The quotidianisation of the war in everyday life at German schools during the First World War

Abstract

The outbreak of the First World War had a powerful impact on German schools. Undoubtedly, schools were institutions of socialisation that did offer support to the war. Indeed, research has shown that a specific “war pedagogy” made an aggressive propaganda possible in the classroom. This research usually emphasises the enthusiasm for war that swept up teachers and students in schools, as in the rest of the population, in the first few months of the war. However, this emphasis on the war frenzy obscures the fact that schools were not easily transformed into war institutions. Even if schools made a great effort to align themselves with the war effort, they remained independent associations, and soon after 1914, a quotidianisation (akin to routinisation) arose within the schools. To date, source materials that show this lack of influence of wartime propaganda on schools have only been analysed in terms of what they reveal about the deprivations and hardships of schools during the war. However, records from the schools also shed light on the everyday routines that continued during the war, and such evidence calls on scholars to reconsider the conditions in schools in the First World War. This article analyses selected records including school chronicles and exam protocols from the war years and shows that school life was often distinct from war enthusiasm. A more complex view is therefore advocated of the relationship between the First World War and the German school.     

“You can't make this a science!” — Analyzing decision support systems in political contexts

This paper reports on problems and conflicts encountered when using decision support systems (DSS) in political contexts. Based on a literature study and two case studies we describe problems encountered in relation not only to the DSS itself, but also to the political decision process. The case studies have been carried out in two cities in Sweden that at different times but in similar situations have used DSS in order to reach a decision in complicated and contested matters. In both cases we have previously found that the method and IT tool used for decision analysis were appreciated by most participants, but the inherent rationality of the DSS was in conflict with how participants usually make decisions as well as with the political process. The assumption was that a strict and open method would make grounds for clear decisions, but the results of the decision process were none of the cases implemented. In one case the result of the decision analysis was that no clear decision was made. In the other case the lowest ranked alternative was implemented. Furthermore, in neither city the method was ever used again. We therefore ask: What are the challenges and limitations to using DSS in political contexts? Our study shows that challenges relate to selecting and using criteria; eliciting weights for criteria (high level of subjectivity); understanding all the amount of facts available in the system; time constraints; and lack of impact on the final decision. This study contributes to both research and practice by increasing the understanding of what challenges are experienced in DSS use, since the findings can be used as a framework of challenges that should be addressed, in design of systems as well as method for use. The study also contributes to understanding the role of politicians in decision-making and the consequences for the use of DSS. Further, the literature study showed that there are overall very few studies on the actual use of DSS in a political context, and we therefore conclude by encouraging more studies reporting actual use.     

技术和职业教育与培训教师教育:追求创新与卓越

为了促进技术和职业教育与培训教师教育更好的发展，我们需要创新。在欧盟委员会，进入21世纪以来，就开始为技术和职业教育与培训建立共同的政策框架。     

Knowledge Construction in Wikipedia: A Systemic-Constructivist Analysis

We propose a systemic-constructivist perspective for analyzing knowledge construction. In contrast to theories that focus on individuals as actors, the systemic-constructivist approach emphasizes the relevance of social systems and regards the construction of knowledge as a self-referential process that takes place in social systems. We propose that it is the system that defines what is accepted as legitimate knowledge and thus shapes individuals’ behavior. We present this approach and its implications by providing a case study of knowledge construction in Wikipedia. We analyzed the article about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant shortly after the nuclear catastrophe unfolded. There was a flood of highly uncertain information circulating, which the social system Wikipedia had to deal with and make meaning of. We obtained a group of very diverse people who largely lacked specific background education on the topic but accomplished the collaborative creation of an article that was later considered by experts to be of high quality. By interpreting these occurrences as operations of a social system, we aim to extend the theoretical basis of the learning sciences with an approach that emphasizes systems and their structures instead of individuals or groups. We discuss how this perspective may contribute to understanding collaborative knowledge construction.     

Wie lässt sich die Experimentierstrategie-Nutzung fördern?

Pupils display a production deficiency within self-regulated learning arrangements using experimentation. Available strategy-knowledge does not result in an effective strategy use. This may be due to a lack of metacognitive capabilities and motivation. These aspects should be supported, then, in order to foster strategy use. Providing prompts is a promising method. The question is how to design them to optimal effect. Two characteristics were investigated in an experimental study, namely the adaptability of prompts and their combination with strategy-related feedback. 93 pupils in year 9 experienced self-regulated learning in a computer-based experiment setting. There was a control group and three experimental groups with non-adaptive prompts, adaptive prompts or a combination of feedback and adaptive prompts, respectively. The dependent variables were the extent of using a strategy for experimentation and pupils’ motivation. Benefits for use of strategy were only observed for the group with a combination of feedback and adaptive prompts. The learners in this group remained also more strongly motivated than in the other groups.     

EURELIOS,the world's first thermomechanical helioelectric power plant

Because of the sheer magnitude—ten thousand times greater than the world's present power requirements—solar energy has long seemed an attractive alternative to conventional sources of power. As this appraisal—based on the world's first helioelectric power plant, in Italy—makes clear, however, there are major problems in the generation of solar energy in Europe, especially in northern parts. A more feasible alternative may be for installations to be established in Third World countries—with abundant space and intense sunshine—and the energy exported in the form of an energy-rich fuel such as hydrogen.     

A path analytic test of the reading strategies mediation model: Relating cognitive competences and motivational influences to individual differences in fifth-grade students' reading comprehension

This study examined a theoretical model hypothesizing that reading strategies mediate the effects of intrinsic reading motivation, reading fluency, and vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension. Using path analytic methods, we tested the direct and indirect effects specified in the hypothesized model in a sample of 1105 fifth-graders. In addition to standardized tests and questionnaires, we administered a performance test to assess students' proficiency in the application of three reading strategies. The overall fit of the model to the data was good. Both cognitive (fluency and vocabulary) and motivational (intrinsic reading motivation) variables had an indirect effect on reading comprehension through their influence on reading strategies. Reading strategies had a unique effect on reading comprehension and partially mediated the effects that cognitive and motivational variables had on fifth-graders' reading achievements.     

Kritische Anmerkungen zur Entwicklung der Gesamtschule in Österreich

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