Tableur et calcul algebrique

Résumé Cet article est un compte rendu de recherche concernant l'apprentissage à l'utilisation d'un tableur (Multiplan^TM) avec des élèves de 15 ans dans un collège français. Cette recherche a un caractère exploratoire dans un domaine actuellement peu étudié.Si l'utilisation d'un tableur, impose la manipulation d'expressions littérales, pour la mise en uvre des calculs, on note qu'il n'y a pas simple transfert des connaissances algébriques dans l'environnement du tableur. Les problèmes d'apprentissage sont de deux types: ceux issus de la priorité donnée par ce logiciel au calcul et ceux issus de l'existence de deux niveaux de syntaxe en inter-action, le niveau logiciel et le niveau algébrique.

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This article gives an account of research on the learning of the use of a spreadsheet (Multiplan) by pupils 15 years old.It gives evidence that despite that fact that use of a spreadsheet requires the manipulation of formulas, there is not a mere transfer of the pupil's algebraic knowledge into the spreadsheet context. Two main learning problems have been identified, the first due to the priority given by the software to computations, and the second related to an interaction between two levels of syntax: the spreadsheet specific and the algebraic syntax.

     

Seeing Is Believing: Effective Components of Professional Development Training for County Extension Educators on an Innovation Perceived as Risky—Food Irradiation

ABSTRACT: Decades of research have provided evidence that food irradiation is a safe technology that can decrease the incidence of foodborne diseases; however, adoption of this technology has been slow. The purpose of our study was to qualitatively explore the effectiveness of various components of a professional development training on family and consumer sciences county extension educators' understanding of food irradiation. This training included presentations by experts in the field, a tour of a food irradiation research facility and a meat processing facility, group activities, and a computer simulation model. Data were collected using qualitative research methodology through in-depth interviews conducted after the training. Results indicated that those components that allowed participants to visualize food irradiation processes seemed most beneficial to their understanding. Based on these data, implications for practice are discussed.     

The decision to enter higher education: The case of polytechnic sociology students

This paper examines the decision to enter higher education by students who entered British polytechnic degree courses in sociology/social studies. It is concerned with the extent to which occupational considerations affect the decision to enter and with relating these findings to theories of occupational choice. The paper commences with an examination of three models of occupational choice and summarises the findings of studies that have focused on the entry into higher education and occupational decision-making. The results of our own study, based on questionnaire and interview data, indicate that occupational considerations are of limited importance in the decision to enter sociology/social studies courses at polytechnics. Rather our data favours a model emphasizing the role of socio-cultural background of home and school creating expectations for higher education. Data on past decisions which affect educational careers indicated that entry into higher education was seen in terms of an automatic process rather than a conscious decision made for particular goals. In our population there was, however, a small vocationally oriented group who differed from other students, in which females and those under 18 years of age were over-represented, and who were predominantly from two colleges which offered vocational training in their courses. Our results, we conclude, lend support to a fortuitous model of occupational choice in respect of the decision to enter higher education. Expectations derived from socio-cultural backgrounds of the students were more important in determining entry than conscious occupational goals.The research on which the paper is based is located in the Department of Social Science, Polytechnic of the South Bank, and supported by the Social Science Research Council.Work on this project has also been carried out by Dr I. C. Cannon and Ms. A. Scambler. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Standing Conference of The Sociology of Further Education, London, June 1975.     

Portrait of Filipino teachers’ classroom practices: traditional or constructivist?

The intent of this qualitative study is to narrate (Brodkey, (1987a). Education Quarterly, 18, 67–76; Written communication, 4, 25–70; Qualitative communication research methods. (1987b). Lindlof, (1995). (pp. 172–174): London Sage Publications) the master teachers as aggregate sample subjects’ pedagogical understanding and classroom practices. A qualitative analysis of the classroom activities and journal entries of 13 teacher-participants in the Basic Education Curriculum core learning areas is included. Findings reveal that the subject participants’ pedagogical practices still verging toward the formal suggest a traditional inclination. However, the importance of change should be realized. Various concepts of teaching and learning, today, are imperative. Teachers must be resocialized on their new roles and make their students have a more active role in the teaching-learning process.     

What shapes the self-esteem of elderly Filipinos working beyond the retirement age? A structural equation model (SEM)

Previous studies have indicated that major transitions in life such as retirement or exit from working life may contribute to the normative decline in self-esteem. A growing trend on elderly’s labor force beyond retirement invites the conduct of more empirical studies on the dynamics of self-esteem among the elderly group. Anchored on the Self-Determination Theory, this study is an attempt to test a model that examines the impact of social support, health promotion, activities of daily living and anxiety on the self-esteem of a select group of Filipino elderly working beyond the retirement age. Two-hundred eighteen (218) working elderly from the capital of the Philippines participated in this exploratory study. Data gathered from a multi-aspect questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS version 19 and AMOS version 19. Results of structural equation model (SEM) indicated that social support; activities of daily living and health promotion have direct effects on self-esteem, thus supporting the hypotheses. A direct relationship exists between elderly activities of daily living and their social support and anxiety. Notably, an inverse relationship exists between elderly anxiety and factors such as health promotion and self-esteem. The emerged model in this study could serve as valuable tool for nurses in enhancing nursing care aimed at promoting the psychological-well-being and occupational health among the elderly.     

Group Identity,Individual Autonomy and Education for Human Rights

The United Nations Declarations of Human Rights (1948) express an ideal for the protection of cultural rights of everyone. They propose an education that is multicultural and non‐discriminatory and recognise that parents have the right to choose their children's education. Article 13.3 of the International covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights gave parents the right to choose for their children “schools other than those established by public authorities to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions”. The paper feels uneasy with this principle that grants parents the right to educate their children in conformity with their own convictions. Such rights could result in restricting the education of children to the narrow framework of parental beliefs and values that could be antithetical to social harmony, individual autonomy and equal opportunity. The question is, should such a right be extended to all parents including those who believe in racial superiority, in apartheid, Nazism or Fascism or in the inherent intellectual differences between boys and girls? The paper discusses some of these issues and asks how can the best interests of the child be served in a pluralist, multicultural, multiracial society. The paper acknowledges that in a pluralistic democratic society there will always be tensions between the public interests, the interests of the group and the interests or autonomy of the individual. These interests are discussed within the framework of fundamental human rights, common or separate schooling and multicultural education. The paper sees these as interrelated issues which are connected with group identity and equal opportunity. Where these interrelated issues conflict, the paper takes the stance that the rights and the autonomy of the individual should take precedence over the others, especially if the notion of human rights and human dignity is to be preserved in practice. This is obviously a controversial issue and the hope is that the paper will open up these issues for further discussion and debate.