Exploring the Functionality of Visual and Non-Visual Strategies in Solving Rotation Problems

This article deals with the solving of rotation problems, and shows that there is an alternative to using mental rotations or their encoding into verbal terms: namely using geometrical properties. The idea is consistent with the theory which distinguishes between visual and analytical individuals, but uses the construct strategies instead of the construct preferred processing mode. Moreover, contrary to many researchers who refer to this distinction, but who often use it to classify students, this researcher introduces a new parameter, namely the nature of the task. The article presents the analysis of the functionality and effectiveness of the different kind of strategies as a function of the task's characteristics. The research, dealing not with individual traits but with solving strategies, offers information that could be helpful for the improvement of geometry teaching.     

Peace and Human Rights Education in the Middle East: Comparing Jewish and Palestinian Experiences

The Washington agreement of 1993 gave a new impetus to attempts by Palestinian and Israeli leaders to find a peaceful solution to their differences. The author asks to what extent this process has been accompanied by peace/human rights education programmes for Israeli and Palestinian children. While such programmes exist, they are very limited and have so far made little impact in reversing the long educational legacy of mutual distrust and hostility, which the article examines in detail. Furthermore, the continuing conflicts between the two communities make peace/human rights education difficult. However, despite the enormous obstacles, the author concludes that the efforts of peace/human rights educators are not wasted.     

Class size in the first years at school: a New Zealand perspective on the international literature

During the 1980s, topics evident in the class size research included class size and children’s achievement, children’s behavior and affect, outcomes for different groups of children, teacher satisfaction and stress, the organization of instruction, and cost effectiveness. A New Zealand review tracing through the approaches to class size research indicated that the research methods used to investigate class size had become increasingly complex. In the 1990s, these topics continue to be addressed, with an increasing emphasis on the features and impact over time of smaller classes, and on the economics of schooling. In New Zealand in the late 1980s, a 1 : 20 teacher to pupil ratio policy was introduced for junior classes. The current staffing ratio in junior classes is 1 : 23. This summary review of the literature on class size highlights some issues and complexities arising from the international research and research within the New Zealand context.     

The Entrepreneurial University: a Fine Answer to a Difficult Problem?

The recent changes in the relationship between universities and society and the change of attitudes of governments towards higher education institutions are analysed. The different possible reactions of the institutions to the more demanding attitude of society as a whole are discussed. The authors present a critical view of the concept of entrepreneurial universities based on the work of Burton Clark and on the results of the quality audits of the Association of European Universities (CRE), and offer some comments about their applicability and usefulness to European higher education systems.     

Coordination chemistry of life processes: Bioinorganic chemistry

Many enzymes and proteins have metal ions at their active sites that play key roles in catalysis. An important goal of an interdisciplinary field like bioinorganic chemistry is the development of small inorganic coordination complexes that not only reproduce structural and spectroscopic features, but also function in a manner similar to their natural counterparts. To highlight this burgeoning field, some selected results on synthetic modelling of (i) the electronic structure of manganese cluster of photosystem II and (ii) functional modelling of the dinuclear copper enzyme tyrosinase are described in this article.     

Value Profiles During Middle Childhood: Developmental Processes and Social Behavior

Little is known about how children's value priorities develop over time. This study identifies children's value priority profiles and follows their development during middle childhood. Australian children (N = 609; ages 5–12 at Time 1) reported their values over 2 years. Latent Transition Analysis indicated four profiles: Social-Focus, Self-Focus, Growth-Focus and Undifferentiated. Within person development was characterized by profile stability or transfer to the Social-Focus profile. Younger children were more likely to have an Undifferentiated profile (or Self-Focus among boys) than older ones. Girls were more likely to have a Social-Focus profile or transfer to it, and less likely to have a Self- or Growth-Focus profile than boys. Social-Focus profile membership over time predicted more prosocial and less aggressive behavior.     

Young Children Are Wishful Thinkers: The Development of Wishful Thinking in 3- to 10-Year-Old Children

Previously, research on wishful thinking has found that desires bias older children’s and adults’ predictions during probabilistic reasoning tasks. In this article, we explore wishful thinking in children aged 3- to 10-years-old. Do young children learn to be wishful thinkers? Or do they begin with a wishful thinking bias that is gradually overturned during development? Across five experiments, we compare low- and middle-income United States and Peruvian 3- to 10-year-old children (N = 682). Children were asked to make predictions during games of chance. Across experiments, preschool-aged children from all backgrounds consistently displayed a strong wishful thinking bias. However, the bias declined with age.