What kind of nonformal education? Comments on the Coombs report

The first article of our autumn issue of 1973 (Vol. III, No. 3) entitled Should One Develop Nonformal Education was a large extract of a report¹ by Philip H. Coombs and his colleagues at the International Council for Educational Development (ICED) to Unicef. The Mexican group, Fomento Cultural y Educativo, A. C., which offers us here its thoughts on the report, is concerned with planning and introducing new educational models.The members of the discussion group were Eduardo Lastra, Vicente Arredondo, Ernesto Camou and Enrique González Torres.     

The Nature of Science and Citizenship: a Delphi Analysis

Research in Science Education - The relationship between science and society has, for many years, been the subject of debate in different fields, and various proposals have been made regarding the...     

Evaluation of the degree of coherence found in students' conceptions concerning the particulate nature of matter

Students' conceptions are characterized by some authors as having a high degree of coherence while, in the minds of others, they show little coherence and great heterogeneity. The objective of this study was to throw light on this problem by reference to the particulate nature of matter, a topic where great discrepancies have been observed in the degree of coherence shown by students. We interviewed 43 students aged 9–22 years to evaluate the coherence of their replies, using a questionnaire in which different methodological strategies are incorporated, as will be explained below. A qualitative analysis of the students' replies to the interviewer's questions permitted a group of empirical categories to be established, which were then arranged hierarchically. The quantitative analysis of these categories gave rise to new categories, which we call structural categories. These permitted us to select the most significant variables, to identify the different types of conceptions held by the subjects and to assign to each a given level of conceptualization. They also revealed the high degree of coherence in the replies given to different tasks. The usefulness of the proposed method for studying students' conceptions and for evaluating their degree of coherence is confirmed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 577–598, 2006     

The place of colleague evaluation in the appraisal of college teaching: A review of the literature

The present review considers the nature of the problem of evaluating college teaching as well as the means by which this evaluation has been attempted. This review shows that there is little agreement as to what the criteria for evaluating college teaching should be. It is stated that student and administrator evaluation of faculty are, by themselves or combined, limited in scope. A list of 10 activities and faculty behaviors that can be more reliably and validly evaluated by fellow colleagues than by anyone else is presented, as well as 22 different criteria or approaches that could be used for this evaluation. Recommendations for upgrading colleague evaluation of teaching are made in the hope that the present state of affairs can begin to reach high levels of adequacy and objectivity.This research was supported by the Measurement and Research Division of the Office of Instructional Resources, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.     

The role of the Internet in teachers’ professional practice: activities and factors associated with teacher use of ICT inside and outside the classroom

Evidence shows that teachers’ use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the classroom is still limited in variety and frequency. However, their use of ICT outside the classroom, while more frequent, has been less studied. Our research aims to identify personal factors associated with teachers’ ICT use inside and outside the classroom. Data from a questionnaire administered to a nationwide sample of 6932 teachers in Chile was used to characterise their activities and perceptions associated with ICT. Multiple regression analyses were applied to determine relationships between them. The findings show first, that teachers use ICT more frequently outside the classroom for class preparation; second, that their perceptions of ICT impact on professional practice is the main factor associated with their use of ICT inside and outside the classroom; third, that less experienced teachers use communication tools with colleagues and students more often; and finally, that there is a need to examine teachers’ use of (ready-made) Internet resources.     

Financing innovation: A bibliometric analysis of the field

This article presents a bibliometric analysis of the financing of innovation during the period 2001–2016. Among the most prominent journals in the field are Research Policy, Technovation and Small Business Economics; among the most influential authors are Petersen, Hall, Himmelberg, Lerner and Brown; and the most connected documents are those by Hall (2002) and Brown, Fazzari, and Petersen (2009). The field is fragmented and uses a variety of financial theoretical models. Salient topics in the field are financial constraints, funding sources (internal and external), capital structure, venture capital and financing of technology companies.     

On the necessary relation between moral development and worldview

In this article we elaborate on the relationship between morality, moral development, moral education and capitalism. Based on Narvaez’s correct critique of the Western way of life, which is destroying the environment and may one day lead to extinction of life on Earth, we argue that this critique should not be stripped of its political side, meaning that it will not be complete if does not explicitly include capitalism as one of its roots. In the remainder of our commentary, we will try to show that in addition to heart, reason has a strong place in indigenous peoples’ life that is frequently misunderstood. Finally, and taking all this into account, we maintain that moral and citizenship education need to be critical and intercultural, and explicitly discuss economic and political issues that underlie and affect human moral development.     

Pedagogy of a Latin American Festival

Engaging and investigating the cultural production and practice of social groups and organizations that make claims of collective knowledge, democratic values, and social memories around the coordinates of difference, diversity, and representation are consistent with an expansion of postmodern scholarship on public pedagogies and citizen participation. These social groups and organizations often negotiate, carve out, and rework cultural spaces that create and sustain ritual performances of community and identity. This article is an ethnographic exploration of one such organization, which in light of recent and increasing demographic and socioeconomic shifts of Latino immigrants fleeing to resettle in the American South, has organized an annual Latin American festival. The researcher-author traces and interrogates not only the cultural images and knowledge produced by the organization in the process of planning and performing the Latin American festival, but also the complexity, dilemmas, and complicity that arise in subsequent ethnographic portrayal and academic text-making practice.     

“I wanted to go here”: Adolescents’ perspectives on school choice

New Zealand legislation removing school zones radically reshaped school choice, resulting in increased school stratification from parental choice frequently driven by social factors such as ethnic makeup of the school community. This article considers school choice through the eyes of 1,465 adolescents from 12 secondary schools in Dunedin (New Zealand). The most common reasons for school choice included: preference for a coeducational school, school’s facilities, positive comments from parents/students, and friends’ enrollment. Reasons for school choice differed by who was making the decision. Social factors and school programs/facilities, rather than proximity to home, influenced school choice decisions in Dunedin.