La promotion de la mobilité dans les sciences de l'ingénieur en France et en Allemagne

Selon la Loi-cadre de l'enseignement supérieur de la République Fédérale d'Allemagne, les universités doivent encourager la coopération universitaire internationale, et notamment européenne, ainsi que les échanges entre les universités allemandes et étrangères.     

The effects of various mastery criteria on student performance and attitude in a mastery-oriented course

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of various mastery criteria on student performance and attitude in a course in which mastery learning strategies were employed. Undergraduates in an introductory course in educational psychology were randomly assigned to one of three treatments—one in which mastery criteria gradually increased from 70% to 90%, a second in which mastery criteria gradually decreased from 90% to 70%, or a third in which mastery criteria remained constant at 80%. Results indicated that although the high mastery criterion (90%) had a positive effect on some aspects of quiz performance, it did not have an effect on final examination performance. Results also indicated that students preferred that mastery criteria remain constant during a semester. These findings, when examined in light of previous research, call into question some prior notions regarding the levels at which mastery criteria should be set.     

The effects of ascending,descending, and fixed criteria on student performance and attitude in a mastery-oriented course

This study examined whether the criteria for mastering unit quizzes in a mastery-oriented course should increase, decrease, or remain fixed across units. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatments, one in which mastery criteria on unit quizzes gradually increased, a second in which mastery criteria gradually decreased, and a third in which mastery criteria remained fixed. Results indicated that students in the fixed criterion condition proceeded through the course at the steadiest pace and performed better than the other students on the unit quizzes they mastered. In addition, the vast majority of subjects indicated that they preferred the fixed criterion condition. These results strengthen the notion that the level of performance expected of students in a mastery-oriented course should not vary across units.     

Combined updating on science and pedagogy for experienced teachers

This paper describes the structure and unique features of an inservice training course for science teachers (Pädagogik und Fachdidaktik für Lehrer, PFL). The course is based on the view that most issues of classroom practice are at the same time issues of pedagogy, methodology and subject knowledge. Therefore, the close connection between the participants' work required during the course and their teaching situation is most important: the teachers selected issues of direct concern to their daily work, performed research on these issues by methods of action research, analysed their findings, took appropriate action and documented the process in written form. They were supported by a team of mentors. A preliminary evaluation indicates a high degree of satisfaction of the participants and provides suggestions for the improvement of initial teacher education. In the PFL-project inservice science teacher education is considered not only an opportunity for professional development of individual teachers, but also a contribution to the development of science education and—in a larger context—school development.     

The effects of age of viewer and gender of the narrator on children's visual attention and recall of story ideas

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the age of viewers and the gender of the narrator in a film, and to examine the interaction between these two variables. Subjects in second and fifth grades were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. One group watched a film narrated by a female and the other watched the same film narrated by a male. As subjects watched the film, the experimenters measured their visual attention to the program. Recall of story ideas was also measured, using a multiple-choice test. The results indicated that the gender of the narrator influenced the recall of second-graders, but did not influence the recall of fifth-graders. Results suggest that older children pay greater visual attention to a program than younger children. Implications for developing audio-visual materials for children are discussed.     

An Experiment in Multinational Collaborative Learning and Group Work Using the Internet

In this paper we describe a pedagogic experiment, intended to support and encourage interactive group discussion among students from different universities, in different countries, in what we call Internet Seminars. In an Internet Seminar students and teachers cooperate via the Internet to research and discuss a common subject. In the case discussed here, the chosen subject, 'Teleworking' was selected as one which would have particular resonance with the medium of the seminar, and also as being a topic which is not, as yet, part of the mainstream teaching curriculum. The aims of the seminar, however, were not only or even primarily concerned with the subject material. We also hoped to encourage and help the students develop the transferable skills of project planning, research, team-working and communication, with the added stimulus of working in a multinational context. We describe the form of the seminar, report on its outcomes, and comment on the successes and failures of our approach. © 1999 IFIP, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Technical problem solving among 10-year-old students as related to science achievement,out-of-school experience,domain-specific control beliefs,and attribution patterns

Using a sample of 531 10-year-olds from Germany and the United States, the study investigated the relationships among the structure of everyday experience, domain-specific control beliefs, acquisition of science knowledge, and solving of everyday technical problems. It assumed that children acquire operative schemata through daily experiences with technical objects and toys which not only transfer to solving technical everyday problems but also have a positive influence on school science learning. It was also thought that the covariation between technical everyday experiences and science achievement/technical problem solving would be mediated by control beliefs. A causal model, developed and tested by means of structural equation modeling, showed that domain-specific out-of-school experience only indirectly influences problem-solving performance, mediated by control beliefs. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 987–1013, 1998.