COLLEGE RANKINGS: Democratized College Knowledge for Whom?

Every fall the opening of the academic year is heralded by an ever increasing number of newsmagazines that rank colleges. In addition to the standard bearers of this market — U.S. News and World Report and Money — magazines that offer their readers advice on how to choose a college are proliferating. For example, one can find lists of the "best colleges" and "best buys" accompanied on newstands by the top jock schools (Sports Illustrated), the best party schools (Playboy), and the best colleges for Asian Americans (A. Magazine). This paper is a study of who uses the contentious and seemingly influential newsmagazine rankings of U.S. colleges and universities, and an analysis of what types of freshmen find these rankings useful in making their choice of college. Equally important, it is a discussion of why reputations are important and how they can serve as a hedge against uncertainty. Finally, the paper provides an analysis of the for-profit sector's encroachment into a critical educational equity arena-college access-embedded within a discussion of whether widely available college rankings result in democratized college knowledge.     

Defending Constructivism in Science Education

After an impressive development throughout the last two decades, supported by a greatamount of research and innovation, science education seemed to be becoming a newscientific domain. This transformation of Science Education into a specific field of researchand knowledge is usually associated with the establishment of what has been called anemergent consensus about constructivist positions. However, some voices have begunto question these constructivist positions and therefore the idea of an advancementtowards a coherent body of knowledge in the field of science education. The goalof this work is to analyse some of the current criticisms of the so-called constructivistorientations and to study their implications for the development of science education asa coherent body of knowledge.     

Anatomy 3.0: Rediscovering Theatrum Anatomicum in the wake of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged medical educators internationally to confront the challenges of adapting their present educational activities to a rapidly evolving digital world. In this article, the authors use anatomy education as proxy to reflect on and remap the past, present, and future of medical education in the face of these disruptions. Inspired by the historical Theatrum Anatomicum (Anatomy 1.0), the authors argue replacing current anatomy dissection laboratory (Anatomy 2.0) with a prototype anatomy studio (Anatomy 3.0). In this studio, anatomists are web-performers who not only collaborate with other foundational science educators to devise meaningful and interactive content but who also partner with actors, directors, web-designers, computer engineers, information technologists, and visual artists to master online interactions and processes in order to optimize students' engagement and learning. This anatomy studio also offers students opportunities to create their own online content and thus reposition themselves digitally, a step into developing a new competency of stage presence within medical education. So restructured, Anatomy 3.0 will prepare students with the skills to navigate an emergent era of tele and digital medicine as well as help to foreshadow forthcoming changes in medical education.     

Improving Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science Through an Analysis of the Historical Case of Rosalind Franklin and the Structure of DNA

Research in Science Education - This qualitative study analyses how effective an activity based on the critical and reflexive reading of the historical case of Rosalind Franklin and the elucidation...     

Prediction model for the inclusion of key competences in the primary school curriculum through the teachers’ perceptions in the Region de Murcia / Modelo de predicción para la inclusión de las competencias en el currículo de educación primaria según la percepción del profesorado de la Región de Murcia

The purposes of this paper were twofold: (a) to analyse primary school teachers’ perceptions of the inclusion of the key competences in the curriculum; and (b) to test a hypothetical prediction model about the inclusion of the key competences in the curriculum according to their perceptions. The participants were 1,010 teachers from 110 schools. The results showed that the teachers need training on this new competency-based approach to teaching, learning and evaluation. The hypothetical prediction model confirmed the high predictiveness of pre-service teacher education and continuous professional development regarding the proper development of the main elements of competency-based learning which contribute to achieving the purposes of today’s education. One of the possible recommendations that could facilitate the inclusion of the key competences in the curriculum according to their perception is teacher training geared towards pedagogical models adapted to the reality of teaching today which optimize teachers’ professional performance and students’ academic achievement.     

数字时代的教学脑

随着人类迈入数字化时代,数字化的工作平台在"心智、脑与教育"科学领域也逐渐得到普及。教育是人类的希望,未来的教育得依靠这些学科之间的不断融合。在全球化时代,教师正面临着新的教学方法上的挑战。虽然我们已经对学习脑做了大量的研究,但是与之相对应的教学脑的知识却相当匮乏。目前,我们正在教育领域努力扩大这个持续而广泛普及的数字化教育平台,让孩子们在学习的同时,也可以进行教学与实验。     

Engineering courses and accreditation in Portugal

The Accreditation System for Engineering Courses was launched by the Ordem dos Engenheiros (OE—Institute of Portuguese Engineers) in 1994. Although the process was not easily accepted at first, it eventually took hold as engineering schools became aware of the public's interest in the system. Today, accreditation is an 'open door' to the OE since it exempts applicants from writing the admission exam. In fact, it is a 'seal of quality'—a guarantee of the initial education quality on the engineer's path to professional practise. This paper describes our system and what we have learned from implementing it, from the experience of others and from our own mistakes; but note that what is written is not a Utopia— the system does work.     

El título como recurso didáctico

Se revisan aquí las funciones que tiene el título de un texto y se propone un modelo de “instrucción razonada” en tres fases para que el adiestramiento en titulación constituya una nueva vía para mejorar la comprensión lectora.     

Effectiveness of a Conflict Resolution Training Program in Changing Graduate Students Style of Managing Conflict with their Faculty Advisors

We investigated the conflict management preferences of graduate students with their faculty advisors and assessed the effects of participating in a conflict resolution workshop on those preferences. One hundred and twenty-one graduate students completed the pre-workshop surveys, and 69 participants completed the post-workshop surveys after seven workshops conducted over a 3 year period. Nineteen subjects participated in three post-workshop focus groups. The quantitative pre-workshop data showed that avoidance and accommodation styles for managing conflict were preferred among participants. Participants showed a trend towards a statistically significant increase in the collaborating score post-workshop relative to pre-workshop levels. The qualitative data indicated that students applied skills taught during the workshop, including interest-based principles, when interacting with faculty.