Various ways to determine rational number size: an exploration across primary and secondary education

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Understanding rational numbers is a complex task for primary and secondary school students. Previous research has shown that a possible reason is...     

Reading Comprehension of Dutch Deaf Children

In this study, the reading comprehension of deaf children and adolescents in the Netherlands is examined along with their word identification. The reading comprehension of 464 deaf students and the word identification of 504 deaf students between 6 and 20 years of age was examined. The results show the reading comprehension scores of deaf children to be far below the scores of hearing children. On average, the deaf subjects scored at a level equivalent to a hearing child in the first grade. The word identification scores of the deaf children, however, were almost equivalent to the scores of hearing children. Although reading comprehension and word identification appear to be related, this relation does not completely explain the comprehension difficulties encountered by deaf children. Additional factors are required to explain deaf children’s difficulties with reading comprehension.     

Picking the winners by consensus: Grant-giving practice in the Netherlands

The Netherlands form a consensus democracy. In such a society the legitimacy of decisions is of great concern to all. An elaborate system of checks and balances tends to exist and the pressure to join an emerging consensus at meetings is both subtle and tremendously powerful. In the Dutch system of higher education and research the manifestations of the consensus ideal are numerous. This paper highlights them where appropriate. It reviews the Dutch research effort in an international perspective and concludes that R&D expenditure in the Netherlands, measured as a proportion of GDP, is declining. Fairly radical changes in science policy orientation since the 1960s are reviewed and the current frameworks for policy formulation, academic foresight and the organisation of support are sketched. After discussing NWO's different funding instruments, the practices of picking the winners are described in some detail. Three different peer review models are then discussed with special attention to their strengths and weaknesses. The paper's final section is focussed on the evaluation practices in force.     

Preliminary Investigation of the Sources of Self-Efficacy Among Teachers of Students with Autism

Teacher self-efficacy refers to the beliefs teachers hold regarding their capability to bring about desired instructional outcomes and may be helpful for understanding and addressing critical issues such as teacher attrition and teacher use of research-supported practices. Educating students with autism likely presents teachers with some of the most significant instructional challenges. The self-efficacy of 35 special education teachers of students with autism between the ages of 3 to 9 years was evaluated. Teachers completed rating scales that represented self-efficacy and aspects of the following 3 of Bandura's 4 sources of self-efficacy: (1) sense of mastery, (2) social persuasions, and (3) physiological/affective states. Significant associations were observed between physiological/affective states and self-efficacy, but no associations were observed for the other sources.     

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OR INTEGRATION FOR WOMEN IN THE DUTCH ACADEMIC WORLD

In 1981, the career structure in Dutch higher education was modified in such a way that performance criteria, particularly possession of a doctorate and research and publication activity, were required for promotion. In particular, the hierarchy of university posts below that of full professor was modified in such a way that persons holding so‐called WHM(senior scientific staff level) positions were required to reapply for the new UHD(associate professor) positions on a competitive basis which stressed the publication record of candidates. Using a sampling of academic women drawn from the natural sciences, the authors offer an explanation as to why women academics did less well than men in the competitions for these new posts. Although the process did not discriminate against women as such, it did not favour academics on the periphery of the profession, where many women at the time found themselves. The situation identified was the result of social factors more than of institutional discrimination. Presently, younger women ‐graduate students ‐ are rapidly moving from the periphery of the profession to the centre. Active involvement in professional networks will aid academic women in their careers; however, over‐involvement in family matters (the care network) may be harmful to the career progress of academic women.     

Reading and listening progress in segregated primary schools: Does ethnic and socioeconomic classroom composition matter?

This study aimed to investigate the relationship of classroom composition factors with reading and listening comprehension achievement and progress in socially and ethnically segregated primary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Specifically, using a three‐level multivariate repeated measures analysis, it examined the association of reading and listening achievement and progress with ethnic diversity, the proportion of non‐native students and the average socioeconomic status of the class, taking into account student characteristics. At the beginning and end of the school year, reading tests, listening tests and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 7‐ and 8‐year‐old students (n = 683) in 42 second‐grade classes. Students' listening comprehension achievement at the beginning of the school year was negatively related to having a home language other than the language of instruction and to classes with a high proportion of non‐native students. However, progress in listening comprehension was not significantly associated with any student or classroom composition factors. Students whose mothers had a lower level of education performed lower on reading comprehension at the beginning of the school year, while at the end of the school year students whose mothers had a higher level of education were at a greater disadvantage. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.     

To tag or not to tag? How to support organizing and classifying bookmarks from the Web (¿Con etiquetas o sin etiquetas? Cómo asistir en la organización y clasificación de los marcadores de páginas Web) (¿Con etiquetas o sin etiquetas? Cómo asistir en la organización y clasificación de los marcadores de páginas Web)

ABSTRACT

When searching for information on the Internet, it can be stored in a bookmarking system. The ability to organize this information in such a system depends on one’s own prior knowledge to create an appropriate classification scheme. Providing a classification system for bookmarks might support people with low prior knowledge. Even though different bookmarking systems exist, hierarchical menus and tagging are being most widely used. In the current exploratory study with 95 ninth-grade students, a 2 × 2 between-subjects design was used to investigate the influence of providing classification support (or not) for either a tagging or a hierarchical system. Results showed that despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system is not necessarily a better approach than using a tagging system to organize previously found information. Rather, a tagging system seems to yield storage of fewer but higher-quality information sources. The most important conclusion is that, despite the low familiarity with tagging systems, using a hierarchical system was not beneficial over using a tagging system to organize previously found information.