Harnessing the Environmental Professional Expertise of Engineering Students—The Course: “Environmental Management Systems in the Industry”

More and more technical universities now advocate integrating sustainability in higher education and including it as a strategic goal for improving education’s quality and relevance to society. This study examines 30 fourth-year chemical engineering students, graduates of a university course designed to combine their terminological domain with sustainability-oriented goals, focusing on topics like corporate sustainability, developing environmental policy, introduction to ISO 14001—Environmental Management Systems (EMS), and environmental legislation. The study explores their perception of industrial-environmental issues and asks—How did the study unit influence the students’ ability to use their preexisting scientific knowledge, while relating to industrial-environmental issues? Our findings indicate that engineering students can develop industrial-environmental awareness, and make use of interdisciplinary knowledge beyond that strictly related to the realm of engineering. Regarding the research’s particular aim—i.e. determining the study unit’s influence on students’ ability to relate industrial-environmental issues to their own field of engineering—the findings indeed show a change in the students’ conceptions of environmental elements related to industry. The course graduates became more attentive to the environmental aspects associated with building and opening a factory, and the concepts they raised in connection with the topic gained in variety.     

When Simple Harmonic Motion is not That Simple: Managing Epistemological Complexity by Using Computer-based Representations

Many real-world phenomena, even “simple” physical phenomena such as natural harmonic motion, are complex in the sense that they require coordinating multiple subtle foci of attention to get the required information when experiencing them. Moreover, for students to develop sound understanding of a concept or a phenomenon, they need to learn to get the same type of information across different contexts and situations (diSessa and Sherin 1998; diSessa and Wagner 2005). Rather than simplifying complex situations, or creating a linear instructional sequence in which students move from one context to another, this paper demonstrates the use of computer-based representations to facilitate developing understanding of complex physical phenomena. The data is collected from 8 studies in which pairs of students are engaged in an exploratory activity, trying to understand the dynamic behavior of a simulation and, at the same time, to attribute meaning to it in terms of the physical phenomenon it represents. The analysis focuses on three episodes. The first two episodes demonstrate the epistemological complexity involved in attempting to make sense of natural harmonic oscillation. A third episode demonstrates the process by which students develop understanding in this complex perceptual and conceptual territory, through the mediation (Vygotsky 1978) of computer-based representations designed to facilitate understanding in this topic.     

中国市场与Cood-Enougk

中国最近提出的减少海外投资的计划并不是跨国企业在中国大陆面临的唯一威胁。在中国政府频频修改其监管框架的同时，一个庞大的、定价格外低廉而质量却可以接受的低端产品领域正在悄然形成。这个“够用就好”（Good-Enough）的市场冲击着公司原本想将中国作为低成本加工中心，或者向中国不断走向富裕的消费者销售优质产品的想法。     

Do Junior High School Students Perceive Their Learning Environment as Constructivist?

The purpose of this study is to examine the manner in which the features of a constructivist learning environment, and the mechanisms at its base, are expressed in junior high school students’ conceptions. Our research is based on an integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches, deigned to provide a wider ranging and deeper understanding. Eight hundred and forty eighth- and ninth-grade students from over 15 schools participated in the study. Of the 840 students who completed the questionnaire, the explanations of 200 well-written questionnaires were further analyzed qualitatively. The findings of the study are presented in terms of the four scales employed in the CLES, namely the autonomy scale, the prior knowledge scale, the negotiation scale, and the student-centeredness scale. The quantitative results achieved here concur with parallel studies conducted around the world. The findings indicate that a considerable portion of the students perceive their learning environment as a constructivist one and report positive attitudes toward the way they are being taught. In terms of the qualitative results, however, it appears that in some cases, the students’ explanations reveal that in fact, and contrary to the bare quantitative results, some students do not perceive their learning environment as being constructivist. This raises the question of whether the fact that students recognize the factors associated with constructivist teaching is indeed an indication that such teaching exists in practice. This finding emphasizes the importance of combining qualitative and quantitative methods for arriving at a balanced view of classroom occurrences.     

