Estimating scale economies and the optimal size of school districts: A flexible form approach

This paper investigates estimation methods to model the relationship between school district size, costs per student and the organisation of school districts. We show that the assumptions on the functional form strongly affect the estimated scale economies and offer two possible solutions to allow for more flexibility in the estimation method. First, we introduce a model by adding higher‐degree district size polynomials, allowing for multiple optima. Second, we develop a Fourier cost function, innovative in the literature on scale economies in education. We then compare both models to classical approaches in the literature. We illustrate how a minor change in the estimation method can alter policy conclusions significantly using Flemish school district data. In doing so, we find sizeable potential cost savings from the consolidation of school districts, especially at the lower tail of the district–size distribution. The organisational transition from small to large school districts is characterised by an interval between two optima. Beyond an apparent slowdown in cost savings in medium‐sized school districts, cost savings from school district consolidation increase again, up to the optimal size of around 6,500 students. Beyond this optimum, school districts incur diseconomies of scale. The commonly used quadratic form (‘U’‐shaped cost function) overestimates scale economies, and fails to identify the interval between both optima.     

Science Teaching as a Dialogue – Bakhtin,Vygotsky and some Applications in the Classroom

The theory of dialogism, developed by the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) with regard to literature and everyday communication, can be used to improve the teaching of science. Some of Bakhtin's conceptual instruments are helpful in analysing the teaching process, and it is interesting to compare them with former ideas about teaching and learning, especially with the points of view of other constructivists. Together with Lev Vygotsky's analysis of thought and language, Bakhtin's dialogism shows how teachers can support students effectively by addressing them as producers of a meaningful picture of the world. The differences between ‘dialogic’ teaching and the well-known ‘Socratic’ method are shown and analysed, as are Bakhtin’s discussions of a ‘carnivalistic’ approach to the students.     

Talk about texts: reading as a social event

Drawing on anthropological evidence that interactions with texts are often mediated through oral language practices and Vygotsky's ideas about the primacy of social dialogue for individual intellectual development, the authors argue that children's informal talk about both electronic and printed texts throws new light on the reading process as a whole. They analyse children's talk about a school library book, a piece of graffiti, a television programme and a film to show how readings are shaped by the social organization and personal relationships of the readers, whether in curriculum activities, friendship groups or at home in the family. Readings are constructed, contested and negotiated through talk at the point where texts are first calculated and reshaped again when they are jointly recalled. Talk also helps to construct the text's legitimate audience and the reader's position within it.     

The Structure of Events and Event Representations: A Developmental Analysis

In this study, we investigated how the temporal order and variability of events influence 3- and 5-year-old children's developing event representations. Children participated in 3 different events: a logical-invariant (making fundough), a logical-variable (shape collage), and an arbitrary-invariant (sand play) event. At each age, half of the children experienced the events once prior to recalling the events both verbally and behaviorally; the other half experienced the events 4 times, recalled the events verbally after each experience, and behaviorally reenacted the events only after the last experience. Children verbally recalled more and organized their recall better for the logical events than for the arbitrary event, and these differences remained stable with increasing experience. The sequencing of behavioral recall was also more accurate for the logical events than for the arbitrary event across age and condition, but amount of recall did not differ, with one exception. 3-year-old children in the single experience condition recalled less about the variable event than the invariant events. The results indicate that both the structure of the event and children's representational capabilities influence children's developing representations of events.     

Designing Training for Global Environments: Knowing What Questions to Ask

As instructional design professionals are being asked more frequently to develop interventions for global environments, they must account for many complex intercultural communication and corporate globalization strategy variables. Simple rules of etiquette and stereotypes about particular cultures are tempting but dangerous assumptions upon which to base the design and delivery of training for multicultural learners. On the other hand, a full understanding of the subtle cultural differences that could impact global training is beyond the expectations to which instructional designers could reasonably be held. A more sensible approach than trying to know all the answers is knowing what questions to ask in the needs analysis and assessment phases. Based on a synthesis of literature and instantiated by several short examples, a framework for identifying important issues for instructional design and delivery in global settings is presented.     

ARTEMIS: Reinvigorating History and Theory in Art and Design Education

ARTEMIS (Art Educational Multiplayer Interactive Space) is an online multi‐user virtual environment that is designed around the objects, artefacts, philosophies, personalities and critical discourses of the histories and theories of art and design. Conceived as a means of reinvigorating art history and theory education in the digital age, ARTEMIS addresses the specific teaching and learning needs of a new generation of art and design students in higher education. This article is a case study that addresses the second phase of the testing and design development of ARTEMIS. It builds on the findings of the initial phase, which involved the development of the ‘proof of concept’ for an online virtual world and game designed for undergraduate students in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on a test trial and student response survey, this article assesses whether virtual environments like ARTEMIS can generate new life in art and design history, augment the teaching and learning mix in art and design higher education, and foster new modes of active engagement amongst students.