MEDIA TONE AND PUBLIC OPINION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MEDIA COVERAGE AND PUBLIC OPINION ON CHANCELLOR KOHL

This study investigates the relationship between media coverageof Helmut Kohl in seven leading German print media and the opinionsof the German general public about the politician between 1975and 1984. For the content analysis evaluative assessments aboutHelmut Kohl on six different dimensions of characteristics werecoded. The analysis of public opinion is based on 72 representativesurveys in which respondents expressed their evaluations ofthe politician. The two time series were compared by means ofcross-lagged correlations. The whole period was first examinedwith aggregations of three-months-intervals; then closer attentionwas paid to the time period since Helmut Kohl took office aschancellor on the basis of monthly intervals. In both cases,the results show that evaluation shifts in the media precedesimilar evaluation shifts in public opinion with a time lagof about three to six months for the whole period of investigation,and a somewhat shorter time lag for the time of his chancellorship.Evaluation shifts in the political magazines Der Spiegel andStern were more closely related to public opinion than evaluationshifts in the national dailies.     

The ‘One‐Phase’ Approach to Teacher Education in West Germany

The besetting weakness of teacher education in the Federal Republic is seen as the separation of theoretical and practical aspects of training; this separation is institutionalised in the ‘two‐phase’ structure which is universally adopted in West Germany. The ‘one‐phase’, experimental, programme developed at the University of Oldenburg in the late 1970s appeared to overcome this problem, but was aborted by a (political) decision to end the experiment. Although full evaluation had not been completed the article examines some of the factors accounting for the apparent success of the ‘ELAB’ innovation.     

Ad-personam-Projekte gemäß § 26 UG 2002 und andere Formen der Universitätsforschung durch Einzelpersonen

Im Hinblick auf die zu geringe finanzielle Grundausstattung ist die universitäre Forschung heute stärker denn je auf Forschungsförderungen und Forschungsaufträge angewiesen. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt Möglichkeiten und Voraussetzungen der Drittmittelforschung durch Einzelpersonen praxisorientiert dar und bietet auch Lösungen für die heiklen Themenbereiche, Kostenersatz und Immaterialgüterrecht.     

Children's intuitive mathematics: the development of knowledge about nonlinear growth

This study is concerned with the development of children's intuitive understanding of nonlinear processes. The ability to estimate linear and exponential growth was examined in 7-, 9-, 11-, and 13-year-old children and adults (N=160). Whereas linear growth was judged correctly at all ages, estimations of exponential growth were in line with mathematically correct values only in 13-year-olds and adults. However, 9-year-olds already judged the result of exponential growth as being significantly higher than that of linear growth, and even a remarkable proportion of 7-year-olds showed such discrimination between the two types of functions. Results point to the existence of an early intuitive knowledge about the characteristics of nonlinear growth, long before those functions are taught in school.     

Learn by doing: How to include new requirements of research in engineering education

Co-operation between university and industry for technology transfer is not only useful for industry, but also for students. In the Fraunhofer Institute of the author, about 40 projects annually for individual companies as well as co-operative research projects with many partners for international programmes such as EUREKA, ESPRIT and LEONARDO are carried out. Students are involved in many ways, as part-time assistants or during their intermediate and diploma thesis projects as well as PhD theses, and contribute significantly to the research and development. By being members of a team of professionals they learn about their later work in industry to the extent that they get ideas for planning their careers and even consider becoming entrepreneurs themselves.