School climate and psychosomatic health: a multilevel analysis

This study examined the importance of aspects of the school climate for adolescents' psychosomatic health using multilevel modelling. Analyses were based on 18,571 ninth-grade students distributed over 1,026 classes and 284 schools in the greater Stockholm area in 2004 and 2006. Both individual- and contextual-level associations between aspects of the school climate and student health were explored. While most of the aspects of the school climate under study were related to health at the individual level, only 2 of them seemed to convey an additional contextual effect reaching beyond the students who were directly affected. Thus, better health was found in classes where many students reported getting immediate teacher help with their schoolwork, and worse health was found in classes where harassment was more commonly reported. These findings remained when a number of school-contextual characteristics were adjusted for.     

BLACK HAWK DOWN: FILM ZWISCHEN REFLEKTION UND KONSTRUKTION GESELLSCHAFTLICHER WIRKLICHKEIT

International Review of Education - Am Beispiel von Ridley Scotts Kriegsfilm Black Hawk Down (USA 2001) geht dieser Artikel der Frage nach, ob Film in erster Linie eine vorhergehende Wirklichkeit...     

An example of the use of dynamic mathematics software to create problem-solving environments that serve multiple purposes

Problem-solving is regarded as a major component of mathematical performance, and well-designed problem-solving-based learning environments have the potential to assist students in developing a meaningful understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures. In this respect, given its various features, dynamic mathematics software has been regarded by mathematics educators as a promising tool for designing such environments. This study presents an example of the use of technology to create a dynamic learning environment through a discussion of the pedagogical value of a problem selected for an activity, followed by the implementation sequence of the problem-solving activity in the classroom. The students’ experiences during the implementation of the activity are also discussed; and finally, an additional version of the problem is recommended for use in the classroom.     

What motivates students? A study on the effects of teacher leadership and students’ self-efficacy

Students’ educational motivation is significant for performance and achieving learning, but little is known about what fuels such motivation. Educational motivation is regarded as the drive and inner state that energise educational activities, facilitate learning and channel behaviour towards achieving educational goals. Educational motivation paves the way for students to learn and acquire the knowledge that is essential for successful study outcomes. This article aims to explore what determines students’ educational motivation. Building on the self-determination theory, we modelled the influence of teachers’ leadership and students’ self-efficacy on students’ educational motivation. We used survey data from a sample of upper secondary school students in Sweden; we received a total of 993 answers, equal to a response rate of 74%. The results show that students’ self-efficacy and teacher leadership are of extreme importance for students’ educational motivation, and that highly efficacious students lose most educational motivation when the teacher’s leadership is poor. The results thus support the importance of teachers’ leadership for encouraging student learning.     

International dimensions: A challenge for European engineering education

Internationalization of higher education is a concept that often is transformed into a set of activities that has a certain international dimension. This can be done more or less consciously. Issues such as development of skills and knowledge, creation of an international culture on campus and the involvement of an international dimension in all activities concern university management. These are issues university managers have to deal with. But it also opens up new opportunities. The broader issues of internationalization require a strong involvement of the academic leaders and of senior officers. This contribution describes how changes around us force universities to take action and introduce clear policies for internationalization of higher education, based on the needs institutions for higher engineering education should respond to. Special attention is given to a recent Swedish evaluation on the effects of student exchange. This study is compared with experience at Chalmers.     

Main trends in graduate study in basic sciences in Turkish universities: a quantitative overview

This paper seeks to trace the development of graduate studies in basic sciences in Turkish universities from origins to the present day. The study includes a sketch of the historical background of higher education from its start in medieval madrasahs and Istanbul Darulfunun (The House of Sciences), to the transition into present-day university education, i.e., to the beginnings of modern graduate study and the emergence of new universities. Empirical statistics are given to substantiate the rapid growth of graduate study and of the number of degrees produced since the 1980s. The mean number of Ph.D. Degrees per year has increased from a few in a single university in the 1930s to nearly a hundred in today's twenty seven universities in Turkey in the 1980s. Finally, a quantitative overview of the growth trends in graduate study in basic sciences as well as an assessment of the present degree productivity of Turkish universities are presented.     

Computer-aided Hypermedia for Learning and Self Studies

A complete coverage of the course content does not lead the student to explorative curiosity and to a scientific attitude to knowledge and learning. Interactive hypermedia use will lead to an epistemological quality raising since in that way students’ independence in planning, knowledge acquisition and problem solving might be facilitated and since at the same time tutorial supervision and guidance can be included. Hypermedia have possibilities to provide students with large quantities of information. With network interfacing learning can take place independent of time and place and individualized education will be possible. Combined with CMC (computer mediated communication) and educational software the student has a tool for life-long education within the classroom. At the Växjö University text, images and simulations have been integrated within a hypertext system: Hyperbook (for Macintosh). At the Royal Institute of Technology we develop this concept to use it with computer-based self-study material in mechanics, a project which started in autumn 1990 using HyperCard. At the University of Lund a development of hypertext material in the form of computer illustrated text for a thermodynamics textbook has just started. An example of limits of models will be demonstrated by a computer simulation of a linearized and a non-linearized pendulum.     

The development of interests in the Swedish comprehensive school

In this study pupils in grades 1 through 9 (ages 7–16) of the Swedish comprehensive school rated their interests in mathematics and Swedish (separately for reading and writing). They also judged other aspects of their school work and situation, such as need for control and challenging tasks, their perception of the teacher, their concern with how well other pupils succeeded, and their well-being at school. Teachers rated their level of achievement in Swedish and mathematics. It was found that interests tended to decrease over time, especially in mathematics. High achievers were more interested but they as well as low achievers showed a drop in interest over the years at school. Need for control rose and general well-being dropped. The developmental trends of the interest variables could not be accounted for by a rising need for control. The decrements in challenge and well-being could explain a part of these trends in Swedish but not in mathematics.     

Number magnitude processing and basic cognitive functions in children with mathematical learning disabilities

The study sought out to extend our knowledge regarding the origin of mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in children by testing different hypotheses in the same samples of children. Different aspects of cognitive functions and number processing were assessed in fifth- and sixth-graders (11–13 years old) with MLD and compared to controls. The MLD group displayed weaknesses with most aspects of number processing (e.g., subitizing, symbolic number comparison, number-line estimation) and two cognitive functions (e.g., visual–spatial working memory). These findings favor the defective approximate number system (ANS) hypothesis, but do not fit well with the access deficit hypothesis. Support is also provided for the defective object-tracking system (OTS) hypothesis, the domain general cognitive deficit hypothesis and to some extent the defective numerosity-coding hypothesis. The study suggests that MLD might be caused by multiple deficits and not a single core deficit.