Environmental education in Ecuador: conceptions and currents in Quito's private elementary schools

While key conceptions and the status of environmental education (EE) have been reported at various international, regional, national and local levels, those in play in the schools of Quito (Ecuador) are still relatively unknown. Of particular interest to this study are private schools: they are considerable in number in Ecuador and elsewhere, yet remain largely underrepresented in national and local studies. Therefore, a survey with a focus on conceptions of EE was administered to teachers (74) and pupils (748) of the third-, fourth- and fifth-years (7–10?years old) of elementary education, in 22 private schools in Quito. Using Sauvé's categorization of conceptual currents in EE, findings suggest a strong conservationist theme among teachers whereas pupils approach EE from both conservationist and naturalist perspectives. In terms of the status of EE, implementation is still limited to classrooms and in teacher professional education and development. Consideration of diverse conceptual currents is strongly recommended in teacher professional development, and the strengthening of EE-related partnerships between schools, homes and communities.     

Bias in algorithmic filtering and personalization

Online information intermediaries such as Facebook and Google are slowly replacing traditional media channels thereby partly becoming the gatekeepers of our society. To deal with the growing amount of information on the social web and the burden it brings on the average user, these gatekeepers recently started to introduce personalization features, algorithms that filter information per individual. In this paper we show that these online services that filter information are not merely algorithms. Humans not only affect the design of the algorithms, but they also can manually influence the filtering process even when the algorithm is operational. We further analyze filtering processes in detail, show how personalization connects to other filtering techniques, and show that both human and technical biases are present in today’s emergent gatekeepers. We use the existing literature on gatekeeping and search engine bias and provide a model of algorithmic gatekeeping.     

Effects of evidence-based professional development for preschool teachers in Albania

ABSTRACT

This research explores two ongoing professional development (PD) modalities for early childhood teachers and their effect to teachers’ performance. We compare training, teacher study groups and a combination of both to a control group in the Albanian preschool context. We aimed to obtain mоrе cоmplеtе understanding оf different facеts оf thе ongoing professional development оf еarly childhооd tеachеrs and its pоtеntial impact оn program quality and children’s dеvеlоpmеnt in different еarly childhооd sеttings, especially in countries of low and middle income. This study has led to policy changes in mоrе еfficiеntly planning rеsоurcеs, not only fоr еarly childhood tеachеrs’ PD, but tо tеachеrs and оthеr practitiоnеrs in thе field as well. This research has pushed for evidence-based policy reforms in teacher professionalization and career advancement in Albania.     

Research and teacher education in the UK: Building capacity

The need for capacity-building in teacher education in the UK has been raised as a serious issue by a number of commentators. Tensions about the place of research in teacher education have persisted for many decades, but following changes to the core funding mechanisms in the UK, the maintenance of education research bases within many universities has become increasingly tenuous. This paper provides an analytical account of an initiative conducted by the Teacher Education Group (TEG) to build research capacity in teacher education. With reference to a review of the national contexts for research in the UK and research on teacher educators, the article argues that, in order to build research capacity initiatives we need to provide motivation and new types of networking opportunities for researchers, as well as developing their expertise. In developing this argument, the article also explore the relationships between national policy changes, institutional research cultures and individual habitus and agency in research capacity-building. The paper also describes a new initiative in England, the Teacher Education Research Network (TERN).     

An update algorithm design using moving Region of Attraction for SDRE based control law

State Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) methods have the considerable advantages over other nonlinear control methods. However, stability issues can be arisen in SDRE based control system due to the lack of the global asymptotic stability property. Therefore, the previous studies have usually shown that local asymptotic stability can be ensured by estimating a Region of Attraction (ROA) around the equilibrium point. These estimated regions for stability may become narrow or the condition to keep the states in this region may be very conservative. To resolve these issues, this paper proposes a novel SDRE method employing an update algorithm to re-estimate the ROA when the states tend to move out of the stable region. The tendency is checked using a condition which is developed based on a new theorem. The theorem proves that it is possible to redesign the previous ROA with respect to the current states lying close to its boundary for ensuring the “non-local” stability along the trajectory without the need of solving SDRE at each time instant, unlike the standard SDRE approach. Therefore, the new theorem is now able to enhance the stability of the SDRE based closed-loop control system. The feasibility of the proposed SDRE control method is tested in both simulations and experiments. A validated 3-DOF laboratory helicopter is used for experiments and the control objective for the helicopter is to realise a preplanned movement in both elevation and travel axes. The results reveal that the proposed SDRE approach enables the controlled plant to track the desired trajectory as satisfactorily as the standard SDRE approach, while only solving SDRE when needed. The proposed SDRE method reduces the computational load for practical implementation of the control algorithm whilst ensuring the stability over the operational region.     

Examining Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes toward Business Statistics in the United States and China

The rapid growth of analytics is bringing more attention to quantitative core curriculum requirements in undergraduate business programs. Statistical knowledge and skills are unequivocally recognized as essential cornerstone of business analytics. Furthermore, educational research has shown that academic performance in statistics classes is related to the attitudes that students bring to the course. This article assesses the reliability and validity of the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS) in measuring noncognitive dimensions of attitudes among undergraduate business students. Sample data from U.S. and Chinese introductory business statistics classes were collected and analyzed to learn more about this aspect of student engagement across business schools located in countries with substantially different levels of success in international mathematics achievement testing, as well as differing cultural and educational practices. Results show that the six‐factor model structure of the SATS provides a good fit in both populations, with students entering business statistics holding only slightly positive attitudes toward the subject. Significant distinctions between four of the six attitude components were identified. Implications of measuring and improving these attitudes are discussed. Business statistics instructors are encouraged to use the survey as a standardized instrument to measure effects of interventions and make evidence‐based pedagogical decisions.