University teachers’ perspectives on the role of the Laplace transform in engineering education

The Laplace transform is an important tool in many branches of engineering, for example, electric and control engineering, but is also regarded as a difficult topic for students to master. We have interviewed 22 university teachers from five universities in three countries (Mexico, Spain and Sweden) about their views on relationships among mathematics, physics and technology/application aspects in the process of learning the Laplace transform in engineering education. Strikingly, the teachers held a spectrum of qualitatively differing views, ranging from seeing virtually no connection (e.g. some thought the Laplace transform has no relevance in engineering), through to regarding the aspects as intimately, almost inseparably linked. The lack of awareness of the widely differing views among teachers might lead to a lack of constructive alignment among different courses that is detrimental to the quality of engineering education.     

Las ideas de los alumnos sobre la ciencia como teorías implícitas

Resumen

Durante los últimos años, los trabajos sobre el aprendizaje de las ciencias han estado dominados por dos enfoques contrapuestos: la teoría piagetiana de las operaciones formales y el enfoque de las ideas previas o concepciones alternativas. Frente a estos dos enfoques los autores proponen una alternativa intermedia basada en el concepto de «teorías implícitas». Estas teorías serían teorías personales que, como las teorías científicas, sirven para organizar y predecir el mundo circundante. No obstante, presentan también características muy diferentes de las teorías científicas tanto en lo referente a su contenido como a su organización. Estas diferentes características tienen, como se expone en el artículo, importantes consecuencias tanto para la investigación como para la práctica educativa.     

Aportaciones de la psicología cognitiva y de la instrucción a la enseñanza de la Historia y las Ciencias sociales

Resumen

Este artículo presenta una visión general de las aportaciones de la investigación cognitiva e instruccional al estudio de la enseñanza de la Historia y las Ciencias Sociales. En primer lugar se indican algunas de las relaciones entre Psicología y Didáctica. Posteriormente se incluye un panorama general de la investigación sobre la comprensión y aprendizaje de las Ciencias Sociales y la Historia. Se comentan algunos trabajos pioneros de Dewey y Piaget y se discuten las críticas que han recibido los trabajos piagetianos de los años sesenta y setenta sobre este tema. Por último, se discuten los principales problemas de esta área de investigación. Es decir, lo concerniente a. la comprensión y aprendizaje de los conceptos, tiempo y casualidad histórica y al relativismo cognitivo. Las implicaciones instruccionales de este tipo de investigaciones son discutidas en relación con algunos de los más importantes problemas epistemológicos de la Historia en la actualidad.     

Minding morphology: How morphological awareness relates to reading for English language learners

This study explored subprocesses of reading for 157 fifth grade Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) by examining whether morphological awareness made a unique contribution to reading comprehension beyond a strong covariate-phonological decoding. The role of word reading and reading vocabulary as mediators of this relationship was also explored. Results showed that fourth grade morphological awareness did not make a significant unique direct effect on fifth grade reading comprehension, controlling for phonological decoding, word reading, and reading vocabulary. Fourth grade morphological awareness did, though, make a unique moderate total contribution to fifth grade reading comprehension with reading vocabulary, but not word reading, mediating the relationship when controlling for phonological decoding. In contrast, phonological decoding made a nonsignificant total contribution to reading comprehension with neither word reading nor reading vocabulary mediating the relationship when controlling for morphological awareness. Alternative models were also explored, showing the importance of including both predictors in a model of ELL reading comprehension, primarily to include the support of phonological decoding to word reading and the support of morphological awareness to reading comprehension via reading vocabulary. Results highlighted the importance of morphological awareness in facilitating reading comprehension via improving reading vocabulary knowledge, and also the potential of interventions involving morphological instruction to support reading achievement for Spanish-speaking ELLs.     

UNESCO—UNEVOC组织召开“两个路径，一个目的：为了可持续未来的TVET”虚拟会议（一）

2007年10月22日至11月10日,UNESCO—UNEVOC组织召开了“两个路径,一个目的——为了可持续未来的TVET”网络虚拟会议,会议由澳大利亚布里斯班格里菲斯大学（Griffith University）教育系Margarita Pavlova博士担任协调人,来自49个国家的106名代表参与了本次会议,会议的主要目标在于共同探讨以下问题：对可持续发展和可持续性的不同理解;可持续发展与TVET之间的关系;在TVET背景下,可持续发展的三个支柱——经济、环境和社会所面临的各种问题;对TVET进行可持续发雇重新定向的路径。《两个路径,一个目的：为了可持续未来的TVET》作为大会的背景文章,与会代表矗其中所提出的一些主题,包括TVET内容变化,可持续性发展导向的TVET作为一种机构,TVET机构列可实现持续的社会、经济和环境的贡献等进行了讨论。     

The effects of developing English language and literacy on Spanish reading comprehension

In this longitudinal study, the cross-language transfer from second language (L2) to first language (L1) was examined among Spanish-speaking English-language learners in an English intervention (Grades 1–3) in the southwest United States. Path analysis revealed statistically significant transfers (ps < .05) for the treatment group from English reading comprehension to Spanish reading comprehension. English vocabulary and English grammar also had an indirect influence on Spanish reading comprehension through English reading comprehension. For the comparison group, no English to Spanish paths were statistically significant. We concluded that intervention activities in L2 influenced L1 reading even when L1 instructional time was reduced.     

KfW and the promotion of entrepreneurship training in Germany

The author, a spokesperson for Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a major German investment bank, describes the efforts that this institution has made to stimulate the development of Entrepreneurship studies in German universities. These efforts got underway in 1998, when KfW financed the setting up of a professorial chair in new company formation at the European Business School in Oestrich‐Winkel. Other chairs in other German universities followed. The author outlines the challenges to such university programmes in Germany and lists a number of recommendations to make instruction in the subject successful. KfW is promoting the generalization of entrepreneurial culture, without which Germany will be excluded from major economic developments.     

Social Support,Quality of Life,and University Programs for Seniors

In addition to educating and extending knowledge, university programs for seniors, at least the university program for seniors at the University of the Balearic Islands during the period analyzed, also fulfil physical and psychological health-related functions specifically related to our analysis of social support. This article reaches several conclusions on social support that reaffirm the idea of the role these university programs play in seniors' lives. Reducing these programs to a purely instructive approach would not only be a conceptual error, but would also overlook the effects and impacts they have on seniors' quality of life, regardless of the knowledge that may be acquired.