Teaching for quality learning in chemistry

In Portugal, the number of students in higher education increased from 80,000 in 1975 to 381,000 in 2000 (a change from 11% to 53% in the age group 18–22), meaning a major change in the diversity of student population with consequences well known and studied in other countries. The teaching of chemistry at the University of Aveiro, for the first‐year students of science and engineering, has been subjected to continuous attention to implement quality and student‐centred approaches. The work devoted to excellence and deep learning by several authors has been carefully followed and considered. This communication reports research work on chemistry teaching, associated with those developments for first‐year students. The work included the design of strategies and the adoption of teaching and learning activities exploring ways to stimulate active learning by improving the quality of classroom interactions. In addition to regular lectures, large classes' teaching based on student‐generated questions was explored. In order to improve students' motivation and stimulate their curiosity, conference‐lectures were adopted to deal with selected topics of wide scientific, technological and social interest. Quantitative analysis and discussion of selected case studies, together with the organization of laboratory classes based on selected enquiry‐based experiments, planned and executed by students, stimulated deep learning processes. A sample of 32 students was followed in the academic year of 2000/01 and the results obtained are here discussed in comparison with those of a sample of 100 students followed in 2001/02. Particular attention was paid to the quality of classroom interactions, the use of questions by students and their views about the course design.     

The grammar school at the Cathedral of the Canary Islands (1563–1851)

From 1563 until the death of the last teacher in 1851, there was a prebendary in the Cathedral of the Canary Islands in charge of the education of children. In fact, it could be said that this prebendary was the only continuous secondary school teacher there was in the Canary Islands until the beginning of the nineteenth century when the High School of La Laguna was founded in the island of Tenerife. This member of the cathedral chapter was called ‘racionero’ in Spanish and his position ‘ración’. This article will examine this interesting Chair of Grammar from its venue to the teacher’s salary, the students, the teachers or the rights and duties of these teachers.     

Languages,cultural capital and school choice: distinction and second-language immersion programmes

This paper argues that languages, increasingly marginalised in schools in English-speaking countries, are gaining ‘elitist’ ground as part of the ‘value-added’ marketisation of schools and parents’ desire for their children to gain ‘positional goods’ through schooling. In arguing our case, the paper draws on survey and other data derived from second-language immersion programmes in two Queensland secondary schools, where key learning areas such as mathematics and science are taught through the medium of another language. As a corollary, we also argue that some schools – in our case, government schools – are using their immersion programmes as markers of distinction in a period of post-comprehensive schooling and emerging school markets, which includes both government and non-government schools. There is also a global policy context to such programmes in respect of countries such as Spain, China and Germany supporting the teaching of their respective languages in nations around the world.     

Scaring Them into Learning!? Using a Snake Screen to Enhance the Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness of a Web Interface

It seems that surprise events have the potential to turn short-term memories into long-term memories, an unusual phenomenon that may have limited but interesting applications in learning tasks. This surprise-enhanced cognition phenomenon is theoretically modeled based on the notion that many human mental traits have evolved through natural selection; a mathematical analysis building on Price's covariance theorem is employed in this modeling effort. Additionally, the phenomenon is discussed in the context of an online learning task, based on a study involving 186 student participants. A simulated threat was incorporated into a human–computer interface with the goal of increasing the interface's knowledge-transfer effectiveness. The participants were asked to review Web-based learning modules and subsequently take a test on what they had learned. Data from six learning modules in two experimental conditions were contrasted. In the treatment condition, a Web-based screen with a snake in attack position was used to surprise the participants; the snake screen was absent in the control condition. As predicted, the participants in the treatment condition did significantly better in the test for the modules immediately before and after the snake screen than the participants in the control condition. These findings are extrapolated to classroom applications in general. Ethical considerations are also discussed.     

Can Early Childhood Curriculum Enhance Social-Emotional Competence in Low-Income Children? A Meta-Analysis of the Educational Effects

Research Findings: This meta-analysis examined 29 (quasi-)experimental studies that involved low-income children ages 3 to 5 who might be subject to risks of academic failure and other negative outcomes. Compared to the controls, children who learned with social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula demonstrated significantly improved social-emotional competence, with an effect size or standardized mean difference of 0.241 (95% confidence interval [0.194, 0.287]). However, the use of other curricula that lacked an intensive focus on SEL yielded nonsignificant effects on the social-emotional competence of low-income children. Type of curriculum, fidelity of curriculum implementation, and duration of intervention were found to moderate the educational effects. Practice or Policy: The findings of this meta-analysis contribute to the growing body of empirical evidence on the positive effects of early SEL curricula and explain how curricula can produce social-emotional benefits for low-income children in their early years.     

