South Africa’s readiness to integrate ICT into mathematics and science pedagogy in secondary schools

One of South Africa’s identified priorities is the implementation of ICT in education. To this end a phased implementation plan was initiated in 2004 for ICT to be implemented into schools across the country over eight years. During this time South Africa also participated in three international studies undertaken by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) focusing on ICT in Education. Each of these permitted the country to benchmark its progress in terms of other countries and their implementation of ICT in education. The latest study, SITES 2006 provides a useful set of indicators against which South Africa can evaluate its progress with regard to its implementation of ICT. This paper seeks to evaluate South Africa’s readiness to integrate ICT into mathematics and science classrooms. This was done using a number of indicators of “sustainable change” derived from SITES 2006 and then comparing these to countries such as Chile, Thailand and Norway, the former two with similar context and conditions and the latter with contrasting conditions. The findings reveal that whilst South Africa has made some progress since 1998 in terms of the implementation of ICT in education, that the majority of schools are still in their infancy regarding the acquisition of ICT and most of those who have access are still in the process of trying to integrate the ICT into their teaching and learning. It would appear that more fundamental needs in South Africa’s education system have dominated its priorities.     

An Innovative Course Featuring Action Research Integrated with Unifying Science Themes

In this article, we describe an innovative capstone course for preservice K-8 teachers integrating action research and a unifying theme in science (AAAS in Science for all Americans. Oxford University Press, New York, 1989; NRC in National science education standards. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996). The goals of the capstone course are to increase student knowledge of the unifying theme, improve written communication skills, and introduce students to educational research. We provide evidence that each of these goals is met. Student growth in theme knowledge is demonstrated through concept maps, questionnaires, and previously reported assessments. Improved writing ability is demonstrated using the spelling and grammar checking feature of Microsoft Word. The analysis of action research reports demonstrates that students are able to connect their action research project results to previous research.     

Parallel and divergent interpreting in an elementary school classroom

The study examined the extent to which a highly qualified interpreter remained parallel with or diverged from the original classroom discourse in her interpreting for a 3rd-grade deaf student in science, social studies, and resource room. The interpreter's signed and verbalized expressions were compared to the class participants' expressions for meaning equivalence. Parallel interpreting, occurring 33.2% of the time, closely matched the content of the speaker's message. Divergent interpreting, whereby the interpreter added or dropped elements of meaning, occurred 66.8% of the time. Qualitative analyses of classroom footage as well as interviews with the interpreter and the teachers revealed how, when, and why the interpreter diverged from the message. While the interpreter often made intentional reductions and additions to the discourse to achieve greater student understanding of language and course content, there was little awareness of these changes among individualized educational program team members.     

Does Dampened Physiological Reactivity Protect Youth in Aggressive Family Environments?

Is an attenuated physiological response to family conflict, seen in some youth exposed to early adversity, protective or problematic? A longitudinal study including 54 youth (average age 15.2 years) found that those with higher cumulative family aggression exposure showed lower cortisol output during a laboratory‐based conflict discussion with their parents, and were less likely to show the normative pattern of increased cortisol reactivity to a discussion they rated as more conflictual. Family aggression interacted with cortisol reactivity in predicting youth adjustment: Adolescents from more aggressive homes who were also more reactive to the discussion reported more posttraumatic stress symptoms and more antisocial behavior. These results suggest that attenuated reactivity may protect youth from the negative consequences associated with aggressive family environments.     

Distributing learning over time: the spacing effect in children's acquisition and generalization of science concepts

The spacing effect describes the robust finding that long‐term learning is promoted when learning events are spaced out in time rather than presented in immediate succession. Studies of the spacing effect have focused on memory processes rather than for other types of learning, such as the acquisition and generalization of new concepts. In this study, early elementary school children (5‐ to 7‐year‐olds; N = 36) were presented with science lessons on 1 of 3 schedules: massed, clumped, and spaced. The results revealed that spacing lessons out in time resulted in higher generalization performance for both simple and complex concepts. Spaced learning schedules promote several types of learning, strengthening the implications of the spacing effect for educational practices and curriculum.     

Book reviews

Zwartjes, Otto, ed. La Sociedad andalusí y sus tradiciones literarias (Foro Hispánico, 7). Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.

Brincat, Joseph M. Malta 870–1054: Al‐Himyai's Account and its Linguistic Implications. Malta: Said International Ltd., 1995. 52pp.

Sells, Michael A. Mystical Languages of Unsaying. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. 316 pp., US$18.95 (paperback), US$49.91 (cloth).

Diem, Werner, Arabische Geschäftsbriefe des 10. bis 14. Jahrhunderts aus der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Documents Arabica Antiqua 1), 2 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995. Textband ix+518pp., Tafelband 76 plates.

Coope, Jessica A. The Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. xvii+113 pp., US$ 25 (cloth).

Edwards, John. Religion and Society in Spain, c.1492 (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS 520). Aldershot and Brookfield: Variorum, 1996. x+351 pp., US$ 97.00 (cloth).

Tolan, John Victor, ed. Medìeval Christian Perceptions of Islam. A Book of Essays (Garland Medieval Casebooks, Volume 10). New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1996. xxi+414 pp., US$60.00 (cloth).     

Competencies evaluation in engineering programmes

Results are reported in this paper from a study aimed at evaluating significant competencies in final-year students of some engineering programmes in Chile. The study was carried out by a group of eight universities that were interested in exploring ways to assess learning outcomes such as those demanded by the recent Chilean accreditation system. The authors actively participated in all stages of the study, contributing directly to the design, application and results evaluation of some tests. A sample of 150 students was tested, under conditions that guaranteed the comparability of results. In this paper the authors present results relating to the evaluation of effective communication. The study was backed up by a conceptual model and some hypotheses that are explained and discussed in this work.     

From divergent meanings to common practices: The early institutionalization of technology transfer in the life sciences at Stanford University

The formation of Stanford University's technology transfer program in the life sciences is analyzed from 1968 to 1982. The program evolved from multiple models based on divergent definitions of invention, inventor, rewards, and university-industry boundaries. The eventual program that emerged proved to be widely emulated. The norms of the academy shaped the uses of resources and the conditions of their appropriation. In turn, the currency of industrial science prompted the rethinking of academic norms. The analysis offers insight into the early stages of institutionalization, as the ambiguity of important categories and flexibility of policies were transformed into organizational routines. Today's ‘settled’ outcomes are the product of highly divergent practices.