Development and validation of the environmental literacy instrument for adolescents

Environmental education (EE) practitioners struggle to consistently and rigorously evaluate their programs, particularly when little time is available for evaluation. Since environmental literacy (EL) is the goal of environmental education, a very short EL instrument – amenable to use when longer tests are not practical for practitioners – would address an important EE need. We describe the development and validation of the Environmental Literacy Instrument for Adolescents (ELI-A) that is short enough for use in field applications (i.e. 5–15 min) and measures four domains of environmental literacy (ecological knowledge, hope, cognitive skills, behaviour). Factor analysis, item response theory, and concurrent validity tests were used in the validation process. Structural equation modelling supported the fit between the ELI-A and prevailing EL frameworks. The results support a valid and reliable instrument that is short enough for practical use but comprehensive in measuring four primary components of EL. This instrument could help fulfil the call to evaluate EE programming in both formal and informal settings.     

Variables affecting students' intrinsic motivation for school mathematics: Two empirical studies based on Deci and Ryan's theory on motivation

The self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan, developed in order to explain the intrinsic motivation of human behavior, was tested empirically by a cross-sectional and longitudinal study related to a school subject (mathematics). The studies were conducted to examine the effects of the mathematics teacher's controlling strategies (as perceived by the students) on students' intrinsic interests for mathematics, their achievements, and their self-concept in mathematics. The samples in Study 1 (the cross-sectional study) consisted of 171 seventh-graders and 164 eighth-graders. Based on previous research, Model 1 was developed and tested by means of LISREL (path-analysis of cross-sectional data). Model 2 was constructed and tested in Study 2, i.e., data from the two samples were collected one year later and used (longitudinal path-analysis of panel-data). The findings of the two studies indicate that students' intrinsic interest for mathematics, their performance in mathematics, and their mathematical self-concept vary as a function of the mathematics teacher's controlling strategies.     

The Lysenko effect: undermining the autonomy of science

The "Lysenko affair", which lasted roughly from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, was the big scandal of 20th-century science: a classic example of how politics can corrupt and undermine its rational basis. Under Stalin's leadership the Soviet Government suppressed genuine genetics and other sound biology, with devastating consequences for agriculture and health. The worst example of this occurred in August 1948 when the Politburo outlawed the teaching of and research into classical Mendelian genetics. There is broad agreement that this case offers a stark warning against politicians interfering with science. But what, precisely, is this interference that we are being warned about? Whereas the fate of genetics in Soviet Russia was a clear-cut example of direct suppression, there were also other less obvious ways in which politics subverted the scientific process. This indirect interference with science is a persistent feature of modern politics that we need to be on the lookout for.     

The effect of granularity and order in XML element retrieval

The article presents an analysis of the effect of granularity and order in an XML encoded collection of full text journal articles. Two-hundred and eighteen sessions of searchers performing simulated work tasks in the collection have been analysed. The results show that searchers prefer to use smaller sections of the article as their source of information. In interaction sessions during which articles are assessed, however, they are to a large degree evaluated as more important than the articles’ sections and subsections.     

Zur Theorie der “Personalisierten Erizehung” Spaniens

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Do migrant girls perform better than migrant boys? Deviant gender differences between the reading scores of 15-year-old children of migrants compared to native pupils

In this paper, we analyse the gender differences between the educational performance of 15-year-old children of migrants from specific regions of origin countries living in different destination countries with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 wave. We study whether this gender difference of migrant pupils deviates from the gender difference between the native pupils in their destination country. We analyse the educational performance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrants in destination countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origin countries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. Female migrant pupils have both higher reading and math scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these gender differences among migrant pupils are larger than among comparable native pupils. Parental socioeconomic background has an equal effect on the educational performance of daughters of migrants and on that of sons of migrants. The variation in educational performance by region of origin is, however, not clearly related to the poverty or traditionalism of regions.     

The emotions aroused by a vocational transition in adolescents: why,when and how are they socially shared with significant others?

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - Adolescents (N = 359) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing the emotional impact of an...