The immediate-shock deficit and postshock analgesia: Implications for the relationship between the analgesic CR and UR

Rats received a 3-sec, 1-mA footshock either immediately or 3 min after placement in a chamber. Postshock pain sensitivity was assessed with the formalin test. The animals that received the 3-min delay between placement and shock showed an analgesic response compared with noshock controls. The immediate-shock animals did not. Thus the immediate-shock deficit, previously reported for freezing and defecation, also occurs for analgesia. This suggests that shock levels sufficient to condition analgesia are not necessarily sufficient to produce analgesia as an unconditional response. As with freezing, there is a dissociation between conditional and unconditional responses in the fear-conditioning system. Increasing immediate-shock levels to 6 sec, 2 mA produced a transient unconditional analgesia. For analgesia, a conditional response is more readily produced than an unconditional response.     

The mattress makers: emotions and value proposal in Atlético de Madrid

Atlético de Madrid (ATM) Football Club has a single-hearted fan base regardless of the sport results, unlike megaclub’s fandoms (like Real Madrid, from the same city) that demand a steady stream of sporting triumphs. Literature is sparse about how second line clubs that must compete with megaclubs from the same city for a fan base develop a sustainable value proposal based on their fans’ emotions. We analyse the content of interviews with followers, TV-ads and financial statements to deal with ATM’s emotional base comprised of eleven emotions. Emotions like pride secure a fandom base loyal to ATM even in the absence of wins. Findings suggest that ATM’s value proposal (based on fandom satisfaction) focuses on a niche of fierce modern-style supporters with emotions attuned to the club’s performance.     

Public education and student movements: the Chilean rebellion under a neoliberal experiment

Abstract

Chile is recognized in the educational policy field as one of the first laboratories of neoliberal initiatives. These policies, initiated under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, did not change with the new democratic governments after 1990. This characteristic led international organizations to promote the Chilean policies in different contexts in Latin America and beyond. In 2006, a high school student movement occupied public and private schools, demystifying the outcomes of these policies. A new wave of demonstrations took place in 2011, with a college student leadership that paralyzed a significant amount of universities and schools throughout the country. After both waves of mobilizations, the political system opened the process of policy-making that considered the demands of social movements. In this article, we explore the dynamics between educational policies and social student movements in Chile, and the possibilities of change in favor of public education.     

Questions of chemistry

The research reported here derives from the general field of learner-centred teaching and learning, with specific reference to undergraduate chemistry. It documents the use of student-generated questions as diagnostic of their willingness to engage in classroom interactions. It explores four ways of gathering students' written questions and their relative effectiveness. It examines students' capacity to design and present 'quality questions' during phases of their learning and the extent to which these questions are indicative of particular styles of interaction in the classroom, both with tutors and with other students. The results are drawn from data collected through written questions posted into a question box, the 'hits' recorded on a computer software system, and through one-to-one interviews with a sample of 32 students. The results provide an opportunity to discuss the quality of interactions within fairly formalized systems of teaching and learning of chemistry in a university setting and to suggest further research required in this field.     

E‐Textbooks and Students’ Learning Experiences

The contribution of the e‐textbooks can be enormous considering their additional supporting features, but adoption has not crystallized yet. This study examines the relevant experiences of college students in terms of how the use of e‐textbooks may enhance their learning. A survey study was conducted to measure the perceptions of each student on how helpful an e‐textbook is for facilitating learning (i.e., E‐book Helpfulness), how well it promotes his/her involvement in learning (i.e., Student Involvement), and how much improvement it makes on learning outcome (i.e., Learning Outcome). Results indicate that e‐textbooks are perceived as enhancers of student learning experiences in two complementing routes: (1) E‐textbook Helpfulness enhances students’ learning outcomes directly and (2) Student Involvement plays an important mediating role between E‐textbook Helpfulness and Learning Outcome if students use e‐textbooks in class. These findings suggest that the successful adoption of e‐textbooks requires schools to provide necessary resources (e.g., computer labs) and instructors to actively engage students in using e‐textbooks.