The Place of the Philosophy of Science in the Curriculum of the Physics Student

Science &; Education -     

Mathematics entrance examinations in Chinese institutions of higher education

For thousands of years examinations have set the standards for education in China. While in traditional China, examinations were humanistic in their outlook and mediated against scientific studies, in the Peoples Republic of China, the opposite situation exists. The examination system, as now carried out in the PRC, stresses the sciences, particularly mathematics. This paper examines the format and contents of recent mathematics papers set for the Chinese University Entrance Examinations and raises some issues concerning the efficacy of the examination process itself, and the mathematics it advocates, in meeting the developmental needs of the Chinese state.     

ATEE Interactive Co-ordination and Educational Monitoring of Socrates Comenius Action 3 Projects

The Comenius Action 3 courses were well accepted and showed high quality. But we need a structure for easily monitoring and evaluating these projects. The authors present in this article a pilot project with this purpose. It should be useful in order to implement a system of co-ordination and communication among the different projects, and to evaluate their effectiveness. It also seems essential in order to determine that the EU funds are well invested in projects that fulfil the objective of enhancing and strengthening the European dimension among teachers and teacher trainers.     

Building bridges across fields, universities, and countries: Successfully funding communication research through interdisciplinary collaboration

Even though there are few directorates explicitly dedicated to communication research at places like the National Science Foundation, there are significant opportunities for funding of interdisciplinary research on "communication problems." This article informally shares some principles, rules of thumb, and ideas about funding communication technology research projects, though it applies to other areas as well. The article draws on the experience of the communication technology research experience at the international, cross-university, and interdisciplinary network of Media Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) Labs.     

Selection on the Road to a Career: Evidence of Personality Sorting in Educational Choice

In this study we investigate whether the process of Attraction, Selection and Attrition as described by Schneider (1987) is already operative prior to labor market entry, i.e., in the educational phase of careers. We focused on selection with regard to the locus of control personality trait because of its firm conceptual and empirical relevance in both content and process of choice. Specific hypotheses were proposed as to the sorting of different personality types in study programs leading to different prospective professional careers. The study was carried out in a sample of 158 Austrian students. We found strong support for our hypotheses in that (1) personality predicted specific study choices and (2) personality predicted different levels of rationality in the choice process. In addition, the findings also suggest that tighter matches between personality and study programs could be observed for students making rational choices. The results indicate support for the validity of the ASA model in educational choice, provided the use of meaningful individual differences. Several promising avenues for future research are identified.