Outreach initiatives operated by universities for increasing interest in science and technology

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s, the low number of students choosing to study science and technology in higher education has been on the societal agenda and many initiatives have been launched to promote awareness regarding career options. The initiatives particularly focus on increasing enrolment in the engineering programmes. This article describes and compares eight European initiatives that have been established and operated by universities (and in some cases through collaboration with other actors in society). Each initiative is summarised in a short essay that discusses motivation, organisation, pedagogical approach, and activities. The initiatives are characterised by comparing the driving forces behind their creation, how the initiative activities relate to the activities at the university, size based on the number of participants and cost per participant and pedagogical framework. There seem to be two main tracks for building outreach activities, one where outreach activities are based on the university's normal activities, and one where outreach activities are designed specifically for the visiting students.     

Comprehensiveness and diversity in secondary compulsory education in andalusia: an unresolved challenge

This article outlines the contradictions and challenges of introducing comprehensive, compulsory education in Andalusia for students up to the age of 16. Following a documenting of the developments, it is argued that while the intention was for a significant, planned reform, it is better characterised as one that is, at best, an improvisation. The article discusses the continuing difficulties that may be attributed to a number of policies of the Conservative government of the day, which allowed the development of two systems of education that were not grounded in concepts of equity and social justice to evolve. The work of John Elliott has been acknowledged as an important influence upon the inquiry that was undertaken and the subsequent analysis of its results. Thus, not only are the results of an action-orientated study reported here, but also there is an extensive set of guiding principles that could enable the reform to be truly actualised.     

Forgetting about Friendship: Using Conflict in Teacher Communities as a Catalyst for School Change

It is widely recognized that teacher communities figure among the most vital factors for promoting educational change within schools. While there is widespread consensus on the idea of collegiality as an instrument for promoting and sustaining change, scholars are much less clear on the characteristics that teachers' professional communities within schools must possess in order to promote and sustain such change. This paper discusses the role of friendship and conflict in teacher communities and argues for a rethinking of the way the intermingling of professional and interpersonal ties in schools contributes to school change.     

The Nature of Science and Citizenship: a Delphi Analysis

Research in Science Education - The relationship between science and society has, for many years, been the subject of debate in different fields, and various proposals have been made regarding the...     

Psychometric properties of the triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire: Prevalence across seven roles

This study created a Spanish triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and obtained indicators of its validity and reliability. This new tool allows researchers to triangulate and flexibly investigate the three main roles in school bullying, obtaining seven potential roles (pure victim, pure bully, pure bystander, bully/victim, victim/bystander, bully/bystander, and bully/victim/bystander). The sample was 2,068 adolescents and young adults aged 11–19 years (M_age = 14.2 ± 1.48 years old; 53.8% females). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the three-related-factor model and adequate reliability (ω > 0.91) in all dimensions. About 28.2% of the sample reported victimization; of whom only 2.9% were pure victims, 15.1% were victim/bystanders, and 9.8% were involved in all three roles (bully/victim/bystanders). Only 0.8% played the role of a pure bully, and 0.4% were bully/victims. The most prevalent profile was that of pure bystander (30%). These results are discussed in light of their importance for the interpretation of the prevalence of traditional bullying, and their implications for bullying assessments and interventions.     

Pandemics,leadership, and social ethics

PROSPECTS - This Viewpoint argues that the absence of worldwide social ethics is at the root of our present social, political, and economic crises. More to the point, the current COVID-19...     

Librarians as Research Partners: Their Contribution to the Scholarly Endeavour Beyond Library and Information Science

Academic libraries are increasingly called upon to demonstrate their value to their home institutions. Research collaboration with faculty resulting in the co-authorship of scholarly output is one possible way to demonstrate the alignment of the library with the institutional mission. Involvement in research also improves librarians' skills in offering research support services. This study explores the contribution of librarians to scholarly journals in fields other than Library and Information Science (LIS) as well as their collaboration practices with researchers in those fields. Results show an increasing number of papers published by library-affiliated authors in non-LIS journals between 2006 and 2015. The papers fall broadly into four areas: articles on topics related to LIS published in non-LIS journals; higher education and information literacy; systematic reviews and meta-analysis; and research collaboration in the faculty's areas of expertise. The study is limited by the difficulty in properly retrieving the scholarly output of librarians from bibliographic databases and the difficulty in ascertaining their contributions to published articles.     

Collaborative action research between schools,a continuing professional development centre for teachers and the university: a case study in Spain

This article describes a collaborative action research project developed over the course of the 2011/12 academic year in the Faculty of Education at Cordoba University (Spain). The RIECU school–continuing professional development centre for teachers–university learning network is part of this research process. The aim is to create and consolidate a community of practice made up of continuing professional development advisers to teachers, infant education teachers, university students who are training to become infant education teachers and university teaching staff. The most relevant findings, which respond to the questions raised, are: the action research conducted indicates that teamwork between teacher, adviser, researcher and university student is an effective strategy to facilitate the acquisition of professional competences among student teachers; and student-teachers involved in the case study have evolved in their conception and approach to childhood and have had the opportunity to learn by modelling the professional conduct of their mentor teachers.