THE EVOLUTION AND IMPACT OF PROGRAMME EVALUATION IN A NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL

While the purpose, theory and method of evaluation of educational programmes are well‐documented, there is little published evidence on the actual evaluation of higher professional educational programmes and their outcomes. This paper outlines the background and development of programme evaluation in a new institution of higher professional education. It outlines current programme monitoring activities and their effects, and identifies the urgent and feasible tasks to be undertaken in the methodologically difficult and politically sensitive area of outcome evaluation.     

Teaching About Sound: A Select Historical Examination of Research

The teaching of the science topic sound, a popular topic in science instruction, is selectively analyzed over the past century using evidence excerpted from a prominent teacher practitioner journal (School Science And Mathematics). Shifting innovative recommendations on how teachers of science should teach the sound topic are identified in the categories of content and pedagogy. Historical connections to the scientific development of sound, identification of what constitutes the subject matter of sound, recommended general pedagogical strategies, and best practices for teaching strategies associated with the sound concept are examined. Discussion relates to the influence of contextual factors in a given time period (social and theoretical) on the design of curriculum materials used to guide instructional practice. One implication for science teacher education is the need for science teachers to develop an historically and philosophically grounded perspective by examining both the teaching practices on a science topic over an extended time and the historical scientific development of the science topic.     

Chinese economic development, rule of law, and the internet

The Internet and its World Wide Web (Web) have an important role to play in the economic development of China. The government of the People's Republic of China has declared its intention to open opportunities for foreign trade and investment in China. Part of the commitment is a commitment to rule of law. Rule of law acceptable to commercial interests requires transparency and decisional rationality. These two features can be realized most quickly by connecting legal institutions through the Internet's Web to bodies of international commercial law, thus creating a virtual library for Chinese legal decision makers, and using the Web as a quick and cheap electronic “printing press” for Chinese legal decision makers. As a result, their statutes, rules, and decisional law become available to commercial interests. But technology is not enough. Innovative cross-cultural exchange programs aimed at the legal, managerial, and Web-master professions will round out this rule of law support for commercial globalization.     

Searching the right database. A comparison of four databases for psychiatry journals

Journal coverage is one factor that affects the retrieval of relevant information from bibliographic databases. The aims of this study were to investigate the coverage of databases for psychiatry journals, and to assess the overlap between databases. Psychiatry journals were identified using Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory and then analysed to see which bibliographic databases indexed the most journals. A total of 213 abstracting and indexing services were listed as indexing at least one of the 977 psychiatry journals identified. The four most frequently cited databases (PsycLIT, EMBASE, BIOSIS and MEDLINE) indexed 506 (52%) of the psychiatry journals. Of these 506 journals, PsycLIT indexed 367 (73%), EMBASE 337 (67%), BIOSIS 243 (48%) and MEDLINE 236 (47%). Combining the databases with the highest yields (PsycLIT and EMBASE) increased the number of journals indexed to 461 (91%). The four databases combined accounted for 90% of all psychiatry journals found to be indexed by at least one abstracting and indexing service. More than 400 journals were not indexed at all. Variations in the overlap between PsycLIT, EMBASE, BIOSIS and MEDLINE, and the high proportion (35%) of journals indexed in only one of these four databases emphasize the importance of searching more than one or even two databases to ensure optimal coverage of the literature.     

Culture wars in the classroom: Prospective teachers question science

Does studying about the nature(s) of science contribute to a prospective teachers' effectiveness as a science teacher? This research grew out of a course created by a science educator and historian of science who believed prospective teachers needed more complex understandings of the cultural wars surrounding science. The research team consisted of five prospective teachers who participated in the course as well as the two instructors. This paper describes the experience of participating in the course from both perspectives. We argue that studying the cultural wars over science contributes to prospective teachers' professional growth as much because the course elicits tacit beliefs about school science as it introduces more complex understandings of science. We found that prospective teachers' tacit beliefs about school science were their greatest barrier to developing more complex understandings about the nature(s) of science. We contend that willingness to grapple with complexity and developing a professional identity by locating oneself in the conversations about the nature(s) of science are better criteria for determining the professional growth of prospective teachers than knowledge measures. Finally, we argue that prospective teachers should be viewed as professionals who are responsible for finding their own voice, making their own decisions, and considering the consequences of their beliefs on their practice. This study raises questions critical to teacher education programs for prospective teachers and teacher‐educators alike. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 895–915, 2000     

Pathways of China's PM2.5 air quality 2015–2060 in the context of carbon neutrality

Clean air policies in China have substantially reduced particulate matter (PM_2.5) air pollution in recent years, primarily by curbing end-of-pipe emissions. However, reaching the level of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines may instead depend upon the air quality co-benefits of ambitious climate action. Here, we assess pathways of Chinese PM_2.5 air quality from 2015 to 2060 under a combination of scenarios that link global and Chinese climate mitigation pathways (i.e. global 2°C- and 1.5°C-pathways, National Determined Contributions (NDC) pledges and carbon neutrality goals) to local clean air policies. We find that China can achieve both its near-term climate goals (peak emissions) and PM_2.5 air quality annual standard (35 μg/m³) by 2030 by fulfilling its NDC pledges and continuing air pollution control policies. However, the benefits of end-of-pipe control reductions are mostly exhausted by 2030, and reducing PM_2.5 exposure of the majority of the Chinese population to below 10 μg/m³ by 2060 will likely require more ambitious climate mitigation efforts such as China''s carbon neutrality goals and global 1.5°C-pathways. Our results thus highlight that China''s carbon neutrality goals will play a critical role in reducing air pollution exposure to the level of the WHO guidelines and protecting public health.     

Following the action in action learning: towards ethnomethodological studies of (critical) action learning

Action learning is a pedagogical practice that helps participants learn by talking about their workplace action with fellow participants (‘comrades in adversity’) in their action learning set. This paper raises questions about the action in action learning, such as: how do members of an action learning set learn from and through each other? How do they learn through their developing conversation and interaction?

To answer such questions, I argue that, ‘ethnomethodology’ (the study of ‘member's methods’ or ‘folk methods’ for doing any kind of practical action) is useful for showing the intricacy of the practical learning process in action learning, as in learning in action, more generally. The paper illustrates the conversational and interactional work of members doing things and learning together in action (for example discovering things in science and in board meetings); and argues that this approach may also be used to study action learning in practice.