Stichwort: Kompetenzentwicklung im Grundschulalter

Keyword: Development of Competencies During Elementary School. The development of scholastic competencies is a topic discussed in the cross-section between the fields of developmental psychology, education, and educational psychology. This article will attempt an overview of the development of competencies during elementary school. After a conceptual clarification of the term competency, the focus will turn to the development of scholastic competencies at elementary school level from a development psychology perspective. Following this, the developmental changes within four basic competence domains, which are central topics of current research, are described: reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Factors affecting the development of scholastic competencies are then discussed, including individual (intelligence, prior knowledge, language) as well as environmental determinants (family, quality of instruction, classroom composition). General as well as differential changes in the four domains are described and illustrated by empirical research results.     

Was bedingt die Wahl eines nicht empfohlenen höheren Bildungsgangs?

According to PIRLS 17 % of German parents choose a non-recommended secondary school-type for their child. Only few empirical studies try to identify parental characteristics related to their rejection of a school-type recommendation from their child’s teacher. Based on the sociological rational choice theory, research primarily focuses on characteristics of social background and on cost-benefit considerations. In addition to this, the present study analyzes to what extent parental evaluation and attribution of the child’s achievement and the appraisal of the primary school’s advice influence the probability of parents’ rejection of the recommendation. The focus of this investigation is on parents whose educational aspirations and choices of school are higher than the teachers’ recommendations. By means of logistic regression we analyze, how well parental decision-making – i. e. adopting the teacher’s recommendation vs. insisting on own, non-compliant opinion – can be predicted by theory-based independent variables. Avoidance of a loss in educational status, parental knowledge of the school system and the perceived quality of a primary school’s advice are revealed to be significant predictors of this rejection.     

Internationale Hochschulrankings

Despite disagreement about their validity, reliability and effects, international rankings of universities have become widely used by students and higher education institutions. This article compares three international rankings of universities and analyzes, based on the academic literature, the extent to which they assess relevant aspects of teaching and research and whether these aspects are measured adequately. We study the Academic Ranking of World Universities published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the World University Ranking published by the British magazine Times Higher Education Supplement and the Excellence Ranking published by the German Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE). The analysis is based on the academic literature about these international rankings and the publications by the rankings’ publishers. We draw conclusions about the design of rankings and develop further research questions.     

Amerikanische „Elitehochschulen“

The system of higher education in the USA comprises the undergraduate programs of the colleges and the graduate programs in research universities. This distinction has no equivalent in Germany. The idea of elite education is connected exclusively with the colleges. Its meaning and functions are demonstrated with an analysis of the criteria which are used for the ranking of higher education institutions. The ranking of the colleges is addressed to the students and is based on indicators, which give expression above all to the educational priorities of the students and the alumni. The ranking of the graduate programs focuses on specific academic programs and is addressed to the members of the various academic fields and to their prospective students. A few rankings cover whole educational institutions and serve to inform the higher educational management. We use these data to identity the specifics of outstanding research universities and their role in American higher education.     

西方国家教师知识研究的演变与启示

西方国家对教学的研究从教师的行为转向了教师的认知,而对教师认知的研究也从对教师决定、感知、思维等的研究转向了对教师知识的研究。教师的知识并不是抽象的、孤立的、离散的,而是各种类型的知识复杂地交织在一起的。目前,我国教师教育的课程改革不仅仅是课程数量的增加或减少,更重要的是通过课程内容的改革,加强学科专业课程之间的联系,通过教育实践性课程和教学案例学习实践性知识,从而整合职前教师所学的各种课程知识,使其更好地在教学中发挥作用。     

Academic attachment: Predicting students' affective reactions to the university

In attempting to develop a predictive model of student attachment to the university, this research concentrates on four variable sets: perceptions of university goals, perceptions of university academic climate, perceptions of university academic environment, and feelings of academic alienation. Using a sample of 460 university students, multiple discriminant analytic results indicate that of these four variable sets, perceptions of the academic climate and feelings of academic alienation exert more influence on students' attachment to the university than do perceptions of university goals and perceptions of the academic environment. These findings are discussed within the context of a model of the university student operating very much as a democratic citizen in the university political system.     

Course withdrawals: A probit model and policy recommendations

Withdrawals from college courses prior to the assignment of grades, but after the add-drop period, are analyzed. In a probit model student withdrawals appear to occur randomly with notable exceptions. The more experience a student has in college, the more likely it is that he or she will withdraw from any given course. Students who have withdrawn from courses in the past tend to withdraw again. Student motivation measures are related to the withdrawal decision. Physical and mental disabilities affect withdrawals only in certain courses while athletes are no more likely to withdraw from courses than nonathletes. Finally, there appear to be economies of scale in teaching: The more students an instructor teaches in other courses, the less likely it is that students will withdraw from the course under consideration. The number of students enrolled in the course, however, is not significantly related to withdrawals.     

The interaction of student and program variables for the purpose of developing a model for predicting graduation from graduate programs over a 10-year period

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is some factor or set of factors which will predict the probability of graduation from doctoral programs. This study concentrated on two areas: (a) the factors available to the selection committee when the students apply for admission into graduate programs, and (b) those factors emerging after admission, resulting from the students' meeting program-imposed requirements for graduation. Data were collected from the file of each student admitted to the doctoral program in Educational Administration. The results of the study indicated that program variables are more important than admission variables in predicting graduation. and the technique of Path Analysis is highly recommended to study the problem of student progression through graduate departments.     

Cataglyphis

Cataglyphis is an ant of desert regions and has a behavioural pattern comparable with that of the bee, but much easier to study. It has a well-developed system of foraging and navigating and a social organisation well adapted to its environment. This review, by two independent research workers who have devoted much time to field studies, is the first to bring together most of the existing information about these fascinating insects.