Engineering design as an intellectual problem

Engineering education has recently been going through a process of internal fighting between the tendency to introduce more and more information and skills in the fields of computerization and mathematics (mathematics for engineers), on the one hand, and the need to provide the student with pure empirical technical and design knowledge and experience, on the other hand. In most mechanical engineering departments, the outcome of this competition has been a reduction in the time allotted to teaching the empirical part of engineering information: there is often a psychological barrier to understanding the importance of this group of subjects, and the computer- and mathematics-associated subjects usually win out. As a result, the new graduate usually knows how to fight the computation struggle but he/she is not able to formulate his/her final engineering goal. This paper focuses on various aspects of this situation. In particular, we set out to defend the need for serious and in-depth teaching of the empirical information required in engineering design work.     

解读教育装备

什么是教育装备?这个问题看似简单,却并不是那么容易回答.教育装备的使用者,制造者及其相关人员都有着见仁见智的想法.如何看待这一问题,无论对于企业还是教师、学生都有重要的意义.教育界的专家与教育装备有着亲密接触,下面就来听听他们的声音吧.     

An Outreach Support Group for International Students

International students often face challenges in adjusting to their new environment without the use of local supports such as counseling. This article suggests how universities can form an outreach support group that encourages the participation of international students by minimizing the stigma associated with using mental health services and by addressing relevant practical and emotional issues that international students face.     

An immunological based study of monoclonal gammopathies among suspected individuals in Kashmir region

Serum and urine samples from 513 patients clinically suspected of monoclonal gammopathies over a period of five years (1992–97) were subjected to various immunological procedures viz, electrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis and immunoglobulin estimations. Laboratory investigations confirmed gammopathies in 10.33%. It was observed that overall age of incidence for monoclonal gammopathies in both sexes was between 42–72 years with a male to female ratio of 1.4∶1. Predominant paraprotein detected was IgG type (75.47%) followed by IgA (16.98%) and Bence Jones proteins (7.55%). Amongst positive patients, 64.16% were having kappa (k) type light chains and 35.84% lambda (δ) type light chains. 69.39% patients with serum M component (IgG and IgA) had Bence Jones proteinuria. Densitometric scanning revealed that majority of IgG type paraprotein was found in the slow gamma globulin region and majority of IgA type paraprotein was found equally distributed between beta and fast gamma globulin regions. Both types had decreased albumin and alpha-2-globulin concentrations as compared to normal controls. Immunoglobulin levels in patients with paraprotein had very high levels of serum IgG (6467.0 mg%) and IgA (2714.0 mg%) in respective types of monoclonal gammopathies; the rest of immunoglobulin classes were either at normal or decreased levels.     

Education of Children with Vision Impairments in the Sultanate of Oman

The educational and developmental needs of children with disabilities in general, and of children with vision impairments in particular, have been ignored until recently in the Sultanate of Oman. However, the situation of special education and rehabilitation services is changing and there is progress to report. This article presents an overview of the prevalence and patterns of vision impairment, types of services offered, and priorities for future work.     

Engineering Education in Israel: Situation,Debate and Prospects

This paper focuses on the current situation of engineering education in Israel, the debate over the ways to manage it, and the prospects that a balanced education policy can entail for socio-economic development. Two degrees in engineering, the BTech and BSc, are described. It transpired that the BTech failed to meet the expectations. From the on-going debate about the situation, the need for a balanced policy for engineering education has emerged. This policy is outlined and it is shown that it can not only improve the BTech situation, but also Israel's national innovation system by viewing ‘research’ and ‘applied’ engineers as complementary to, rather than competing with, each other. It is also suggested that this balanced policy should implement project-based instruction in the engineering curriculum, both in the BTech and BSc programmes.     

Spoken language development in oral preschool children with permanent childhood deafness

This article documented spoken language outcomes for preschool children with hearing loss and examined the relationships between language abilities and characteristics of children such as degree of hearing loss, cognitive abilities, age at entry to early intervention, and parent involvement in children's intervention programs. Participants were evaluated using a combination of the Child Development Inventory, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Preschool Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals depending on their age at the time of assessment. Maternal education, cognitive ability, and family involvement were also measured. Over half of the children who participated in this study had poor language outcomes overall. No significant differences were found in language outcomes on any of the measures for children who were diagnosed early and those diagnosed later. Multiple regression analyses showed that family participation, degree of hearing loss, and cognitive ability significantly predicted language outcomes and together accounted for almost 60% of the variance in scores. This article highlights the importance of family participation in intervention programs to enable children to achieve optimal language outcomes. Further work may clarify the effects of early diagnosis on language outcomes for preschool children.     

Employing the five‐factor mentoring instrument: analysing mentoring practices for teaching primary science

Primary science education is a concern around the world and quality mentoring within schools can develop pre‐service teachers' practices. A five‐factor model for mentoring has been identified, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback. Final‐year pre‐service teachers (mentees, n = 211) from three Turkish universities were administered a previously validated instrument to gather perceptions of their mentoring in primary science teaching. ANOVA indicated that each of these five factors was statistically significant (p<.001) with mean scale scores ranging from 3.36 to 4.12. Although mentees perceived their mentors to provide evaluation feedback (95%), model classroom management (88%), guide their preparation (96%), and outline the science curriculum (92%), the majority of mentors were perceived not to assist their mentees in 10 of the 34 survey items. Professional development programmes that target the specific needs of these mentors may further enhance mentoring practices for advancing primary science teaching.