Emergence of a Unique German‐Israeli Academic Exchange Programme: Attributes and Dilemmas

This article describes a unique student exchange programme that has been operating for more than five years and which links students in the Department of Non-formal Education at Beit Berl College in Israel and students in the Department of Social Work at Fachhochschule Wiesbaden in Germany. The uniqueness of this programme lies not only in the co-operation between countries but mainly in the form of a professional study programme involving two educational institutions having different approaches and with different methods for the training of social workers that are embedded in different socio-cultural atmospheres and historical traditions. On top of these complexities, there was the need to cope with the question of how to rebuild relations between two societies loaded with the historical heritage of the Holocaust. The focus of this article is on the emergence and the development of the programme and on some of the dilemmas with which it was faced.     

High-Ability Grouping: Benefits for Gifted Students’ Achievement Development Without Costs in Academic Self-Concept

Effects of full-time ability grouping on students’ academic self-concept (ASC) and mathematics achievement were investigated in the first 3 years of secondary school (four waves of measurement; students’ average age at first wave: 10.5 years). Students were primarily from middle and upper class families living in southern Germany. The study sample comprised 148 (60% male) students from 14 gifted classes and 148 (57% male) students from 25 regular classes (matched by propensity score matching). Data analyses involved multilevel and latent growth curve analyses. Findings revealed no evidence for contrast effects of class-average achievement or assimilation effects of class type on students’ ASC. ASC remained stable over time. Students in gifted classes showed higher achievement gains than students in regular classes.     

Using Parallel Merge Sort to Teach Fundamental Concepts in Distributed Parallelism

This paper describes how the algorithm called parallel merge sort can be used to teach fundamental concepts in the design of parallel algorithms for a network of workstations (NOW). First, the basic algorithm is introduced and its performance studied. Then, through a series of improvements based on a close examination of the algorithm and the underlying communication network, students are shown how performance can be significantly enhanced. This incremental approach lets students observe, first-hand, the critical importance of communication overhead, granularity, latency, and load balancing in designing efficient distributed parallel algorithms for a NOW environment.     

INFLUENCES ON TEACHERS’ JUDGMENT ACCURACY OF READING ABILITIES ON SECOND AND THIRD GRADE STUDENTS: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS

The present study aims at examining variables (at individual and class level) that influence the accuracy of teacher judgments of second and third graders’ reading abilities (decoding and reading comprehension). Data of 1,468 students and 86 teachers were collected. Due to the nested structure of the data, multilevel regression analyses were applied. Results revealed about 5% of the variance in judgment accuracy at class level. Generally, teachers judged reading comprehension abilities more accurately than decoding abilities. Low‐achieving students’ abilities, though, were judged less accurately. Accuracy in judging decoding was higher in small classes and in students with special educational needs. Accuracy in judging reading comprehension grew along the years (higher in Grade 3 and at the end of the academic year). Additionally, teachers judged second language learners' reading comprehension less accurately. The results are discussed in the light of implications for teacher training.     

Role of the educator in social software initiatives in further and higher education: A conceptualisation and research agenda

Higher and further education institutions are increasingly using social software tools to support teaching and learning. A growing body of research investigates the diversity of tools and their range of contributions. However, little research has focused on investigating the role of the educator in the context of a social software initiative, even though the educator is critical for the introduction and successful use of social software in a course environment. Hence, we argue that research on social software should place greater emphasis on the educators, as their roles and activities (such as selecting the tools, developing the tasks and facilitating the students' interactions with these tools) are instrumental in a social software initiative. To address this gap, we have developed a research agenda on the role of the educator in a social software initiative. Drawing on role theory, both as the basis for a systematic conceptualization of the educator role and as a guiding framework, we have developed a series of concrete research questions that address core issues associated with the educator roles in a social software context. We have provided recommendations for further investigations. By developing a research agenda, we hope to stimulate research that creates a better understanding of the educator's situation and develops guidelines to help educators carry out their social software initiatives. Considering the significant role an educator plays in the initiation and conduct of a social software initiative, our research agenda ultimately seeks to contribute to the adoption and efficient use of social software in education.     

For Love of the Word: English Teaching,Affect and Writing1

Research in the UK, USA and Australia confirms that secondary English practising and pre‐service teachers are typically characterised as great readers. Indeed the subject position of English teacher entails a ‘love’ of reading (Peel, R., Patterson, A. & Gerlach (Eds), 2000 Peel, R. 2000. “Beliefs about ‘English’, in England,”. In Questions of English: Ethics, Aesthetics, Rhetoric and the Formation of the Subject in England, Australia and the United States, Edited by: Peel, R, Patterson, A and Gerlach. 116–188. London: Routledge/Falmer.  [Google Scholar]). However there is no corollary with writing. Few English teachers are simultaneously ‘writers’ in any sustained, pleasurable or publicly successful ways. This paper examines data gathered from pre‐service secondary English teachers and from experienced teachers who are also writers about their own writing practices and experiences and looks at the relationship between these issues of affect and pedagogy. Embodied and positive affects—characterised as ‘love’, ‘passion’ and ‘immersion’ in writing—are prominent features of the stories told by accomplished writers. Love of ‘the word’, including a love of reading, and a productive tension between form and freedom, are further threads in the discursive textures of their stories of coming to writing.     

Knowledge about the mind: links between theory of mind and later metamemory

This longitudinal study combined, in a single study, different aspects of children's knowledge about mental phenomena and thus could investigate relations among the development of language, theory of mind, and later metamemory. In total, 183 German children were tested at ages 3, 4, and 5. Each time of testing included a set of theory-of-mind tasks, a battery of language development, and additionally, at Time 3, a set of metamemory questions. The findings demonstrate strong relationships between children's language abilities and their theory of mind (both first- and second-order false beliefs). Moreover, both theory-of-mind and language competencies significantly predicted later metamemory, with their relative contribution changing over time. Language may influence metamemory developmentally both directly and indirectly (through theory of mind).     

Investigating changes in self-evaluation of technical competences in the serious game Serena Supergreen: Findings,challenges and lessons learned

Metacognition and Learning - Self-evaluation of one’s competences is considered a core factor in various domains of human functioning, including learning and instruction, as well as academic...