First‐Generation Undergraduate Students' Social Support,Depression, and Life Satisfaction

First‐generation undergraduate students face challenging cross‐socioeconomic cultural transitions into college life. The authors compared first‐ and non‐first‐generation undergraduate students’ social support, posttraumatic stress, depression symptoms, and life satisfaction. First‐generation participants reported less social support from family and friends, more single‐event traumatic stress, less life satisfaction, and marginally more depression symptomatology than non‐first‐generation participants, but significant generation–gender interactions showed first‐generation women doing worse and first‐generation men doing better than others.     

Teacher professional development through collaborative action research: impact on foreign English-language teaching and learning

In 2011 we, a group of English-as-a-foreign-language teachers at a secondary school in Argentina, decided to investigate our teaching practices through collaborative action research so as to improve our students’ learning opportunities and thus revitalise English-language teaching in our context. We implemented and evaluated the integration of content and language learning in our classrooms through the development of our own materials. The experience revealed a growth in professional development and how our motivation and autonomy influenced our students’ motivation and language development. In our attempt to disseminate our experience as a group, this report particularly focuses on the evaluation facets of our collaborative action research project so as to encourage other teachers and teacher-researchers to adopt collaborative action research to improve their own practices.     

Status of Individuals' Planning to Prepare for Retirement in Turkey

This research was conducted in Ankara province for the purpose of examining the status of planning in preparation for retirement as an individual and as a family of individuals who show differences in educational level. Individuals who lived in Ankara province, who were 3 years from retirement according to age limit, and who had social security from one of the three official government plans (The Pensions Fund For Civil Servants of The Republic of Turkey, Social Insurance Institution, or Social Security Organization of Artisans, and Craftsmen and other Self-Employed People) were the research population from which 393 individuals were chosen using the Stratified Random Sampling Method. There was a higher percentage of individuals who stated that they had not planned for retirement than those who had. Of the individuals who stated that they had made plans, 80.7% had made those plans about their financial status. Individuals who thought that it was necessary to have an educational program for preparing for retirement also wanted “financial status” topics at the head of the list of topics for such a program.     

The Use of Newspaper Articles as a Tool to Develop Critical Thinking in Science Classes

The aim of this research is to identify the difficulties experienced by secondary school students (aged 15–16) with the critical reading of newspaper articles with scientific content. Two newspaper critical reading activities in relation to the study of various scientific contents were designed and carried out in two schools (61 students in total), one with a student population from a medium to high social and economic bracket and the other with students from a medium to low social and economic bracket. These activities were designed taking into account the phases of the reading process: before, during and after reading. In order to analyse the difficulties ‘Elements of science critical reading’ were identified on the basis of the ‘Elements of reasoning’ of Paul and Elder and the categories proposed by Bartz C.R.I.T.I.C. questionnaire and a scale was drawn up. The results show that the activities designed were useful in helping students to read critically. We also rated very positively the instrument created to assess the students' answers: the scale based on the performance indicators of Paul and Elder. This instrument enabled us to detect the aspects of critical thinking where students have the most difficulties: identifying the writer's purpose and looking for evidence in a text. It was also shown that the stance taken in the articles also had an influence on the results.     

The reality of virtual worlds: pros and cons of their application to foreign language teaching

This article presents our experience of testing the OpenSim platform as a tool in teaching French to 108 tourism students at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid, Spain). The article begins with some theoretical reflections on the behaviour of the student when using a virtual platform by means of an avatar, and with our observations of how this doubling of identity is actually the greatest asset of virtual worlds when we intend to apply them to teaching (1. Introduction). Then we move on to present our goals and method of work (2. Aims and methodology) and to analyse the development of the virtual space or sim, setting out the teaching strategies that were employed in each of the islands we created, and which correspond to reading comprehension, listening comprehension and written expression (3. Metaverse design). In order to assess the language learning results, we also devised tests throughout the experiment, which were repeated one month later. The assessment shows that the process of language acquisition is positive (4. Results analysis). Finally, we demonstrate that the rise of virtual worlds has been backed up by psycholinguistic factors, but at the same time their applicability and sustainability depend on technical aspects and very especially on theoretical and pedagogical tenets which are still to be drawn up (5. Conclusions).     

Experiments of two-level training in Hungarian higher education

An experiment designed to train engineering students to two levels of terminal achievement within single institutions is reported. The operative engineers (formerly high level technicians) qualify after three years whilst research and development engineers (fully qualified engineers) take five years. Organisational and curricular problems necessarily created by such integrated schemes are described and discussed. Social attitudes in society in general and in the student body in particular make the task of directing students towards the shorter form of training complex and difficult. From the experience gained so far it can confidently be asserted that the experiments in two-level training have been successful.Note by the Editor: This article is an abbreviated version prepared by the Editor of a 90-page UNESCO (copyright) report with the same title, Document ED. 75/WS/64, dated October 1975. We are grateful to the authors and to UNESCO for permission to print this summary of the report.     

Developmental Achievements of 7‐year‐old Children in Poland in the Light of International Tests and the Requirements of the Polish Language School Program

The language competence and reading comprehension of 406 7‐year‐old children are examined in the research discussed in this article. The children were tested using comparative tests as part of an international project conducted in 14 countries and sponsored by the IEA and the High Scope Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, USA. The discussion here relates only to a part of this wider research and focuses upon the aims and contents of Polish language teaching in grades I—III of the Polish primary school.     

A Multidimensional Analysis of the Disability Digital Divide: Some Evidence for Internet Use

Over the last few years, information and communication technologies have become an essential part of daily life, affecting education, employment, and leisure, among other activities. Nonetheless, many individuals still reap few or no benefits from these technologies, and there are resilient gaps in their use. Within this larger context, the authors examine the Internet digital divide between people with and without disabilities from a multidimensional approach. Rather than analyzing the gap in terms of “haves” and “have-nots,” a range of Internet-related dimensions—affordability, motivation and attitudes, skills, usage, and others—is taken into account.