Making the move: a case study in participatory curriculum development in Danish forestry education

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the experience based on ways of integrating the concept of sustainability into higher education in forestry. It starts by discussing some interpretations of the concept of sustainability and the implications of this for educational goals. The types of competencies needed and their interrelationship and importance are characterised. The specific educational innovation of holding a participatory curriculum development workshop to enable students to influence the design and planning of two of their forest management courses is then described. Finally, the implications of our findings for the integration of the concept of sustainability in the forestry curriculum are discussed.     

The Structure of Preschoolers’ Emotion Knowledge: Model Equivalence and Validity Using a Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Research Findings: A theory-based 2-factor structure of preschoolers’ emotion knowledge (i.e., recognition of emotional expression and understanding of emotion-eliciting situations) was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Compared to 1- and 3-factor models, the 2-factor model showed a better fit to the data. The model was found to be equivalent for gender, race, age, and socioeconomic risk. Theory and the high correlation between the 2 latent factors suggested a hierarchical nature of development, in which a higher level of emotion knowledge is built upon a lower level. In our validity model, we found significant paths from the recognition to the situation factor and from the situation factor to teachers’ reports of preschoolers’ learning behaviors and social competence. Results provide further evidence of the significant role emotion plays in preschoolers’ school readiness. Practice or Policy: Early childhood educators can benefit from knowing that recognition of expressions and understanding of emotion-eliciting situations are appropriately teachable in this age range and can focus such teaching upon negative emotions and those that may vary across individuals. Furthermore, relations between these aspects of emotion knowledge and school readiness add to accumulating evidence that early childhood programming focusing upon emotion knowledge has multiple benefits.     

Searching the MEDLARS citation file on-line using elhill and stairs: An updated comparison

The purpose of this paper is to update the comparison of the ELHILL (currently ELHILL 3, formerly ELHILL 2) and STAIRS programs as they affect on-line searching of the MEDLARS citation file. The major areas follow the format of the previous paper (data base characteristics, commands, basic terminal interactions, search statements, and printing citations resulting from on-line or off-line processing).     

Higher Education Supported by New Technologies at the Technical University of Dresden—Problems and Initiatives

This article summarizes the technical efforts and scientific experience that have been recognized as essential for the introduction of multimedia technologies for innovative teaching and learning at the Technical University of Dresden. Beginning with conventional standards, the most important media types are discussed. Important criteria for the development of multimedia tools are investigated. Finally, the first results of a pilot project of teleteaching are reported. This article emphasizes that new didactic and psychological studies are of the same level of importance for learning success as is technological development. Therefore, the strategy envisaged does not aim at developing the virtual university in its purest form but at the enrichment of the contemporary university by innovative elements that preserve the living contact between teachers and students.     

Widening participation in sport-related studies in higher education: an exploratory study of symbolic struggles

This paper focuses on widening participation in higher education and the low recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds within sport-related programs. The purpose of the study has been to describe and increase the understanding of how the preconditions and premises for choosing to study ‘sport’ appear to students from diverse backgrounds, who have started their studies. An interview study was carried out with eight students from three institutes, based on a purposeful sample. The study draws on Bourdieu's analytical concepts of habitus, capital and practical sense. The findings indicate that the interviewees had sufficient symbolic and cultural capital to enable a ‘practical sense’ that choice and action were possible, including evaluating the consequences of choice. For some, this meant a choice that crossed boundaries. Achieving a greater widening of the recruitment to higher education in sport-related programs seems to need clarification of transformable capital.     

Rhetorical meta-language to promote the development of students’ writing skills and subject matter understanding

Background: Feedback is one of the most significant factors for students’ development of writing skills. For feedback to be successful, however, students and teachers need a common language – a meta-language – for discussing texts. Not least because in science education such a meta-language might contribute to improve writing training and feedback-giving.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore students’ perception of teachers’ feedback given on their texts in two genres, and to suggest how writing training and feedback-giving could become more efficient.

Sample: In this study were included 44 degree project students in biology and molecular biology, and 21 supervising teachers at a Swedish university.

Design and methods: The study concerned students’ writing about their degree projects in two genres: scientific writing and popular science writing. The data consisted of documented teacher feedback on the students’ popular science texts. It also included students’ and teachers’ answers to questionnaires about writing and feedback. All data were collected during the spring of 2012. Teachers’ feedback, actual and recalled – by students and teachers, respectively – was analysed and compared using the so-called Canons of rhetoric.

Results: While the teachers recalled the given feedback as mainly positive, most students recalled only negative feedback. According to the teachers, suggested improvements concerned firstly the content, and secondly the structure of the text. In contrast, the students mentioned language style first, followed by content.

Conclusions: The disagreement between students and teachers regarding how and what feedback was given on the students texts confirm the need of improved strategies for writing training and feedback-giving in science education. We suggest that the rhetorical meta-language might play a crucial role in overcoming the difficulties observed in this study. We also discuss how training of writing skills may contribute to students’ understanding of their subject matter.     

Long-Term Relations Between Children’s Language,the Home Literacy Environment,and Socioemotional Development From Ages 3 to 8

Research Findings: This study investigated the long-term interrelations among children’s language competencies, their home literacy environment (HLE), and 3 aspects of socioemotional development from ages 3 to 8, controlling for characteristics of the child and family. For this sample of 547 typically developing German children, parents and teachers reported on cooperative behavior, physical aggression, and emotional self-regulation. Language was assessed using established test instruments. HLE was operationalized by the number of books in the household, the frequency of shared book reading, and an observation during shared book reading. Path analyses supported effects of language and HLE at age 3 on all 3 indicators of socioemotional development over the 5-year period. An additional mediational analysis revealed different patterns of results depending on the aspect of socioemotional competency under study. Although the effect of early language and HLE at age 3 on cooperative and (low) aggressive behavior at age 8 was partially mediated by language at age 5, children’s early language at age 3 was the best predictor of the development of emotional self-regulation. Practice or Policy: Findings identify a rich HLE and proper language skills as protective factors for socioemotional development in not-at-risk children; these factors should be further established in social skills training.