International student flows for university education and the bilateral market integration of Australia

Study at a foreign university can be an important way of developing international human capital. We investigate factors affecting international student flows for higher education and their consequences for bilateral market integration in Australia. Estimation results demonstrate that income, cost competitiveness, migration network effects and other education pathways increase the demand for tertiary education. Our results show that university study, inter alia, is an important determinant of bilateral trade between Australia and the student’s home country.     

Variability in Measurement of Swimming Forces

An analysis was conducted to identify sources of true and error variance in measuring swimming drag force to draw valid conclusions about performance factor effects. Passive drag studies were grouped according to methodological differences: tow line in pool, tow line in flume, and carriage in tow tank. Active drag studies were grouped according to the theoretical basis: added and/or subtracted drag (AAS), added drag with equal power assumption (AAE), and no added drag (ANA). Data from 36 studies were examined using frequency distributions and meta-analytic procedures. It was concluded that two active methods (AAE and ANA) had sources of systematic error and that one active method (AAS) measured an effect that was different from that measured by passive methods. Consistency in drag coefficient (Cd) values across all three passive methods made it possible to determine the effects of performance factors.     

Peer assessment of oral presentations: effects of student gender,university affiliation and participation in the development of assessment criteria

Peer assessment provides a useful mechanism to develop many positive qualities in students studying in higher education (HE). Potential influences on peer‐awarded marks include student qualities such as gender, HE background (e.g. university affiliation) and participation in the development of the assessment criteria. Many studies that have investigated peer assessment have placed great emphasis on marks from a single tutor, or very few tutors, from a single university. This study examined grades awarded by 11 tutors (affiliated with four universities) to oral presentations delivered on a residential field course by second‐year undergraduate students from two universities studying environmental or biological disciplines. Student assessors awarded marks of fairly high precision (correlating strongly with tutor grades) but averaged 5% higher than their tutors (i.e. of only moderate accuracy). Marginally higher marks (circa 1.6%) were awarded by student assessors to speakers studying at the same university. Gender influences were detected as males tended to grade other male speakers very slightly more highly than female speakers. Marks from females were unaffected by speaker gender. Students who participated in the development of the assessment criteria did not achieve higher grades for their presentations. However, when these ‘participants’ were assessing, they awarded lower marks than their peers (i.e. closer to, but not as low as, those awarded by tutors). Lower marks were also awarded during the middle of sessions, possibly resulting from factors associated with motivation and attention of speakers and markers. Overall, the potential biases in marking by naive assessors examined in this study may influence the validity of marks generated by peer assessment schemes, but the experience of this type of assessment had positive effects on those involved.     

An Analysis of an Interactive Videodisc System for Teaching Language Skills to Deaf Students

An interactive videodisc system designed to teach language concepts to deaf students was evaluated in a classroom trial. An experimental group of 18 students spent 60 twenty‐minute sessions over a five‐month period learning language concepts by interacting with the system while a control group of 16 students learned the same concepts in their regular classroom setting. Both groups made significant progress from pre‐ to post‐test on two criterion‐referenced testsdeveloped by project staff. Experimental students were enthusiastic about the videodisc, felt that their language skills had improved, and were anxious to continue working with the system.     

A study of multimodal motherese: the role of temporal synchrony between verbal labels and gestures

This study examined European American and Hispanic American mothers' multimodal communication to their infants (N = 24). The infants were from three age groups representing three levels of lexical-mapping development: prelexical (5 to 8 months), early-lexical (9 to 17 months), and advanced-lexical (21 to 30 months). Mothers taught their infants four target (novel) words by using distinct objects during a semistructured play episode. Recent research suggests that young infants rely on temporal synchrony to learn syllable-object relations, but later, the role of synchrony diminishes. Thus, mothers' target and nontarget naming were coded for synchrony and other communication styles. The results indicated that mothers used target words more often than nontarget words in synchrony with object motion and sometimes touch. Thus, "multimodal motherese" likely highlights target word-referent relations for infants. Further, mothers tailored their communication to infants' level of lexical-mapping development. Mothers of prelexical infants used target words in synchrony with object motion more often than mothers of early- and advanced-lexical infants. Mothers' decreasing use of synchrony across age parallels infants' decreasing reliance on synchrony, suggesting a dynamical and reciprocal environment-organismic relation.     

Gender Relations,Education and Social Change in Poland

The significance of patterns of gender inequality in education in Poland cannot be adequately grasped without a wider understanding of the specific nature of gender relations under State socialism. The present article approaches this problem by posing a fundamental question: how is it possible to reconcile what is known concerning gender inequalities and the sexual division of labour in Poland with the documented absence of feminist awareness in that country? The answer is sought in terms of the specific ways in which the public and private domains exist under State socialism. The analysis provides an interpretation of social transition in Poland, arguing that this fundamentally entails a shift in the nature of patriarchy. The conclusion is that the lived experience of a ‘civil society’ and the revaluation of gender identity this brings, is prerequisite if sexist thinking and practice is to be perceived as such and challenged—in education as in other areas of social life.     

Fishy Statistics

Being a statistical detective can provide a strong motivation for early work in data handling. Media reports can often start a fascinating chain of events, as this article shows.     

Student teachers' subject matter knowledge within the domain of area measurement

This paper describes a research project whose major aim was to evaluate first-year teacher education students' understanding of subject matter knowledge in the domain of area measurement. In contrast to many previous approaches to evaluating teacher education students' subject matter knowledge, the approach adopted in this study not only focused on the student teachers' substantive knowledge but also on their knowledge about the nature and discourse of mathematics, their knowledge about mathematics in society and their dispositions towards mathematics. To this end, each student was clinically interviewed whilst engaged on a set of eight tasks that were developed for the study. The development of the tasks was a major component of the study and this is described in detail. The results of the tasks are given and the paper concludes with a discussion of the findings. This discussion focuses primarily on the implications that these results have for preservice mathematics education courses.     

A Trial of the Five Es: A Referent Model for Constructivist Teaching and Learning

The science and technology education literature indicates that teaching within a constructivist paradigm is an effective way to promote student learning. Despite this, most primary school teachers do not use constructivist theoretical approaches because they are perceived as difficult and impractical to implement. To promote constructivist teaching and learning approaches in schools, teachers need access to models and strategies they can implement effectively and with relative ease. A unit of work was developed, based on the Five Es model (Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration and Evaluation), and taught to a year 3 class. Ten students were participants in the study and became the sample. Data were analysed using two different methods to compare and validate findings. The unit of work, based on the Five Es model, was found to be interesting and fun by students, and motivated student learning and promoted student higher-order thinking.