Evaluating the Effectiveness of Modelling-Oriented Workshops for Engineering Undergraduates in the Field of Thermally Activated Phenomena

Research in Science Education - Two 20-h modelling-based workshops focused on the explanation of thermally activated phenomena were held at the University of Palermo, Italy, during the Academic...     

Achieving extra‐genre rhetorical goals: Disarming expectations

This study employed turning point analysis to examine developing mentor relationships and the association between mentor relationships and individual‐organizational relationships. Graduate students from three communication departments reported turning points which they experienced during the early development of their mentor relationships. Findings indicated that many turning points occurred of which have previously been assumed to occur in later stages of relationship development. Some types of turning points were associated with greater changes in identification with the mentors. Others were associated with greater changes in identification with the departments. Results call broad phase models of mentor relational development into question. Secondly, results indicate that mentor relationships are not necessarily associated with individual‐organizational relationships. Mentor relationships, then, should not be assumed to benefit organizations.     

Learning to argue as a biotechnologist: disprivileging opposition to genetically modified food

In the public discussion of genetically modified (GM) food the representations of science as a social good, conducted in the public interest to solve major problems are being subjected to intense scrutiny and questioning. Scientists working in these areas have been seen to struggle for the position of science in society. However few in situ studies of how the debate about science appears in learning situations at the university level have been undertaken. In the present study an introductory course in biotechnology was observed during one semester, lectures and small group supervision concerning GM food were videotaped and student’s reports on the issue were collected. The ethnographic approach to Discourse analysis was conducted by means of a set of carefully selected and representative observations of how a group of students learn to argue and appropriate views held in the Discourse they are enculturated into. While socio-scientific issues (SSIs) are often associated with achieving scientific literacy in terms of “informed decisions” involving “rational thought and Discourse” this study shows that SSI in practice, in the context studied here, is primarily concerned with using scientific language to privilege professional understandings of GMOs and discredit public worries and concerns. Scientific claims were privileged over ethical, economical and political claims which were either made irrelevant or rebutted. The students were seen to appropriate a Discourse model held in the biotechnological community that public opposition towards GMO is due to “insufficient knowledge”. The present study offers insights into biotechnology students’ decision making regarding socio-scientific issues, while also demonstrating the utility of Discourse analysis for understanding learning in this university context. Implications for reflection on the institutional Discourse of science and teaching of controversial issues in science are drawn and the study contributes to the investigation of claims of scientific literacy coupled to SSIs and argumentation     

The Contribution of Vocational Education and Training to the Integration of Refugee Returnees in Vietnam

The paper reviews major developments in Vietnam over the past decades as it moves from a socialist to a market economy, focusing on the changing labour market situation, the present TVET system and its role in helping returned exiles find employment opportunities. It finds that, despite tremendous effort, only limited success was achieved and that the organisation and operation of the technical and vocational education system contributed only nominally to the reintegration of returnees into the labour market. The 1998 data for the research were drawn primarily from the findings of a survey of exiles repatriated in the 1990s. It was conducted by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) of Vietnam and by the European Community International Program for the Reintegration of Vietnamese Returnees (ECIP).     

Which US and European Higher Education Institutions are visible in ResearchGate and what affects their RG score?

While ResearchGate has become the most popular academic social networking site in terms of regular users, not all institutions have joined and the scores it assigns to academics and institutions are controversial. This paper assesses the presence in ResearchGate of higher education institutions in Europe and the US in 2017, and the extent to which institutional ResearchGate Scores reflect institutional academic impact. Most of the 2258 European and 4355 US higher educational institutions included in the sample had an institutional ResearchGate profile, with near universal coverage for PhD-awarding institutions found in the Web of Science (WoS). For non-PhD awarding institutions that did not publish, size (number of staff members) was most associated with presence in ResearchGate. For PhD-awarding institutions in WoS, presence in RG was strongly related to the number of WoS publications. In conclusion, a) institutional RG scores reflect research volume more than visibility and b) this indicator is highly correlated to the number of WoS publications. Hence, the value of RG Scores for institutional comparisons is limited.     

现代课程教学与教学认识论

教学认识论揭示了现代课程教学以传递和掌握系统的科学文化知识为核心的本质特征。现代课程教学虽然有许多缺陷,但在现代社会和现代人的发展中起着无可替代的重要作用。要以健全理性来改进、改善现代课程教学,而不是以非理性的态度颠覆它。课程教学论应开展多样化的研究,追求科学与人文的统一,理性与非理性的统一,提升课程教学在促进人的发展中的作用。     

The Organizational Tension of Othering

In this paper narratives submitted to this issue are reviewed and critiqued using the feminist lenses of othering and organizational irrationality. Four emergent themes in the narratives are identified and discussed, with the themes and the feminist critique of them used to provide a set of recommendations for developing researcher-IRB working relationships.