Credentialism,national targets,and the learning society: perspectives on educational attainment in the UK steel industry

The United Kingdom has devised a set of National Learning Targets to be achieved by 2002. Revised from an earlier set of National Targets for Education and Training (NTETs), the latest ones embrace 11-21-year-olds, adults and employers and promote a credentialist approach to both economic and social development. Their primary purpose, according to the National Advisory Council for Education and Training Targets (NACETT) is to make the country more competitive internationally and to promote social cohesion. This paper draws on a study of how one occupational sector, the steel industry, measures up to the national targets for the adult workforce. The findings of the study question the appropriateness of using qualifications-based targets as a proxy for adult capability in the workplace and industrial viability. The paper argues that this credentialist approach detracts from the real challenges which the UK faces in becoming a learning society.     

Young people,social capital and network‐based educational decision‐making

This paper explores whether and in what ways young people's perceptions and experiences of higher education (HE) can facilitate the transmission within their social networks of social capital both upwardly (from child to parent) and horizontally (from sibling to sibling), and thus can potentially provide bridging capital to family members, especially in families with little or no prior experience of HE. It utilises data from a project that explored the embedded nature of decision‐making about HE amongst a group of ‘potentially recruitable’ adults and their wider networks. The study researched 16 networks, and the resultant sample of 107 individuals included six teenagers and 15 young people in their twenties. The paper concludes that, despite the general emphasis within existing theoretical approaches to network capital on the downward transmission of social capital, the educational experiences of younger generations can be critical in shaping the perceptions of other (including older) network members, albeit not always in ways that encourage formal educational participation.     

Ensuring quality Website redesign: the University of Maryland's experience

The Web Redesign Committee at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) of the University of Maryland was formed to evaluate its site and oversee the site's redesign. The committee's goal was to design a site that would be functional, be usable, and provide the library with a more current image. Based on a literature review and discussions with colleagues, a usability study was conducted to gain a better understanding of how the Website was used. Volunteers from across the campus participated in the study. A Web-based survey was also used to gather feedback. To complement user input, library staff were asked to review the existing site. A prototype site was developed incorporating suggestions obtained from the evaluation mechanisms. The usability study was particularly useful because it identified problem areas, including terminology, which would have been overlooked by library staff. A second usability study was conducted to refine the prototype. The new site was launched in the spring of 2000. The usability studies were valuable mechanisms in designing the site. Users felt invested in the project, and the committee received valuable feedback. This process led to an improved Website and higher visibility for the library on campus.     

The social circumstances of illiteracy: Interpretation and exchange in a class-based society

Illiteracy, an extreme form of educational failure, is best understood in social structural terms, rather than as an individual psychological phenomenon. This structural interpretation of illiteracy is similar to critical institutional treatments of poverty, inadequate health care, and other persistent “social problems.” Instead of treating such problems as manifestations of remediable systemic imperfections, they are construed to be predictable consequences of the routine working of basic institutions in a class-based society. The institutionally determined social circumstances of illiteracy, moreover, are complemented by a context-specific logic that makes illiteracy a substantively “rational” achievment. In spite of its interpretable rationality, however, illiteracy retains the character of a self-inflicted wound that indexes a broad range of even more debilitating grievances.     

Earth science concept list for grades K-12 curriculum construction and evaluation

The problem for this study was the identification of earth science concepts recommended by scholars in earth science for inclusion in the R-12 science curriculum. Three panels of earth science scholars assisted in the study. The third panel was selected in such a manner as to insure that the judgement of the entire memberships of five major professional organizations within the earth sciences would be represented within specified limits. The final concept list contained fifty-two earth science concepts. The claim is not made that the concept list which was developed is a complete list of earth science concepts which earth science scholars believe to be important for inclusion in the K-12 science program; the list is to be regarded as a sample of those concepts which would form a complete list. However, it would seem that due to the method of compiling the list that a majority of the earth science concepts which earth science scholars rate as most important for inclusion in the K-I2 science program would be present.     

Using the value creation framework to capture knowledge co-creation and pathways to impact in a transnational community of practice in autism education

ABSTRACT

Although theories around Communities of Practice have gained significant ground in recent years and have become an important focus for organizational development, there is a gap in studies that investigate what members gain from participation in these communities. This paper explains how the value creation framework was implemented in a transnational research and development project in autism education by examining cycles of value creation and drawing on two types of data identified by Wenger and colleagues. The value creation framework is a theoretically driven framework to assess social learning in communities. Participants involved in the learning space were co-researchers engaged in a process of investigating, sharing and reflecting on their practice. The paper discusses the methodological challenges and strengths of using the value creation framework, with a particular focus on how insights and interactions led to subsequent changes in the practice of the participants. This work has the potential to make an important contribution to methods and analysis in assessing social learning and pathways to impact in participatory research and development projects more broadly.     

“Don't Tell Me,I'll Find Out” Robert Karplus—A Science Education Pioneer

Robert Karplus (1927–90), who began his career as a brilliant theoretical physicist, switched to science education in the early 1960s. He made many substantial contributions to this field in addition to developing a complete K–6 hands-on science curriculum. Karplus provided his curriculum with a sound epistemological foundation, based on the work of Piaget. He developed an effective classroom teaching strategy, the learning cycle. He and his team used a scientific approach to curriculum development. They focused on teacher development. Karplus was committed to science for ALL students. Through science activities he sought to share the joy of discovery. A recent book collects some of his important papers and enables you to examine his work for yourself and see what you discover.