Longitudinal trends in networks of university-industry-government relations in South Korea: The role of programmatic incentives

This study examines the longitudinal trend of systemness in networked research relations in South Korea using a triple helix (TH) indicator of university-industry-government (UIG) relations. The data were harvested from the Science Citation Index (SCI) and its counterparts in the social sciences (SSCI) and the arts and humanities (A&HCI). The total number of Korean SCI publications has grown rapidly since 1965. However, the TH indicator shows that the network dynamics have varied considerably according to the research policies of the national government. The collaboration patterns, as measured by co-authorship relations in the SCI noticeably increased, with some variation, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. However, inter-institutional collaboration in the first decade of the 21st century was negatively influenced by the new national science and technology (S&T) research policies that evaluated domestic scientists and research groups based on their international publication numbers rather than on the level of cooperation among academic, private, and public domains. The results reveal that Korea has failed to boost its national research capacity by neglecting the network effects in science, technology, and industry.     

English phonological awareness in bilinguals: a cross‐linguistic study of Tamil,Malay and Chinese English‐language learners

To test the lexical restructuring hypothesis among bilingual English‐language learners, English phonological awareness (PA), English vocabulary and ethnic language vocabulary (Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil) were assessed among 284 kindergarteners (168 Chinese, 71 Malays and 45 Tamils) in Singapore. A multi‐level regression analysis showed that English vocabulary, in interaction with mother's education, statistically significantly predicted Singaporean children's PA; ethnic language vocabulary did not. Thus, the present study supports the lexical restructuring hypothesis that growth in vocabulary changes how lexical items are stored, leading to the development of PA. Home language practices, as represented by mother's education, may also enhance children's PA after a threshold of English vocabulary is reached. In addition, specific ethnic language (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) was a statistically significant predictor of PA, suggesting that orthographic depth as well as syllabic complexity of a bilingual's other language may influence their development of English PA.     

Engaging ADHD students in tasks with hand gestures: a pedagogical possibility for teachers

This study examines the effects of teachers' speech and hand gestures on the task performances of students with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Forty‐five 7½‐year‐old students clinically diagnosed with ADHD participated in the study. The students were asked to solve three sets of puzzles. The teachers supported the students in the tasks by using three different scaffolding modalities: speech‐only, gesture‐only and speech in conjunction with gestures. The results indicate that when the teachers used the scaffolding that contained gesture components (either speech scaffolding in conjunction with gesture scaffolding or gesture‐only scaffolding), the ADHD students were more responsive, focused longer on the tasks and were more successful in completing the tasks. Moreover, teachers' representational and deictic gestures were found to be the most effective gestures in scaffolding. This study suggests that when teachers' hand gestures are used together with speech, they are a powerful pedagogical means to engage ADHD children in tasks.     

Clapping with two hands: Bringing together local and outside knowledge for innovation in land husbandry in Tanzania and Ethiopia ‐ a comparative case study

Abstract

Promoting rural development in Africa involves learning to clap with two hands, that is to say, creating effective interaction between local knowledge and development initiatives, on the one hand, and the knowledge and initiatives of formal agricultural research and extension, on the other. Farmer innovators ‐men and women farmers who take their own initiative to change local agriculture ‐ are key allies in rural development, as shown by the experience of the ISWC programme in Africa. Focusing on Ethiopia and Tanzania, the authors describe how formal research and extension services are made aware of farmers’ innovative work and are encouraged to document the results, promote their spread, and support further development efforts by farmer innovators. A modified Participatory Technology Development (PTD) approach is thus emerging, which starts not with problem analysis but rather by linking up with local problem‐solving initiatives. While the learning process on this approach continues, dialogue has been initiated with policy‐makers with a view to incorporating the approach into regular government extension, research and training activities.     

Speech education ‐ ways and means of political education in Germany

This study of the utility of evidence differs from previous studies in its use of a respondent‐generated matrix of information and sources. This matrix comprised three dimensions (expertness × trustworthiness‐acquaintanceship x information type] and was used to produce Q‐statements which subjects sorted according to a most useful‐Jeast useful criterion in three hypothetical decision‐making situations. The Q‐analysis revealed several types of persons, including: types which found directive information most useful, types which preferred unknown but competent sources, and types which depended upon sources who were known and trusted regardless of the kind of information the source offered.     

