Faculty attitudes toward industrial research on campus

To gauge the attitudes of university faculty concerning the effect of corporate funding on campus research norms, we conducted a study of research faculty in Texas, employing the theoretical framework proposed by Alvin Gouldner. Gouldner theorized that the most privileged academics hold the most conservative social and academic views. In his view, the most highly research-oriented faculty—those who are senior, engaged in professional activities, and in important and secure positions—have careerist values that influence the reward system for other sociologists. These gatekeepers control professional dogma, and by means of editorships, board memberships, and other professional peer judgments establish normative behavior for the discipline. By analogy, natural scientists who compete successfully for research grants are in a position of having the most to gain by the status quo, and hence are very conservative; their own success convinces this elite tier of faculty that a meritocracy is at work. Several of our findings corroborated Gouldner's thesis, particularly in the convergence of ideologies between junior and senior faculty, and the higher propensity of scientists to support applied research. Finally, the impact of disciplinary orientation, as opposed to faculty rank or appointment, is discussed with a view to subsequent research.     

Examining professional learning and the preparation of professionally competent teachers in initial teacher education

The relative contributions of higher education and schools, and hence the conceptual and practical aspects of ITE, to student teachers’ professional learning have been an issue of concern in teacher education. This article reports a mixed-methods study showing the relationship between student teachers’ engagement with the practical and conceptual aspects of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Hong Kong and different facets of their perceived professional competence. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The findings reveal that experiences associated with learning the pragmatic facets of professional practice were more valued by student teachers compared to learning the conceptual aspects of ITE. Yet, in terms of relationship with professional competence, student teachers’ engagement with the practical aspects of ITE was related to competence in classroom teaching, whereas their engagement with the conceptual aspects contributed to their mastery of professional knowledge, competence in classroom teaching and competence in interacting with stakeholders. The study illuminates the distinctive contributions of schools and higher education in ITE. While acknowledging the important role of schools in providing a setting for practical work, this study affirms the distinctive contribution of higher education in equipping student teachers with practical and conceptual tools in the preparation of professionally competent teachers.     

Institutional and personal meanings of mathematical proof

Although studies on students’ difficulties in producing mathematical proofs have been carried out in different countries, few research workers have focussed their attention on the identification of mathematical proof schemes in university students. This information is potentially useful for secondary school teachers and university lecturers. In this article, we study mathematical proof schemes of students starting their studies at the University of Córdoba (Spain) and we relate these schemes to the meanings of mathematical proof in different institutional contexts: daily life, experimental sciences, professional mathematics, logic and foundations of mathematics. The main conclusion of our research is the difficulty of the deductive mathematical proof for these students. Moreover, we suggest that the different institutional meanings of proof might help to explain this difficulty. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Studying studies on teacher reflection and action: An appraisal of research contributions

For decades a substantial body of research on teacher reflection and action has been conducted. This research contains a wealth of information on teachers’ thinking about their daily work in classrooms. But what do these studies tell us about the linkage between thought and action in actual teaching? How do they contribute to our understanding, or do they, in the very selection of their methods, ‘tell only half the story’? To address these concerns, we have engaged in a critical appraisal to learn about the scope and limitations of research contributions and identify criteria that may shed light on exactly what aspects of teacher learning and development are being studied.This appraisal uses an analytic framework to position the various studies that have been conducted. From our analysis, which focuses on the validity criterion of closeness between type of research question and data collection methods, we conclude that the research would profit from a set of more detailed criteria to address some of the limitations inherent in approaches to studying teacher reflection and action.     

Promoting skilled problem-solving behavior among beginning physics students

Beginning physics students were constrained to analyze mechanics problems according to a hierarchical scheme that integrated concepts, principles, and procedures. After five 1-hour sessions students increased their reliance on the use of principles in categorizing problems according to similarity of solution and in writing qualitative explanations of physical situations. In contrast, no consistent shift toward these expert-like competencies was observed using control treatments in which subjects spent the same amount of time solving problems using traditional approaches. In addition, when successful at performing the qualitative analyses, novices showed significant improvements in problem-solving performance in comparison to novices who directed their own problem-solving activities. The implications of this research are discussed in terms of instructional strategies aimed at promoting a deeper understanding of physics.     

