Learning biology and mathematics outdoors: effects and attitudes in a Swedish high school context

This research suggests that learning biology in an outdoor environment has a positive cognitive and affective impact on 13–15-year-old, Swedish high school pupils. Eighty-five pupils in four classes participated in a quasi-experimental design. Half the pupils, taking a biology course in ecology or diversity of life, had several lessons outdoors and the other half were taught indoors. All of the classes, but one, also had mathematics lessons outdoors once a week. Twenty-one pupils were interviewed five months after the course and all were positive towards the new learning environment they had experienced outdoors in biology and/or mathematics. They also valued the higher degree of interaction among the pupils. Other findings from the interviews were that the pupils from the outdoor classes showed a higher degree of long-term knowledge retention. They remembered both activities and contents better than the pupils in the indoor classes. An essay-type question assessing their biological understanding qualitatively according to the Structure of Observed Learning Outcome taxonomy revealed no differences between the groups. The results are discussed in the light of neurocognitive models of long-term memory.     

The moderating role of internal and external resources on the performance effect of multitasking: Evidence from the R&D performance of surgeons

R&D employees frequently must split their limited time between explorative R&D and exploitative operative tasks. This article explores the influence of this multitasking (pursuing both R&D and operations) on employee R&D performance. The article also analyzes how the relationship between multitasking and individual R&D performance interacts with the degree of access to internal and external resources. We hypothesize that multitasking positively affects R&D performance. Furthermore, we assume that the internal resources (funding, facilities, and support) are increasingly relevant when employees combine R&D and operative activities. However, multitasking employees may show less of a need for external resources (access to networks) in comparison to more focused colleagues. The results of a survey of 332 surgeons from 20 academic medical centers in Germany support our hypotheses. We conclude that managers should ensure that their R&D workforce is also involved in daily operations. Output will be optimized if these employees are not only engaged with explorative tasks but are also involved in exploitative activities. However, managers should also ensure that the appropriate organizational support is provided to individuals who attempt to combine exploration and exploitation. Multitasking individuals benefit the most from access to internal resources, whereas external resources are more efficiently allocated to explorative-only employees.     

Privileging and Artifacts: On the Use of Information Technology in Science Education

The aim of this paper is to develop an approach that can be used in addressing the issue of the use of information technology and its importance in human meaning making. By using a combination of Wittgenstein’s work method, a sociocultural perspective on learning, and a sociotechnical perspective on artifacts a specific focus for analyses was discerned: the relation between the use-of-technology in meaning-making on one hand and the circumstances for this meaning-making on the other hand. The conversations of six groups of children, who worked with an assignment, that required that they doubted information they encountered, were video recorded and analyzed. The analyses were done in three interrelated steps. (a) The students use-of-technology in meaning making, (b) the meaning patterns that the students encounter on the web, and (c) students’ intentions and habits. Our findings show that, while the mode of reinforcement of the texts used by the students may have provided little opportunity for doubt or learning how to doubt, the students’ habits and intentions with their work determined the result of the interaction, namely copying information from the web. Taking our point of departure in this empirical illustration we discuss theoretical and methodological questions concerning the understanding of the use of information technology in educational settings.     

An education policy paradigm that fails upper secondary school pupils

In this article, we illustrate the creation of the education policy paradigm that constitutes the framework of vocational education and training (VET) programmes, and analyse local school representatives’ perception of VET in upper secondary schools in Sweden. The education policy paradigm, established through three periods of reform during the twentieth century, undervalues VET as being less worthy than general/academic education. This paradigm generates the rhetoric used by interviewed school representatives that encourages school pupils to choose the ‘right’ (academic) programmes in order to foster a specific citizenship competence, even if this competence is not fully compatible with labour market demands. Young people who cannot, or will not, attain the ‘right’ education, and thus the advocated citizenship competence, lose out in a school system where general/academic education and higher education preparatory programmes are consistently prioritised over VET. An educational system that advocates discrimination and suspicion of VET limits career options and restricts entry into the labour market, as well as risk stigmatising pupils undertaking VET; this paradigm is neither justified nor democratic.     

Identifying science students at risk in the first year of higher education: the incremental value of non-cognitive variables in predicting early academic achievement

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Science students’ study success rates in the first year of higher education (FYHE) are problematic. Although a considerable amount of previous...     

