Authors in the Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet Database

The Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division Vendor Update Session at the Special Libraries Association 2010 Annual Conference in New Orleans had a panel of four representatives of organizations involved in author authority work. In my presentation I described the involvement of Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet in author authority work, from the hand work done with file cards in 1940 through the present day work combining computer systems and hand work. This article is an expanded version of my comments.     

Exploring Prospective Teachers’ Worldviews and Conceptions of Nature of Science

This study explores the relationship, if any, between an individual’s culturally based worldviews and conceptions of nature of science. In addition, the implications of this relationship (or lack of relationship) for science teaching and learning are discussed. Participants were 54 Taiwanese prospective science teachers. Their conceptions of nature of science and their worldviews specific to humans’ relationship with the natural world were assessed using two open‐ended questionnaires in conjunction with follow‐up interviews. Their understandings of nature of science were classified into informed and naïve categories based upon contemporary views of these constructs and those stressed in international reform documents. An anthropocentric–naturecentric continuum emerged and is used to explain the participants’ views about humans’ relationship with Nature. Participants who recognized the limitations of scientific knowledge, and accept the idea that science involves subjective and cultural components, were more likely to emphasize harmony with Nature. In contrast, participants who possessed narrow views about the scientific enterprise and described science as close to technology and as of materialistic benefit tended to provide an anthropocentric perspective regarding the human–Nature relationships. The findings illustrate the interplay between participants’ sociocultural beliefs and conceptions of nature of science. Concisely, people with different worldviews may have concurrently different views about nature of science. The study suggests the need for incorporating sociocultural perspectives and nature of science in the science curriculum.     

The Usefulness of Time Lines in Learning Chronological Relationships in Text Materials

Methodological problems, have limited the usefulness of findings from experiments into learning by discovery. By using programmed instruction materials, a within-class design, and other controls, an attempt was made to remove confounding. Two tasks were used: concept learning and principle learning. For each task, a separate 2x2x2 factorial design containing sixteen Ss in each cell was used. Independent variables were instructional method (egrule and ruleg), school grade (9 and 5), and intelligence (high and average). A set of eight different measures, involving retention, transfer, and ease of relearning, was used for each task. It was found that the egrule and ruleg methods did not differ significantly, and that interaction between instructional method and the other variables was low.     

Value Differences Among Public High School Teachers Using a Regression Model Analysis of Variance Technique

This study examined outcomes of a supervision practicum in which graduate students supervised under-graduates in teacher education during microteaching activities and studied their supervisory behavior using videotape replays of conferences with teacher-trainees. Pre- and post-measures were used to assess changes in conference style as reflected by verbal behavior, and changes in the relationship between conference dialogues and subsequent teaching behavior. Supervisors shifted toward more indirect-supportive conference styles. Conclusions were that videotaped microteaching can be adapted to improve supervisor education by 1.) providing realistic supervisory experience, 2.) serving as a vehicle to modify the conference behavior of potential supervisors, and 3.) serving as a research vehicle for accumulating new knowledge and testing current theories concerning the process of supervision.     

Pragmatism at work in Britain: Some reflections on attempting to introduce the assessment of prior experiential learning.

The Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) involves students or prospective students documenting their learning from life and work experience in such a way that they can use such documentation to gain access and advance standing in tertiary education institutions. For the past ten years, the author has been centrally involved in introducing the idea of assessing prior experiential learning in Britain, most recently as Director of the Learning from Experience Trust. In this paper he reflects on his personal experience of the issues involved, the barriers which were faced and the ways in which the idea has been accepted.     

The Teaching of English in Puerto Rico: One Hundred Years of Degrees of Bilingualism

The bilingual policies of the University of Puerto Rico are described in the context of bilingualism in Puerto Rico as a whole, given that the second language, English, was a relatively recent imposition coming after several centuries of thorough Hispanization. Although Puerto Rico is profoundly Hispanic in terms of both language and culture, its people understand the need to be proficient in English. Thus the University of Puerto Rico is taking many steps to make sure that its students become proficient in both Spanish and English. A number of programmes are described, and the results in terms of improved knowledge of English, in particular, are detailed.