Incest victims: inadequate help by professionals

Two surveys studied the inadequacies of professional assistance given to incest victims. In the investigation 130 professionals and 50 adult women victimized as children were interviewed. With respect to young, recent victims, the assistance given was hampered by institutional distrust, the inability of individual professionals to stop the ongoing incest, as well as the frequent breaking off of contact by the young girls themselves. The professionals who helped adult, former incest victims were hampered by shortcomings in knowledge and skills as well as their own emotional resistance. On the average, these adult victims consulted 3.5 professionals over many years. The "long march through the consultation rooms" and the various complaints of the women regarding the professionals are described. In conclusion, recommendations for improvement in assisting incest victims are suggested.     

Modeling small group learning

This article presents findings from an empirical study on the relations between the variables comprising learning mechanisms in small collaborative groups. Variables comprising the central learning mechanisms component were task related interactions, knowledge elaborations, and subjective estimation of knowledge acquisition. Student related determinants of the learning processes were dysfunctional behavior, and work group management. Tutor related determinants were tutor facilitative behavior(facilitation, questioning, and mini-lecturing), and tutor work group management. The selected variables were structured into a path model. The first question concerned the way the three variables comprising the learning mechanisms component are related to each other. We have contrasted mediation vs. addition hypothesis. The second question concerned the validity of the complete small group functioning model. In order to answer these questions we have constructed a questionnaire and administered it to 89 1st year medical students. Concerning the first question, the data were in accordance with the mediation hypothesis. Specific analyses showed that only the collaborative sequence type of task related interactions had positive effects on both knowledge elaborations and knowledge acquisition. In contrast the transfer of knowledge type of interactions had negative effects on the same variables. Test of the validity of the complete model showed a satisfactory model fit. Briefly, our findings suggest that a large proportion of collaborative sequences in the group, together with a low proportion of dysfunctional behavior and highly facilitative behavior of the tutor will lead to a high proportion of knowledge elaborations. Knowledge elaborations positively affect knowledge acquisition which is an important determinant of the student satisfaction and motivation.     

Spoilt for choice? Issues around the use and comparability of optional exam questions

For many years, question choice has been used in some UK public examinations, with students free to choose which questions they answer from a selection (within certain parameters). There has been little published research on choice of exam questions in recent years in the UK. In this article we distinguish different scenarios in which choice arises, explore the arguments for and against using optional questions, and exploit the item level data that has recently become available from on-screen marking of examinations to exemplify methods for investigating the (statistical) comparability of optional questions. We conclude that unless there is a very good reason for allowing question choice it should be avoided.     

Space matters: framing the New Zealand learning landscape

Learning Environments Research - Significant funding is devoted across the world to transforming traditional classrooms into flexible learning environments. These efforts are often...     

The dynamics of ethnic identity and student life

Students entering higher education need to integrate themselves into a new study community. Those coming from minority ethnic backgrounds may experience this phase more intensely since they may feel themselves to be different or consider that they are being treated differently. This article approaches ethnic identity as a dynamic concept. The differences characterizing students with varying ethnic self‐definitions are explored as subjective factors that are important for good study progress. Finally, study progress after one year is analyzed.     

Using three levels in design of effective teacher-education tasks: The case of promoting conflicts with intuitive understandings in probability

This paper describes a three-level framework (technical, domain, and generic) which enables some generalisability across mathematics topics for effective teacher–education (TE) task design. It argues that TE tasks which encompass these levels increase preservice and inservice teachers’ interest because they transcend the particular mathematical focus and pedagogical activity within the TE tasks and enable translation to classrooms (technical), enhance the success of student learning (domain), and facilitate transfer to other topics (generic). The paper then uses the levels to analyse an effective probability task (based on circular spinners) which involves cognitive conflict between formal and intuitive probability at all three levels, namely, with regard to facilitating non-random results (technical), differences between probabilistic and deterministic mathematics and area and set models (domain), and non-prototypic exemplars and validation in probability experiments (generic). The paper concludes with reference to the power of effective TE tasks in showing how connectivity of mathematics (e.g., fractions and probability) requires similar connectivity in pedagogy.     

The myth of The Phoenix: progressive education,migration and the shaping of the welfare state, 1985–2015

Abstract

Since the 1970s, many western welfare states have been subject both to increased migration and to a renewed interest in progressive education. The present article addresses the question of whether these two phenomena are related and how changing notions of the welfare state shape and are shaped by this relationship. To answer the question, we concentrate our attention on the case study of Ghent (Belgium), which from the 1970s onwards has been characterised not only by a growing ethnic diversity but also by a renewed interest in progressive educational initiatives. Drawing on oral history with key figures in the local educational field and research in school archives, this article indicates that progressive initiatives in the last few decades have indeed emerged as an answer to migration patterns. But whereas initial initiatives in the 1980s arose from an endeavour to cater for the migrant child, some recent initiatives arose from an attempt to exclude the same child.     

Activity Theory as a Framework for Analysing Knowledge Building

Content analyses of computer databases parsed into notes or ideas do not shed adequate light on the role of collaboration and the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environment in knowledge building; analysis of what is happening in the classroom and how students interpret that is also needed. This study used ethnographic methods to explore activity theory as an analytic framework for knowledge building, drawing from a class of Grade 4 students’ contributions to online and face-to-face discourse over a period of five months, as well as end-of-year interviews with the students. The analysis focuses on four issues: community; rules; mediating artefacts; and division of labour. The findings indicate how understanding such issues can lead to better understanding of collaboration and of the role of the online environment. The use of activity theory as a framework for improving pedagogy aimed at knowledge building is also outlined.