The records of memory, the archives of identity: celebrations, texts and archival sensibilities

Using a variety of examples of non-traditional archives, the article explores the concept of cultural archives that embraces dynamic events such as commemorations, monuments, and other community-based representations. The paradigm of the postcolonial archive is considered and analyzed as a potential model for such a living cultural archive.     

Mathematical thinking intervention programmes for preschool children with normal and low number sense

This study investigated the possibility of enhancing the level of preschoolers’ number sense by introducing two intervention programmes, Let’s think! and Young children with special educational needs count, too! .Forty‐five preschoolers, mean age 66.4 months, were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction twice a week, for half an hour, and for a period of nine months. Pretest–postest comparison revealed that the experimental group showed enhanced number‐sense performance immediately after the instruction ended, but the between‐group difference faded after six months. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in general mathematical thinking abilities (transfer tasks) after the intervention.     

CONSTRUCTIVISM AND EDUCATION: MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Constructivism is a popular concept in contemporary teacher education programs. However, a genuine concern arises with the concept's application because many teachers and teacher educators claim that knowledge is constructed, without appreciating the epistemological and pedagogical implications such a claim entails. This article employs Phillips' (1995) Phillips, D. C. 1995. The good, the bad, and the ugly: The many faces of constructivism. Educational Researcher, 24(7): 5–12. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] analytic framework that divides the pedagogical applications of constructivism into three distinct categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Reviewing the constructivist epistemologies of Dewey and Vygotsky also enables the exploration of how constructivism might inform both our understanding of the impediments students confront when learning new knowledge and our understanding of general constructivist pedagogical practices. The primary objective in this article is to provide teacher educators and teachers with a richer understanding of constructivism—its limitations and its strengths—while offering concrete pedagogical strategies for its classroom application.     

Learning and Collective Knowledge Construction With Social Media: A Process-Oriented Perspective

Social media are increasingly being used for educational purposes. The first part of this article briefly reviews literature that reports on educational applications of social media tools. The second part discusses theories that may provide a basis for analyzing the processes that are relevant for individual learning and collective knowledge construction. We argue that a systems-theoretical constructivist approach is appropriate to examine the processes of educational social media use, namely, self-organization, the internalization of information, the externalization of knowledge, and the interplay of externalization and internalization providing the basis of a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. In the third part we present research findings that illustrate and support this systems-theoretical framework. Concluding, we discuss the implications for educational design and for future research on learning and collective knowledge construction with social media.     

Bildung und Familienentwicklung im Lebensverlauf

Der Zusammenhang zwischen Bildungsbeteiligung, Bildungsabschluss und Familienentwicklung ist kompliziert. Die g?ngige These einer negativen Beziehung zwischen Bildungserfolg und Heiratsbzw. Geburtenneigung greift theoretisch und empirisch zu kurz. Unter der Annahme, dass ein gleichbleibend starkes Bedürfnis nach engen, pers?nlichen Beziehungen und nach Elternschaft unterstellt werden kann, dürfte die Bedeutung der Bildung nur unter Berücksichtigung der jeweiligen M?glichkeiten zur L?sung von Vereinbarkeitsproblemen zutreffend zu charakterisieren sein.     

System competence modelling: Theoretical foundation and empirical validation of a model involving natural,social and human‐environment systems

Constituting a metacognitive strategy, system competence or systems thinking can only assume its assigned key function as a basic concept for the school subject of geography in Germany after a theoretical and empirical foundation has been established. A measurement instrument is required which is suitable both for supporting students and for the evaluation of methodical‐didactic measures. Such a tool is theoretically anchored in an empirically validated geography‐didactic and cognition‐psychological competence model, providing a differentiated representation of both the internal structure of a competency and the proficiency levels. The starting point of this foundation was the development of a normative‐theoretically derived model of geographic system competence. Its empirical validation was performed in different phases aimed at operationalising the competence model by means of test problems. In order to analyse the factor structure of the theoretical model, various item response models were estimated. The item levels of difficulty expected in the competence model were related to the empirical levels of difficulty and predicted by means of ordinary least squares regression to verify the model for proficiency levels. The two‐dimensional competence model – with the two dimensions ‘system organisation and behaviour’ and ‘system‐adequate intention to act’ – exhibits a better fit in reference to the model fit criteria than the one‐dimensional and three‐dimensional models. The correlations between the expected and empirical item difficulties are positive. Items that should be more difficult according to the competence model are actually shown to be more difficult. These findings suggest the reliability and validity of this new measurement instrument for diagnosing and promoting geographical system competence. It has to be implemented in practice as the next step.     

