Emancipatory or instrumental? Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of the EcoSchool program

Abstract

We present findings of a mixed method evaluation study of the EcoSchool program in the Czech Republic. The innovativeness of this study is its specific focus on implementation strategies rather than learning outcomes. Using data from 148 students and 65 teachers from 54 different schools involved in the program, we investigated perceptions about the nature of the implementation and the impact of the approach on students’ and teachers’ feelings of ownership of success, loss of meaning of the program, or satisfaction with their participation in the EcoSchool program. The findings support the relevance of the emancipatory approach: students’ perceived participation predicts both their satisfaction with the program and perceived ownership of the success of their EcoTeams. Unexpectedly, the study also found that another factor predicting the program’s effectiveness is the level of students’ control over nonparticipating students.     

Source interpretation: teaching students with and without LD to read and write historically

We review domain-specific teaching approaches for students with learning disabilities in social studies, then present De La Paz's 2005 historical reasoning strategy so that readers understand the rationale for and have information on each stage of instruction. Next, we highlight the role of self-regulation for the reasoning process. We then turn to describing the role of each teacher (Morales as the social studies educator and Winston as the special educator), first as they collaborate with De La Paz and each other, then as Morales works alone, 1 year later. Implications are given for changes in teaching. The topic of women's suffrage is used throughout the article to highlight the teaching approach and to present student work.     

‘Listen to the voice of reason’: the New Orleans Tribune as advocate for public,integrated education

The New Orleans Tribune (1864–1870), the first black daily newspaper in the United States, was the singular text in the public South at its time to staunchly advocate for public, integrated education, anticipating the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, and arguing that separate education would always be synonymous with unequal education and would reinforce the mark of inferiority already placed upon blacks by slavery. This article argues that the Tribune grounded its argument against segregated education in logos-centred rhetoric that focused specifically on combating the dominant discourse of white supremacy and black inferiority embedded in the emerging ideology of scientific racism. The Tribune defended against the divisive rhetoric of the newly forming eugenics movement and instead posed public, integrated education as a necessary prerequisite to rebuilding a nation destroyed by the Civil War.     

How compliant are technicians with universal safety measures in medical laboratories in Croatia? – A pilot study

Introduction

This pilot study aimed to investigate the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and compliance to the code of conduct (rules defined in institutional, governmental and professional guidelines) among laboratory technicians in Croatian medical laboratories. In addition, we explored the differences in compliance between participants of different age groups, laboratory ownership and accreditation status.

Materials and methods

An anonymous and voluntary survey with 15 questions was conducted among Croatian medical laboratory technicians (N = 217). The questions were divided into two groups: demographic characteristics and the use of PPE. The questions of the second part were graded according to the Likert scale (1-4) and an overall score, shown as median and range (min-max), was calculated for each participant. Differences between the overall scores were tested for each group of participants.

Results

The majority of participants always wear protective clothes at work, 38.7% of them always wear gloves in daily routine, more than 30.0% consume food and almost half of them drink beverages at workplace. A significantly lower overall score was found for participants working in public compared to private laboratories (36 (16-40) vs. 40 (31-40), P < 0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in overall scores for participants of different age groups (P = 0.456) and laboratory accreditation status (P = 0.081).

Conclusion

A considerable percentage of laboratory technicians in Croatian medical laboratories do not comply with safety measures. Lack of compliance is observed in all personnel regardless laboratory accreditation and participants’ age. However, those working in private laboratories adhere more to the code of conduct.Key words: survey, compliance, laboratory technician, universal safety measures, total quality management, clinical laboratory services     

How to link geography,cross-curricular approach and inquiry in science education at the primary schools

Pupil research in school lessons in the sense of Inquiry-Based Education (IBE) is one of the constructivist approaches to education. Inquiry strengthens the positive approach of pupils to natural science subjects, encouraging them to study phenomena and processes taking place in the natural environment around them and use the acquired knowledge in their practical life. Geography as a school subject, due to the multidisciplinary nature of geography as a science, is close to natural sciences as well. This is because of the broadness of the subject of geographical studies, the complex (natural and cultural) landscape. The close links of geography to all cross-sectional themes make it a good support for teaching classical science subjects at schools such as mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology, environmental education. Moreover, the field teaching is one of the strong assets of the implementation of IBE in the school geography. Presented case study on the ‘effect of noise on the surroundings’ explores the facts mentioned above, in geography teaching. It verifies the pupils’ knowledge and skills to adopt the basic principles of IBE in the practice. At the same time, it presents the concrete experiences how the children master the individual stages of IBE during the process of education.     

Want that is understood well before say that,think that,and false belief: a test of de Villiers's linguistic determinism on German-speaking children

Two experiments with 79 monolingual German speaking children between 2.5 and 4.5 years showed a consistent developmental gap between children's memory/inference of what someone wanted and what someone wrongly said or thought. For instance, when John is still playing and mother says, "John should be going to bed," more than 70% answered correctly that mother wanted John to go to bed. However, when mother said, "John is going to bed," about 70% answered wrongly that she thought/said that he was still playing. Correct answers emerged with the mastery of the false-belief task. In German, want sentences (about something to happen) obligatorily take the same grammatical that complement as say or think sentences. Therefore, the observed gap constrains de Villier's (1995) linguistic determinism, which claims that acquisition of the necessary grammatical structures for talking about the mind drives children's ability to think about the mind.     

Resting state networks mediate the association between both cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning

Recent evidence suggests that cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skill performance are related to neurocognitive functioning by influencing brain structure and functioning. This study investigates the role of resting-state networks (RSNs) in the relation of cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning in healthy 8- to 11-year-old children (n = 90, 45 girls, 10% migration background). Cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills were related to brain activity in RSNs. Furthermore, brain activity in RSNs mediated the relation of both cardiovascular fitness (Frontoparietal network and Somatomotor network) and gross motor skills (Somatomotor network) with neurocognitive functioning. The results indicate that brain functioning may contribute to the relation between both cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning.