Algorithmics and programming in the school mathematics curriculum: support is waning - is there still a case to be made?

The contribution of programming in the learning of school mathematics has been demonstrated in numerous project and research settings. However, it would appear that this activity has failed to permeate the system on any large and systemic scale.I suggest here that one reason for the current situation is that the exciting developments have not themselves been a required component embedded in a major curriculum theme. Further, the position that the programming environments themselves, e.g., Logo microworlds, would become the school mathematics curriculum has clearly failed to gain the support of the educational system. However, discrete mathematics and algorithmics, a strand within discrete mathematics, provides a natural home for programming. This in turn supports the use of a programming language in mathematical contexts for which pupil designed algorithms can be used to explore concepts and relationships.     

Thinking Through the Curriculum

David Leat, a researcher and teacher trainer, argues that teaching thinking can act as an important counterbalance to the more instrumental approaches which are the result of some aspects of the National Curriculum. He identifies some of the key characteristics of teaching thinking lessons and goes on to present four examples of practice. However, there are a number of barriers to change and these are identified. Seeking ways to promote change is important as currently the curriculum that pupils experience does not seem to be preparing them to be good learners. The paper concludes by suggesting that Debriefing – (pupils reflecting on and explaining what they have learned) – would be an appropriate springboard for change.     

Do Costs Differ Between For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Producers of Higher Education?

In theory, not-for-profit organizations will be characterized by higher production costs per unit of output than for-profit producers of otherwise-identical goods/services, since profit maximization implies cost minimization per unit of output; breaking even does not imply cost minimization and, indeed, may imply inflated costs. We explore the empirical validity of this hypothesis in the context of higher education. Using 1996 data, we estimate multiproduct cost functions for 1,450 public, 1,316 private, not-for-profit, and 176 private, for-profit institutions of higher education in the United States. We fail to find a statistically significant difference between for-profit and not-for-profit private providers, but do find a statistically significant difference between private, not-for-profit institutions and public institutions.     

Evaluating the NASA small business innovation research program: preliminary evidence of a trade-off between commercialization and basic research

In 1982, the Small Business Innovation Development Act established the small business innovation research (SBIR) program. This program reserves a percentage of federal agencies’ extramural R&D budgets for research projects conducted by small businesses. When this Act was reauthorized in 1992, the selection criteria for funding dramatically increased the likelihood of funding for projects that promised to lead to commercial success. Using data from a survey of the SBIR program award recipients at NASA Langley Research Center, we address three questions about this change: (i) was there a shift to projects with more commercial potential? (ii) did these projects experience higher rates of commercial success? and (iii) was there a reduction in basic research accompanying the increased commercial success? Our analysis suggests, the answer to all three of these questions is ‘yes’.