Teaching for quality learning in chemistry

In Portugal, the number of students in higher education increased from 80,000 in 1975 to 381,000 in 2000 (a change from 11% to 53% in the age group 18–22), meaning a major change in the diversity of student population with consequences well known and studied in other countries. The teaching of chemistry at the University of Aveiro, for the first‐year students of science and engineering, has been subjected to continuous attention to implement quality and student‐centred approaches. The work devoted to excellence and deep learning by several authors has been carefully followed and considered. This communication reports research work on chemistry teaching, associated with those developments for first‐year students. The work included the design of strategies and the adoption of teaching and learning activities exploring ways to stimulate active learning by improving the quality of classroom interactions. In addition to regular lectures, large classes' teaching based on student‐generated questions was explored. In order to improve students' motivation and stimulate their curiosity, conference‐lectures were adopted to deal with selected topics of wide scientific, technological and social interest. Quantitative analysis and discussion of selected case studies, together with the organization of laboratory classes based on selected enquiry‐based experiments, planned and executed by students, stimulated deep learning processes. A sample of 32 students was followed in the academic year of 2000/01 and the results obtained are here discussed in comparison with those of a sample of 100 students followed in 2001/02. Particular attention was paid to the quality of classroom interactions, the use of questions by students and their views about the course design.     

Technology in education: Research and development in the project ‘Physics and Technology’

Summaries

English

The diagnosis of pupils’ misconceptions and the identification of reasons for such misconceptions must be considered the prerequisite for helping the pupils to develop correct scientific conceptions. In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate student teachers’ competency to diagnose pupils’ answers for possible misconceptions. It was found that student teachers are, by and large, not capable of making appropriate diagnoses of misconceptions. In view of this, it is suggested that in science teacher‐training programmes specific training activities be included which are designed to develop the desired diagnostic competence.     

Contextualising Learning through the Participatory Construction of an Environmental Education Programme

Strengthening links between school and community is critical for improving people’s participation in environmental issues. However, Mexican education programmes are generally unrelated to rural students’ life experience and are planned without considering either teachers’ or students’ opinions. This article describes the participatory construction of a preparatory school environmental education (EE) programme in Ixtlan de Juarez, a Mexican indigenous community internationally recognised for sustainable forest management. The qualitative research methods used are based on the action research methodology. Results from interviews conducted with the preparatory school’s headmaster, the coordinator, and nine teachers provided the needed documentation of the school site for contextualising learning activities. Feedback during focus groups with six students, three teachers, five local communal authorities, and two researchers highlighted that all participants perceived the need for creating an educational programme focused on local forest management. The contents and activities of the programme were designed by the focus group’s participants. The programme has been continuously taught by teachers and forest workers since 2005 and was officially integrated with the preparatory school science curriculum in 2006. This participative educational experience has thus transformed the mandatory school curriculum in Ixtlan.     

Measuring the local economic impact of universities: an approach that considers uncertainty

The contribution of universities to society is due to the effects generated both in the supply and in the demand side, the latter being associated with the injection of demand as a result of the activities these institutions carry out. This paper focuses on the impact of the demand side by designing a methodology based on Monte Carlo simulations so as to introduce stochastic elements in calculating the economic impact of universities. We apply this methodology to the case of Valencian public universities, introducing stochastic elements in all the elements which imply assumptions with uncertainty. The results highlight the importance of considering uncertainty by generating multipliers which can vary around the average value by 18 % in the case of output and employment, and 10 % in the case of income.     

Regulatory autonomy and performance: the reform of higher education re-visited

The main aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of organizational autonomy and control in higher education reform and related expectations as regards the performance of universities. Our analyses draws on principal-agent models as a normative theory of policy reform, and institutionalist approaches in public policy and institutional design as an analytical theory of policy reform. We discuss how the dominant narrative of political reform moves away from traditional beliefs in university autonomy that are built on institutional trust and linked to professional autonomy. In the emerging narrative of political change, autonomy becomes re-defined as the ‘new organizational autonomy’ of universities as both strategic actors and as an addressee of governmental control. The concept of ‘regulatory autonomy’ captures the use of organizational autonomy of universities as a tool of a new regime of governmental control. Exemplified by the Dutch case, we analyze autonomy policies for strengthening managerial discretion and internal control of universities that are combined with regulatory policies for external control that steer organizational choices. Regulatory autonomy thus aims at aligning universities more closely with governmental goals and improve respective performance. Our literature review shows, however, that there is scarce, inconclusive and methodologically problematic evidence for a link between ‘organizational autonomy and performance’. We point at promising avenues for further research on autonomy and performance as two core concepts in the contemporary higher education debate.     

Educación formal y acciones de agrupación y memoria en adultos: Un estudio microgenético

Resumen

Se estudió la influencia de la educación formal en el empleo de acciones de agrupación y memoria en sujetos adultos. El trabajo tenía una doble perspectiva, transversal y microgenética. Los sujetos pertenecían a tres niveles educativos y se les estudió a lo largo de cuatro días, en dos pruebas de memorización y recuerdo y una prueba de categorization dirigida intercalada entre las anteriores. Los resultados mostraron la influencia esperada de la escolarización en el empleo de acciones de agrupación y memoria así como cambios a lo largo de las sesiones en el grupo intermedio. La interpretación de los resultados se basó en las nociones de subordinación de acciones mentales y de descontextualización de los instrumentos de mediación.     

Las aportaciones de la psicología al estudio de los procesos educativos

RESUMEN

Se plantea el problema de la utilización, en situaciones educativas concretas, de los datos surgidos de la investigación de la psicología de la educación. Actualmente existen tres posturas diferenciadas: 1) la hipótesis de la extrapolación-traducción, según la cual los datos de la investigación estrictamente psicológica pueden ser extrapolados o traducidos a la situación educativa; 2) la hipótesis de la independencia, para la cual la psicología de la educación es un área completamente independiente de las áreas tradicionales de investigación psicológica; y 3) la hipótesis de interdependencia-interacción, que propone la utilización de los conocimientos generales para mejorar la enseñanza, teniendo siempre en cuenta el conjunto de variables específicas de la situación educativa. Esta última es la perspectiva que defienden los autores.     

Un plan comarcal de servicios psicopedagógicos comunitarios

RESUMEN

Con la creación del plan de servicios educativos en la comarca del Deva (Guipúzcoa) se pretende dar respuesta a las múltiples necesidades educativas de la población escolar, especialmente aquellos que presentan dificultades de relación con su medio familiar, escolar o social. Asimismo se pretende realizar una labor educativa preventiva, investigadora y divulgativa con el fin de impulsar el cambio educativo y mejorar la calidad de la educación. El plan comprende cuatro áreas principales: de orientación y diagnóstico, de reeducación psicomotriz, de lenguaje y visual. El plan es controlado y gestionado comunitariamente por ayuntamientos, asociaciones y entidades educativas. Tras un año de vida ha supuesto una importante inversión para la comarca, tanto a nivel económico como de personal cualificado.