Transfer of strategy use by semantic recoding in arithmetic problem solving

Transfer of strategies between problems sharing the same formal structure is facilitated by a semantic recoding that makes evident the structural similarities between the problems. Two experiments were carried out among 4th and 5th grade pupils, with an experimental group trained to compare strategies in order to reinterpret an arithmetic word problem so that the calculations are consistent with the interpretation, and a control group. The experimental group in Experiment 1 improved significantly by choosing the alternative strategy in problems different from those used in training but no significant progress was observed in the control group. Experiment 2 showed that the improvement observed in the experimental group could not be attributed to the fact that children only learned to use a superficial rule. These results support the idea that the activity of problem re-representation may be a crucial step in mathematization.     

Women,Education and Social Mobility in Britain during the Long 1970s

ABSTRACT

Through analysis of oral history interviews and quantitative source material, this article offers a gendered model of social mobility in the post-war decades. It argues that women born between the late 1930s and early 1950s achieved social mobility through entering post-secondary education after a period of employment, followed by occupational movement into the welfare professions. Women’s mobility primarily occurred in the long 1970s, facilitated by the Wilson government’s investment in the welfare state and its expansion of further education and creation of the polytechnics. This challenges the predominantly masculinised trope of the grammar school as the driver of post-war mobility.     

What Type of Internet Development Programme in Cameroon?

Everyone is trying to reap the extraordinary benefits of international networks, but without bothering to find out whether it is safe to do so. This paper echoes some questions being raised by the Cameroonian, and indeed the African, community. What will become of countries or social groups which do not get on to the Internet in time? Would the majority of the world population thus be cut off from a small group? What is the position regarding equality of conditions of access, freedom to communicate and interactivity facilities, understood as a network of exchanges? The programme for the development of the Internet in Cameroon is intended as a pilot experiment in a developing country, that could be taken up in other countries of the region.     

Teachers' emotional intelligence as a predictor of their attitude,concerns and sentiments about inclusive education: teacher professional-related factors as control variables

Our study determined the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) on teachers' attitudes, concerns and sentiments about inclusive education while controlling for teachers' professional-related factors. This is predicated on the increasing influence of EI on teacher effectiveness. The sample size consisted of 508 regular classroom teachers. Using hierarchical regression analysis, our findings revealed that teacher EI was significantly associated with attitude and concerns about inclusive education after controlling teacher professional-related factors. There was no significant relationship between EI and teachers' sentiments about inclusive education, and teachers' professional-related factors did not account for individual contributions to the variances in teachers' sentiments. It was concluded that teachers' EI, may be a crucial factor that can impact aspects of teachers' perception of inclusive education such as attitude, and concerns about inclusive education but may not be able to erase teachers' deep-seated beliefs on inclusion. Implications of the study were highlighted.     

Pre-service teachers’ views about the use of digital educational games for collaborative learning

Education and Information Technologies - Digital educational games (DEGs) constitute an effective teaching approach, particularly when they are used in combination with collaborative learning...     

Content and language integrated learning in OpenSimulator project. Results of a pilot implementation in Greece

The study presents the results of a pilot implementation of the Content and Language Integrated Learning in OpenSimulator Project-CLILiOP. Content and Language Integrated Learning together with constructivism provided the theoretical basis of the project. A multi-user virtual environment was developed using Opensimulator, which entailed a tour of the students’ avatars on a virtual island where they viewed and exchanged information in the English language regarding geographical terms and concepts. The project’s duration was ten weeks. A total of 105 students participated, divided into three groups: one used the application, the second was taught the same cognitive material using a conventional teaching method, but still under the scope of CLIL, while the third was conventionally taught. Results indicate that the learning outcomes of CLILiOP were better compared to the other two teaching methods, but also underline the need to further investigate the uses of 3D multi-user virtual environments in second language learning.     

The struggle to make sense of doctoral study

Semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted with an ethno-culturally diverse group of 27 doctoral students in one Canadian university department produced narratives that often featured stories of stress and struggle. Two interrelated themes emerging from the data are highlighted here: surviving financially and dealing with divisions and diversity. The context is one where student bodies have become more diverse and the academic labour market less geared to full-time tenured positions. We argue that the commonplace notion that doctoral study means elite students being socialized into academic futures de-emphasizes the material conditions and interpersonal tensions that actually characterize everyday student life.     

Project DyAdd: Implicit learning in adult dyslexia and ADHD

In this study of the project DyAdd, implicit learning was investigated through two paradigms in adults (18–55 years) with dyslexia (n?=?36) or with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n?=?22) and in controls (n?=?35). In the serial reaction time (SRT) task, there were no group differences in learning. However, those with ADHD exhibited faster RTs compared to other groups. In the artificial grammar learning (AGL) task, the groups did not differ from each other in their learning (i.e., grammaticality accuracy or similarity choices). Further, all three groups were sensitive to fragment overlap between learning and test-phase items (i.e., similarity choices were above chance). Grammaticality performance of control participants was above chance, but that of participants with dyslexia and participants with ADHD failed to differ from chance, indicating impaired grammaticality learning in these groups. While the main indices of AGL performance, grammaticality accuracy and similarity choices did not correlate with the neuropsychological variables that reflected dyslexia-related (phonological processing, reading, spelling, arithmetic) or ADHD-related characteristics (executive functions, attention), or intelligence, the explicit knowledge for the AGL grammar (i.e., ability to freely generate grammatical strings) correlated positively with the variables of phonological processing and reading. Further, SRT reaction times correlated positively with full scale intelligence quotient (FIQ). We conclude that, in AGL, learning difficulties of the underlying rule structure (as measured by grammaticality) are associated with dyslexia and ADHD. However, learning in AGL is not related to the defining neuropsychological features of dyslexia or ADHD. Instead, the resulting explicit knowledge relates to characteristics of dyslexia.     

Health-Seeking Preferences of Elderly Filipinos in the Community via Conjoint Analysis

Health-seeking encompasses the activities individuals perform in order to restore wellness when they perceive themselves as ill. Alarmingly, it is apparent that there is a decrease in frequency of health-seeking as one ages. While there have been numerous studies about elderly health-seeking behavior across the globe, the need to know about their preferences remains a research imperative, hence this conjoint analysis investigation. The objective of this study is to identify the health-seeking preferences of a select group of Filipino elderly in the community. To measure preferences for health-seeking, a conjoint analysis survey of 304 Filipino elderly aged 60 years and above was conducted from June to July 2012 using the balanced incomplete block design. Results indicate that the most important attribute in terms of health-seeking behavior is the physician's experience. Elderly clients tend to seek health care from expert private practitioners who provide full information regarding illness and charge professional fees of less than 500 pesos (8–9 British pounds or 12–13 U.S. dollars). Results suggest that there are factors that may impede or promote health care seeking in elderly clients, of which physicians’ experience is deemed most important. These preferences, if integrated into the current practice, can help health care practitioners in improving the quality of care provided.     

Electronic Document Delivery: The Ibadan University Library Experience

New information communication technologies, such as the Internet and electronic publishing, not only enhance the range of publications that libraries can provide for their users but also increase the speed with which such requests can be met. This article describes the development of electronic document delivery (EDD) at the Kenneth Dike Library at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A successful EDD program depends upon good intranet and Internet network systems, document availability, user awareness and training, and ease of use. The major challenge to this service is inconsistent power supply, which the university is addressing with the aid of a grant from the MacArthur Foundation for backup electric generators and a university solar energy project. It is hoped that this will assure better and more reliable power service in support of EDD in future. New information delivery regulations and laws guiding adequate service will also emerge but must be properly applied for effective and positive results.