GRADE SKIPPING: SOME GERMAN EXPERIENCES

After many years of neglect, the subject of giftedeness as a topic of research has once again received more attention in German speaking countries since the end of the 1970s. The somewhat hesitant, systematic study of highly gifted children and adolescents, especially the question of how to identify and encourage them, was accompanied over the years by controversial and exhaustive educational policy debates. Emphasis on aspects such as equality of opportunity and elitist education has, inter alia, contributed considerably to the fact that the interests of gifted children–even if discussions have aroused increasing public interest, i.e. discussion of giftedness has became socially acceptable — have only slowly begun to be emphasized. It is probably for this reason that little attention has been paid to grade skipping. The students in the present study who skipped a grade coped as a group quite well with work in the higher grade, depite a low level of support from the schools.     

Instructional implications of text processing research

Basic theoretical approaches in the history of text comprehension research have been reviewed and compared to their instructional implications: readability research, comprehensibility research, traditional psycholinguistics, traditional elementaristic models of text processing, and new holistic models of text processing. Contrary to a sceptical view, which denies the practical instructional relevance of text comprehension research, recommendations for instructional design can be shown to be closely related to specific theoretical perspectives. Especially in the last years important advances in research have taken place which have considerably changed our picture of text comprehension. The more refined understanding of text processing implies more differentiated and specific recommendations for instructional design, which go far beyond everyday knowledge about text comprehension. This is illustrated on the basis of new holistic theoretical approaches combined with the notion of procedural semantics. The instructional value of the new theories on text processing is seen in their heuristic function. They provide new perspectives on instructional problems and suggest new ways of thinking. Thus, they are a basis for attaining a more comprehensive and differentiated analysis and, thus, for better founded instructional decisions.     

Towards mapping library and information science

In an earlier study by the authors, full-text analysis and traditional bibliometric methods were combined to map research papers published in the journal Scientometrics. The main objective was to develop appropriate techniques of full-text analysis and to improve the efficiency of the individual methods in the mapping of science. The number of papers was, however, rather limited. In the present study, we extend the quantitative linguistic part of the previous studies to a set of five journals representing the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). Almost 1000 articles and notes published in the period 2002–2004 have been selected for this exercise. The optimum solution for clustering LIS is found for six clusters. The combination of different mapping techniques, applied to the full text of scientific publications, results in a characteristic tripod pattern. Besides two clusters in bibliometrics, one cluster in information retrieval and one containing general issues, webometrics and patent studies are identified as small but emerging clusters within LIS. The study is concluded with the analysis of cluster representations by the selected journals.     

The logics of study abroad programmes and their impacts

Study abroad programmes are characterized, in contrast to individual mobility of students across borders, by a particular set of established arrangements for foreign study between institutions of higher education, namely an ongoing, regular exchange of students; an organisational and educational infrastructure which supports the study experience; and provisions that successful study for some period abroad is at least partially recognized as a substitute for study at the home institution. The paper compares different models of, or approaches to, study abroad programmes and examines the effects of the different types of programmes. The paper draws on an extensive cross-national analysis of study abroad programmes, the Study Abroad Evaluation Project, addressing various support schemes by the European Community and national governments as well as programmes and students from British, French, German, Swedish and U.S. institutions of higher education. Findings show that there are certain logics of study abroad promotion programmes and of national modal types of programmes which shape the goals, attitudes of participants, experiences abroad, and the outcomes of the programmes to a large extent. However, significant exceptions can be pointed out: students themselves might opt for contrasting educational experiences abroad not strongly emphasized in their programme; students might report substantial problems abroad though strong administrative and academic support is provided, recognition of study abroad upon return might remain limited even though students consider their academic progress abroad as higher than that during a corresponding period at their home institution.This study was supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. It was presented at the International Seminar on Higher Education and the Flow of Foreign Students, convened by the Hochschul-Informations-System, with support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Science and the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Arts in Hannover, Germany on 26th–28th April 1990.     

