Climate change education: quantitatively assessing the impact of a botanical garden as an informal learning environment

Although informal learning environments have been studied extensively, ours is one of the first studies to quantitatively assess the impact of learning in botanical gardens on students' cognitive achievement. We observed a group of 10th graders participating in a one-day educational intervention on climate change implemented in a botanical garden. The students completed multiple-choice questionnaires in a pre-post-retention test design. Comparing the test scores revealed a significant short-term knowledge gain as well as a long-term knowledge gain. Consequently, our results show the potentials of botanical gardens as effective learning environments, and for complementing formal school-based learning settings regarding climate change education.     

Drawing digital pictures: An investigation of primary pupils’ representations of ICT and schools

The relatively restricted nature of children's use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) inside the school setting has long been noted by researchers. With this in mind, this article offers a grounded analysis of drawings collected from 355 primary pupils (years three to six) from five English primary schools depicting desired future forms of school ICT provision. The article contends that the nature and content of these future orientated pictures reflect many of the tensions underlying children's current engagements with ICTs in school. Specifically the article discusses how the drawings offer valuable insights into the issues underlying pupils’ understandings of ICT and schools, not least: the restrictions of the school as organisation; the oppositional relationship between the ‘work’ of learning in school and the ‘play’ of using digital media at home; the unequal power relations that exist between pupils, schools and teachers. The article concludes that rather than accede to demands for free and unfettered use of game consoles and portable devices in the classroom, schools should instead concentrate on fostering informed dialogues with young people about the potential educational benefits of school ICT use.     

Le lancement des projectiles

Sans résumé     

Understanding student learning in context: relationships between university students’ social identity,approaches to learning,and academic performance

This research focuses on understanding how socio-psychological dimensions such as student social identity and student perceptions of their learning community affect learning at university. To do this, it integrates ideas from phenomenographic research into student learning with ideas from research on social identity. In two studies (N = 110, and N = 97) the relationships between student social identity, perceptions of the learning community, approaches to learning, and academic performance were explored. Our findings suggest that a strong student social identity is associated with a deep approach to learning, which in turn is linked to higher academic performance. Also, perceptions of learning community mediate the relationship between student social identity and deep approaches to learning. Significantly, a surface approach turns out not to be associated with student social identity or perceptions of the learning community, but it is negatively related to academic performance. Our research argues for the value of an integration of complementary frameworks, emphasising social and psychological aspects of the learning experience that can be used to improve our understanding of how and why students vary in the quality of their learning.     

The effect of student aid on the duration of study

In this paper I evaluate the effect of student aid on the success of academic studies. I focus on two dimensions, the duration of study and the probability of actually graduating with a degree. To determine the impact of financial student aid, I estimate a discrete-time duration model allowing for competing risks to account for different exit states (graduation and dropout) using individual level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1984-2007. My findings suggest that the duration of study is responsive to the type of financial support a student receives. There are three main results. First, student aid recipients finish faster than comparable students who are supported by the same amount of parental/private transfers only. Second, although higher financial aid does on average not affect the duration of study, this effect is (third) dominated by the increased probability of actually finishing university successfully.     

The Development of Scientific Thinking in Elementary School: A Comprehensive Inventory

The development of scientific thinking was assessed in 1,581 second, third, and fourth graders (8‐, 9‐, 10‐year‐olds) based on a conceptual model that posits developmental progression from naïve to more advanced conceptions. Using a 66‐item scale, five components of scientific thinking were addressed, including experimental design, data interpretation, and understanding the nature of science. Unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory analyses supported the instrument's reliability and validity and suggested that the multiple components of scientific thinking form a unitary construct, independent of verbal or reasoning skills. A partial credit model gave evidence for a hierarchical developmental progression. Across each grade transition, advanced conceptions increased while naïve conceptions decreased. Independent effects of intelligence, schooling, and parental education on scientific thinking are discussed.     

Primary School Children's Understanding of Municipal Waste Processing

The basic features and goals of environmental education incorporated into curricula for primary and lower secondary education in Slovenia are discussed. In this preliminary study we have attempted to establish a hypothesis about Slovene children's understanding of concepts relating to the problem of waste. For this purpose we tested 2nd‐5th grade pupils of elementary schools in the state capital and its surroundings. In the 2nd and 3rd grades children generally define waste, at the concrete level (by enumerating types of waste; they mention paper, glass, food waste. metals and plastics); only later, in the 4th and 5th grades, are the children able to make generalisations by defining waste according to various properties and waste recyclability. The test findings show that waste processing products, e.g. compost and recycled paper, are not well known. The children tested were unable to link these two products with the source of waste generation. In spite of the fact that school children are encouraged to collect paper, the purpose of this activity is not well enough explained; likewise with compost, even though its use is widespread. Instead of having the emphasis only on the emotional component of environmental education, Slovene children should be taught about environmental problems which are part of our everyday life.