A Constructive Development Approach to Assessing Variations within a Community College Population

This study utilized a constructive-developmental approach to accomplish 3 purposes: to create a developmental stage profile for a population of students attending a single community college, to analyze variations within and between subpopulations, and to explore the implications for administrators and planners seeking to provide supportive environments for different populations of students. The resulting profile indicated a wide range of variation within the overall population and significant variations between traditional and non-traditional age students. Implications for educational programming and supportive services were identified by using a constructive-developmental approach as an interpretive framework.     

The GlobalEd Project: Gender differences in a problem-based learning environment of international negotiations

The GlobalEd Project employs a technology richenvironment for high school students who wishto participate in a simulation of internationalrelations and negotiation. A simulationconsists of negotiations on a variety ofinternational policy issues conducted bystudents from 10–15 schools through anInternet-based interface. This study reportsthe findings of 234 high school participants'changes in academic and technologyself-efficacy skills, as well as knowledge,attitudes and behaviors related to academicpreparation and performance, the use ofeducational technology, and associated outcomesfrom participating in a simulation ofinternational relations. The results arediscussed in terms of the current literature onself-efficacy and gender differences incognitive process.     

Assessing Clients' Level of Hope: A Preliminary Study at a College Counseling Center

Assessing clients' hopefulness may provide documentation of counseling effectiveness. Results of this outcome study involving 22 students who presented for help at a college counseling center indicated that individual counseling elevated their hope levels, thereby increasing their sense of goal-directed planning (pathways) and determination (agency). Findings and implications are discussed.     

Some grammatical rules are more difficult than others: The case of the generic interpretation of the masculine

In this paper we argue that the generic use of the masculine represents a grammatical rule that might be easy to learn but difficult to apply when understanding texts. This argument is substantiated by reviewing the relevant literature as well as the recent work conducted by the GREL Group (Gender Representation in Language) on the interaction between stereotypical and grammatical information in the construction of a representation of gender when reading role names. The studies presented in this paper show that the masculine form used as a generic to refer to persons of both sexes, or to persons of indefinite sex or whose sex is irrelevant, in gender marked languages is likely to be associated with its specific meaning (i.e., masculine refers only to men). This is true even though the generic nature of the masculine is a very common grammatical rule learnt at school. People may have learned this rule and may understand it, but may not readily apply it.     

Expansionism,Physical Education and Olympism: Common Interests of King Leopold II of Belgium,Cyrille Van Overbergh and Pierre de Coubertin (1894–1914)

In this article, we focus on the links and synergies between the Ecole mondiale of King Leopold II of Belgium, the Plans du Collège Léopold II of Pierre du Coubertin and the establishment of the Belgian Olympic Committee in 1906. A firm belief in the advantages of international cooperation undercut these three projects that were planned in Belgium. Always accompanying the internationalist discourse was the conviction that they should also strengthen Belgium's international position. Consequently, they focused strongly on physical education and sport, emphasising the great expansionist assets. All in all, however, the outcomes of the projects were less than expected. While the Belgian Olympic Committee had a difficult start, Coubertin's project only existed on paper, and the Ecole mondiale never rose above its foundations because of serious practical and political issues. Nonetheless, the expansionist discourse did facilitate the creation of the Higher Institute of Physical Education at the State University of Ghent in 1908.     

Four‐year‐old Children in Reception Classrooms: participant perceptions and practice

There continues to be an increasing number of four‐year‐old children in reception classrooms in the UK. The child‐school incorporation process is a dynamic, multifaceted, interactive and poorly understood phenomenon. This paper summarises the pilot stage of a project that investigated this critical period in the life histories of a group of children. The project viewed the researcher, teacher, parent and child as collaborators in an illuminative process. There is a need to challenge the notion that the child simply ‘adjusts’ to school. Children are most likely to be under stress during the first weeks of school when the reduplicated rites of separation, transition and incorporation are going on. Appropriate changes and real improvements in policy, provision and practice need to be based upon a cognizance of the lived experiences of these rites for all the participants.     

Cognitive Load Theory as a Tool for Expertise Development

This special issue is dedicated to recentdevelopments within cognitive load theory (CLT)and identifies some instructional implicationsof the interaction between informationstructures and cognitive architecture. Thepresent article discusses the different studiesin this special issue. An important conclusionis that recent CLT research recognizes thelearners' level of expertise as an importantfactor mediating the relation between cognitivearchitecture, information structures, andlearning outcomes. In this context, we discussthe role of expertise in CLT research and therole of CLT in expertise research. Based onthis discussion, the use of CLT as a tool todevelop expertise is identified as a verypromising approach.