EFFECTS OF TEACHER–STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS ON PEER HARASSMENT: A MULTILEVEL STUDY

Peer harassment is a major social problem affecting children and adolescents internationally. Much research has focused on student‐to‐student harassment from either an individual or a multilevel perspective. There is a paucity of multilevel research on students’ relationships with the classroom teacher. The purpose of this study was to use a socioecological perspective to examine the relationships between individual student‐level characteristics, problematic teacher–student relationships, and student‐reported peer harassment. A total of 1,864 children (50.7% female) aged 8 to 13 years (M = 9.82, SD = 1.24), nested in 27 schools (58.2% public) in Spain, participated in the study. Ninety‐four homeroom teachers reported on teacher–student relationships, and students completed self‐report measures related to peer harassment and teacher–student relationships. Multilevel models showed that relationships between students and teachers exerted a varying degree of influence on classroom levels of peer harassment. Specifically, student‐reported teacher support was associated with diminished student‐reported peer victimization, whereas direct and indirect student‐reported teacher‐to‐student aggression was associated with increased peer victimization. Additionally, student‐reported student‐to‐teacher aggression and teacher‐to‐student aggression were associated with increased student‐reported peer aggression. Teacher‐reported variables at the classroom level, however, contributed little to student‐reported outcomes. Results are discussed in the context of future research on relationships between teachers and students.     

Components of Conceptual Ecologies

The theory of conceptual change is criticized because it focuses only on supposed underlying logical structures and rational process processes, and lacks attention to affective aspects as well as motivational constructs in students’ learning science. This is a vast underestimation of the complexity and diversity of one’s change of conceptions. The notion of conceptual ecology provides a context for understanding individuals’ conceptual change learning, as it is the environment through which all information is interpreted. This research investigated how high school students’ statements, made in answering questions, reflect selected components of their conceptual ecologies. Data for this study was collected from six interviews in which seven students took part. The data also include the science teacher’s profiles of each student, the students’ personal journals, their assignments, and their examinations and answers in class. The analysis presented will here include only those components that were represented in the discourse of the seven high school students who were interviewed. When students were asked questions, there was evidence of the engagement of the various components of conceptual ecologies. These components include: epistemological commitments, metaphysical beliefs, the affective domain and emotional aspects, the nature of knowledge, the nature of learning, the nature of conceptions, and past experience. Evidence from this study suggests that these components might function as constraints to learning. This study contributes to the field by expanding our knowledge of the components of high school students’ conceptual ecologies through its definition of the categories and themes associated with those components. In examining across the range of components, the study illustrates the variety and sources of science conceptions within high school students’ conceptual ecologies.     

Variability in children’s early reading strategies

The present study examines the development of sight word reading in young children by examining changes in their self‐reported reading strategies over time. A sample of 65 five to seven year olds were asked to read 40 real word items, all carefully matched for letter length and word frequency, on three separate occasions. Changes in the children’s word identifications were measured using immediately retrospective verbal self‐reports. Overall, the results showed some variability in the children’s self‐reported reading strategies. Over time the children relied less on phonological strategies and moved towards reliance on directly retrieving words from memory. This change was most evident in the older children; while both year groups showed similar patterns of shifting reliance from explicit phonological strategies to retrieval, this shift was simply less frequent among the younger children. An analysis of word‐specific changes in reading strategies showed that the older children had a better sight vocabulary for more complex word items. These findings provide further support for Ehri’s mediated phase theory in explaining children’s development in learning to read.     

Mathematics: a female,male or gender‐neutral domain? A study of attitudes among students at secondary level

The aim of the current study is to investigate whether Swedish secondary school students perceive mathematics as a female, male or gender‐neutral domain. A sample of 1300 students in two age groups, 15‐ and 17‐ years, answered a questionnaire and about 50 students participated in interviews. The main part of the inquiry form consists of Who and mathematics, an attitude scale recently developed by other researchers. The results are analysed with respect to gender, school year and study programme. Gendered attitudes were found among considerable minorities. There is a marked tendency to view mathematics as a symbolically male domain: positive aspects are associated with boys and negative aspects perceived as more female. Older students hold more strongly gendered views than younger. Boys in the science programme have the strongest beliefs of mathematics as a male domain.