Spannungsfeld Polyvalenz in der Lehrerbildung

The Bologna Process of higher education reform has led to a vast array of different programs of study in German teacher training. In this article, we firstly analyze the implementation of Bachelor programs in teacher training, comparing profession-oriented programs (i.e. those aiming to train students for the teaching profession from the beginning of studies) to polyvalent programs (i.e. those aiming at broad qualifications and including a late decision to become a teacher). Secondly, we investigate whether students enrolled in these study programs differ systematically in their subjective certainty about their career choice. To answer these questions, we analyze portfolios of documents related to teacher training programs from nine German universities that prepare students for teaching in the academic track. Additionally, we analyze data from N?=?2585 Bachelor and N?=?928 Master degree students. We found that most programs, even when they espouse polyvalence, require an early decision to become a teacher. Moreover, our data confirm findings from earlier studies indicating that student teachers are highly certain about their career choice from the very beginning, with students in polyvalent programs being slightly less certain than those in profession-oriented programs (d?=?0.32).     

School transition from elementary to secondary school: changes in psychological adjustment

School transition is a critical life event for many children. However, the effects of school transition on children's stress experiences reported in the literature have been inconsistent. The present study with 564 third- to sixth-graders compared the changes in experienced stress level and in somatic and psychological symptoms during the transition from elementary to secondary schools (from grade 4 to grade 5) to the changes of two control groups (experiencing changes from grades 3 to 4 and from grades 5 to 6, but without school transition). The results show decreases in experienced stress levels and somatic and psychological symptoms after school transition. However, these decreases reflect mainly recovery effects after the school summer break, as comparisons with the control groups indicate.     

Respect in Education

This article discusses the educational significance of the moral demand for respect. In Ethics and Education, Richard Peters presents a conception of educational respect that was recently taken up by Krassimir Stojanov. This article responds to both Peters' and Stojanov's contributions and proposes another understanding of educational respect: to respect children is to treat them in a way that enables them to see themselves as persons endowed with dignity; that is, as having the equal standing to make claims on others.     

Sport-specific functional movement can simulate aspects of neuromuscular fatigue occurring in team sports

Fatigue protocols have been used over the years to examine muscular exhaustion. As an alternative to approaches in laboratory settings, functional agility protocols claiming to mimic the multifaceted loads of athletic activity have been proposed. This study aimed to examine the effects of a functional agility short-term fatigue protocol (FAST-FP) on neuromuscular function. Twenty-eight healthy sports students (15 males, aged 24.3 ± 2.4 years) completed the FAST-FP, which consists of four components: three counter-movement jumps (90% of individual maximum), a 20-s bout of step-ups, three bodyweight squats and an agility run. Tasks were repeated until the participants no longer achieved the required jump height in two consecutive sets. Outcomes (pre-post) encompassed subjective exhaustion (visual analogue scale [VAS]), maximum isometric voluntary force of the knee extensors (MIVF), reactive strength index (RSI), mean power frequency (MPF, measured using surface electromyography) and maximum knee range of motion (ROM). Post-intervention, VAS (+54 mm) increased significantly, while MIVF (–6.1%), RSI (–10.7%) and MPF (–4.1%) were reduced (p < 0.05). No changes were observed for ROM (p > 0.05). The FAST-FP induces small-to-moderate impairments in neuromuscular function and considerable self-perceived fatigue. Current evidence on exhaustion developing in team sports suggests that this magnitude of fatigue is similar. The protocol might thus be valuable in the evaluation of treatments counteracting post-match fatigue in team sports.