Depressive mood and social maladjustment: Differential effects on academic achievement

The Children Depression Inventory (CDI) is a multidimensional instrument that includes items of social withdrawal, anhedonia, asthenia, low self-esteem (internalized) and behavioral problems (externalized). Child depression has been related with low academic achievement, neurotic and introverted personality traits and social maladjustment defined by aggressiveness, psychoticism and antisocial behavior. In this work, it is hypothesized that in non-clinical populations, the relationships between CDI scores and a low academic achievement might be basically due to social maladjustment assessed by the behavioral items of this instrument, which do not necessarily tap depressive mood. The effects of both depressive mood and social maladjustment on academic achievement are analyzed in an adolescent sample of 315 boys and 363 girls through Structural Equation Modelling procedures. Results corroborate the hypothesis that social maladjustment measured by the CDI behavioral items and Psychoticism explain low academic achievement over and above depressive mood measured by the rest of the CDI items, extraversion and neuroticism.     

Equity in Spanish higher education

The most outstanding event in the recent evolution of higher education in developed countries has been the continuously increasing proportion of students entering higher education and, therefore, its extension to more and more inclusive groups. It seems reasonable to assume that the expansion of higher education must have facilitated access of less privileged social classes, but it is important to analyze to what extent this significant increase in higher education participation has reached all social, economic, and cultural groups. This analysis could be useful in designing a policy to help those students who have more difficulty accessing higher education. The goal in this paper is to analyze this subject thoroughly focusing especially on the level of participation of young adults in Spanish higher education controlling for economic level, parental education and occupation, and other environmental characteristics. We present a logistic model which jointly values the influence of different family and social characteristics of the individual on his/her decision to enroll in higher education. The main conclusions of the study are these: (a) There has been improvement in the equity of access to higher education. In spite of this overall improvement, about 30 per cent of the less privileged population is still underrepresented in higher education, (b) Family educational level is the most important factor in the decision to enter higher education. The weight of these educational characteristics exceeds by far the influence of family income level.     

Financial aid and self-reports by disadvantaged students: The importance of being earnest

This study reports findings from a national survey of Hispanic financial aid recipients, and has the unusual feature of having student self-reports of income (theirs or their parents') and verified income figures. The findings are that students do not know very well how much they or their families earn; contrary to other studies, these data reveal that over half the students overestimated actual income. The implications of overreporting are discussed, both for aid awards and use of such self-reports in studies of students. The study warns against the consequences of requiring additional verification.     

Student perceptions of the cell biology laboratory learning environment in four undergraduate science courses in Spain

Cell biology is an academic discipline that organises and coordinates the learning of the structure, function and molecular composition of cells in some undergraduate biomedical programs. Besides course content and teaching methodologies, the laboratory environment is considered a key element in the teaching of and learning of cell biology. The aim of this study was to determine students’ opinions about the quality of the teaching and learning environment in cell biology laboratory practice. For this study, we used a short form of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI), which we adapted and translated into Spanish. The questionnaire, administered to students enrolled in four undergraduate programs, consisted of 24 questions divided into four scales: integration of content, clarity of laboratory rules, cohesion between students and teachers, and quality of laboratory infrastructures and materials. The results suggested that (1) students positively assessed the learning environment provided for cell biology practice, (2) the short Spanish form of the SLEI was a valid, reliable instrument for evaluating student satisfaction, laboratory activities, the degree of cooperation between students and teachers, and theoretical and practical organisation of content and (3) the questionnaire detected differential perceptions of the learning environment based on gender and the program studied.     

The contribution of non-formal learning in higher education to student teachers’ professional competence

This article reports a mixed methods study on the contribution of various aspects of pre-service student teachers’ learning in initial teacher education (ITE) to their professional competence in a Five-year Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. Special attention is given to how student teachers’ non-formal learning in higher education contributes to their professional competence, an under-researched area in teacher education. A total of 282 student teachers participated in the quantitative survey, 18 of whom were interviewed. Although  Undergraduate Learning Experience: Formal Learning and Non-formal Learning was not the most highly rated factor, multiple regression indicated that it was the only ITE professional learning factor that significantly predicted all dimensions of professional competence. This supports the hypothesis that non-formal learning as a part of learning in higher education makes a significant contribution to student teachers’ professional competence. The qualitative findings showed that non-formal learning provided opportunities for service learning, co-curricular activities, and student exchange programmes with different objects of engagement. Student teachers constructed pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of context through hands-on experiences, professional dialogue with practitioners, and observations of others’ practice. Such knowledge contributed to their competence in classroom teaching and to work in schools. Implications for ITE are discussed.