Employment and Achievement in a Problem‐Based Curriculum

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine to what extent the time students work on paid jobs is related to study‐time (class attendance and time devoted to self‐study) and second, to what extent the time students work on paid jobs is related to achievement. A number of 120 students from the problem‐based Faculty of Health Sciences in the Netherlands kept a time‐diary. Academic achievement was measured by using scores on the block‐test. The results showed that working about four to eight hours per week on paid jobs (as opposed to working less than four hours per week or to working intensively, more than 8 hours per week) actually is positively related to study‐time. Test‐scores are not significantly different among students who are not working on jobs, work some hours, or work a lot.     

Briefing Illustrators: Revisiting the Value of Sketch Images

In 1990 Steve Garner produced a school text book titled Design Topics: The Human Factors of Design. He briefed the various graphic artists engaged by the publishers, Oxford University Press, via nearly 140 thumbnail sketches. A comparison of these sketches with the final illustrations reveals important values of drawing. Not only do the comparisons enable the viewer to see something of the intent of the sender, they reveal processes of interpretation, selection, rejection and development, which are normally not available to examination. The paper seeks to contribute to substantiating the value of sketches to these processes of design team working. Since the author is also the originator of the sketches an additional level of insight and commentary is made available to the reader via a process of reflection.     

BOOK REVIEW

Contemporary Education: A Comparative Study of National Systems . John F. Cramer and George S. Browne.     

Heraclitean Thinking: Implications for Philosophy of Education

Heraclitus was the first presocratic Ionian thinker to describe the underlying nature of reality as a set of processes in flux and to affirm the constantly changing nature of the cosmos. In this essay, I discuss four major doctrines of his thought which constitute the crux of the Heraclitean worldview. I then expound some thoughts on the relevance and implications of Heraclitean thinking for philosophy of education.     

Relationships between age and raw score increases on the Kaufman-assessment battery for children

Raw scores on the 16 K-ABC subtests and the total raw scores on the sequential and simultaneous processing scales and the achievement scale were correlated with age in months for two separate samples, each subdivided by race and sex: the K-ABC standardization sample (N = 2000) and an additional group of blacks and whites tested during the development of the K-ABC sociocultural norms (N = 615). Within each sample, the highest and lowest correlations from all race/sex groups were contrasted across all K-ABC subtests and scales. All correlations between age and raw scores were statistically significant (p ⩽ .05). No significant differences occurred in the magnitude of these relationships as a function of race/sex grouping, supporting the construct validity of the K-ABC as a developmental measure of children's aptitude and achievement for blacks, whites, Hispanics, males, and females.     

“None of the Kings on Earth is Their Equal in ʿaṣabiyya”: The Mongols in Ibn Khaldūn's Works

The rise of the Mongol empire was a shock to the Arab world and led many Arab authors to describe these conquerors in decidedly negative terms. The great historian Ibn Khaldūn also discusses the Mongols' rise and their conquests. As a nomadic people they challenged and defeated sedentary populations and founded their own dynasties. Consequently, the Mongol conquests perfectly fit Ibn Khaldūn's theories on ?a?abiyya – which is superior in nomadic groups – and the rise and fall of dynasties. For the Maghrebi historian, the rise of the Mongols was a natural step in the course of history. This consequently colours his view of the Mongols and affects the way he portrays them, especially regarding the themes of violence and religion – recurring themes in many contemporary works dealing with the Mongols – and in his depiction of the Turco-Mongolian conqueror Timur, who is presented in a more favourable light by Ibn Khaldūn than he is in many contemporary works.     

On-the-Job Training: Prescriptions and Practice

This article discusses the status of workplace training in the United States, describes a model of how to conduct effective on-the-job training, and presents the results of a questionnaire based on a model designed to assess on-the-job training practices aboard Navy ships. The model views the on-the-job trainer as a coach who guides the trainee through a task using three steps: 1) assessment, 2) training, and 3) evaluation. The questionnaire was sent to over 5,000 shipboard supervisors; 2,321 responded. Results indicate that nearly 50% of the Navy supervisors who responded are not as effective as they could be. The implications of these findings for the civilian workplace are discussed.