Ernest L. Boyer and the American Christian College: Historical Considerations

This article explores the historical roots of Ernest Boyer's impact on Christian higher education in the United States. Boyer's stints as a student at two Christian colleges (Messiah College in Pennsylvania and Greenville College in Illinois) and his first faculty and administrative posts at Upland College in California were significant influences in the development of his vision for the Christian college—a vision that led to greater legitimacy and credibility in the landscape of American higher education. Ernest Boyer's innovative, yet historic understanding of the distinctives of Christian higher education contributed to the successful accreditation process of nearly one hundred small, private institutions.     

Out-of-school learning in the botanical garden: Guided or self-determined learning at workstations?

Guided tours are the method of choice for school classes visiting botanical gardens. However, it remains unclear, which influence such teacher-centered approaches have on learning outcome in such informal learning environments. We compare a teacher- to a student-centered learning at workstations program under the topic plants and water. 16 school classes at eighth grade visited the botanical garden of the University of Würzburg, attending either one of both treatments. We used multiple-choice questionnaires measuring knowledge scores and found no significant differences in learning outcome – tested in a pre-post-retention design. We also monitored the students’ intrinsic motivation, which resulted in similar and high scores. Possible causes for our results and consequences for education at botanical gardens are discussed.     

Funktionelle gastrointestinale St?rungen Funktionelle Dyspepsie und Reizdarmsyndrom

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The flipped classroom: supporting a diverse group of students in their learning

Learning Environments Research - Higher education faces several challenges including both increased student diversity and the use of technologies. The flipped classroom approach has been proposed...     

Does Praxis Make Perfect? A Personal Journey through the Praxis II: World Language Test

For initial certification in French, German, and Spanish, teacher candidates in most states are required to pass one of the Praxis II subject matter tests. As of October 2010, a new test was added to the Praxis Series. This Praxis II: World Language Test represents a significant change from previous versions and relies heavily upon the Program Standards developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Given the novelty of the World Language Test, and based on my experience with previous versions of this subject matter test, I registered for and took this test. Suggestions for test-takers and those responsible for preparing foreign language teacher candidates are provided.     

Professional Competence of Prospective Teachers in Business and Economics Education: Evaluation of a Competence Model Using Structural Equation Modeling

Teacher competence is crucial for quality of teaching and learner achievement. Competency models and competence measurement are prevalent in domains such as the natural sciences and lacking in others. We conducted our research in the field of business and economics education by focusing on the accounting domain because it is key to a deep understanding of the economic context and the development of economics competence. To teach well, teachers require professional knowledge, which is mainly composed of content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK). Our competence model comprises the cognitive component of professional knowledge and the noncognitive components of beliefs, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. To measure competence in competence of prospective teachers, we employed novel instruments to test for professional knowledge and beliefs as well as established ones to test for self-regulation and self-efficacy. The sample consists of 1,152 students at 24 German universities. The structure of the competence model was tested. Results suggest that professional competence in accounting has at least four distinct dimensions (CK, PCK, beliefs, and self-regulation aspects).     

Kinetics of elite unilateral below-elbow amputee running

The role of the upper limbs in human locomotion and their influence on ground reaction force (GRF) have been extensively examined for walking and slow running. However, research has focused on unimpaired populations and has not evaluated high-speed running. In this study, the GRFs of an unilateral upper limb amputee athlete [missing right forearm, personal bests (PB): 400 m: 0:48.45 min, 800 m: 1:50.92 min] running at speeds of 5.4 and 8 m/s were collected using four floor-mounted force plates in a 100 m tartan track recording at 1000 Hz. The amputee athlete also performed trials with a running speed of 8 m/s wearing a weighted cuff on his impaired arm (0.5 and 1 kg, respectively). GRF data (without additional weight) were compared to those of an unimpaired athlete with similar PBs and anthropometry (age, height, weight). All data were evaluated for anterior–posterior, medial–lateral and vertical GRF as well as for stance phase (SP) duration and free moment (FM) values and a paired Student-t test (\(\alpha =5\) %) was performed on maximum and minimum values of the respective data sets comparing the left and right side of both athletes with each other, but no intersubjective comparisons were performed. The results revealed that vertical GRF showed significant differences for the impaired athlete at both running speeds comparing left and right foot, whereas the unimpaired athlete showed no significant differences in this matter at all. Medial–lateral GRF showed highly significant differences between the left and right foot of both athletes at both running speeds, whereas the results for anterior–posterior GRF and FM, however, showed ambiguous results. The trials with additional weight on the impaired limb led to significant differences for SP duration, but not for all conditions, and left–right differences did not change with additional weight. GRFs were found to differ in minimum medial–lateral GRF with no and heavy weight, maximum medial–lateral GRF within all weight conditions and maximum vertical GRF with no and heavy weight. For the FM, the overall pattern changed drastically and maximum FM showed a highly significant difference between the left and right foot, but none between the different conditions for both feet. Even though more significant asymmetries could be revealed for the impaired athlete, no general conclusion can be drawn at this point, given the limitations of the here presented study (low number of subjects available, anthropometric data of the impaired athlete could not be assessed).