Ethics of automated vehicles: breaking traffic rules for road safety

Ethics and Information Technology - In this paper, we explore and describe what is needed to allow connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) to break traffic rules in order to minimise road safety...     

The impact of stereoscopic imagery and motion on anatomical structure recognition and visual attention performance

Gross anatomy is located in a three‐dimensional space. Visualizing aspects of structures in gross anatomy education should aim to provide information that best resembles their original spatial proportions. Stereoscopic three‐dimensional imagery might offer possibilities to implement this aim, though some research has revealed potential impairments that may result from observing stereoscopic visualizations, such as discomfort. However, possible impairments of working memory such as decreased visual attention performance due to applying this technology in gross anatomy education have not yet been investigated. Similarly, in gross anatomy education the impact of stereoscopic imagery on learners’ recognition of anatomical‐spatial relationships and the impact of different presentation formats have only been investigated in a small number of studies. In this study, the performance of 171 teacher trainees working on the anatomy of hearing was examined, either with non‐stereoscopic or stereoscopic imagery. Static and dynamic picture presentations were applied. Overall, benefits for stereoscopic imagery on estimating anatomical‐spatial relations were found. The performance on a visual attention test indicates that the impact of stereoscopic visualizations on the human cognitive system varies more from person to person compared to non‐stereoscopic visualizations. In addition, combinations of temporarily moving pictures and stereoscopic imagery lead to decreased visual attention performance compared to combinations of moving pictures and non‐stereoscopic imagery. Anat Sci Educ 11: 15–24. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

PISA and its consequences: Shaping education policies through international comparisons

As the field of education has become a highly internationalised policy field in the last decade, international organisations such as the OECD play an ever more decisive role in the dissemination of knowledge, monitoring of outcomes, and research in education policy. Although the OECD lacks any binding governance instruments to put coercion on States or to provide material incentive, it has successively expanded its competences in this field. OECD advanced its status as an expert organisation in the field of education mainly by designing and conducting the international comparative PISA study. With PISA, the OECD was able to greatly influence national education systems. Basically, States were faced with external advice based on sound empirical data that challenged existing domestic policies, politics, and ideas. One prominent case for the impact of PISA is Germany. PISA was a decisive watershed in German education policy‐making. Almost instantly after the PISA results were publicised in late 2001, a comprehensive education reform agenda was put forward in Germany. The experienced reform dynamic was highly surprising because the traditional German education system and politics were characterised by deep‐rooted historical legacies, many involved stakeholders at different levels, and reform‐hampering institutions. Hence, a backlog of grand education reforms have prevailed in Germany since the 1970s. The external pressure exerted by PISA completely changed that situation.     

Teleology as a tacit dimension of teaching and learning evolution: A sociological approach to classroom interaction in science education

Teleology has been described as an intuitive cognitive bias and as a major type of student conception. There is controversy regarding whether teleological explanations are a central obstacle to, are legitimate in, or are even supportive of science learning. However, interaction in science classrooms has not yet been investigated with regard to teleology. Consequently, this study addresses the question of how teleological explanations emerge in science classroom interactions about evolution and how teachers and students address emerging teleology. In this article, we introduce a theoretical and methodological framework drawing from the sociology of knowledge and systems theory, suggesting that this framework may enrich the understanding of knowledge construction and of social practices in the science classroom because it enables distinguishing between explicit and tacit knowledge. We investigated seven secondary school units about evolution and present data from four grade-12 classes in Germany, a country with very few creationists, to contrast two ways in which teleology is addressed. In the first type, the teachers combine intentional and need-based teleological explanations with aspects of scientific theories in an ambiguous way. Contrastingly, in the second type, the teachers construct a duality between correct mechanistic and incorrect teleological explanations by discrediting preceding scientific theories. In the discussion, we argue that the presented sociological approach can also be valuable in other science education contexts, such as creationism, the nature of science and socio-scientific issues, because classroom interaction involves tacit communication, such as a tacit epistemology, which are essential grounds for the students' knowledge construction.     

Learning to consume—consuming to learn: children at the interface between consumption and education

The market as educator has become firmly lodged at the centre of popular and scholarly debate commenting on the nexus between children, consumption and education/learning. In this paper, I appreciate this scholarly debate from the point of view of the sociology of consumption. The latter has been relatively silent on children’s consumption and education, focusing instead on adult learning. Nevertheless, I here draw on that sociology to forward an argument that favours consideration of a broader range of social relationships and cultural and contextual influences. I outline two models on the network of relationships that inform children’s consumption, and illustrate, through a discussion of Chin’s Purchasing Power, how children’s consumption‐related learning may originate from outside the market. The paper finishes with a plea for more research that focuses on children and the domestic contexts of consumption.     

The OECD PISA Study as a Soft Power in Education? Lessons from Switzerland and the US

Although originally created for economic purposes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has increasingly gained weight in education policy in recent years and is now regarded as an international authority in the field, particularly through its ‘Programme for International Student Assessment’ (PISA), which was highly esteemed in many countries and enabled diverse domestic education reforms. OECD derived a variety of policy recommendations from the PISA results. However, which of these were implemented at the national level and how OECD was able to achieve an impact on its member states have not yet been analysed in sufficient depth. To answer these questions, we analyse which OECD recommendations were reflected in Switzerland and the US. As their reception differs across countries, we assess under which conditions policy convergence towards the OECD ‘model’ took place. Then we elaborate on the governance mechanisms that caused policy convergence. We show that in Switzerland PISA's platform for transnational communication enabled policy learning at the expert level, thus leading to a rather high degree of policy convergence. This was not the case in the US, where PISA was regarded only as one of many studies assessing the performance of education systems.     

Student-centred and teacher-centred learning environment in pre-vocational secondary education: Psychological needs,and motivation

In this study the perception of psychological needs and motivation in a student-centred and a teacher-centred learning environment are compared, using Self Determination Theory as a framework. The self-report Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was completed by 230 students (mean age 16.1 years) in pre-vocational secondary education. School records on absenteeism and achievement were also analysed. As predicted, multi-level analyses showed that students in the student-centred learning environment reported higher levels of perceived autonomy, competence, relatedness and motivation, measured by pleasure and effort. Furthermore, boys were less absent. Achievement shows no differences. These results suggest that a student-centred form of learning can be more beneficial for students' motivation if granted autonomy is embedded in a supportive environment.     

Attitudes of Volunteer Coaches toward Significant Youth Sport Issues

A questionnaire consisting of 20 positive and negative statements frequently made about youth sports was completed by 423 nonschool youth sport coaches from Illinois and Missouri. The coaches indicated to what degree they agreed with the statements for the sport in general, and for the particular program in which they coached. Coaches from eight sports were sampled: baseball/softball, basketball, football, gymnastics, hockey, soccer, swimming, and wrestling. The results revealed that coaches have generally favorable attitudes toward youth sports, supporting the value of participation for the well-being of children. One exception to the coaches' generally favorable attitudes was their moderate agreement that too much emphasis is placed on winning. It also was found that the coaches' 20 specific agreement ratings could be reduced to 4 interpretable factors—“positive attitudes,” “negative facets of youth sports programs,” “negative consequences for participants,” and “equipment and facilities not adequate.” Factor scores computed for these factors were found to differ as a function of sport coached and the coach's education, formal training, coaching experience, sex, occupation, and community size. In a second section of the survey, the coaches rated the importance of including various technical and sport science topics in coaching clinics and workshops.