'Horrors of Holland': Explaining Attitude Change Towards Euthanasia and Homosexuals in The Netherlands, 1970 1998

In this article, we investigate changes in public opinion inthe Netherlands toward two controversial issues: homosexualsand euthanasia. We find that a rapid decrease in oppositionto both issues in the seventies and early eighties was followedby a period of a stable minority opposition. We identify relevantperiod and cohort indicators to test which characteristics areassociated with the changes in the attitudes. We collected periodand cohort characteristics that are applicable to both of theattitudes, but specific attitude-related circumstantial conditionsas well. For both attitudes, it turns out that the changingcomposition of Dutch society with regard to religiousness accountsfor the largest changes in public opinion. Furthermore, we findthat the influence of religion on both the attitude towardseuthanasia and the attitude towards homosexuals became strongerover time, whereas the influence of educational attainment weakenedover time. Received for publication April 13, 2006. Accepted for publication April 23, 2007.     

Assessment criteria for competency-based education: a study in nursing education

This study examined the effects of type of assessment criteria (performance-based vs. competency-based), the relevance of assessment criteria (relevant criteria vs. all criteria), and their interaction on secondary vocational education students’ performance and assessment skills. Students on three programmes in the domain of nursing and care (N = 93) participated in the study. Results show that students who were given the relevant criteria made more accurate assessments of an expert model, performed better on a test and achieved higher instructional efficiency (defined as the relationship between performance and mental effort) compared to students who were given all criteria. Students who were given performance-based assessment criteria made more accurate assessments of an expert model and scored higher on task performance during practice compared to students who were given competency-based assessment criteria. They invested less mental effort in the assessments, resulting in higher instructional efficiency. An interaction effect for the concreteness of answers shows that the combination of performance-based and relevant criteria leads to superior analysis of worked examples compared to the other combinations of criteria.     

The effect of contrasting cases during problem solving prior to and after instruction

Instructional Science - Research on productive failure suggests that attempting to solve a problem prior to instruction facilitates conceptual understanding compared to receiving instruction prior...     

Individualizing instruction in higher education: A review

The salient characteristics of a variety of approaches to individualizing instruction are described and their respective merits with regard to higher education discussed. The review includes: programmed instruction, computer-assisted instruction and -management, information retrieval systems, audio-tutorial and modular instruction, contingency management and contracting, and personalized and individually prescribed instruction. While these approaches differ from each other in some respects, they all share an overriding concern for individual differences among students and seek to better adapt instruction to the learner.A section on general issues regarding the degree of individualisation, the role of the professor, institutional support for improving instruction, the role of the student, content and method, evaluation, and the future of individualized instruction concludes the review.Formerly, Centre for Learning and Development, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.     

The relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills in early adolescence.

The first objective of this study was establishing to what extent metacognitive skill is associated with intelligence. As a second objective, the impact of hints on the execution of metacognitive skills was investigated. Both issues have major implications for the training and transferability of metacognitive skills during performance on a representative school task. First, a standardized intelligence-test was administered to a group of first-year secondary-school students. Next, these students solved six math word problems, three without metacognitive hints and three including these hints. Metacognitive skilfullness was assessed through systematical observation, while learning performance consisted of performance on a math task and grade point average (GPA). Results show that without hints metacognitive skilfulness is the main predictor of initial learning, while intelligence additionally enters the regression equation after the presentation of metacognitive hints. GPA also appears to be predicted by a combination of intellectual and metacognitive skills. Consequences for the early acquisition of metacognitive skills are discussed.     

Leadership for team learning: the case of university teacher teams

Teacher team involvement is considered a key factor in achieving sustainable innovation in higher education. This requires engaging in team learning behaviors that should result in new knowledge and solutions. However, university teachers are not used to discussing their work practices with one another and tend to neglect any innovation in their tasks. Team leadership behavior is often considered essential for stimulating team learning behavior, but it is unclear how this transpires. Therefore, the present study explores university teacher team members’ perceptions of team learning behavior, their assigned task, and leadership behaviors in their team. Interviews were conducted with 16 members of different teacher teams at a university of applied sciences. Findings included that the vast majority of the team learning behaviors only involved sharing ideas; engaging in constructive conflicts and co-constructions was not observed. Only a few teams combined all three team learning behaviors. In these teams, members observed that existing methods and solutions were no longer adequate, with leaders appearing to combine transformational and transactional behaviors, but operating from a distance without actively interfering in the process. Furthermore, these team members shared leadership behaviors while focusing on the team as a whole, instead of solving problems at individual level. This strongly indicates that task perception and specific vertical and shared team leadership behaviors play a role in stimulating teachers in seeking controversy and co-constructing new knowledge.     

