Globalization, Educational Targeting, and Stable Inequalities: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile

The present study analyzes educational targeting in Argentina, Brazil and Chile from a sociological point of view. It shows that a ‘logic of induction’ has become the vehicle for anti-poverty education strategies meant to help targeted groups improve on their own. The analysis explores the influence of the global educational agenda, the empirical connection between the logic of induction and the mechanism of emulation, and the territorial aspects of educational inequalities. Emulation plays a main role inasmuch as the logic of induction leads targeted groups to compare their adverse situation with more privileged groups, which actually legitimizes inequalities. A brief statistical summary completes the study, showing that educational inequality has remained unchanged as far as urban–rural ratios (in Brazil and Chile) and regional disparities (in all three countries) are concerned.     

Aligning professional skills and active learning methods: an application for information and communications technology engineering

Engineering education is facing new challenges to effectively provide the appropriate skills to future engineering professionals according to market demands. This study proposes a model based on active learning methods, which is expected to facilitate the acquisition of the professional skills most highly valued in the information and communications technology (ICT) market. The theoretical foundations of the study are based on the specific literature on active learning methodologies. The Delphi method is used to establish the fit between learning methods and generic skills required by the ICT sector. An innovative proposition is therefore presented that groups the required skills in relation to the teaching method that best develops them. The qualitative research suggests that a combination of project-based learning and the learning contract is sufficient to ensure a satisfactory skills level for this profile of engineers.     

Development of adolescents' self-perceptions, values, and task perceptions according to gender and domain in 7th- through 11th-grade Australian students

Latent growth models estimated developmental trajectories for adolescents' math and English self-perceptions (perceived talent, success expectancies), values (intrinsic, utility) and task perceptions (task difficulty, effort required). A longitudinal cohort-sequential study included 1,323 participants spanning Grades 7 to 11, with Occasion 1 mean ages 13.19, 12.36, and 14.41, respectively, for Cohorts 1, 2, and 3. Self-perceptions and values declined through adolescence, and ratings about difficulty and effort required increased. Gender differences favored boys for math and girls for English, with little evidence for gender intensification or gender convergence hypotheses. Explanations reference socialization and social-cognitive developmental theories and features of the curricula, with domain-specific patterns implying domain-specific explanations. Existing research is extended by modeling a broadened set of social-cognitive constructs within the Australian context.     

Constructs of writing proficiency in US state and national writing assessments: Exploring variability

Persistent gaps between optimistic state and pessimistic national academic performance assessment results are increasingly leading to calls for unified national standards in the US. Critics argue that these gaps reveal vast differences in how proficiency is conceptualized; however, little is known about how conceptualizations compare among large-scale US assessments. To explore this issue, the present study investigated constructs of writing proficiency implicated in 41 US state and national high school direct writing assessments by analyzing the relationships between prompt-genre demands and assessment scoring criteria. Results of this analysis suggest that national writing assessments differ as a group from state assessments in the extent to which they emphasize genre distinctions and present coherent conceptualizations of writing proficiency. The implications of these assessment variations for college preparedness are discussed.     

Pedagogising poverty alleviation: a discourse analysis of educational and social policies in Argentina and Chile

For the past decades international organisations and governments have promoted and implemented analogous education policies on the grounds that education is the key factor to foster development and fight poverty. This article sets the context of these educational programmes and analyses their discourse on poverty in Argentina and Chile. Then, it shows how they institutionalise strict surveillance, institutional denigration of the poor and professional scepticism. In general, the conclusions underpin one hypothesis that leads the analysis: eventually, these targeted education policies ‘pedagogise’ poverty alleviation in that they aim to ‘instil flexible identities’ into the poor rather than open channels for social inclusion.     

The Problematic Nature of the Practicum: A Key Determinant of Pre-service Teachers’ Emerging Inquiry-Based Science Practices

This article disseminates findings from a multi-year study regarding secondary preservice science teachers’ perceptions toward inquiry-based science teaching, and the extent these perceptions are augmented by their practicum. While findings indicated that preservice teachers did improve their understanding and capability of using scientific inquiry due to their methods course, the role of practicum in supporting their newly developed perceptions was problematic. Issues ranging from associate teacher subjugation, availability of resources, time constraints, and the need to address curriculum standards were the most commonly cited reasons for preservice teachers’ difficulty in creating an inquiry-based environment during their practicum. Implications are presented highlighting the importance of practicum experiences as a key determinant of pre-service science teachers’ emerging inquiry-based science views and practices.     

Are athletes on the right track? The effect of availability of an all-weather athletics track on athletics performance

In February of 2011, an earthquake destroyed the only all-weather athletics facility in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The all-weather track has yet to be replaced, and so since the loss of the track, local Christchurch athletes have only had a grass track for training and preparation for championship events. The present study considers what effect the loss of the training facility has had on the performance of athletes from Christchurch at national championship events. Not surprisingly, the study finds that there has been a deterioration in the performance in events that are heavily dependent upon the all-weather surface. However, somewhat more surprisingly, the loss of the track appears to have caused a significant improvement in the performance of Christchurch athletes in events that, while on the standard athletics programme, are not heavily dependent on track surface.     

The effect of towing a range of relative resistances on sprint performance

The aim of this study was to compare sprint performance over 10 and 20?m when participants ran while towing resistances, weighing between 0 and 30% of body mass. The sample of 33 participants consisted of male rugby and soccer players (age 21.1?±?1.8 years, body mass 83.6?±?13.1?kg, height 1.82?±?0.1?m; mean?±?s). Each participant performed two sets of seven sprints over 20?m using a Latin rectangular design. The times were recorded at 10 and 20?m using electronic speed gates. The sprints of 13 players were video-recorded to allow calculation of stride length and frequency. For both sprints, a quadratic relationship was observed between sprint time and resistance as sprint time increased from 2.94?s to 3.80?s from 0 to 30% resistance. This relationship was statistically significant but considered not to be meaningful for performance because, over the range of resistances used in this study, the quadratic model was never more than 1% (in terms of sprint time) from the linear model. As resistance increased, the stride length shortened, with mean values of 1.63?±?0.13?m at 0% body mass and 1.33?±?0.13?m at 30% of body mass. There was no significant change in stride frequency with increasing resistance. The results show that in general there is an increase in sprint time with an increase in resistance. No particular resistance in the range tested (0?–?30%) can be recommended for practice.