The research orientation of British universities

British universities differ considerably in the strength of their research orientation. Those of higher prestige tend to have a stronger orientation towards research, while those of lower prestige have a weaker research orientation, A university that is strongly research oriented in one group of subjects is likely to be so in the others it teaches too. It is the conventional wisdom that a good researcher is likely to be a good teacher at undergraduate level, and the negative relationship between the degree of research orientation and undergraduate wastage rates provides some slight support for this. The relationship between research and teaching seems to be more an indirect one (that anyone with the ability to do good research is likely to have the ability to teach well at university level) than a direct one (research makes a university teacher a better teacher).     

How Students’ Intellectual Orientations and Cognitive Reasoning Abilities and May Shape Their Perceptions of Good Teaching Practices

Research in Higher Education - Recent research has uncovered significant concerns about the validity of some types of college student self-reports. This study examines the extent to which student...     

The challenges facing library and information science journals: Editors' opinions

This study aimed to gather the opinions of editors of Library and Information Science journals indexed in Scopus and the Web of Knowledge regarding the current situation and their forecasts on open access, peer review procedures, functionalities, and specialization. The response rate was 23%, and some noteworthy conclusions can be drawn according to editors' opinions: Within 5–10 years, the main business model for journal publishing will be open access. Institutional support is the preferred source of financing. The review process requires less than 2 months, and the main problems are low quality of texts and finding reviewers. Functionalities such as mobile versions of the journals, social media, data policy, and altmetrics have yet to be exploited; interdisciplinarity will increase the presence of these functionalities in journals, especially through the influence of the related areas of Communication, Management, and Computer Science. Finally, the area that will see the most changes is the management of research data.     

A qualitative study of communication,cultural identity,and open defecation

Open defecation persists as a global health problem despite efforts to build and implement better toilets. Based on nine focus group meetings held across two communities in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, this study shows that open defecation is a symbolic practice contributing to social and cultural identity formation. Major themes were derived regarding the positives and negatives of open defecation and latrine use. Open defecation was considered as a means for social communication, particularly for girls and women, and not necessarily as a healthier practice. Issues of politics and class relations emerged, with lower caste people expressing the lack of or poor quality toilets. Yet the persistence of historical and cultural identity played a part in people’s preference to go out to the field to defecate, especially for women to sustain their social connectedness and men to sustain their masculine identity. These cultural and communication aspects of open defecation should be considered in ongoing sanitation movements.     

A Strategy for Reviewing the Role of Educational Television in Infants' Schools

Minimal consideration has been given to the function of educational television in the education of young children. Teachers have to overcome habits adopted with children's home viewing, and rationalize how television can be part of the curriculum before efficacy materializes. This does not appear to be happening with many infants' school teachers. Educational television broadcasts do not seem to be used as an ongoing teaching element to stimulate experiences beyond children's normal school activities. The entire blame cannot be attributed to the teachers for they have been given little guidance on the use of educational television during initial training or in subsequent in-service provisions, and in curriculum theory. It is necessary therefore to collect and analyse carefully information about the effects of educational television on infants' school children and the conditions which appear to influence whether or not it is educationally effective, but this cannot be done until a satisfactory monitoring procedure is established.     

Associations between school climate and student life satisfaction: resilience and bullying as mediating factors

Learning Environments Research - Because adolescent life satisfaction is associated with important affective, behavioural and health-related outcomes during both adolescence and later life,...     

Forms of Knowledge in Mathematics and Mathematics Education: Philosophical and Rhetorical Perspectives

New forms of mathematical knowledge are growing in importance for mathematics and education, including tacit knowledge; knowledge of particulars, language and rhetoric in mathematics. These developments also include a recognition of the philosophical import of the social context of mathematics, and are part of the diminished domination of the field by absolutist philosophies. From an epistemological perspective, all knowledge must have a warrant and it is argued in the paper that tacit knowledge is validated by public performance and demonstration. This enables a parallel to be drawn between the justification of knowledge, and the assessment of learning. An important factor in the warranting of knowledge is the means of communicating it convincingly in written form, i.e., the rhetoric of mathematics. Skemp's concept of logical understanding anticipates the significance of tacit rhetorical knowledge in school mathematics. School mathematics has a range of rhetorical styles, and when one is used appropriately it indicates to the teacher the level of a student's understanding. The paper highlights the import of attending to rhetoric and the range of rhetorical styles in school mathematics, and the need for explicit instruction in the area.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Students’ perceptions of the learning environment in tertiary science classrooms in Myanmar

We investigated students’ perceptions of their science classroom environments with the use of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire at the university level in Myanmar. The translated questionnaire was administered to 251 students in first-year science classes at a university. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported the reliability and factorial validity of the Myanmar version of the WIHIC. The constructs of the WIHIC were significantly correlated, but gender differences were not detected in correlations between WIHIC scales. Future research is needed to see if our Myanmar version of the WIHIC fits other samples in schools and universities in this context. It is also suggested that future studies include measures of student attitudes and academic achievement to permit investigation of associations between the learning environment and student outcomes in this country.     

Structural relationships between learning environments and students’ non-cognitive outcomes: secondary analysis of PISA data

Relationships between students’ perceptions and their non-cognitive outcomes (epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy and attitudes to science) were investigated through secondary analysis of data from 14,167 United Arab Emirates students who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Structural equation modeling (SEM) suggested that students’ perceptions of the learning environment were related to the non-cognitive outcomes of epistemological beliefs, self-efficacy and attitudes. Also, epistemological beliefs were found to have a statistically-significant and positive relationship with self-efficacy and attitudes, and self-efficacy was significantly related to attitudes.