The Development of 8 mm. Film in Education

The world of education is greatly interested in possible ways of application of 8 mm. film.

Many questions will arise, now that we seem to be on the threshold of what might be called 'the 8 mm. era'. The situation with which we see ourselves confronted can be more or less compared with the period in which—next to silent film—sound film found its way into schools.     

Teacher perception of professional skills in a project-led engineering semester

This study explores the perceptions of teachers with regard to professional skills in project-led engineering education experiences for first year engineering students at the University of Minho, Portugal. Their perception on which professional skills to include, how to develop these skills and how to assess them is studied through six semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers of the first year programme, who served as tutors as well as teachers in at least four projects. Analysis of their perceptions reveals a strong commitment to professional skills for engineering students, and also a lack of confidence in the support they can offer to help students develop these skills.     

Poverty reduction and adult education: beyond basic education

One of the Millennium Development Goals declared by the United Nations in 2000 was to reduce by half the population of people living in extreme poverty, by 2015. Adult education can and should contribute significantly to this development goal. Nevertheless it has hardly been explored so far in the national Poverty Reduction Strategies Papers. In as far as attention has been given to the contribution of adult education to the reduction of poverty, the trend has been to focus on literacy or basic education. Nevertheless, adult education is potentially much more than literacy or basic education. Successful contribution of adult education to poverty reduction programmes includes also agricultural extension, vocational education, community development and training for active citizenship. In this introduction of the special issue of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, we will sketch the state of the art for each of these branches of adult education. Moreover, our central argument will be that developing countries do not only need a more extended system for adult education, but also a more flexible and more targeted system than the rather traditional practices in most developing countries.     

Attitudes toward multiculturalism of immigrants and majority members in the Netherlands

The current study examined the perceptions by Dutch natives and four immigrant groups (Surinamers, Antilleans, Turks, and Moroccans) on four topics relevant for the functioning of the Netherlands as a multicultural society: immigrants’ feelings of comfort in living in the Netherlands, their perceived discrimination, their cultural maintenance, and Dutch involvement with them. As predicted, Dutch natives estimated the immigrants’ view more accurately in a contact domain (perceived discrimination) than in a non-contact domain (feelings of comfort) and the attitude differences between Dutch natives and immigrants were smaller in a contact domain (Dutch involvement) than in a non-contact domain (cultural maintenance). The study also examined the relation between ethnic hierarchy (cultural distance), educational level, and experiences of the ethnic groups. Turks and Moroccans (who occupy a lower position in the Dutch ethnic hierarchy and are less schooled) reported less positive feelings and experiences in the Netherlands than Surinamers and Antilleans (who are higher in the ethnic hierarchy and are better schooled).     

The microgenetic emergence of cooperative play in 6-year-olds developmentally at-risk

Cooperative play was investigated by a controlled pre/post-test intervention design with 28 dyads of 6-year-old students developmentally at-risk. Selection was based upon cut-off scores on a language development test and a nonverbal IQ test, and same-sex pairs were matched within classrooms. Co-variables were: socio economic status, free play time in school and pedagogical quality of the classrooms. Each child was rated with respect to temperament. Play session 1 served as pretest for both research conditions. Then five play sessions of 20 min within 3 weeks took place in the experimental condition. Eight weeks after session 6 a play session took place in both research conditions serving as post-test. After microgenetic analyses of the data, ANCOVA's were computed of time played in collaboration, and proportion of pretend play and of deep collaboration. The results revealed that the level of collaboration had improved dramatically in the experimental condition only. Moreover, the findings showed that the length of time dyads spent cooperating, and how deeply they collaborated on tasks, was related to how agreeable and emotionally stable they were. Gender effects also came forward. No long-term intervention effects were found.     

An electronic workbook to study statistics: Design and evaluation

The present contribution focuses on an evaluation study in which a so‐called Electronic Workbook was designed, developed and experimentally implemented in the first‐year statistics course of the Faculty of Policy Sciences at the University of Nijmegen. The Electronic Workbook was developed as a potential solution to a four‐fold problem statement (study postponement by students, limited relevance of the course within the curriculum, lack of exploration possibilities, lack of insight into study progress by teachers). The Electronic Workbook was experimentally implemented as a regular part of the statistics course and evaluated during two consecutive academic years. The evaluation results show that students appreciated the possibility of active exploration provided by several types of support devices. They were fairly positive on being responsible for their own study activities. The aims — to gain insight into study progression and to meet the problem of study postponement ‐were achieved only to a limited degree in the first evaluation study. Due to some major changes in the educational set‐up of the second evaluation study, students were more actively and regularly engaged in the statistics course.