Effects of student anonymity-nonanonymity on the factor structure of a teacher rating form

Factor analysis of an instructor rating form administered to three successive student and teacher populations revealed a reasonably consistent factor structure across analyses. In one of the three administrations, students were asked to sign the evaluation form; in this case, substantial changes in proportions of common variance appeared for the first two factors when comparing anonymous versus nonanonymous conditions. Results are discussed in terms of methods for use of student ratings to improve instruction.     

Addressing Factors Affecting Ongoing Professional Development in Community Teachers’ Colleges in Papua New Guinea

The concept of sustainable professional development in the context of community teachers’ colleges in Papua New Guinea is reviewed, with particular reference to the Papua New Guinea Community Teachers’ College Lecturers’ Professional Development Project. Seven obstacles to sustaining professional development are described, and strategies are suggested for building on the achievements of the Project in relation to personal professional development of lecturers and the review of institutional programmes and procedures.     

Victim, perpetrator, family, and incident characteristics of infant and child homicide in the United States Air Force

OBJECTIVE: The present study describes factors related to fatal abuse in three age groups in the United States Air Force (USAF). METHOD: Records from 32 substantiated cases of fatal child abuse in the USAF were independently reviewed for 60 predefined factors. RESULTS: Males were over-represented in young child victims (between 1 year and 4 years of age) and child victims (between 4 years and 15 years of age) but not in infant victims (between 24 hours and 1 year of age). African-American infant victims and perpetrators were over-represented. Younger victims were more likely to have been previously physically abused by the perpetrator. Perpetrators were predominantly male and the biological fathers of the victims. Infant and young child perpetrators reported childhood abuse histories, while child perpetrators reported the highest frequency of mental health contact. Victims' families reported significant life stressors. Families of young child victims were more likely divorced, separated, or single. Incidents with infants and young children tended to occur without witnesses; incidents with child victims tended to have the victim's sibling(s) and/or mother present. Fatal incidents were more frequent on the weekend, in the home, and initiated by some family disturbance. CONCLUSIONS: Differences among groups in factors related to infant and child homicide across age groups may assist in the development of more tailored abuse prevention efforts and may also guide future investigations.     

Globalization and higher education in Southern California: views from the professoriate

In this study, faculty at institutions of higher education in Southern California were surveyed to determine the ways they interpret the effects of globalization dynamics upon their various teaching and research activities. Faculty in the state’s three higher education tiers spoke positively about the intellectual benefits to be gained by exposure to different worldviews made possible by an increasingly diverse faculty and student body. Divisions were noted among the different tiers, however, with respect to their disparate levels of engagement with the private sector. The private sector was seen as having a negative impact upon the public sector’s research agenda while simultaneously being embraced by faculty at the community colleges. Faculty at the research institutions were typically critical of the overarching neoliberal paradigm and spoke in political terms about the ways this largely economic‐efficiency model was reorienting their teaching and research roles.     

Michael Young and the curriculum field in South Africa

The paper addresses the question of what we should make of Michael Young’s recent work with respect to curriculum theory by considering the particular case of South African curriculum reform. The paper thus traces two trajectories: the evolution of Michael Young’s ideas over time and South African curriculum reform in the post-apartheid period. The paper shows how the two trajectories have run in parallel, not least because of Young’s ongoing involvement and interest in South Africa. Three broad periods in Young’s career are identified: the new sociology of education period; a middle period where he engaged in substantial policy work, focusing predominantly on the relation between schooling and the economy; and his social realist phase, where much of his work has focused on an educational notion of specialized knowledge: ‘powerful knowledge’. The possibilities and limitations of this notion as it has been taken up in the research literature, and in relation to the South African case, are explored.     

Investigating learning from informal sources: Listening to conversations and observing play in science museums

The knowledge that pupils bring to science lessons can come from many sources, including some that are deliberately educative and some that contain scientific information, although education is not necessarily their primary purpose. Museums provide a useful setting to investigate the process of learning from informal sources; samples of data obtained from listening to groups of people as they interact with different types of exhibit in the British Museum (Natural History), and from systematic observation of pupils investigating phenomena in the Discovery Room at the Parc de la Villette, illustrate the information that can be obtained.

     

Intercultural sensitization with synthetic cultures: Evaluation of a computer-based multimedia learning tool

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a new computer-based multimedia learning tool for intercultural sensitization that is based on synthetic cultures. The learning tool named “Culture Awareness Training” (CAT) is targeted at learners with few intercultural experiences, and its aim is to sensitize participants to cultural influences on behavior and to intercultural differences, and to enhance perspective taking. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the CAT. Study 1 (N = 107) showed that participation in the CAT led to higher intercultural awareness and higher intercultural interest compared to a control group. In Study 2 (N = 46), the CAT was compared to a simulation game for intercultural sensitization. Participants were students shortly before their stay abroad. Results showed that both the CAT and the classical simulation game enhanced participants’ cultural awareness.