The role of new technologies in competence teaching in higher education： The case of accounting

The Spanish educational system will require certain changes in order to achieve the Bologna objectives for the European Higher Education Area, including a more professional profile, with new activities and roles for both students and teachers, who must assume new skills that will affect concepts and attitudes related to the teaching and learning processes within the framework of training projects. However, students must also take a leading role in the educational process by adopting independent, meaningful and cooperative learning methods. This process will imply a notable change of mindset for the typical Spanish students and will involve a high degree of collaboration between students and teachers. Teachers will have to choose suitable methodologies for achieving those objectives, within the academic framework and considering the characteristics of professional training in skills. In addition, they must create the appropriate structural and organizational conditions to carry out these activities （class size, space, educational organization, etc.）. This paper describes the authors＇ experience in designing learning methodologies for the teaching of accountancy in the business administration degree course at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part describes the methodology designed for teaching accounting, based on PBL （problem-based learning）, compiled with Internet-based technologies. We analyze its use and evolution in two accounting subjects in the first and the fourth years of the degree. The second part presents the results for each subject in these years. The authors also point out the differences between students who chose the learning methodology described and those who used the traditional approach. The final part of the paper presents the conclusions obtained from the statistical treatment of the results and the analysis of different options for correlating the information obtained. These results show that there is a direct correlation between the use of an active learning model--through the teaching methodology--and obtaining satisfactory exam results in the subject. Finally, the authors analyze these results and consider how they should be used for evaluating the suitability of the methodology and to determine whether it is necessary to redesign the methodology to fit in with the characteristics, conditions and limitations of the teaching and learning processes.     

Approaches to Collaboration: Experiences of the Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships

ABSTRACT

This study examined how partnerships between early care and education providers were developed and how they worked together to deliver comprehensive, high-quality services to infants and toddlers from low-income families. Survey data were collected from 220 Early Head Start (EHS) program directors and 386 child care center directors and family child care providers participating in EHS-child care partnerships. Research Findings: Nearly half of EHS programs chose partners with whom they had prior relationships, and most engaged them early (often before receiving the grant). Both EHS programs and child care providers described their relationships as mutually respectful and focused on similar goals. Through the partnerships, child care providers had access to professional development opportunities and offered children and families comprehensive services, such as health screenings. Practice or Policy: This study provided a nationally representative picture of EHS-child care partnerships. The findings suggest that strong relationships are foundational to the implementation of early care and education collaborations aimed at expanding access to high-quality care for infants and toddlers from low-income families. Collaborations are a potentially important policy lever that can help support the expansion of high-quality early care and education.     

Children and Adolescents’ Attitudes Toward Seeking Help From Professional Mental Health Providers

Counseling services are only likely to be effective if individuals are willing to seek help. Although much of the research on youth help-seeking has focused on adolescents, few studies have examined this in regard to children. Constant comparison analysis of focus group discussions revealed differences based on age and gender. Knowledge, sources of help, willingness, concerns regarding confidentiality, levels of interpersonal openness and stigma tolerance differed based on age. Gender differences were also highlighted. Implications focus on enhancing help-seeking among youth.     

The effect of radioactive radiations upon euglena

An examination has been made of the rate of death of euglena cells when exposed to the alpha particle radiation from radium emanation dissolved in the containing liquid. It was found that the rate of death of the cells was pro. portional to the strength of the dissolved emanation and to the number of live euglena cells present, a conclusion in harmony with the view that death of a cell is caused by a single impact of some sensitive region with an alpha particle. The theory of the case where two impacts of the sensitive region with an alpha particle are necessary to cause death, has been worked out with a generality which allows for a recovery of the cells between the two impacts.It is found that the results of the experiment are inconsistent with such a hypothesis.From the experimental data, it is possible to calculate the size of the sensitive entity which when struck by the alpha particle causes death to the cell. The diameter of this entity comes out about equal to that of the nucleus of the euglena cell.     

A Complex quest: The development and research of underachievement interventions for gifted students

The seeming lack of motivation of many academically gifted students is an area of frustration and concern for many parents, teachers, and psychologists. This article explores two studies in which researchers designed interventions to improve academic achievement. Both interventions were created using the Achievement‐Orientation Model. The first study matched the intervention to the student and found that the students' grades increased over the intervention period, t(45) = 2.56, p = .014, d = .38. Students using treatments linked to goal valuation and environmental perceptions showed the greatest academic grade growth; the self‐efficacy and self‐regulation groups showed little or no grade improvement. Building on the finding that goal valuation was important, the second study used a mixed‐methods design to pilot an intervention focused on goal valuation and student autonomy. The results of this study were mixed, as the intervention appeared to help two of the three students. Although these studies offer further insight into possibilities for promoting academic achievement among gifted students, further research examining how to best support and foster academic achievement in underachieving gifted students is needed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Material characterization,stratigraphy, textures,and painting techniques of the mural painting The Allegory of the Industrial Development of São Paulo by Fulvio Pennacchi

ABSTRACT

This work presents a study of samples of the mural painting The Allegory of the Industrial Development of São Paulo (Alegoria ao Desenvolvimento Industrial Paulista), made in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, by the artist Fulvio Pennacchi. Using transmitted light petrographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and X-ray fluorescence, the stratigraphy, the textures, the mineralogy, and the chemical compositions of the mural were established; therefore the painting techniques, pigments, and materials applied by the artist were identified. The mural was painted with the fresco technique and variations. This technique involves the use of materials of mineral origin, both in the support and for the pigments. About the artist’s relevance, Fulvio Pennacchi is considered an important muralist of his time, being one of the pioneers in the production of frescoes in Brazil. The mural, measuring approximately 11?×?6?m, painted in 1954, was removed from where it was originally made, in consequence of a fire that affected the place. Specialized engineers transported it, and today it is stored awaiting restoration. The data presented here can support the process of restoration of the mural, as well as contribute to the improvement of protocols for the analysis of works of art, and to the historical record of mural painting techniques over time.