Mathematics and mathematics education: Content and people, relation and difference

A broad view of mathematics education takes it as the study of how people learn and do mathematics. Starting with this view, the actual and potential relationships of mathematics education as are search discipline to mathematics as a field of knowledge and activity and to the mathematicians carrying out that activity are analyzed. This leads to the picture of a gulf between the two scientific communities which are based in different cultures of thinking and research. A (meta-)study of mathematics and all its facets termed here mathematicology is proposed. It could serve as common ground for cooperative studies by mathematicians and mathematics educators. Thereby the gulf will not necessarily become narrower but abridge over the differences and mutual misunderstandings could be built.     

Mnemonic-strategy reduction of prose-learning interference

One hundred and sixty college students read three fictitious biographical passages according to either imagery-mnemonic or no-strategy control instructions. In one mnemonic condition, subjects formed separate images involving each biographical name and its associated facts: in another mnemonic condition, the biographical name and its associated facts were integrated within a single composite image. Relative to an interference-control condition, integrated mnemonic subjects recalled more factual information, whereas separate mnemonic subjects did not. In addition, the recall of integrated mnemonic subjects was statistically no different from that of a noninterference control condition, whereas the recall of separate mnemonic subjects was lower. Both theoretical and educational implications of the results are discussed. The first author’s contribution to this work was supported by an Organized Research Grant from the Graduate School of Illinois State University. The second author’s contribution was supported by the National Institute of Education under Grant No. NIE-G-81-0009 to the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and was facilitated by a Romnes Faculty Fellowship from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.     

Equality and excellence. Hegemonic discourses of economisation within the German education system

Looking to conflicting constitutions of education systems through the terms equality and excellence, this paper examines the discursive formation of two political rationalities in the contemporary German education system. While early childhood and primary education discourses are dominated by a terminology of equality, tertiary education institutions such as universities are described using a terminology of excellence that has become a reference point for political interventions and institutional reform processes. Drawing from hegemony theory, governmentality studies and systems theory, this paper analyses the rules of justification referred to by such hegemonic discourses. It presents a policy discourse analysis of strategic, conceptional and institutional texts produced between 2003 and 2010. Through this analysis, the paper suggests that ‘mobilising’ and ‘optimising’ represent the common principles of equality and excellence as economic rationalities.     

Wandel in der Fremdsprachenpolitik der DDR

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Between two Advisors: Interconnecting Academic and Workplace Settings in an Emerging Field

This article examines a new training design for continuing professional development that aims to support the learning of the novel knowledge and skills needed in emerging professional fields by interconnecting academic and workplace settings. The training design is based on using two advisors, one from working life and the other from an academic context. The article examined whether participants’ personal orientation to adaptive expertise predicts the success of a guidance process. The interconnection of workplace and academic contexts was expected to occur through guidance practices. In addition, the features underlying the most successful guidance relationships were analysed. Data were collected by conducting repeated semi-structured interviews with 18 course participants, eight academic advisors and eight workplace advisors in the context of a 1-year energy efficiency training programme. The results indicated that a trainee’s personal orientation towards adaptive expertise is a significant component in successful guidance processes. An interconnection of workplace and academic knowledge and practices was hardly found in the guidance provided by each participant’s academic and workplace advisors. The feature underlying the most successful guidance relationships are related at the personal, dyad and context levels. An excellent match between the expert profiles of the learner and the advisor appears to be especially critical for successful guidance and powerful knowledge exchange in emerging fields. However, finding matching advisors is often challenging. Many problems are presumably solved if these ‘right persons’ can be found and if the trainees are themselves oriented to utilise the novel resources provided to them by the advisors.     

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED STUDENTS WHEN CONFRONTED WITH CHALLENGING AND UNCHALLENGING TASKS

Two groups of gifted adolescents solved two similar intelligence tests with differing levels of task difficulty in reverse order. Under both conditions the performance level on the less complex test was much lower, a result not observed in a control group of average intelligence. Behavioural observations revealed that the low performance of the gifted students was combined with lack of effort. This performance pattern is discussed with respect to recent postulates of achievement motivation theory, which empasize the impact not only of the achievement motive, but also of the informational value of a given task for evaluating own level of ability. It is argued that the perceived informational value of the easier test was not high enough to create an incentive for the gifted students to perform at the highest possible level     

A tale of three campuses: Unearthing theories of residential life that shape the student learning experience

Frank Shushok Jr., T. Laine Scales, Rishi Sriram, and Vera Kidd share some initial thoughts about responses to their Campus Residential Experience Survey. Do you recognize your institution?