Engaging employers in assessment

The authors describe a pilot project in which formative feedback from industry professionals creates a genuine learning experience for students.     

Experiments with Audio-Visual Aids at the Stockholm School of Education

The current educational plans for different school grades consider the use of AV aids as something quite natural and self-evident. But in order to put the plans into action it is important that the various training colleges spend enough time on teaching the use of AV aids.     

Training School Leaders in Sweden

The article analyses the identified needs of school leader training in Sweden against the background of declared aims and a general policy of decentralisation. Strategies designed to meet these needs are described, together with evaluative comments.

Dans le contexte d'une politique générale de décentralisation et en tenant compte des objectifs définis pour le système scolaire suédois, l'article analyse les besoins reconnus de la formation des responsables. Des stratégies prévues pour répondre à ces besoins sont décrites avec des remarques sur l'évolution.     

The static and dynamic stiffness behaviour of composite golf shafts and their constituent materials

Golf shafts are normally characterised using static or quasi-static tests, yet the golf swing itself is dynamic. The purpose of this research was to determine whether stiffness properties obtained from these tests can be used when modelling the dynamic behaviour of golf shafts made from carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). Three shafts, matched for all properties except shaft flex, were subjected to human swing testing by 12 skillful players whilst strains were recorded. Peak principal strains as well as strain rates increased as shaft flex decreased (p < 0.001). CFRP flat panels with lay-ups similar to those contained in the shafts were constructed and tested statically and at strain rates between 10⁻⁴ and 4 s⁻¹. Some level of strain-rate dependency was found for these panels, but only for strain rates exceeding those seen during a swing, which suggests that static material tests are appropriate for measuring the dynamic stiffness of golf shafts.     

Didactic dissonance: teacher roles in computer gaming situations in kindergartens

In computer gaming situations in kindergartens, the pre-school teacher’s function can be viewed in a continuum. At one extreme is the teacher who takes an intervening role and at the other extreme is the teacher who chooses to restrict herself/himself to an organising or distal role. This study shows that both the intervening position and the organising or distal role are challenging. An alternative role is an intermediate position in which the teacher is a contributor and encouraging bystander. The term didactic dissonance is suggested to capture the challenges and tensions in didactic situations where teacher and child participate with conflicting roles and expectations. Didactic dissonance may help educators reflect on teacher roles in didactic contexts.     

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.     

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.     

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.