ABSTRACT The power of portfolios in enhancing student motivation is frequently emphasised. Portfolios are conceptualised as a tool to implement Assessment for Learning (AfL) in classroom practice. However, the relation between portfolios and AfL on the one hand, and student motivation on the other hand, is complex and subject to many assumptions. This study investigates whether portfolio use actually supports the integration of AfL in classroom practice and the relation with students’ motivation. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 419 grade 4 to 6 students from seven Dutch elementary schools. The results of structural equation modelling did not confirm a direct relation between portfolio use and students’ motivational orientation. The findings indicate that the relation between portfolios and motivational orientation is fully mediated by students’ perceptions of AfL. The findings indicate that the tool portfolio is not related to students’ motivation, however, AfL practices do affect motivation. 相似文献
How should the governance system in a non-membership non-profit organization be designed? This organizational form has no shareholders; instead, donors provide funds. Thus, at the organizational level, the board of directors could have all the power. Under this legal form, who controls the board? If too powerful, boards could misuse resources or distract the organization from its foundational goals. We examine the case of private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Colombia and the balance of power in university governance systems which feature this organizational form. Most HEIs in our sample have a kind of assembly of representatives as the governance body with the highest authority and able to appoint and control the board. We specifically discuss the assemblies’ reason for being, structure, and functions in private HEIs in Colombia. We analyze a total of 204 HEI governance structures and find governance arrangements with the characteristics of an assembly of representatives in 154 (75.9%). Our analysis highlights features in some of these governance bodies that could lead to overly powerful assemblies (e.g., founder donors with tenure for life). Clearly, a proper balance of power is required to avoid rent-seeking behaviors or the pursuit of harmful private non-monetary benefits from assembly members as well as boards. 相似文献
This study describes and evaluates a teaching experience that combines the use of financial press with the ‘writing to learn’ method, within the subject Intermediate Macroeconomics. The subject belongs to a field of economics which is characterized by a particularly high degree of mathematical abstraction and in which the accurate assimilation of theoretical content thus becomes essential. Thanks to the establishment of a collaboration agreement, students are offered the chance to publish press articles related to economic issues in a special supplement of El Periódico de Huelva. When comparing the academic performance of students who did or did not participate in the experience, the results appear to confirm the positive effects of using methods that promote active learning, such as the one used in this experience. 相似文献
OBJECTIVE: The effects of the sexual child abuse prevention program ESPACE were evaluated by means of a Solomon-type design with first and third grade children. ESPACE is an adaptation of the American Child Assault Prevention Program (CAP). Possible side effects of the program were also examined. METHOD: A total of 133 children (64 first-graders and 69 third-graders) participated in the study. Children completed a knowledge questionnaire and a video vignette measure designed to evaluate preventive skills towards abusive and potentially abusive situations. A follow-up measure (2 months) was administered to verify whether knowledge and skills were maintained. RESULTS: Results indicated that children participating in the prevention program showed greater preventive knowledge and skills relative to children not participating. Follow-up data showed that knowledge gains were maintained while the preventive skill gains may attenuate. However, while global skill scores decreased between post-test and follow-up, children still showed greater preventive skills at follow-up than before the program. In terms of unanticipated side effects, results revealed that almost half of the parents noted positive reactions following children's participation in the ESPACE program. Furthermore, the majority of parents did not identify negative reactions in their children following their participation in the workshop. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the Quebec adaptation of the CAP program was effective in training children in abuse prevention concepts and skills. 相似文献
This study investigated the nature of the relation between intelligence and metacognitive skillfulness as predictors of novice learning from text studying. Additionally, effects of text difficulty and time constraint were examined. The intelligence of 46 social-sciences students was assessed before studying two texts on different topics. Half of the participants studied the difficult text under time pressure, while the other half did so for the easy text. Metacognition was scored from thinking-aloud protocols. Results show that metacognition, although correlated to intelligence, also uniquely contributed to comprehension of both texts. Time constraint on studying a difficult text impaired text comprehension. 相似文献
Background: Microorganisms are very important in day-to-day life, but they are inadequately addressed in the Spanish educational system. It is essential that students are well informed about their characteristics and functions.
Purpose: The study aims to find out primary school students’ perceptions of microorganisms and to analyze whether theoretical or practical teaching interventions produce different levels in student’s learning about this topic.
Sample: The sample consisted of 199 primary students in 2nd (aged 7–8) and 6th (11–12) grades from two public schools in Albacete (Spain).
Design and method: This study uses a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire to evaluate the knowledge of students on the issue of microorganisms. We compare differences by age and two teaching–learning intervention methodologies: theoretical and practical.
Results: Results from the pre-test showed a poor understanding and several misconceptions. Children have a limited and negative view of microorganisms, mainly derived from non-formal learning. Both types of intervention provided an improvement in knowledge, but closed questions did not reveal clear statistically significant differences between methods. Open questions showed how the scientific use of the language and quality of verbalization is much better in the groups that received a practical intervention.
Conclusion: The findings can be a starting point for curriculum planners and for teachers interested in engaging students in science learning. 相似文献
This article offers a new approach to quality, focusing on the dimensions that gather around it. The mismatched goals of controlling and improving higher education continue to trouble the conceptual clarity of accountability. Quality in higher education emerges as something agreed upon (to varying efficacy) through accountability measures, rather than dictated or scheduled. A concept of purchase (the connectedness of accountability with quality) informs discussion. Following an overview of what quality means logically and in the operational context of high rates of access to and participation in higher education, the argument proceeds to a schema of complementary types, or personages, of accountability (transactional, political, bureaucratic, institutional and disciplinary). Throughout, the desire to be viewed well and self-awareness interplay, rendering the various approaches to quality assurance presences to be acknowledged in their own right. 相似文献
Cell biology is an academic discipline that organises and coordinates the learning of the structure, function and molecular composition of cells in some undergraduate biomedical programs. Besides course content and teaching methodologies, the laboratory environment is considered a key element in the teaching of and learning of cell biology. The aim of this study was to determine students’ opinions about the quality of the teaching and learning environment in cell biology laboratory practice. For this study, we used a short form of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI), which we adapted and translated into Spanish. The questionnaire, administered to students enrolled in four undergraduate programs, consisted of 24 questions divided into four scales: integration of content, clarity of laboratory rules, cohesion between students and teachers, and quality of laboratory infrastructures and materials. The results suggested that (1) students positively assessed the learning environment provided for cell biology practice, (2) the short Spanish form of the SLEI was a valid, reliable instrument for evaluating student satisfaction, laboratory activities, the degree of cooperation between students and teachers, and theoretical and practical organisation of content and (3) the questionnaire detected differential perceptions of the learning environment based on gender and the program studied. 相似文献
AbstractThis article discusses an analysis of abstracts of Brazilian theses and dissertations on environmental education from a database organised and maintained by a group of researchers in the EArt Project (www.earte.net). In presenting extracts of key trends in this dataset, our aim is to provide a snapshot of the many possible approaches to, and histories of, Brazilian environmental education research. The data also allow us to raise some questions that explore possible ‘blank spots’, ‘blind spots’ and ‘bald spots’ in Brazilian research on environmental education. Given the temporal development of the research field since the 1980s, we illustrate these ‘spots’ by exploring data related to epistemological and methodological diversity, from the viewpoint of knowledge areas as well as the graduate programmes that have been developing research on environmental education. Finally, we draw a picture of the methodological trends that have been privileged by Brazilian researchers, and pose questions as to what is needed in shaping an agenda for research on environmental education in Brazil into the future. 相似文献