudes towards the initiative, and how understandings and attitudes determine action. It shows how contextually and culturally determined academic understandings, expectations, preferences, priorities and constraints are key influences in the process of educational change envisaged by the Bologna Process. Second, inspired by the implementation staircase metaphor which illustrates different actors' perceptions conditioned by their location on the path of the policy, the article presents three different examples of interplay between national authorities responsible for policy-making in the wake of the Bologna Process and the institutional field responsible for policy implementation. It reveals variations from country to country with regard to bottom-up and top-down initiatives, both at the level of actors' expectations and of actual measures to implement Bologna policy. This article comes in response to the frailty of an empirical base for the understanding of Bologna from an institutional and academic perspective. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://youtu.be/9YVouJ35XuE     

Feedback in Distance Learning Programmes in Languages: Attitudes to linguistic faults and implications for the learning process

In distance learning provision in languages, fault correction and feedback can facilitate teacher–student dialogue. This article examines teachers’ beliefs and assumptions about faults and the attitudes of both teachers and learners towards the correction process, all of which can play a key role in fostering this dialogue. Our findings are based on two surveys, one of 215 students enrolled on an intermediate Open University Spanish course and one of a sample of 18 tutors who teach on this course. The results of the two questionnaires suggest that the strategies currently in use for identifying and correcting faults may not be explicit enough. We conclude that this problem may be addressed if both tutors and students are given the tools to make the process more transparent and are encouraged to see dialogue as an essential component in the feedback mechanism.     

Contrasting Two Approaches to Distance Language Learning

In this article we contrast two distance foreign language programs developed at two European institutions of higher education (the Modern Languages Program at the Open University, UK; and the English Program at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain) as instances of two pedagogical models used to address the many challenges posed by teaching languages at a distance. A detailed analysis of both approaches reveals that the pedagogical choices made by both universities are in great measure determined by the historical and cultural contexts in which both institutions are embedded. In addition, we discuss the similarities and differences between the two and draw several conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the two distance universities' general educational, administrative, and technological models for distance language learning.