Outreach initiatives operated by universities for increasing interest in science and technology

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s, the low number of students choosing to study science and technology in higher education has been on the societal agenda and many initiatives have been launched to promote awareness regarding career options. The initiatives particularly focus on increasing enrolment in the engineering programmes. This article describes and compares eight European initiatives that have been established and operated by universities (and in some cases through collaboration with other actors in society). Each initiative is summarised in a short essay that discusses motivation, organisation, pedagogical approach, and activities. The initiatives are characterised by comparing the driving forces behind their creation, how the initiative activities relate to the activities at the university, size based on the number of participants and cost per participant and pedagogical framework. There seem to be two main tracks for building outreach activities, one where outreach activities are based on the university's normal activities, and one where outreach activities are designed specifically for the visiting students.     

Investigating self-regulated study strategies among postsecondary students with and without dyslexia: a diary method study

We investigated the use of self-regulated study strategies among undergraduates with dyslexia by means of extensive web-based diary data, comparing their strategy use to that of matched students without dyslexia who completed the diary in the same period. Additionally, we examined the perceived benefits of using the recorded strategies in both groups, as well as relationships between the recorded strategies and perceived self-efficacy and academic performance. Results indicated that across lecture, individual study, and social study contexts, students with and without dyslexia recorded a comparable, broad range of strategies, yet students with dyslexia seemed to use particular visual and social strategies more consistently than did students without dyslexia. Across the three study contexts, both students with and without dyslexia also perceived the strategies they recorded in the diaries to be quite beneficial, but with particular visual and social strategies seemingly perceived as more helpful by students with dyslexia. Finally, self-regulated study strategies were positively related to perceived self-efficacy and academic performance among the students with dyslexia but not among the students without dyslexia. We discuss the possibility that the diary method used to assess strategy use among students with dyslexia in different study contexts over time was more appropriate for revealing the breadth and value of their strategy repertoire than the decontextualized, one-time questionnaire and interview approaches used in prior work.     

Evaluation of Vocational Education in the Swedish Upper Secondary School

Axelsson, R. 1979. Evaluation of Vocational Education in the Swedish Upper Secondary School. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 23, 169‐184. The present evaluation is part of a continual evaluation of the new upper secondary school, with particular emphasis on vocational lines of study. It considers the view taken by school‐leavers of their vocational situation in relation to the goals of their education as a preparation for vocational activity and as a means of personal development. The study is primarily concerned with those students who completed their vocational studies in the spring of 1974. In October 1975 a questionnaire was sent to over 8,000 of the 23,000 in the target group, and a number of individuals were interviewed from each of the thirteen lines in question. Though the responses to the questionnaire were often positive, the interviewed students pointed out a number of deficiencies in their situation.     

ICT and Community of Practice

The paper describes an action research study investigating ICT as an integrated artefact in lower secondary schools in Norway. The study is part of a national project called PILOT, which focuses on the pedagogic use of ICT in education. The aim of the project is to develop an understanding of how ICT can become an integrated part of the teaching process and the case study focuses on how ICT impacts the design of practice fields towards a community of practice concept in one PILOT school at the lower secondary school level. The findings from questionnaires, observations and interviews with the principal, teachers and students revealed that implementing ICT in parallel with other innovations and dismantling “preserving structures” has contributed positively towards developing the practice field and achieving the different aims for the school. The school has avoided an incremental implementation of ICT, and this seems to be an important strategy for the school's design towards a community of practice concept.     

Mathematical identity in women: The concept,its components and relationship to educative ability,achievement and family support

Mathematical identity and its relationship to mathematical achievement, educative ability and study support were studied among 133 women enrolled in the Swedish adult education system. A model of mathematical identity was constructed including self‐perceived mathematical knowledge, ability, motivation and anxiety. This model was transformed into a statistical factor model, tested using Lisrel. An acceptable fit was obtained. The first three factors were strongly negatively related to mathematical anxiety. The mathematical identity components correlated most strongly with earlier school grades in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, with the result of a diagnostic test. Unexpectedly, the relationships to educative ability and study support were weak. Using a person‐oriented approach, three typical patterns were found: one with extremely positive, and two with extremely negative, mathematical identity. The implications for further research are to investigate stability and change in the mathematical identity of women taking part in recurrent education.     

Reviews of research in rural schools and their communities: Analytical perspectives and a new agenda

This chapter responds to the research questions posed in the introductory chapter on the status and nature of educational research on rural schools and their community relationships. Drawing on the national reviews, we discuss the quality of the research focusing on its themes and questions, theoretical perspectives, and research design and methodology. The conclusions indicate substantial hiatuses, and call for greater use of the local voice, the life-world perspective, longitudinal and comparative studies, and multiple purposively sampled case studies. Internationally, while first-hand sources on the cultural contributions of rural schools exist, these must be accessed before documentary studies of central policies over-write such history. Finally, a new research agenda is formulated.     

Reviews of research on rural schools and their communities in British and Nordic countries: Analytical perspectives and cultural meaning

This introduction presents the case, and sets the scene, for five reviews of research on rural schools and their communities, arguing that educational research in this field is relatively rare, and decreasingly visible despite the significant population of the world's children who live in rural communities and attend rural schools. After considering various interpretations of ‘rural’, of the purpose and function of rural schooling, and of the relationship between school and community, we present three basic research questions with relevance for researchers of schools and communities, rural and urban, the world over, and raise more specific questions which are addressed in the reviews themselves and pursued in the closing chapter. Finally we introduce the research reviews and justify our selection of British and Nordic countries, where, despite geographical proximity, there are wide thematic and methodological disparities in rural schools’ research.