Sustainability and Education: To Sink—or to Swim?

In the 1960s, the role of engineering education was clear, whereas in the 1990s there is a search for a new rationale. These changes have been wrought by social concerns for the environment at both local and global levels. This trend will accelerate further, and both the rate of development of the trend and its implications have been underestimated. There is now a hope and expectation that technology, until now a contributor to environmental problems, can in the future play a large part in the reduction of these problems. While professional engineering organizations have addressed the problem at a policy level, implementation is a major difficulty. This is also true in education, despite efforts by some schools of engineering to adapt existing courses in an environmental direction. It is now clear that the changes needed are too fundamental and the rate of change too great to be dealt with adequately by adaptation. Basic questions of philosophy and capacity will have to be addressed by academia, engineering practice and major business.     

The Acquisition of Conceptual Skills: An Exploratory Study

It was hypothesized that explicit instruction in the use of a conceptual framework would be more effective than feedback about behavior in teaching the conceptual skills of problem definition and goal formulation to beginning practicum students. Counseling trainees received one of two kinds of supervision, instruction or feedback, in written form following an interview with a role-play client. They subsequently interviewed two more role-play clients. After each interview, trainees formulated problem definitions, short-term goals, and outcome goals for the case. At the end of the experiment, they rated the supervision they received and their own counseling performance in the three interviews. Results did not support the hypothesis, but rather the reverse. Feedback was found to be more effective in teaching goal formulation and was perceived by trainees to be more effective.     

The adonis experiment

相似文献   

Turtles All the Way Down: Academic Writing as Formalism

At least in the United States, the presentation of scholarship is highly formulaic. The emblematic product of this professional domain—the academic journal article—is less a lump of clay waiting to be moulded than a set of fired jars waiting to be filled. Not only are the jars unyielding to the touch, but even their number and order are fixed. There are five of them, which need to be filled in precise order: research question, literature review, methodology, results and conclusions. Don't stir. Repeat. In this paper I explore the form and function of this formulaic medium. I trace its roots to a series of earlier formalisms that dominate American schooling. First comes the five-paragraph essay, a form that is chillingly familiar to anyone who has attended an American high school. This model continues to hold sway in college. Then in graduate school comes the five-chapter doctoral dissertation. Same jars, same order. By the time the doctoral student becomes a professor, the pattern is fixed. The Rule of Five is thoroughly fixed in muscle memory, and the scholar is on track to produce a string of articles that follow from it. The formula is useful for all of the actors involved, making it easy to write acceptable academic papers, to skim and evaluate these papers, and to build a credible CV and a high citation journal. The only thing it's not good for is transmitting meaningful academic insights.     

The role played by grandparents in family support and learning: considerations for mainstream and special schools

The twenty‐first century family faces many demographic changes. Despite this, the importance of intergenerational relationships remains. This article initially reviews the literature surrounding the role that grandparents play in their children's families, highlighting a growing body of research demonstrating the important support role that grandparents play in the lives of families with non‐disabled children. In contrast, there is limited research on the role played by and support needs of grandparents to families with disabled children. Recognising the significance of ‘family’ rather than purely ‘parent’‐based partnerships in UK schools, this article considers the role and importance of grandparents in schools; in particular, intergenerational learning, and how schools can begin to include grandparents and also provide support to meet grandparents' own support needs. Despite a limited literature on schools working specifically with grandparents of children with SEN, some policy and practice issues are discussed and areas for future consideration suggested.