Industrial Experience Projects: A Balance of Process and Product

Students in the final year of the Bachelor of Computing degree at Monash University must do a full year group project as a capstone subject. Each group of five or six builds a real system which is normally for a client outside the university. The project usually necessitates learning some skills that have not been taught in the course. Each group works on a different project. The emphasis is on management issues and the software development process as much as on the product, with a set of deliverables and deadlines throughout the year, and an assessment strategy reflecting this.     

German trainees' reflections on two approaches to initial teacher training

Two German native speakers come to England to undertake a course of initial teacher training. They complete the course successfully. Instead of seeking and finding jobs as teachers, however, they return to Germany to undertake a second course of initial teacher training. This is unusual. This article reviews their reasons for taking two routes in two countries leading to the same goal of qualified teacher status and their experiences of these routes. It uncovers interesting issues relating, for example, to teaching in an education system in which one has not been educated oneself, perceptions of workload, differences in approaches to mentoring in Germany and England, differences in the perceived status of trainees in each of the two countries and the impact of pupil behaviour and collegial support. In spite of the sample being small, the reflections of these two trainees provide messages which teacher trainers would be unwise to ignore.

Deux personnes dont la langue maternelle est l'allemand sont venues en Angleterre afin de pousuivre une formation pédagogique des enseignants. Elles ont réussi leur qualification avec succès. Cependant, plutôt que de chercher et trouver un emploi en tant que professeurs, elles sont reparties en Allemagne pour faire une deuxième formation pédagogique. Cela est inhabituel. Cet article passe en revue les raisons pour lesquelles elles ont choisi ces deux parcours dans les deux pays, sachant qu'ils concourent vers le même objectif, celui du statut d'enseignant. L'article rapporte également leurs expériences des deux formations. Il révèlera des points intéressants tels que: enseigner dans un système éducatif dans lequel l'intéressé n'a pas été éduqué lui‐même, leurs perceptions de la charge de travail, les différences du soutien professionnel en Allemagne et en Angleterre, les différences relatives à l'image des stagiaires et de leur statut dans les deux pays en question, et l'impact du comportement des élèves ainsi que du soutien collégial. Hormis le petit panel sur lequel cette étude a été menée, les réflexions de ces deux stagiaires fournissent des données qu'il serait imprudent pour les professeurs d' ignorer.

Dos alemanes nativos se desplazan a Inglaterra para realizar un curso de formación de profesorado. Finalizan el curso con éxito. Sin embargo, en lugar de buscar y encontrar trabajo como profesores, regresan a Alemania para llevar a cabo un segundo curso de formación de profesorado. Esto no es muy común. El presente artículo analiza sus razones a la hora de la elegir dos caminos en dos países diferentes con el objetivo común de conseguir la capacitación de profesor y sus experiencias. Se desvelarán aspectos interesantes relacionados, entre otros, con el hecho de enseñar en un sistema educativo ajeno al de uno mismo, con las percepciones sobre la cantidad de trabajo, con los diferentes enfoques de la figura del tutor de prácticas en Alemania y en Inglaterra, con las diferencias de estatus de los estudiantes en prácticas en ambos países, con el impacto en el comportamiento del alumnado y con el apoyo del resto de profesores. A pesar de la brevedad del artículo, las reflexiones de estos estudiantes nos proporcionan mensajes que los estudiantes aspirantes a profesores no deberían pasar por alto.

Zwei deutsche Muttersprachler kommen nach England, um als Lehrer ausgebildet zu werden. Den Ausbildungskurs schliessen sie erfolgreich ab. Anstatt jedoch eine Stelle an einer englischen Schule zu suchen und anzunehmen, gehen sie nach Deutschland zurück und fangen noch einmal mit der Lehrerausbildung an. Das ist ungewöhnlich. Dieser Artikel beschäftigt sich mit den Gründen, die die beiden Deutschen dazu veranlasst haben, ausgerechnet zwei Lehrerausbildungskurse in zwei verschiedenen Ländern zu absolvieren sowie mit den Erfahrungen, die sie in den beiden Kursen gemacht haben. Er enthüllt interessante Aspekte, die mit diesen Erfahrungen verknüpft sind, z.B:

• die Herausforderung in einem Schulsystem zu unterrichten, in dem man selbst nicht groβ geworden ist;

• der Arbeitsaufwand des Referendariats in beiden Ländern;

• die unterschiedliche Rolle des Mentors in England und Deutschland;

• das Ansehen des Referendars bei Kollegen in englischen und deutschen Schulen;

• der Einfluss des Schülerverhaltens gegenüber Lehrern sowie der Unterstützung des Lehrerkollegiums auf den Referendar in England und in Deutschland;

Auch wenn sich dieser Artikel auf die Erfahrung von nur zwei Lehrern in der Ausbildung stützt, bringt die Reflexion der beiden Referendare Fragen hervor, mit denen sich Lehrerausbilder in England und Deutschland beschäftigen müssen.     

Benefits,Challenges, and Opportunities of Conducting a Collaborative Research Course in an International University Partnership: A Study Case Between Kansas State University and Tallinn University of Technology

A globalized world requires research to transcend geographical boundaries; this includes training students in international collaborative research. The purpose of this project was to identify the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of students from two universities (Kansas State Univ. and Tallin Univ. of Technology) working on an international research project together. For this purpose, six graduate students from the Center for Sensory Analysis and Consumer Behavior, Kansas State Univ., partnered with 20 Food Science major students from a Product Development class at Tallinn Univ. of Technology. Students worked together by distance in a partnership developing a rye bread sensory lexicon for systematically understanding the sensory properties of this product category, conducting Landscape analysis by using sensory mapping techniques on rye bread products from Northeast Europe for capturing the market complexity and to identify opportunity for new product development and new products concepts. Students from Kansas then went to Estonia for further meetings. After the trip, students and professors were asked for their feedback. Results showed that students identify learning food trends from another country as the main benefit of their international collaboration, followed by intercultural skills and knowledge transfer. Language and difference in time zones, as well as educational backgrounds, were identified by students as the main challenges of the collaboration. When US students were asked to rate the learning outcomes stated in the syllabus, understanding the cultural characteristics of Estonia was the one scored highest. Professors mentioned this opportunity is unique because it gives a cultural component programs usually not only an offer and a chance to develop time management skills by working across divergent time zones, but also to practice options for managing language barriers. This project shows that it is possible to setup a partnership between students across different countries and have a positive outcome that includes unique learning experiences for students; especially in terms of time and project management.     

Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry‐based science curricula in the context of urban reform

Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project‐based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high‐stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African‐American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards‐based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922–939, 2008