Change management: A classification

Abstract

Higher education systems, like others, experience a proliferation of management approaches including tools designed to induce and manage change: strategic planning and reporting, planning and budgeting systems, peer review and self‐evaluation, total quality management, reengineering, the art and practice of learning organisations, etc. While these approaches may differ in their specific focus and the type of professionals they address, they also have much in common and can complement each other. The present paper addresses the spectrum of change processes and proposes taxonomies to guide their use.     

Un concept mythologique de la troisième république: le renforcement du capital humain de la France

Abstract

Some ideas, whether right or wrong, seem never to die, whatever might be the general evolution of knowledge, of science, or simply of good common sense. This is exactly the case with physical education or sports. For centuries, and especially since the middle of the nineteenth century, its advocates have fought for recognition of its all‐round virtues, taken as a concept. But to attain a high level of recognition, not only in society but in official government circles, certain conditions were necessary.

Education as a whole, around the middle of the nineteenth century, had to be strict and similar to military drill to be considered efficient, although the French middle classes and bourgeoisie had very little taste for the military. Although they admired physical prowess they had a horror of regimentation. But later on, when the Prussians so easily defeated Austria, feelings of doubt in French superiority began to spread, and a handful of theoreticians of physical exercise tried to show that to combat the so‐called degeneration of the race, it was essential to impose a system of education in which physical exercise, coupled with military drill, still had an important place. As scientific arguments they referred to the theories of evolution and its then accepted principle, according to Lamarck, or the transmission of acquired properties and character. Darwin was still unknown in France at that time.

These zealous advocates succeeded in convincing the Minister of Public Education, Victor Duruy, to include gymnastics in the normal course of studies in all schools, and by 1869 one can say that a craze for all types of physical exercise and sport had spread into many levels of society.

That was the start of a never‐ending movement which has passed through various stages of evolution corresponding to the changes in society itself. It has therefore changed its methods, its ways, its forms, but the overall principle remains the same, in spite of the improved understanding of human physiology for instance. Huge amounts of energy and money were spent on realizing this theory: politicians, educators, the military, religious authorities, men of distinction, all fought for the best possible application of this miraculous principle which was believed to cure all ills in this world.

Was it really worthwhile? Was it possible to expect objectively measurable results on a national scale if the social factors — such as standards of living, hygiene, working hours, urban conditions — were not taken into account? The history of this element requires a deep understanding of the evolution of most of the factors which make up real life in a country such as France, which experienced various stages in a industrial revolution as well as many political changes.

In spite of this evolution, one must acknowledge that false beliefs survived well into the 1940s, and furthermore, physical exercise, whatever its form, still belongs in many ways to hedonism and is therefore difficult to impose as a universal solution to political problems. As a democracy, France could not accept militarization.     

Teaching methods for modelling problems and students’ task-specific enjoyment, value, interest and self-efficacy expectations

In this study which was part of the DISUM-project, 224 ninth graders from 14 German classes from middle track schools (Realschule) were asked about their enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy expectations concerning three types of mathematical problems: intra-mathematical problems, word problems and modelling problems. Enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy were assessed before and after a ten-lesson teaching unit promoting modelling competency related to the topics “Pythagoras’ theorem” and “linear functions”. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) Do students’ enjoyment, value, interest and self-efficacy expectations differ depending on the type of task? (2) Does the treatment of modelling problems in classroom instruction influence these variables? (3) Are there any differential effects for different ways of teaching modelling problems, including a “directive”, teacher-centred instruction and an “operative-strategic”, more student-centred instruction emphasising group work and strategic scaffolding by the teacher? The findings show that there were no differences in students’ enjoyment, interest, value and self-efficacy between the three types of tasks. However, teaching oriented towards modelling problems had positive effects on some of the student variables, with the student-centred teaching method producing the most beneficial effects.