Open-ended Cases in Agroecology: Farming and Food Systems in the Nordic Region and the US Midwest

Abstract

Our aim is to describe open-ended case studies for learning real-life problem solving skills, and relate this approach to conventional, closed-ended decision case studies. Teaching methods are open-ended cases in agroecology, an alternative to traditional strategies that lead students through prepared materials and structured discussions to determine an outcome already known to the instructor. Our method promotes a culture of curiosity. Multiple evaluation criteria show how this learning strategy provides students with practice in researching, envisioning and designing potential scenarios for clients in the field. In agroecology case studies, students and instructors are co-learners in a discovery process that includes gathering information from key clients, interviewing major stakeholders, and building an understanding of the current context of the local farming and food systems. Two agroecology courses in Norway, a field course in the US Midwest, and an experimental course in Sweden and Vietnam illustrate this learning strategy. Student evaluations of learning have been highly positive, and skills and methods from courses have been applied in their thesis projects and professional careers.

Practical results reveal that students are well prepared for an uncertain, complex, multi-dimensional and dynamic future, have the capacity to develop alternative future scenarios, and have practiced methods to evaluate options based on production, economic, environmental and social criteria and impacts. This innovative strategy is offered as a complement or alternative to conventional decision case studies and evaluated as an approach to experiential learning, an important and effective method for adult learners.     

Enhancing relevance: Embedded ARCS strategies vs. Purpose

The hypothesis of this study assumes that the cognitive effects of motivation result primarily from the relevance of what is being learned, that is, whether the ideas being studied are meaningful and whether they fulfill the goals of the learner. This study compared the effects of intrinsic relevance (material fulfilling a purpose or need of the learner) with embedded, extrinsic relevance-enhancing strategies based on the ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) Model of Instruction on perceived motivation and the learning outcomes of identification, terminology, comprehension, and drawing. Both intrinsic and extrinsic strategies enhanced the motivation of the college learners and their performance on identification, terminology, and comprehension questions following instruction. Embedded relevance-enhancing strategies resulted in greater motivation and performance gains than did intrinsic relevance. She is currently teaching reading and writing strategies to elementary school children. His publications include the recently completedHandbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology, reviewed in this issue. Francis M. Dwyer is Professor of Instructional Systems at the Pennsylvania State University, where he has been a leading researcher in the role of visuals in instruction. He is a past-president of AECT.     

Educational attainment in the short and long term: was there an advantage to attending faith,private, and selective schools for pupils in the 1980s?

ABSTRACT

This paper asks whether private, selective, and faith schools in England and Wales in the 1980s provided an academic advantage to their pupils, both in the short and longer term. Using longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, we examine academic outcomes in compulsory schooling and further education, and the highest qualification gained by age 42. School sector differences are substantially attenuated by controlling for prior pupil characteristics. Nevertheless, a residual effect of private, grammar, and secondary modern schooling remains, both in the short and long term, controlling for both pupil and school characteristics. In the case of faith schools, however, the apparent advantage is restricted to the short term once pupil characteristics are controlled. A unique feature of our analysis is that we control for the individual’s faith of upbringing, which is important in reducing what could otherwise be seen as a distinctive Catholic school advantage.     

A voice in the wilderness: Meetings as ritual in a cross-cultural context

Drawing on a wider ethnographic study of cross-cultural interaction in a Papua New Guinean tertiary institution, this paper examines the interactions occurring in staff meetings. While the cross-cultural context is important, there are patterns here that are illuminating for all who have participated in meetings in any context. Meetings are framed as ritual: stereotypic, quasi dramatic, repetitive behaviors that persevere and are valued regardless of what is actually achieved. Having access to prestigious forms of knowledge, along with the prerogative to determine which knowledge and discourse types may be legitimately drawn upon in the meeting frame, allows those with power to determine the rules. Perhaps more importantly, it allows them to treat these rules, once normalized, in a more flexible way than less knowledgeable participants. Those who have communication competence, as defined within this frame, not only exercise influence but determine others' ability to do so. Non-participants collude with this in their silence. Collusion sustains existing perceptions of power, knowledge, and competence. If there is a genuine desire for more equitable decision making in meetings, participants might begin by probing the rituals of their meetings.     

AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDES AND PREVALENCE OF BULLYING BYSTANDER BEHAVIOR IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Separate lines of research find that proaggressive attitudes promote peer aggression and that bystanders play a pivotal role in deterring or facilitating bullying behavior. The current study hypothesized that proaggressive attitudes in middle school would deter students from standing up to bullying and encourage them to reinforce bullying behavior. Middle school students (n = 28,765) in 423 schools completed a statewide school climate survey that included an aggressive attitudes scale and their bystander response to a recent episode of bullying, which was categorized as upstanding, reinforcing, or passive. Multilevel logistic regressions indicated that higher aggressive attitudes were associated with less upstanding behavior at the school level and less upstanding behavior and more reinforcing behavior at the individual level, while controlling for other school and student demographic variables. These findings suggest that antibullying programs might address student attitudes toward aggression as a means of boosting positive bystander intervention.