The prevalence,development and domain specificity of elementary school students’ achievement goal profiles

This study’s aim was to examine the prevalence, development and domain specificity of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students’ achievement goal profiles. Achievement goals were measured for language and mathematics among 722 pupils at three points in time. These data were analysed through latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis. Results indicated that three similar goal profiles could be discerned at all measurement waves for both language and mathematics. Profiles were labelled ‘multiple goals’, ‘approach oriented’ and ‘moderate/indifferent’. In both mathematics and language, around 80% of the participants remained stable in their goal profiles across measurements. Students who transitioned between goal profiles mostly moved from less to more favourable profiles. Profile membership and transitions between profiles were found to be relatively domain general with 60% overlap between domains. The high level of stability over time and across domains suggests that students’ goal profiles represent relatively stable personal dispositions.     

Portfolio as a means of promoting autonomous learning in teacher education: a quasi-experimental study

Background:?The predominant dissertation model used in teacher education courses in Flanders is the ‘literature study with practical processing’. Despite the practical supplement, this traditional model does not fit sufficiently well with autonomous learning as the objective of modern teacher education dissertations.

This study reports on the development of a portfolio model to serve as an alternative to the current model and afford greater opportunities for autonomous learning.

Purpose:?This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the usefulness of portfolio as a means of promoting autonomous learning.

Sample:?Two teacher education courses collaborated, involving 174 teacher education students and 44 supervisors in this study.

Design and methods:?Using a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design, we examined whether the use of portfolio as a dissertation model has a greater effect on the students' capacity for autonomous learning than the literature study with practical processing, using three existing questionnaires. Differences between the experimental group and the control group were revealed by means of covariance analysis.

Results:?Our research shows that the portfolio model results in students acquiring greater metacognitive knowledge. It also appears that students only get the chance to use their metacognitive skills when supervisors give them sufficient autonomy. However, supervisors experience loss of control and therefore tend to restrict students' autonomy.

Conclusions:?This leads us to the paradox of autonomous learning: students will only learn autonomously when they are given the freedom to learn autonomously. Supervisors need to transfer learner control.     

Self-study packages: vantage points for a new instructional design

Instructional design is confronted with the need to take research outcomes of cognitive research into account. In this contribution a research-framework is presented as a first step toward the construction of a more encompassing cognitive instructional design model (CID-model). A strategy “ConStruct” is described which enables instructional designers to evaluate the structure of information in instructional texts from a cognitive point of view. This strategy is an example of the way in which cognitive research outcomes can be implemented in the design of printed self-study packages.     

Vocabulary learning from reading: examining interactions between task and learner related variables

In the field of second and foreign language learning, how various task characteristics affect language learning has been the focus of many recent studies. Much of this research examined the relationship between task characteristics and task performance without fully taking into account learner related variables. The present study aimed to assess task complexity and sequence in relation to the learner related variables drawn from the social cognitive perspective of self-regulated learning, i.e. self-efficacy beliefs and frequency of learning strategy use, as they were applied to two versions of vocabulary learning from reading tasks. The tasks designed for the present study were based on the componential framework for second language task design. With tasks and task sequence counterbalanced, 146 first-year university students (mean age?=?18.59 years) were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Results reveal a significant effect of task sequence on vocabulary learning self-efficacy beliefs, frequency of learning strategy use and task performance, and a significant interaction effect of sequence with task complexity. Findings are discussed in terms of complex interactions between task and learner factors.     

Students' views on the efficiency of instruction: An exploratory survey of the instructional metacognitive knowledge of university freshmen

Students have conceptions about the relationship between instructional interventions and learning or, in other words, students have instructional metacognitive knowledge. In this study, the efficiency of instructional interventions has been investigated as a specific object of students' instructional metacognitive knowledge. By means of a survey, conceptions about the efficiency of various instructional interventions of 488 freshmen in educational sciences and psychology have been investigated. Two research questions directed this exploratory study: (1) How do students assess the efficiency of instructional interventions; and (2) Do differences in gender, educational background, and/or subject of study affect evaluations of the efficiency of instructional interventions. Results show that respondents regard regular instructional interventions at the university directed toward, or supporting, surface-level processing and reproduction to be highly efficient. The use of technology is conceived as inefficient by these students. The limited number of differences between groups of students also suggests students' conceptions to be both consistent and robust.The study illustrates the need to investigate instructional metacognitive knowledge as distinct from other forms of metacognitive knowledge, and raises questions about the major components and structure of instructional metacognitive knowledge and individual differences in it. The findings suggest the need for the elaboration of a framework to describe instructional interventions.     

Toward a modular,integrated, miniaturized,and portable microfluidic flow control architecture for organs-on-chips applications

Microfluidic organs-on-chips (OoCs) technology has emerged as the trend for in vitro functional modeling of organs in recent years. Simplifying the complexities of the human organs under controlled perfusion of required fluids paves the way for accurate prediction of human organ functionalities and their response to interventions like exposure to drugs. However, in the state-of-the-art OoC, the existing methods to control fluids use external bulky peripheral components and systems much larger than the chips used in experiments. A new generation of compact microfluidic flow control systems is needed to overcome this challenge. This study first presents a structured classification of OoC devices according to their types and microfluidic complexities. Next, we suggest three fundamental fluid flow control mechanisms and define component configurations for different levels of OoC complexity for each respective mechanism. Finally, we propose an architecture integrating modular microfluidic flow control components and OoC devices on a single platform. We emphasize the need for miniaturization of flow control components to achieve portability, minimize sample usage, minimize dead volume, improve the flowing time of fluids to the OoC cell chamber, and enable long-duration experiments.     

The Netherlands in the European Community: A cultural area of modest proportions with a few large publishing companies with international interests

As European economic integration proceeds, governments will have to address the cultural issues that they have thus far neglected. In the Netherlands, special, concerns include a decline in the level of reading and of book sales, the need for low VAT rates and fixed book prices, and the forcing out of small producers. At the same time, integration offers opportunities in the maintenance of local markets, multicultural and language education, and harmonization of copyright laws. Joost Kist has been active in publishing since 1953. He was vice-president of the Executive Board of Wolters Kluwer and retired from its board in January 1990. He remains a consultant to the board and special assistant to the chairman. Dr. Kist is a member of the Council for Libraries and Information Services and author ofElectronic Publishing: Looking for a Blueprint and many articles on the subject of new media. Wolters Kluwer was formed in 1988 by the merger of the Wolters Noordhoff and Kluwer groups. In May 1990 they purchased J.B. Lippincott from HarperCollins. Their turnover for the last fiscal year was just over $1 billion, with pretax income of $123.5 million.     

New practices for electronic publishing 2: New forms of the scientific paper

We extend the analysis of our previous paper (Learned Publishing 2001: 265–72) to a broader discussion of the major features of electronic publications. We conclude that a distinctly different granularity of information will be required and that this will allow very different levels of authentication and quality control from those currently used for the traditional scientific paper.     

New practices for electronic publishing 1: Will the scientific paper keep its form?

Discussion about the value of electronic documents is often hampered by starting from what is usual in the paper world and attempting to impose that on an electronic environment. In order to grasp the impact of the current electronic revolution, and formulate a policy for the future, we examine the aims and content of scientific communication. We then critically discuss the recommendations of an International Working Group [see Learned Publishing 2000:13(4) Oct. 251–8], and show the tension between these very reasonable recommendations and the reality of electronic publishing. We conclude that the scientific article will change considerably but that, in its new more composite form as an ensemble of various textual and non-textual components, it will retain many of the current cultural and scientific requirements with regard to editorial, quality and integrity.