Interactions between Niche and Regime: An Analysis of Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture across Europe

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to reveal, and contribute to an understanding of, the processes that connect learning and innovation networks in sustainable agriculture to elements of the mainstream agricultural regime. Drawing on the innovations and transition literature, the paper frames the analysis around niche-regime interaction using the notion of niche-regime compatibility.

Design/Methodology/Approach: 17 Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture (LINSA) engaged in agricultural food production, non-food and rural development were analyzed. In line with the project's transdisciplinary approach data were collected in a series of participatory workshops.

Findings: Five modes of LINSA-regime interaction are distinguished based on compatibility. The level of LINSA-regime compatibility influences the extent of the diffusion of LINSA ideas and practices into the regime. However, interaction processes within these modes reveal multiple and diverse connections between LINSA and regime entities suggesting a more complex relationship exists.

Practical implications: A range of connecting processes and activities (for example, certification, exemption from regulation, facilitation of networking) can bring about effective LINSA-regime interaction and could be externally supported.

Originality/Value: Empirical evidence from 17 case studies provides valuable insights from a number of different contexts across Europe. By directing analysis of interaction at the level of LINSA (niche project), rather than at the macro level, the study offers an original perspective. It suggests that the transition to sustainable agriculture might be understood as a complex of interactive processes leading to a series of adaptive changes, rather than as regime change.     

Learning statistics with interactive pictures using R Shiny: Generally preferred,but not generally advantageous

Constructing interactive web apps has become more accessible for instructors, for example, by using the R package Shiny. Here we explored learners' preferences and the efficiency of interactive simulations versus static pictures in acquiring statistics knowledge of Cohen's d and standard normal distribution. Results revealed that students' spontaneous interaction with pictures was infrequent (pilot study, N = 26). While prompts (Exp. 1, N = 152) effectively ensured the manipulation of simulations, student exposure to interactive simulations led to longer learning times though similar test performance compared with student exposure to static pictures. Multiple interactive representations led to lower test performance than single interactive and static representations (Exp. 2, N = 117). Though no advantage was gained regarding learning outcomes, participants preferred the interactive variant (Exp. 3, N = 119). Taken together, this study demonstrates that the superiority of interactive pictures cannot be assumed to hold in general. Further work should evaluate how mental model construction can be effectively scaffolded by interactive simulations.     

Indirekte Gesundheitseffekte des Unterrichtsprogramms HealthyPEP

Numerous studies have confirmed direct health effects of interventions with a physical activity component on students without providing sufficient information on the contents or the degree to which the programs have been carried out. The empirical evidence of the indirect health effects of physical education is weaker. In this article the focus is placed on the evaluation of the indirect health effects, such as the enhancement of physical activity and its psychological determinants (e.g. motivation, attitudes, self-efficacy and knowledge) of the health promotion program HealthyPEP, using a quasi-experimental design with 516 sixth grade students. When taking into account the contents of HealthyPEP and the degree of implementation, it was clear that the program had different effects on the two genders whereby girls evaluated HealthyPEP in a more positive way compared to boys. In girls, positive tendencies were observed on rational cognitive determinants (e.g. knowledge and attitudes towards sports). The contents of HealthyPEP must be further optimized in the future to achieve positive indirect health effects also on boys.     

GiveMe Shelter: a people-centred design process for promoting independent inquiry-led learning in engineering

It has become increasingly common for tasks traditionally carried out by engineers to be undertaken by technicians and technologist with access to sophisticated computers and software that can often perform complex calculations that were previously the responsibility of engineers. Not surprisingly, this development raises serious questions about the future role of engineers and the education needed to address these changes in technology as well as emerging priorities from societal to environmental challenges. In response to these challenges, a new design module was created for undergraduate engineering students to design and build temporary shelters for a wide variety of end users from refugees, to the homeless and children. Even though the module provided guidance on principles of design thinking and methods for observing users needs through field studies, the students found it difficult to respond to needs of specific end users but instead focused more on purely technical issues.     

Exploring the theory-practice gap in initial teacher education: moving beyond questions of relevance to issues of power and authority

The ‘theory-practice divide’ in teacher education can be viewed not simply as an acceptance of a body of knowledge but instead an acceptance of the teacher educator’s authority to determine what is relevant educational theory. This research aimed to explore student teachers’ views of ‘educational theory’ and how it was discursively positioned relative to their practice in an attempt to examine whether their acceptance or rejection of it was also related to accepting the authority of the teacher educator. Using one-to-one interviews with 23 student teachers and employing a discourse analysis, four categories of students emerged. The paper describes these four categories and discusses the implications of these findings for initial teacher education and our understanding of the ‘theory-practice’ gap.     

US higher education in a budgetary vortex��1992�C2007: tracing the positioning of academe in the context of growing inequality

Through comparative statistical data of public investment trends in higher education, the institution of higher education in the US is contemporarily contextualized within the growing milieu of disparity. Specifically, this study focuses on the period from 1992 to 2007 to see if a mitigation of the growing economic disparity projected per the Kuznets curve was reflected in the prioritization of higher education support needed to preserve the social mobility of the workforce. Through the analysis of higher educational expenditure within the budgetary priorities of the 50 states from 1992 to roughly the present, this paper reveals that, in absolute terms or by disproportional emphasis, the institutional repositioning of higher education necessary for a Kuznets curve readjustment of disparity has not occurred.     

Medical students' attitudes toward the anatomy dissection room in relation to personality

Assessment of the personalities of medical students could enable medical educators to formulate strategies for the best development of academic and clinical competencies. In this article, we focus on the experience of students in the anatomy dissecting room. While there have been many attempts to evaluate the emotional responses of medical students to human cadaveric dissection, there has been no investigation into how different personality traits affect the responses. The main hypothesis tested was that there is a relationship between personality traits and attitudes toward the dissection room. For the present study, a group of French medical students (n = 403; mean age 21.3 ± 1.6; 65.3% female) completed a "Big Five" personality inventory and a questionnaire to assess their attitudes in regard to human dissection. The findings are consistent with our hypothesis, in that we found a relationship between reporting anxiety and four of the "Big Five" dimensions (all except openness). The rated level of anxiety was positively correlated with negative affectivity, more strongly at the beginning than at the end of the course. There were significant gender differences in attitudes toward dissection. The findings are discussed in relation to the possibility of preparing students for the dissecting room experience and also in relation to the students' understanding of mortality issues.