The significance of ‘participation’ as an educational ideal in education for sustainable development and health education in schools

This article examines the significance of the concept of participation for teacher meaning-making processes in education for sustainable development and health education. In Scandinavian public schools, education for sustainable development and health education focus on a wide palette of societal problems rather than on narrow curricula. Drawing on selected reviews of research literature on education for sustainable development and health education, Lacanian psychoanalysis provides inspiration for our analysis of the concept of participation, and how it is positioned and enacted in these fields of practice. Essentially, we argue that the concept of participation has a dual nature: it serves both as an educational ideal and as a teaching strategy. We also explore how the failure to achieve the ideal of ‘true’ participation may serve a positive purpose for the teacher; the acknowledgement that participation is not always as genuine as desired establishes a pedagogical situation where ideals of engaging pupils through true participation can continue to exist side by side with clear signs of a less consequential participation.     

From the Ground Up: Creating a Sustainable Library Outreach Program for International Students

In spring 2014, the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State implemented an outreach program for incoming international students consisted of a campus orientation presentation, library orientation and tours, information literacy workshops, and international peer-advisor training. Assessment as a result of the program has shown a high level of use of help services among international students, as well as moderately higher use of several services and resources amongst students who attended the library orientation.     

Sports activity patterns and cardio-metabolic health over time among adults in Germany: Results of a nationwide 12-year follow-up study

BackgroundPhysical activity is favorable for health, and vigorous sports activity is particularly beneficial. This study investigates the association between changes in sports participation patterns over time and cardio-metabolic and self-perceived health outcomes.MethodsData from 3752 adults (18–79 years of age) who participated in 2 national health interview and examination surveys in 1997–1999 and 2008–2011 were included, with a mean follow-up time of about 12 years. A change in self-reported sports activity was analyzed with respect to the incidence of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, and poor self-perceived health. Participants with pre-existing disease or risk factor of interest at baseline were excluded from the analysis. Being sufficiently active in sports was specified as doing sports for at least 1–2 h per week, and 4 activity categories were defined: 1) inactive at both time points (inactive–inactive), 2) inactive at baseline and active at follow-up (inactive–active), 3) active at baseline and inactive at follow-up (active–inactive), and 4) active at both time points (active–active). Associations between sports activity engagement and health outcomes were estimated by logistic regression models with different stages of adjustments.ResultsNot engaging in any regular sports activity at both time points (inactive–inactive) was associated with higher rates of type 2 diabetes (odds ratio (OR) = 1.82, 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.08–3.08), CHD (OR = 1.82, 95%CI: 1.16–2.84), hypertension (OR = 1.36, 95%CI: 1.03–1.81), metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.58, 95%CI: 1.08–2.32), and poor self-perceived health (OR = 2.54, 95%CI: 1.83–3.53) compared to doing regular sports for a minimum of 1–2 h per week over time (active–active). In case of change from inactivity to any regular sports activity (inactive–active), the rate of risk factor occurrence was not statistically different from the active–active reference group except for poor self-perceived health, but it was higher for type 2 diabetes (OR = 2.15, 95%CI: 1.12–4.14) and CHD (OR = 1.77, 95%CI: 1.03–3.03). Being active at baseline but inactive at follow-up (active–inactive) was not associated with higher disease incidence of type 2 diabetes (OR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.25–1.97) or CHD (OR = 1.20, 95%CI: 0.49–2.99), but was associated with higher rates of hypertension (OR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.11–2.34), obesity (OR = 2.34, 95%CI: 1.53–3.57), metabolic syndrome (OR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.11–2.63), and poor self-perceived health (OR = 2.16, 95%CI: 1.53–3.07) at follow-up.ConclusionEven a low weekly quantity (1–2 h) of regular sports activity is partly associated with health benefits. Being formerly but not currently active was not associated with an increased disease incidence, but was associated with a higher risk-factor development compared to the reference group (active–active). Becoming active was preventive for risk-factor development but was not preventive for disease incidence, which probably means that the health benefits from sports activity are not sustainable and disease incidence is only shifted to a later period in life. For this reason, the promotion of and commitment to regular sports activity should be addressed as early as possible over the lifespan to achieve the best health benefits.     

Program II—Eight years after

As freshmen in 1966, 26 students at a liberal arts college entered Program II, and experiment in individualized education which relieved them from usual collegiate requirements for all four years. Twelve years later, 22 of these participants, plus 19 nonparticipating classmates of 1970, were interviewed. Except for their evaluation of their college experience (Program II participants were more negative about it), participants and nonparticipants are indistinguishable on comparisons of post-graduate education, occupational history, family and residential patterns, leisure activities, and attitudes toward self.This research was supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.