Testgütekriterien der „Profilanalyse nach Grießhaber“. Evaluation eines Verfahrens zur Erfassung grammatischer Fähigkeiten von ein- und mehrsprachigen Grundschulkindern

A diagnostic goal of the “Profile analysis according to Grießhaber” is the assessment of the grammatical ability to place verbs in German sentences in the correct syntactical position. To evaluate the test quality for the first time, 403 monolingual and multilingual primary school children were randomly assigned to three different test materials: Test material that specifically stimulated the target competence led to the best test results. This indicates a low objectivity of application. In addition, ceiling effects for primary school children were detected, which means that the profile analysis can only slightly differentiate among the grammatical abilities of the children. Retest reliability and objectivity of analysis are also too small. In summary, the test quality of the assessment tool should be improved with respect to all of the test quality criteria considered. Hence, we recommend standardizing the profile analysis better and adding more sensitive diagnostic criteria for primary school aged children. Other aspects of profile analysis, for example the improvement of diagnostic competencies of teachers, are recommended for future research.     

Linking human,technological, and relational assets to technological innovation: exploring a new approach

In a knowledge-based economy, firms' technological innovations represent one of the best ways in order to survive and to achieve firm success. Nonaka and Takeuchi stated that technological innovation is close to firms' intellectual or knowledge asset management, and additional efforts are needed to understand these complex causal relationships. If we can assume that technological innovation causation rarely has a single cause, and that these causes rarely operate in isolation from each other, empirical research needs a new configurational perspective, where the integrity of firms' technological innovations as complex configurations of causal factors are preserved. This way, using a configurational approach, and primary data of 251 technology-based firms based in Spain, this paper explores firms' human, technological, and relational assets configurations and product innovations.

     

Technological and pedagogical support for pre-service teachers’ lesson planning

Successful use of ICT in the classroom requires thoughtful integration of technology and pedagogical processes during lesson preparation. This study investigated whether the information format of technological and pedagogical support affects pre-service teachers’ technology integration in lesson plans. One group of pre-service teachers (n = 37) received support materials that presented technological, pedagogical and content information separately; another group (n = 36) received a version of these materials in which the technological and pedagogical information was integrated. Pre-service teachers used these support materials to create a technology-infused lesson plan. As expected, the pre-service teachers who received integrated support had relatively more design justifications in which technology and pedagogy were combined than their peers from the separate support group. However, this more advanced reasoning did not materialise in higher-quality lesson plans. Future research should investigate whether pre-training in the use of ICT could improve the effects of integrated support.     

Personality characteristics of students enrolled in an elective studies degree program

Personality characteristics of students choosing an elected studies degree option are compared with characteristics of conventional degree candidates on the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI). The current status of nontraditional degree programs is briefly reviewed. Results are discussed in terms of published findings for three other student groups: students in other nontraditional degree programs, students who withdraw voluntarily, and upperclass students. Elected studies students are found to have in common with all three groups the general characteristics of intellectual liberalism. The comparison with traditional students in this study shows differences between the two groups on 7 of 14 OPI scales, with the most outstanding differences being the degree of intellectual liberalism. A finding unique to this study appears to be the greater degree of self-confidence shown by the elected studies students. Several explanations are proposed for this result.     

A Change in Teacher‐Child Interaction Through Paradoxical Intervention

The aim of this case study is to describe an intervention program using paradoxical strategies to help a teacher cope with hyperactivity in the classroom. In line with the ecological model, the focus of change is not the hyperactive child, but the teacher; the study provides a novel perspective on the work of the school psychologist.     

Creating Learning Prisms with an Interdisciplinary Case Study Workshop

With increasing specialization, most academic disciplines have become highly compartmentalized. Numerous organizations in higher education strongly encourage interdisciplinary collaboration at the faculty and student level. The purposes of this article are (a) to provide a conceptual framework for explaining how and why an interdisciplinary case study method is a catalyst for the development of students and faculty; (b) to document the conception, planning, organizing, and results of an interdisciplinary case study workshop; and (c) to provide recommendations to encouragechange others who might want to apply this model to their own interdisciplinary efforts.All authors are at Towson University Sharon B. Buchbinder, R.N., PhD, is associate professor of health science. She received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Special interests are physician job satisfaction and turnover, patient compliance, learning styles and teamwork among undergraduates. Patricia M. Alt, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is professor of health science. Special interests are state level policies on aging and human subjects protection, the impact of baby boomer aging on public services, responsible conduct of research training and typologies of institutional review boards. Karen Eskow, PhD, University of Maryland is associate professor of occupational therapy and occupational sciences and director of the Family Studies Program. Special interests are family professional relationships, family quality of life, and families with adolescents. William Forbes, PhD, University of Maryland is associate professor of Kinesiology and director of the Wellness Center. Special interests are developing quality programming to assist older adults in improving their fitness and wellness, racquetball, squash, downhill skiing, and billiards. Eva Hester, PhD, University of Maryland is associate professor of communication science and disorders and special assistant to the dean, College of Health Professions. Special interests are speech language-disorders in children and adults. Miriam Struck, O.T., doctoral student, University of Maryland is currently occupational therapist, Physical Disabilities Program, with the Montgomery County Public Schools. Special interests are disability, transitioning from school to work, and instructional methods. Dianne Taylor, R.N., Ed.D., University of Maryland is associate professor, nursing. Special interests are psychiatric nursing and critical incident stress management.     

Preservice Teachers' School Stories and How They Matter

Abstract

In order to address national standards for educational technology, science teaching and science teacher preparation (including diversity standards), preservice teachers instruct children from around the world via the Internet in the MOON (More Observations of Nature) Project. First, children in the fourth to eighth grade and preservice teachers independently observe the moon for 10 weeks. Then for 6 weeks in Blackboard CourseInfo, discussion groups composed of one preservice teacher plus 8–10 children report observations and seek patterns in their data. This article describes how the MOON Project has been carried out for five semesters and how modifications have been made in response to each semester's experience.     

Notes on contributors

The recently released Young People's Participation in Post‐compulsory Education and Training document, usually referred to as the Finn Committee Report, completes an education policy triad in Australia involving schooling, higher education and technical and further education (TAFE). This paper is particularly interested in examining the policy nexus between higher education and TAFE. While the philosophical continuities are clear, the underlying ‘logics’ of the two arenas pull in different directions, creating policy tensions and contradictions. In particular, the assumptions about mass tertiary education underlying the Finn Report conflict with the entrepreneurial ‘universification’ of higher education set in train by the recent restructuring of the higher education sector. This paper traces the competing logics of these trends and discusses their implications for higher education.