Schools: A place of ecological learning

This article explores the concept of 'ecologisation of schools' as a form of school development and is based upon a study commissioned by the Federal Austrian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. On the basis of a material and literature search on models and experiences gained from school-based environmental projects in Central Europe and in England, some quality features for an ecologisation process of schools are suggested. These features are the basis of an ecological school development programme in Austria, which is described briefly in this study.     

Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekte zum Thema “Electronic Commerce”

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The Stability of Perceived Motor Competence of Primary School Children from Two Countries over One Year

ABSTRACT

Children’s positive perceived motor competence (PMC) provides motivation for physical activity. Theoretically young children (<8 years) have inflated PMC but as children cognitively develop, perceptions are hypothesized to decrease. This study investigated strength of PMC association over time, whether any change was negative (i.e. PMC decreased) and sex differences. A total of 198 children participated, 88 (44.4%) girls and 110 (55.6%) boys, aged 8.37–11.3 years at time point one (T1). Test–retest reliability using intraclass correlation was moderate for locomotor and moderate-to-good for object control perception. Hierarchical regression analysis showed PMC at T1 positively predicted significant variance one year later (T2) for locomotor (23.1%) and object control skill (5 items: 37.7%; 7 items: 39.9%). Whilst boys and girls differed on perception level there was no interaction between PMC and sex. Incongruent with previous theoretical perspectives this study identified stability in children’s PMC across an important developmental period.     

The influence of a residential outdoor education programme to pupil’s environmental perception

This empirical study finds support for the hypothesis that participation in a special residential education programme enhances facets of pupils’ environmental perception. A 4-day extra-curricular educational unit with a cognitive outdoors focus (established in a nature centre in France) was surveyed by using a two stage sampling design in a pre-post-treatment evaluation; the post-test was delayed for a one-month period after participation. All selected participating pupils (n=151) responded twice to the same perception questionnaire. The factorial structure of this questionnaire had been previously developed using a large European sample (n=4500) and separately validated in a smaller French pupil sample (n=900). The matched-pair pre-post-test survey showed significant differences in two of the five primary factors; both of them covered utilitarian preferences and scored in a way which indicated an increase in sensitivity to the environment. A pre-post-tested control group (n=78) revealed no significant difference. Possible reasons for the partial shift in primary factors are discussed, including a consideration of two related studies (in Germany and Switzerland) which were both monitored by the same measurement instrument.     

Pädagogische Zeitschriften Österreichs

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Environmental perception of French and some Western European secondary school students

This paper describes, by focusing on factor analytic structures, pupils’ reactions towards the utilisation and preservation of nature. A previously hypothesised model based on these two domains (comprised of 5 primary factors) was shown to be valid for four different Western European pupil samples: CH, D, DK, IRL. The empirical basis of this present paper comprises a survey of about 900 French pupils of both genders aged between 11 and 16 years from rural areas who responded to a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Data from the remaining European samples added some 4000 respondents based on the same objective test each. The purpose of the present study was five-fold: Firstly, to test and confirm the hypothesised primary and secondary factor structure for the combined data set. Secondly, to apply the methods of linear structural relationship analysis to test the existence of two higher-order factors (the domains: “Preservation” and “Utilisation”). Thirdly, to investigate any age or gender effect in the primary factors. Fourthly, to provide an age-adjusted empirical instrument for evaluation purposes of educational programmes featuring conservation and environmental protection. Finally, to compare the means within-region factor scores in anticipation of substantial between-region differences. These differences followed a rather consistent pattern supporting the interpretation that “utilising” nature is negatively correlated with positive environmental reactions.     

Dynamic multimedia stream adaptation and rate control for heterogeneous networks

Dynamic adaptation of multimedia content is seen as an important feature of next generation networks and pervasive systems enabling terminals and applications to adapt to changes in e.g. context, access network, and available Quality-of-Service (QoS) due to mobility of users, devices or sessions. We present the architecture of a multimedia stream adaptation service which enables communication between terminals having heterogeneous hardware and software capabilities and served by heterogeneous networks. The service runs on special content adaptation nodes which can be placed at any location within the network. The flexible structure of our architecture allows using a variety of different adaptation engines. A generic transcoding engine is used to change the codec of streams. An MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA) based transformation engine allows adjusting the data rate of scalable media streams. An intelligent decision-taking engine implements adaptive flow control which takes into account current network QoS parameters and congestion information. Measurements demonstrate the quality gains achieved through adaptive congestion control mechanisms under conditions typical for a heterogeneous network.