Demand for Stimulation in Young People with Different Levels of Creativity

The relevant literature indicates strong need for novelty, change and exploration in creative people. This study investigated the relationship between demand for stimulation in 100 high school students and their creativity in problem solving situations. A significant relationship was found between the demand for varied stimulation (adventure, novelty, risk) and cognitive flexibility and complexity, nonconformism and spontaneity, as well as tolerance for cognitive incompatibilities. The data help to explain the conditions that are particularly favourable for these people to function in their social environment.     

A framework for enabling graduate outcomes in undergraduate programmes

Our research aim was to determine what enables engagement with graduate outcomes in tertiary institutions in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We used a mixed methods approach comprising a survey sent to all tertiary institutions, follow-up interviews with 10 academic leaders and eight case studies of good practice of programmes engaged with graduate outcomes across four institutions. Using a general inductive approach, analysis of the academic leader interviews generated five categories of enablers: external drivers, structural/procedural, development, student achievement and contextual enablers. Combining these enablers led to an integrating framework for institutional engagement in the development of graduate outcomes. Drawing on wider datasets from the survey, interviews and cases studies, relevant strategies were identified that staff and students perceived influenced the development of graduate outcomes. The framework and the associated strategies adopt a ‘whole-of-institution’ approach, which is inclusive of programmes, staff and students and their individual histories, traditions, cultures and purposes thus allowing for each institution’s unique characteristics.     

Early Childhood Education in Poland — Changes and Threats

The article presents:

• first, the most important characteristics of the totalitarian educational system which influence current situations in many fields of education, eg.: teacher education and training, philosophy and practice of education, management of the educational system, etc.

• first, the most important characteristics of the totalitarian educational system which influence current situations in many fields of education, eg.: teacher education and training, philosophy and practice of education, management of the educational system, etc.

• second, hopes and expectations towards various institutions connected with early childhood education in a new political and social situation and in the time of implementation of free market rules which caused unfavourable phenomena in early childhood education, eg. closures of settings and increase of fees paid by parents who take children away for financial reasons,

• finally, I present my own image of early childhood setting as an institution supporting parents in fulfilling their educational and care duties and involving them in the growth process of a child.

     

CREATIVE THINKING AS A PREDICTOR OF ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC

127 students at a musical high school in Cracow completed the Test of Creative Thinking of Necka and Rychlicka and filled out a questionnaire on their musical achievements. They were also rated by their music teachers. The level of creative thinking increased with the age of subjects, but correlations between creative thinking and achievement in music were not significant. Further research on this apparent lack of relationship between musical and verbal creativity is important for music education and counselling of music students.     

Straight Roads and Winding Tracks: Swedish educational policy from a gender equality perspective

A review of Swedish educational policy and educational research indicates that labour market considerations have had a high visibility. Straight routes through the educational system have been laid out in order to equalise and make the system more efficient. Empirical studies show that women's strategies to combine education, work and family often resulted in ‘winding tracks’ through education. Predominant research models tend to adjust to the ‘straight roads’ of educational policy while women's winding routes have been set aside. The current Swedish goal of equality between men and women gives work and parenthood the same weight for both sexes. This article discusses whether this goal could set a challenging framework for a research agenda where more gender‐sensitive methodologies are developed as well as gender‐sensitive concepts, upgrading women's knowledge, experiences and values.     

Metaphors and maps in evaluation

This paper considers efforts made in evaluating a distance‐learning course, which was intended to prepare students for working on an undergraduate dissertation in business and economic areas. Course delivery had stressed a tutorial approach with an emphasis on individual mentor–student exchanges. Given the nature of the learning approach and the backgrounds of the students, an attempt was made to open the evaluation process to participants and allow them to articulate their learning experiences. In seeking this end, the evaluation employed both metaphor and mapping techniques to chart the experiences that had been provoked by the learning encounters.     

Data and graph interpretation practices among preservice science teachers

The interpretation of data and construction and interpretation of graphs are central practices in science, which, according to recent reform documents, science and mathematics teachers are expected to foster in their classrooms. However, are (preservice) science teachers prepared to teach inquiry with the purpose of transforming and analyzing data, and interpreting graphical representations? That is, are preservice science teachers prepared to teach data analysis and graph interpretation practices that scientists use by default in their everyday work? The present study was designed to answer these and related questions. We investigated the responses of preservice elementary and secondary science teachers to data and graph interpretation tasks. Our investigation shows that, despite considerable preparation, and for many, despite bachelor of science degrees, preservice teachers do not enact the (“authentic”) practices that scientists routinely do when asked to interpret data or graphs. Detailed analyses are provided of what data and graph interpretation practices actually were enacted. We conclude that traditional schooling emphasizes particular beliefs in the mathematical nature of the universe that make it difficult for many individuals to deal with data possessing the random variation found in measurements of natural phenomena. The results suggest that preservice teachers need more experience in engaging in data and graph interpretation practices originating in activities that provide the degree of variation in and complexity of data present in realistic investigations. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1063–1088, 2005     

Visual Aids and the Enhancement of Communication in Africa

Educational visual aids and illustrations in African institutions are mostly imported from overseas, and the few local productions tend to be Western‐orientated in style. However, research on the technical and design elements of visual aids, their cultural implications and socio‐economic factors all point to considerable differences of perception and interpretation of visuals between African and Western students. The paper discusses these differences and considers their implications to designers and producers of learning materials for African students.     

The Catch Up Project: a reading intervention in Year 3 for Level 1 readers (Research Note)

The Catch Up Programme is a literacy intervention designed for children who are behind with reading at the start of Year 3 (7 to 8 year‐olds). This paper describes pilot research that informed the project in its early stages of development, and the findings should therefore be treated with caution. The reading progress of a sample of 74 Catch Up pupils from 15 schools in three local education authorities was measured. This showed a considerable increase in pupils’ reading ages across a 10 week period. A smaller experimental study was also carried out in nine Oxfordshire schools (48 pupils) to compare a Catch Up sub‐sample with a Matched Time group and a Control group. Findings showed that the Catch Up pupils made considerably more progress during the same period than both the other groups.     

Beginning readers' reading performance and reading habits

This study investigated the prospective relationships between reading performance and reading habits among Finnish children during the first and second grades of primary school. One hundred and ninety‐five children were examined twice during their first primary school year and once during the spring term of Grade 2. The results showed, first, that children's reading skills predicted their reading habits: the more competent in reading children were at the end of Grade 1, the more likely they were to engage in out‐of‐school reading one year later. Second, reading habits also predicted reading skills: the amount of out‐of‐school reading at the end of Grade 1 contributed to the development of word recognition skills.