Empowerment amongst teachers holding leadership positions

This study used semi-structured in-depth interviews to explore empowerment patterns among teachers who hold leadership positions in school. Our qualitative analysis presents a hierarchical ladder with three types of empowerment amongst these teachers, ranging from limited empowerment through rewarding empowerment to change-enhancing empowerment. The level of empowerment seems to be related to the leadership position which the teachers hold and to their perception of the position. Our results contribute to the theoretical understanding of empowerment as a complex construct that affects the career characteristics of the teacher, ranging from limited impact of the leadership position to a powerful effect on the organizational culture. We also suggest that this model has practical implications on the way principals can evaluate their teachers’ empowerment patterns and accordingly assist their development toward change-enhancing empowerment.     

Israeli Ministry of Education’s district managers’ and superintendents’ role as educational leaders—implementing the new policy for teachers’ professional development

In Israel, the Ministry of Education determines all aspects of educational policy, including teachers’ initial teacher education, licensing and professional development. As part of the New Horizon educational reform, the Ministry announced in 2010 a new plan for the professional development of teachers in Israel. The Ministry assigned a mediating role to its district managers and superintendents, placing them in charge of introducing and implementing this policy. The current study describes the findings of a qualitative, narrative-based research, which examined the attitudes of 25 Ministry of Education district managers and superintendents regarding the implementation of the new professional development policy. Interviewees noted both the major advantages of this policy, e.g. organizing the professional development process and including all of the teachers, as well as its many disadvantages, e.g. overburdening the teachers, the lack of high-quality teacher trainers, etc. This study sheds light on the process of implementing a top-down reform in teachers’ professional development. Moreover, it sheds light on the main tasks of superintendents as educational leaders.     

Learning from Failure: A Case Study of Where an Extracurricular Science Program Went Wrong

This article re-examines the learning environment in an after-school science program for socio-economically disadvantaged children, attempting to discover why the particular group we studied failed to make significant progress between pre and post program testing, while other groups undergoing the same program elsewhere succeeded. Data composed of in class observations, students’ class workbooks and perceptive/cognitive interviews was analyzed qualitatively to construct a picture of the learning environment as experienced by both the students and their student teacher, Liora. Our primary finding revealed a striking dissonance between the program’s student-centered theory (based on the tenets of social-constructivism) and the classroom reality enforced by Liora, who ran the lessons primarily as a monologue that left very little room for active student participation. This disparity was further complicated by an ambiguity in Liora’s position as an authority figure, wherein she wavered between her predilection for a rigid, authoritative teaching environment and a desire to be her students’ friend and confidante.     

Positions Toward Science Studies in Medicine Among University Graduates of Medicine and the Teenaged Participants of the ��Medical Systems�� Study Program

The ??Medical Systems?? program was designed to introduce high school students to the world of advanced medicine. Its premise was to use an applied scientific discipline like medicine to encourage high-school students?? interest in basic science. This study compares the teen-aged graduates of ??Medical Systems?? with fourth and fifth-year medical students. It aims to identify the attitudes of these two groups towards medical science and basic sciences in medicine. The population included 94 graduates of ??Medical Systems?? from schools throughout Israel, who had also completed an advanced-level course in a basic science (biology, chemistry or physics), and 96 medical students from different Israeli universities. The students?? attitudes were measured using West et al.??s questionnaire (Med Educ 16(4):188?C191, 1982), which assesses both the attitude of the participants towards basic science knowledge, and their attitude towards their learning experience in medical school. Nine participants from each group were also interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The results showed essential differences in the attitudes of the two groups. The high school students consider scientific knowledge far more essential for a physician than do the medical students, who also showed a far lower estimation of the effectiveness of their science studies.     

Privatization and Commercialization of Public Education: Consequences for Citizenship and Citizenship Education

My purpose is to examine and evaluate the implementation of market ideology and practices in education through the prism of both modern democratic theory and the discourse of rights. I examine the essence and defining characteristics of public schooling in modern democratic theory, explore the democratic purposes of education, and the unique mission of public schools. I also analyze the vision of public schooling that surfaces from the discourse of human rights and children’s rights, examining relevant UN declarations and conventions. I then proceed to discuss some major manifestations of markets in education, question their congruence with the democratic vision of public schooling, and examine their consequences for both citizenship and citizenship education. My conclusion is that markets in education, and the formulation of education policies and practices through decision-making processes dominated by business and parents, are not necessarily fashioned in the best interest of a democratic society.