Zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses in Österreich – ein Bericht

Am 24. August 2012 fand in Form einer Kooperationsveranstaltung von bmwf, IST Austria, FWF und Österreichischem Wissenschaftsrat im Rahmen der Technologiegespräche des Europäischen Forum Alpbach der Workshop "Klettersteig in die Karriere" statt. Aufgabe des Wissenschaftsrates war es unter anderem, die Ergebnisse in einem Bericht darzustellen. Dazu sollten auch die thematischen Schwerpunkte einer leidenschaftlich geführten Diskussion nachgezeichnet werden. Der Wissenschaftsrat arbeitet gegenwärtig selbst an einer Empfehlung zu den Governance-strukturen der Universitäten, in der auch auf das Thema wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs eingegangen wird.     

The Intercultural Dimension in EFL‐Teaching: A Study of Conceptions Among Finland‐Swedish Comprehensive School Teachers

The overall aim of this study is to deepen our knowledge about the attitudes of teachers at the upper level of the Finland‐Swedish comprehensive school towards the treatment of culture in English foreign language (EFL) teaching. More specifically, the questions are how teachers interpret the concept “culture” in English foreign language teaching, how the cultural objectives are specified and what teachers do to attain these objectives. The study strives to reveal whether or not language teaching today can be described as intercultural in the sense that culture is taught with the aim of promoting intercultural understanding, tolerance and empathy. The empirical data consists of verbatim transcribed interviews with 13 Finland‐Swedish teachers of English at grades 7–9. The findings are presented according to three orientations. Within the cognitive orientation, “culture” is perceived as factual knowledge and the teaching of culture is defined in terms of the transmission of facts. The action‐related orientation sees “culture” as skills of a social and socio‐linguistic nature and the teaching aims at preparing students for future intercultural encounters. Within the affective orientation, “culture” is seen as a bi‐directional perspective. Students are encouraged to look at their own familiar culture from another perspective and learn to empathise with and show respect for otherness in general, not just concerning representatives of English‐speaking countries.     

Spirituality And The Body

Modern spirituality is still challenged by the age-old opposition between matter and spirit. But this traditional dualism has lost some of its sting because modern science itself has been forced to countenance the existence of invisible realities. This article presents some areas of contemporary life in which the spiritual is conspicuously entwined with the material even though the relationship often goes unnoticed. If spirituality can be helped to confront its own tacit acceptance of the material, then it may be possible to move toward a postmodern spirituality, one in which there will be less animosity against, and more acceptance of, the material dimensions of existence.     

Learning,Theories of Learning,and Units of Analysis in Research

Over the past decades research on learning has become more diverse and complex. The concern expressed by Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds (2009 Alexander, P. A., Schallert, D. L. and Reynolds, R. E. 2009. What is learning anyway? A topographical perspective considered. Educational Psychologist, 44: 176–192. this issue[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/this issue) is that this diversity of theoretical perspectives has resulted in a fragmentation that is destructive to the field. Although it is important to engage in explicit discussions of how learning is construed in different traditions, Alexander et al. do not give sufficient recognition to the significant epistemological and theoretical differences between traditions; differences that make them incompatible in important respects, for instance, with respect to their units of analysis. An acceptance of incompatibilities in perspectives is not necessarily a problem. In fact, such a situation may, if the debates are grounded in a mutual acceptance of the diverse manners in which knowing and learning may be theorized, give us a richer frame of reference from which to analyze learning in its various manifestations in complex societies.     

Current status of cadaver sources in Turkey and a wake‐up call for Turkish anatomists

Persisting difficulties in body procurement in Turkey led to the acquisition of donated, unclaimed, autopsied, and imported bodies regulated under current legislature. Yet, no study had investigated the extent of the on‐going cadaver problem. This study was aimed to outline cadaver sources in anatomy departments and their effectiveness by means of an online survey. Additionally, official websites of each department were investigated regarding any information on body donation. Unclaimed cadavers (84.8%) were the major source for anatomy departments, followed by donated (50%) and imported cadavers (39.1%). Foundation‐based medical faculties were more likely to import cadavers (P = 0.008). There was a moderate increase (r_s = 0.567; P = 0.018) in donation registrations to our department after 2000. The departments in cities with significantly higher City‐Based Gross Domestic Product measures (US$9,900 vs. US$16,772, P = 0.041), frequencies for mid‐ or high‐school graduates (30.4% vs. 31.3%, P = 0.041), and frequencies for under‐ or post‐graduates (13.1% vs. 15.8%, P = 0.24) had managed to use donated cadavers. Anatomy departments’ major reasons for using unclaimed cadavers were education (45.9%), unclaimed cadavers being the only source (24.3%), and receiving inadequate donations (21.6%). Nine out of seventy‐four departments (12.2%) provided information regarding body donation on their websites. Body procurement remains as a serious problem in Turkey and it is apparent that current legislature does not provide a sufficient cadaver inflow. Similarly, anatomy departments’ effectiveness in public awareness of body donation and support in the National Body Donation Campaign seems questionable. Anat Sci Educ 11: 155–165. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Powerful Actor and Hesitant Institutionalization: The State in the History of Turkish Football

We examine the validity of the assumptions of the new institutional theory about the state over the history of national football league as an institutional field in Turkey. The state is not out of the field, on the contrary, at the centre of the field, and is not an ordinary actor but the most important one although the intensity of the state’s impact changes from time to time. Sometimes, the state founds the football clubs and administrates them directly, decides who will be the champion; and sometimes, authorizes the regulative agency and gives autonomy. However, despite the state’s coercive power on the ground, the Turkish football field is still far from being fully institutionalized with its fluctuating structure.     

Effectiveness of Conceptual Change Text-oriented Instruction on Students’ Understanding of Energy in Chemical Reactions

The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of conceptual change text instruction (CCT) in the context of energy in chemical reactions. The subjects of the study were 60, 10th grade students at a high school, who were in two different classes and taught by the same teacher. One of the classes was randomly selected as the experimental group in which CCT instruction was applied, and the other as the control group in which traditional teaching method was used. The data were obtained through the use of Energy Concept Test (ECT), the Attitude Scale towards Chemistry (ASC) and Science Process Skill Test (SPST). In order to find out the effect of the conceptual change text on students’ learning of energy concept, independent sample t-tests, ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) and ANOVA (analysis of variance) were used. Results revealed that there was a statistically significant mean difference between the experimental and control group in terms of students’ ECT total mean scores; however, there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of students’ attitude towards chemistry. These findings suggest that conceptual change text instruction enhances the understanding and achievement.     

Institute notes

International Review of Education -