An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students' understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline

Although understandings of scientific inquiry (as opposed to conducting inquiry) are included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandings about scientific inquiry. However, a valid and reliable assessment has recently been developed and published, Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI; Lederman et al. [2014], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–83). The purpose of this large-scale international project was to collect the first baseline data on what beginning middle school students have learned about scientific inquiry during their elementary school years. Eighteen countries/regions spanning six continents including 2,634 students participated in the study. The participating countries/regions were: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mainland China, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. In many countries, science is not formally taught until middle school, which is the rationale for choosing seventh grade students for this investigation. This baseline data will simultaneously provide information on what, if anything, students learn about inquiry in elementary school, as well as their beginning knowledge as they enter secondary school. It is important to note that collecting data from all of the approximately 200 countries globally was not humanly possible, and it was also not possible to collect data from every region of each country. The results overwhelmingly show that students around the world at the beginning of grade seven have very little understandings about scientific inquiry. Some countries do show reasonable understandings in certain aspects but the overall picture of understandings of scientific inquiry is not what is hoped for after completing 6 years of elementary education in any country.     

Developmental relationship between declarative metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension during secondary school

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Knowledge about one’s own cognitive processes is the basis for the monitoring and regulation of learning processes for effective reading...     

The effects of summary production and encoding condition on children��s metacognitive monitoring

Two studies were conducted to investigate whether context variations were suitable to improve metacognitive judgments in children in a complex, everyday memory task. In the first phase of each experiment, participants were shown a short event (video) and gave judgments-of-learning (JOLs), that is, rated their certainty that they would later be able to recall specific details correctly. In the second phase of the experiments, participants took part in a memory interview about the memory event and gave confidence judgments (CJs), that is, rated their certainty that the provided answers to the memory questions were correct. Study 1 specifically investigated the potential positive influence of giving a verbal summary before the JOL-interview on metacognitive monitoring, whereas Study 2 had a closer look on the effect of intentional versus non-intentional encoding on JOL and CJ accuracy. Results revealed no significant influence of giving a summary and hardly any effect of encoding condition on metamemory monitoring although children from age 6 on showed adequate monitoring performance. JOL accuracy appears to be a complex process, which is even more difficult to influence in children than in adults.     

Reduction of mental distress in the dissection course by introducing the body donor experience through anatomical demonstrations of organ systems

The practice of dissection teaches students not only the foundations of anatomical knowledge but also encourages the development of professional competencies. Yet, the dissection of cadavers in the gross anatomy course can be a stress factor for medical students. There are a minor proportion of students who demonstrate strong emotional reactions in anticipation of being confronted with a cadaver. Therefore, in 2008, the authors implemented a voluntary course entitled, “Anatomical demonstrations of organ systems” (AD‐OS) in advance of the dissection course to ease this psychological burden. The question of whether attendees of AD‐OS showed less mental distress at the start of the dissection course compared with those that had not or only infrequently visited AD‐OS was addressed. AD‐OS attendees assessed their expected mental distress using a five‐point Likert scale before starting the dissection course and a second time at the end of their first day, after they had been confronted with a cadaver. AD‐OS was evaluated as excellent and the majority of students participated actively during teaching sessions. Overall, female students showed higher levels of mental distress. AD‐OS attendees assessed themselves as being less burdened by mental distress than members of the control group. Longitudinal analysis revealed that students who visited AD‐OS showed a marked decrease of their mental distress level, comparing prospective and retrospective ratings. This was significantly (P < 0.001; Z = ?6.061) different from nonattendees or those who visited AD‐OS only infrequently. AD‐OS satisfied its intended teaching goals and proved that a step‐by‐step introduction of dissection through anatomical demonstrations helped to reduce the mental distress of students. Future studies are planned to measure mental distress with objective instruments. Anat Sci Educ © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Stichwort: Alter

Ohne Zusammenfassung Ich danke Gertrud BACKES für eine konstruktive Diskussion des Textes, au?erdem den (anonymen) Gutachtern für hilfreiche Anmerkungen und kritische Kommentare.