Mixed‐Age Groups in Swedish Nursery and Compulsory Schools

In Swedish official documents for nursery and compulsory schools it is suggested that mixed‐age groups are beneficial to children's learning and socio‐emotional development. Early evaluations confirmed these assumptions. However, according to recent, more sophisticated evaluations, the mixed‐age group does not promote children's socio‐emotional or intellectual development.     

Skiing

The purpose of the investigation was to study the relationship between thrust phase duration, ground reaction force, velocity increase after pole thrust and pole angles versus pole length during double poling in roller skiing. Seven male regional elite cross‐country skiers volunteered as subjects for the study. The subjects performed a maximal double pole thrust on roller skis with each of the three different pole lengths: ‘short’, self‐selected (normal) and ‘long’. The short and long poles were 7.5 cm shorter and 7.5 cm longer than the self‐selected pole length. The subjects made seven maximal pole thrusts with each pole length, which were randomly selected during 21 trials. For each trial the subjects accelerated from a 1.2 m high downhill slope attaining a speed of 3.92 m.s^‐1 before making a maximal double pole thrust on a force plate placed at the bottom of the slope. The vertical (F_z), anterior‐posterior (F_y) and medio‐lateral (F_x) reaction forces of the left pole were measured by the force plate. The positions of the pole were recorded in 3‐D by an opto‐electronic system. Thrust phase duration, impulse, mean force, velocity increase after pole thrust and pole angles were calculated from the recorded data. Double poling with long poles produced a significantly larger propulsive anterior‐posterior reaction force impulse and velocity increase than normal (p < .05) and short poles (p < .05). This was in spite of a larger mean anterior‐posterior reaction force being produced with short poles. Thus, thrust phase duration was a primary factor in determining propulsive anterior‐posterior impulse. For the practitioner, the results can be useful in the selection of pole length when the aim is to increase thrust phase duration, anterior‐posterior force impulse and velocity.     

Educational assessment in Norway

Norway has seen major changes in the field of educational assessment over the past decade, following the 2001 ‘PISA shock’ that stimulated reform of the entire primary and secondary education systems: new outcome-based curricula with cross-disciplinary basic skills were accompanied by major revision of assessment regulations, comprehensive government projects promoting formative assessment, national tests as a main component in a new national quality assessment system and new regulations for examinations and teacher reporting of overall achievement marks. The paper provides a historical context to the country’s prohibition of formal marking in primary education and the recent tensions determining how assessment criteria should be stated and used for formative and summative purposes. It is argued that Norwegian primary and secondary education is riddled with unresolved tensions as to the role of assessment criteria and national tests, sparked by incremental implementation of assessment policies and principles accompanying the new outcomes-based curricula.     

Making sense of global warming: Norwegians appropriating knowledge of anthropogenic climate change

This paper studies how people reason about and make sense of human-made global warming, based on ten focus group interviews with Norwegian citizens. It shows that the domestication of climate science knowledge was shaped through five sense-making devices: news media coverage of changes in nature, particularly the weather, the coverage of presumed experts' disagreement about global warming, critical attitudes towards media, observations of political inaction, and considerations with respect to everyday life. These sense-making devices allowed for ambiguous outcomes, and the paper argues four main outcomes with respect to the domestication processes: the acceptors, the tempered acceptors, the uncertain and the sceptics.     

The Development of Scientific Thinking in Elementary School: A Comprehensive Inventory

The development of scientific thinking was assessed in 1,581 second, third, and fourth graders (8‐, 9‐, 10‐year‐olds) based on a conceptual model that posits developmental progression from naïve to more advanced conceptions. Using a 66‐item scale, five components of scientific thinking were addressed, including experimental design, data interpretation, and understanding the nature of science. Unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory analyses supported the instrument's reliability and validity and suggested that the multiple components of scientific thinking form a unitary construct, independent of verbal or reasoning skills. A partial credit model gave evidence for a hierarchical developmental progression. Across each grade transition, advanced conceptions increased while naïve conceptions decreased. Independent effects of intelligence, schooling, and parental education on scientific thinking are discussed.     

The role of international student mobility in hiring decisions. A vignette experiment among German employers

By virtue of the internationalisation of economies, international student mobility is considered increasingly important for professional careers. However, most studies focus on the supply-side by using graduate surveys, which face problems of graduates’ self-selection. Other studies on employers’ opinions often lack rigour analysis and report ambiguous results. Combining a general matching approach with theories on human capital and sorting, studying abroad can impact both the decision on hiring and the decision on international assignment. To solve problems of endogeneity and to consider employers’ perspectives directly, a vignette experiment is applied. Hypothetical applicants, with systematically varied higher education credentials, are randomly presented to a sample of German employers, in order to simulate a screening situation. Results show that study abroad experience is more important for international assignment, than for hiring. While it does not interact with final grades, it can be markedly substituted by professional work experience, when employers consider international assignment. In turn, professional work experience can be somewhat substituted by study abroad experience, when employers consider hiring. At least in the German institutional context, international student mobility may rather serve as a signal of transnational human capital, than as a signal of general job-performance.     

Effects of the 2003 Quality Reform on Gender Gaps in Student Learning Outcomes in Norwegian Higher Education

In 2003, the Norwegian higher educational system was reformed. The reform, known as the 2003 Quality Reform, introduced changes in the teaching model and student assessment. The authors wished to study how these changes affected male and female students. Therefore, they addressed student learning outcomes, measured through examination results, with respect to gender. Analysis of 5,772,811 examinations from 1990 to 2009 revealed a switch in average performance, from men performing equally well or better than women to women performing better than men. However, greater male than female variability in performance did not change. The effect of gender persisted when controlling for age, subject, home municipality, and type of institution. Overall, women and older students seem to benefit from the changes introduced by the reform more than men and younger students.