Learning Computer Science and Engineering in Context

The growing tendency away from transmissive pedagogy to a broadly constructivist pedagogy in higher education is characterised as a cultural change which lacks a strong theoretical foundation within the culture. In this paper, learning is considered from a phenomenographic perspective, which teachers can ground in their own experience of teaching and work with to gain insights into their students' experience of learning. Thereby the theoretical foundation of the culture can successively be strengthened. The message is illustrated with the results of empirical research into students' experience of learning in groups in a project-focused induction course to a computer science and engineering programme.     

Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications

This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students' attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated. Starting from a consideration of what is meant by attitudes to science, it considers the problems inherent to their measurement, what is known about students' attitudes towards science and the many factors of influence such as gender, teachers, curricula, cultural and other variables. The literature itself points to the crucial importance of gender and the quality of teaching. Given the importance of the latter we argue that there is a greater need for research to identify those aspects of science teaching that make school science engaging for pupils. In particular, a growing body of research on motivation offers important pointers to the kind of classroom environment and activities that might raise pupils' interest in studying school science and a focus for future research.     

The Dudley Challenges: virtual balloon journeys and real learning

The Dudley Challenges were developed to celebrate the millennium and the first year of the Dudley Grid for Learning. Three Challenges, Challenge 2000 the original resource, Challenge Europa and Junior Trek, are based on virtual balloon journeys, visiting a series of interesting cultural centres. Access to each centre visited is by solving a series of difficult, cross‐curricula problems that deliver a range of higher order learning experiences. Creativity, imagination, initiative, perseverance as well a range of ICT skills are promoted, developed and celebrated as key elements of the challenge.

Die Dudley Herausforderungen: Virtuelle Ballonreisen und wirkliches Lernen

Die Dudley Herausforderungen wurden zur Milleniumsfeier und zum ersten Jahrestag des “Dudley Grid of Learning” entwickelt. Die drei Herausforderungen, Challenge 2000 die Original Ressource; Herausforderung Europa und Junior Treck beruhen auf einer virtuellen Ballonreise, in deren Verlauf eine Serie interessanter kultureller Zentren besucht werden. Der Zugang zu jedem besuchten Zentrum ist nur nach Lösen einer Reihe schwieriger Allgemeinbildungsfragen, die einen hohen Lernzuwachs liefern, möglich. Kreativität, Einbildungskraft, Initiative, Durchhaltevermögen ebenso wie Computerkompetenz werden gefördert, entwickelt und gefeiert als Schlüsselelemente der Herausforderung.

Les Challenges Dudley :les voyages virtuels en ballon et l’apprentissage réel

Les Challenges Dudley ont été crées pour célébrer le millénaire et la première année de la Grille d’Apprentissage Dudley.Trois de ces Challenges, le Challenge 2000 la resource –mère,le Challenge Europa et Junior Trek sont fondés sur des voyages en ballon virtuels qui permettent la visite de centres culturels pleins d’intérêt.Pour accéder à chaque centre et le visiter , il faut résoudre une série de problèmes difficiles, interdisciplinaires qui offrent une gamme d’aventures apprenantes de premier ordre. On stimule,on développe et on célèbre ainsi la créativité, l’imagination,l’initiative la persévérance ainsi qu’un éventail de compétences en TIC qui sont les éléments‐clés du Challenge.     

INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING AND FAMILY HARMONY

Planning educational programs for older persons should be based on identifying things they do well and determining knowledge and behaviors that younger family members would like them to acquire. This strategy prevents the common problem of adopting inappropriate programs that may be considered successful in other environments or societies. Three generational studies of families in China and the United States are described to illustrate differences in perception about grandparents across cultures and between generations within societies. Guidelines and curriculum topics are recommended for several target populations to help them achieve family harmony.     

Socially mediated metacognition and learning to write

Writing can be viewed as a recursive process involving both cognitive and metacognitive processes. Task, environment, individual cognition and affective processes all impact on producing written text. Recent research on the development of metacognition in young children has highlighted social constructivist and socio-cultural factors. Metacognition is seen as facilitated through collaborative tasks and through talk. This study investigated the peer construction of metacognition in 5-7-year-old children engaged on collaborative writing tasks. Six year 1 and year 2 classes were involved in the project (n = 172). 25 h of video observation data, teacher and researcher reflections and structured field notes were analysed qualitatively using ATLAS ti software. The written texts produced in these sessions were analysed using a qualitative content analysis, looking specifically for evidence of the process of text construction and metacognition. The findings provide evidence of young children's ability to engage in metacognitive talk and to use metacognition intentionally in the co-construction of written texts. The relationships between children and their talk partners mediated the effect of pre-determined ability in literacy. Teachers’ direct questioning aimed at reflection on the writing process did not always support metacognitive dialogues. Drawing on recent models of metacognition and writing the paper highlights the role of social factors in developing metacognition and illustrates the ways in which young children negotiate task demands during shared writing tasks.     

Community organizing and educational change: a reconnaissance

Ten years ago community organizing as a form of educational change had only begun to challenge traditional models of school reform. Yet a decade later, community organizing has led to important changes in school and community relationships that have been documented by scholars in the areas of education, sociology, social work, and political science. Current US President Barack Obama, a former organizer who worked on the South Side of Chicago, has given new visibility to community organizing. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has approved the creation of a new Special Interest Group (SIG) on the topic of community and youth organizing. This article traces the origins, spread, and impacts of community organizing on educational change, arguing that it provides an important repertoire of practices for change leaders.     

Is student-centered pedagogy impossible in Hong Kong? The case of inquiry in classrooms

Hong Kong has been actively promoting a student-centered approach to teaching since the 1980s. Despite this effort, students in Hong Kong still tend to be traditional learners who rarely experience and gain from real student-centered learning. While teachers hold a “quantitative” concept of learning and focus on transmitting declarative knowledge to students (Biggs and Watkins, Classroom learning: Educational psychology for the Asian teacher, 1995), students generally practise “rote learning.” Constructive learning models such as inquiry remain little used by students in most Hong Kong classrooms. This article reports a study that examines the feasibility of implementing inquiry method in Kong Kong’s primary classrooms. It analyses the implementation and some outcomes of an inquiry-based project conducted in two local primary schools—a traditional elite Catholic school and a progressive, less-privileged school. Finally, it discusses the contextual factors as well as cultural issues on teachers’ perception and implementation of inquiry in teaching. These factors include the following: impacts of prevailing ideology in the community of Hong Kong, and the top-down policy-making and management by the government.