dMath: a European project for the restatement of mathematics teaching

In this article the main characteristics of the dMath project are introduced. With the mathematical modules developed within this project a new tool is made available to the different users as a support of the teaching and learning of mathematics in the context of EHEA and of the Bologna declaration.     

Jean Baudrillard’s radical thinking,and its potential contribution to the sociology of higher education illustrated by debates about ‘World-Class’ universities

This article presents an argument for re-reading Jean Baudrillard’s ideas considering their potential contribution to the sociology of higher education, particularly in relation to contemporary debates about ‘world-class’ universities. In order to apply Baudrillard’s ideas, China’s commitment to the development of ‘world-class’ universities is presented as a case study. Radical thinking, as understood by Baudrillard, relies on ambivalence and fascination – instead of critique – and seeks to push a logic to its limits rather than opposing it. Critiques of world-class universities have not stopped the totalizing effects of rankings and world-class status seeking; on the contrary, these phenomena and their effects continue to accelerate. A non-deterministic approach to thinking is set into motion around the paroxystic state that prevails in the pursuit of ‘world-class’ status among contemporary higher education systems.     

Valoración de la competencia morfosintáctica en el niño de dos años y medio

Resumen

El objetivo del trabajo es doble: 1.° Investigar el desarrollo morfosintáctico de los niños de dos años y medio, considerando esta edad como clave a causa de la primera expansión sintáctica y saber si la longitud media de enunciado (LME) puede ser una buena medida de la complejidad morfosintáctica del hablante infantil. 2.° Proporcionar un instrumento para la acción logopédica relacionada con los retrasos y trastornos en la adquisición grammatical.

Para ello se tomaron grabaciones de conversaciones semi-dirigidas de 24 niños de ambos sexos de dos años y medio. Se rastreó la presencia, en dichas conversaciones, de signos morfosintácticos que se agruparon bajo trece títulos.

Se halló la correlación existente entre la riqueza gramatical de cada sujeto (considerada como la suma de los signos morfosintácticos empleados, puntuando con 1 cada uno de los dichos signos) y su LME (X = 2,33, DS = 0,78), hallándose que ésta podía ser una buena medida de aquélla (r = 0,8402, p < 0,01), sin tener en cuenta, por lo tanto, las transformaciones presentes en cada enunciado.

Finalmente, ordenando los sujetos de menor a mayor riqueza gramatical, se entresacan 10 pasos para facilitar la acción logopédica en el área morfosintáctica.     

La comprensión en el niño del mecanismo de intercambio económico y el problema de la ganancia

Resumen

En este artículo se examinan las dificultades que encuentran los niños para entender el proceso de compra-venta que tiene lugar en la tienda, y otros aspectos de su comprensión de los intercambios económicos. Se presta especial atención a la noción de ganancia, y se propone que las dificultades que encuentran los niños son de dos tipos: dificultades cognitivas y socio-morales. Sólo a partir de los 10 años los niños comienzan a comprender los mecanismos del mercado y el papel que tiene ésta en la determinación de los precios.     

“You don't look like your profile picture”: the ethical implications of researching online identities in higher education

Social media sites and other contemporary technologies open the possibility for the construction of online identities that are loosely connected to physical bodies; this construction allows individuals to edit their identities constantly, in a continuous process of self-recreation. In parallel, universities utilise printed and electronic media to present themselves in the best light possible through the process of branding, which – it is argued here – constitutes an instance of hyper-real identity assemblage. This article explores the ethical implications of researching brand construction in university advertisements. The authors reflect upon the ethical implications of conducting educational research on university identities when such identities rely on the representations of racially minoritised students. Online identity construction through technology invites a discussion of postmodern notions of self and reality; this article presents an exploration of a postmodern ethics for educational research.     

Does students’ heritage matter in their performance on and perceptions of historical reasoning tasks?

This mixed methods study explores how high school students (N = 35) enrolled in a US charter school with a high Latino/a population perform on and perceive (in terms of interest and relevance) document-based type historical reasoning tasks: one about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the other about the experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1920s. Students wrote essay responses and completed perception inventories about the tasks. We also interviewed 10 focal students to delve more deeply into students’ thinking regarding the tasks and their interest levels in the two topics. We scored students’ responses along the criteria of historical claims, substantiation of claims, use of evidence from documents, sourcing of documents and contextualization. Our hypotheses were that students would perform better on, and be more interested in, tasks that were culturally relevant to them. We found that although students did not perform differently on the two tasks overall, students’ perceptions of the tasks differed, with a significantly greater interest in the task about Mexicans and Mexican Americans. We address the complexity of these findings and discuss implications for curriculum and practise.     

Reading to write an argumentation: the role of epistemological,reading and writing beliefs

The general aim of this study was to examine the relations among epistemological, reading and writing beliefs held by psychology undergraduates and the role played by these three types of belief in influencing the degree of perspectivism manifested in a written argumentation task based on reading two texts presenting conflicting perspectives on the same topic. A total of 118 fourth‐year psychology students took part. Only 76 students performed the written argumentation task. The three types of belief were assessed using different questionnaires. The results show that the different types of belief do not occur in isolation, but have an internal coherence. They also indicate that only reading beliefs, together with the degree of perspectivism shown in a prior argumentation task, help to predict the degree of perspectivism in the written task following the reading of the texts.     

Accountability compliance,and student learning as competing rationales for assessment: a case study of us tuning in practice

Tertiary Education and Management - Despite the long presence of assessment and quality assurance in US higher education, questions and concerns about higher education quality in this higher...     

Organizational Learning: A Perspective from the Choice and Pattern of Sequential Modes of Foreign Market Entry

This study examines the choice, pattern, and timing of sequential modes of entry among multinational corporations investing in China. Specifically, we examine how earlier choices of entry modes influence decisions ahout subsequent modes of entry in a targeted host country. Six hypotheses are developed and tested using a longitudinal sample of 228 Fortune Global 500 firms that have had multiple entries in China between 1979 and 1996. The results provide supportive evidence of our hypotheses. Specifically, firms employed entry modes reflecting low commitment in early stages that were gradually escalated to higher commitment in subsequent decisions. This is consistent with the “incremental in vestment” approach that underlies traditional and contemporary theories and research in market entry decisions. An analysis of entry mode choices over time reveals different learning patterns: the logic of incremental investments (i.e., the escalation of low to high resource commitments); the logic of the “catch‐up” follower (i.e., relatively heavy commitment at later stages); and the logic of stable, consistent investments (i.e., the continuation of the same entry mode throughout the time period. There is moderate but inconclusive support for country of origin as a moderating factor. The implications of this study for theory and practice are discussed, as well as its limitations.