Sustainable participatory processes of education technology development

Educational technology research and development - According to UNESCO, sustainable education requires a participatory development process. This article reports the results of three case studies...     

Working successfully towards inclusion—or excluding pupils? A comparative retroductive study of three similar schools in their work with EBD

Sweden uses municipally run pupil referral units (PRUs) for students displaying emotional behavioural difficulties (EBD). This study investigates one Swedish municipality where transfers of students to PRUs were related to school practices favouring either inclusion or exclusion. A purposeful sampling procedure was used to select three elementary schools with regard to their success (school A) or failure (B and C) in keeping pupils with problematic behaviours at school. These three schools are in catchment areas with similar socio-economic conditions. A mixed methods research design was combined with comparative case studies in a retroductive approach. School A had only one pupil transferred to a PRU in 10 years, whereas such transfers from B and C were almost tenfold. School A distinguished itself from the other two schools by its number of inclusive qualities. This school succeeded in keeping almost all students without depriving other students of their rightful learning.     

Historical thinking about sources in the context of a standards-based curriculum: a Swedish case

The increased interest in basing teaching on disciplinary thinking has had a profound impact on the syllabus for history in Sweden. Within this context, we examine how students demonstrate one aspect of disciplinary thinking in history, namely reasoning about historical sources. The material used is written answers to an assignment about historical sources in the national test in history for year 6. The analysis shows that many students are able to show at least some aspects of disciplinary thinking about sources, though the vast majority has problems with contextualising the source in the assignment. One explanation put forth is that the syllabus is not yet fully enacted in teaching practices.     

Educational reform as a dynamic system of problems and solutions: Towards an analytic instrument

Large-scale educational reforms are difficult to realize and often fail. In the literature, the course of reform and problems associated with this are frequently discussed. The explanations and recommendations then provided are so diverse that it is difficult to gain a comprehensive overview of what factors are at play and how to take them into consideration. In this article, a model to provide a comprehensive framework for the analysis of educational reforms is presented. Education is conceptualized as a social system and educational reform thus as the manner in which this social system adapts to a changing context. The upper secondary education reforms undertaken in the 1990s in the Netherlands are adopted as a test case to evaluate the utility of the model. The results of the study paint a picture of educational reform as a loosely organized system of problems and solutions. The possibilities and potential limitations of the model are discussed in closing.     

Bordering on Empathy: The Effect of Selective Exposure and Border Residency on Immigration Attitudes

Two surveys, including an original survey and a survey containing substantial secondary data, found substantial links between party identity, selective media exposure and attitudes on immigration. Republicans were significantly more likely to segregate themselves to like-minded media and to avoid traditional objective sources like national and local newspapers, local and national broadcast television news. Border-state residency failed to moderate attitudes about immigration; differences were found between local and national media. Finally, Republican support for immigration fell between 2016 and 2018, after the election of President Trump.     

Effect of substrates and underlayer on CNT synthesis by plasma enhanced CVD

Due to their unique thermal, electronic and mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes （CNTs） have aroused various attentions of many researchers. Among all the techniques to fabricate CNTs, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition （PECVD） has been extensively developed as one growth technique to produce verticallyaligned car bon nanotubes （VACNTs）. Though CNTs show a trend to be integrated into nanoelectromechanical system （NEMS）, CNT growth still remains a mysterious technology. This paper attempts to reveal the effects of substrates and un derlayers to CNT synthesis. We tried five different substrates by substituting intrinsic Si with high resistivity ones and byincreasing the thickness of SiO2 insulativity layer. And also, we demonstrated an innovative way of adjusting CNT den sity by changing the thickness of Cu underlayer.