Context,Content and Social Responsibility in Professional Education

The paper describes a curriculum experiment designed to provide a “liberal” complement to the vocational core of an undergraduate programme. After tracing the genesis of the new “context” curriculum its rationale is set out in terms of three key educational assumptions. From these flow implications for both the content of what is to be taught and the ways in which teaching and learning should be conducted.     

Language specific speech perception and the onset of reading

In two studies the relationship between theonset of reading and language specific speechperception, the degree to which native speechperception is superior to non-native speechperception, was investigated. In Experiment 1with children of 4, 6, and 8 years, languagespecific speech perception occurred maximallyat 6 years and was positively related toreading ability for age and languagecomprehension level. In Experiment 2, with anexpanded range of ages and various stimulus andtask changes, the relationship between readingand language specific speech perception stillheld, and maximal language specific speechperception occurred around the onset of readinginstruction for three different sets of speechcontrasts, but not for a control set ofnon-speech contrasts. The results show thatlanguage specific speech perception is alinguistic rather than an acoustic phenomenon.Results are discussed in terms of early speechperception abilities, experience with oralcommunication, cognitive ability, readingability, alphabetic versus logographiclanguages, phonics versus whole word readinginstruction, and the effect of age versusinstruction.     

Inflectional morphology and dyslexia: Italian children’s performance in a nonword pluralization task

In this study, we present the results of an original experimental protocol designed to assess the performance in a pluralization task of 52 Italian children divided into two groups: 24 children with developmental dyslexia (mean age 10.0 years old) and 28 typically developing children (mean age 9.11 years old). Our task, inspired by Berko’s Wug Test, had the aim of testing the subjects’ ability to apply pluralization rules to nonwords in the morphologically complex context of Italian nominal inflection. Results demonstrate that dyslexics display poorer morphological skills in comparison to controls, showing lower accuracy in the task. Furthermore, the dissimilar performances reported by the subjects in the different conditions indicate that the ability to inflect nonwords depends on factors such as the rule’s productivity, frequency, and opacity with respect to gender. Finally, the children’s performance in this task was significantly related to their reading proficiency, and it could predict accuracy in word reading independently of phonological awareness and working memory.     

Open the ‘black box’ creativity and innovation: a study of activities in R&D departments. Some prospects for engineering education

Innovation is a key component to the success and longevity of companies. Our research opens the ‘black box’ of creativity and innovation in R&D teams. We argue that understanding the nature of R&D projects in terms of creativity/innovation, efficiency/inefficiency, is important for designing education policies and improving engineering curriculum. Our research addresses the inventive design process, a lesser known aspect of the innovation process, in 197 R&D departments of industrial sector companies in France. One fundamental issue facing companies is to evaluate processes and results of innovation. Results show that the evaluation of innovation is confined by a lack of methodology of inventive projects. We will be establishing the foundations of a formal ontology for inventive design projects and finally some recommendations for engineering education.     

Educational funding and management under constraint with special reference to higher education in Australia

This paper shows how education is in competition with other areas of government spending, inside and outside the social welfare expenditure area, for funding, and shows how its advocates must increasingly legitimise their claims. The paper argues, by particular reference to the case of higher education in Australia, that education decision-makers argue and legitimise their claims on an external and internal dimension: the external, to get as much funding to the programs as possible, the internal, to ensure that the output of the programs is as mutually compatible as possible between the desires of those producing them and those funding them.     

Resources for Media Education — an International Selection

Abstract

This article describes the progress of an ICEM/ Unesco project which started in late 1986 with the aim of producing an international catalogue of material to support teaching and learning in the field of media education. It was believed that such a catalogue would stimulate the development of media education in countries which were still in the early stages of introducing these studies into the curriculum. A large amount of data was gathered for the catalogue and a first version was given limited circulation in 1988. Following feedback from recipients of this first version and the collection of further data, a second version of the catalogue is now at the final editorial stage and will be circulated widely before the end of 1989. The author outlines some of the problems encountered in the production of the catalogue and suggests some future action which might be undertaken at the end of the current project.     

Evolution of fat oxidation during exercise in obese pubertal boys: Clinical implications

Abstract

In this study, we examined fat oxidation rates during exercise in obese pubescent boys. Three groups of pubescent boys (16 pre-pubescent, Tanner's stage I; 16 pubescent, Tanner's stage III; and 14 post-pubescent, Tanner's stage V) performed a graded test on a leg cycle ergometer. The first step of the test was fixed at 30 W and power was gradually increased by 20 W every 3.5 min. Oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O₂) and carbon dioxide production ([Vdot]CO₂) were determined as the means of measurements during the last 30 s of each step, which allowed us to calculate fat oxidation rates versus exercise intensity. Between 20 and 50% of peak oxygen consumption ([Vdot]O_2peak), fat oxidation rate in relative values (mg · min^?1 · kg FFM^?1) decreased continuously with pubertal development. In the same way, the maximum rate of fat oxidation occurred at a lower percentage of [Vdot]O_2peak (pre-pubescent: 49.47 ± 1.62%; pubescent: 47.43 ± 1.26%; post-pubescent: 45.00 ± 0.97%). Our results confirm that puberty is responsible for a decrease in fat free mass capacities to use fat during exercise. The results suggest that post-pubescent obese boys need to practise physical activity at a lower intensity than pre-pubescent boys to enhance lipolysis and diminish adipose tissue and the consequences of obesity.