Measuring the Impact of Professional Accreditation on Student Experiences and Learning Outcomes

This research uses a conceptual model to examine the influence of a change in accreditation standards on a representative national sample of 203 engineering programs at 40 institutions. Based on data collected from more than 140 program chairs, 1,200 faculty, 4,300 graduates of 2004, and 5,400 graduates of 1994, the study investigates the differential impact of the change in accreditation standards on programs reviewed in different years during the period of transition. Despite significant variation across most of the measures and groups in 1994 (before the introduction of the new accreditation criteria), the 2004 evidence demonstrates a surprisingly uniform level of student experiences and outcomes. These findings suggest that engineering accreditation is beginning to accomplish its quality assurance goals. This is a revised version of a research paper presented at the meeting of the Association for Institutional Research, May 17, 2006, Chicago, IL.     

The paradox of un/making science people: practicing ethico-political hesitations in science education

Over the years neoliberal ideology and discourse have become intricately connected to making science people. Science educators work within a complicated paradox where they are obligated to meet neoliberal demands that reinscribe dominant, hegemonic assumptions for producing a scientific workforce. Whether it is the discourse of school science, processes of being a scientist, or definitions of science particular subjects are made intelligible as others are made unintelligible. This paper resides within the messy entanglements of feminist poststructural and new materialist perspectives to provoke spaces where science educators might enact ethicopolitical hesitations. By turning to and living in theory, the un/making of certain kinds of science people reveals material effects and affects. Practicing ethicopolitical hesitations prompt science educators to consider beginning their work from ontological assumptions that begin with abundance rather than lack.     

Bullies and victims in schools in central and southern Italy

Anonymous questionnaires assessing the amount and nature of bullying/victimization were given to 1379 primary and middle school pupils (8–11; 11–14yrs) in two towns of Central and Southern Italy, Florence and Cosenza. The questionnaire closely followed the design of Olweus (1991) and Whitney and Smith (1993). Results were analysed in terms of percentages of bullying others and being bullied, types of bullying behaviour, where it occurred and who were the perpretators. Bullying was reported in both Italian areas at a more substantial level than found in other countries, including Norway, England, Spain and Japan, although it presented similar structural features to those reported elsewhere: being bullied decreased in older pupils, bullying others was most likely to be admitted by boys, the perpetretators were in the same class as the victims. Considering direct and indirect forms of bullying, year and gender differences are discussed for the two Italian areas and in cross-national perspective.     

The Italian adaptation of courage measure

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This project developed and examined the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Courage Measure, the reduced version...     

Longitudinal predictions between temperamental sensitivities and achievement goal orientations in the early school years

Students’ goal strivings are known to be connected with important outcomes, both academically and with regard to individual well-being. In spite of their importance, our knowledge of factors contributing to their early development is rather limited. In this longitudinal study on school beginners (N = 212), we focused on the interrelationships between achievement goal orientations (mastery; performance-approach; performance-avoidance; work-avoidance) and two temperamental sensitivities that appear relevant for the developing sense of mastery and performance in the school setting: interindividual reward sensitivity (reward derived from social approval and attention) and sensitivity to punishment (propensity to perceive cues of potential threat in the environment, and react with withdrawal and avoidance). The data were collected over the first three school years, from grade 1 (7–8 years) to grade 3 (9–10 years), and analysed using PLS-SEM. As expected, both temperamental sensitivities and achievement goal orientations remained relatively stable over time. Interindividual reward sensitivity was related negatively with mastery and positively with performance-approach and performance-avoidance orientations, from the first through to the third year. Punishment sensitivity had a positive effect on performance-avoidance orientation, and indirect, reciprocal, negative effects with performance-approach orientation. The findings provide new knowledge on early relationships between temperament and goal strivings. Interindividual reward sensitivity appears consistently associated with performance concerns and decreased mastery strivings. Such connections may have long-standing negative influence on students’ educational trajectories, and point to the importance of acknowledging individual differences in temperament and their role in motivation and learning.

     

Effects of implementing an integrative drama-inquiry learning model in a science classroom

Abstract

This paper introduces ‘Integrative Drama-Inquiry Learning’ (IDI), merging drama-based learning with inquiry-based learning in order to exemplify teaching science through drama. The study also reports on the findings of a sequential mixed-methods procedure embedded in a quasi-experimental research design aimed to understand the effects of IDI on middle school students’ achievement in a biological unit. The initial quantitative phase revealed that IDI instruction had a significant effect on the experimental group’s achievement compared with traditional teaching. A follow-up qualitative phase showed that their achievement was affected by the enhancement of intrinsic motivation through IDI. Analysis suggested that students’ satisfaction of psychological needs of competency, relatedness, and autonomy positively affected learners’ motivation, as advocated by the self-determination theory.     

Understanding Nutrition: A Study of Greek Primary School Children Dietary Habits,Before and After Classroom Nutrition Intervention

The purpose of this study was first to assess and then to improve the diet of Greek primary school children teaching them healthy dietary habits and instructing them to face critically advertisements and media projected dietary models using a program which included intervention on cognitive, emotional, and social level. The results show that our intervention was more effective on the cognitive level and in particular on children's ability to estimate the dietary value of different kinds of food. However, their food preferences were not affected significantly, suggesting that these are more resistant to change since they are already consolidated and, therefore, need longer intervention.     

On the evaluation of systemic science education reform: Searching for instructional sensitivity

We propose a multilevel‐multifaceted approach to evaluating the impact of education reform on student achievement that would be sensitive to context and small treatment effects. The approach uses different assessments based on their proximity to the enacted curriculum. Immediate assessments are artifacts (students' products) from the enactment of the curriculum; close assessments parallel the content and activities of the unit/curriculum; proximal assessments tap knowledge and skills relevant to the curriculum, but topics can be different; and distal assessments reflect state/national standards in a particular knowledge domain. To provide evidence about the sensitivity of the multilevel approach in ascertaining outcomes of hands‐on science programs we administered close, proximal, and distal performance assessments to evaluate the impact of instruction based on two Full Option Science System units—Variables, and Mixtures and Solutions—in a Bay Area school district. Results indicated that close assessments were more sensitive to the changes in students' pre‐ to post‐test performance than proximal assessments. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 369–393, 2002     

Higher Education Leadership and Management: From Conflict to Interdependence through Strategic Planning

Institutional leadership and management are two entirely different, yet intimately intertwined, aspects of the overall effective functioning of a higher education institution (HEI). This paper is intended to (1) define and differentiate between the two concepts, (2) critically discuss their importance and vital interdependence, (3) discuss circumstances that can create conflict or compatibility between these concepts, (4) critically examine models of strategic planning and suggest a better approach to this process, and (5) offer suggestions for the improvement of both leadership and management in the context of co-existence within a redefined strategic planning environment.