Science and Technology Education in Slovenian Compulsory Basic School: Possibilities for Gifted Education

The article presents an analytical overview of the science and technology curriculum from the viewpoint of the inclusive approach adopted toward gifted education in Slovenian basic education. The main research question concerns how the current curriculum fits the learning needs of gifted students. For the purposes of the study, 16 compulsory and elective syllabi of science and technology school subjects were identified and qualitatively analyzed, and the role of activity days was examined within the target framework. The results show a rather weak operationalization of recommendations for gifted education in defined learning objectives and standards in the syllabi. Moreover, it was found that elective school subjects in science and technology are poorly represented in students’ overall selection of elective school subjects. In addition, activity days offer numerous possibilities for the implementation of the general recommendations for teaching the gifted.     

Universities in ‘the condition of publicity’: how LSE engages with the wider world

This article analyses how one institution, the London School of Economics under Anthony Giddens’s directorship, sought to occupy the ‘condition of publicity’ that is increasingly a prerequisite for university success in ‘knowledge‐society’ contexts. In particular, we illustrate how the LSE has sought to develop a brand and practice that is policy‐relevant, close to society, media‐savvy and think‐tank‐like, whilst at the same time remaining impeccably academic. Whilst one goal of the paper is the relatively modest one of giving local texture to some of the general tendencies identified in wider debates about ‘academic capitalism’, ‘the postmodern university’, and the like, we also develop some initial considerations that are intended as a contribution to the assessment of those theoretical themes.     

Software-Sicherheitsprüfung mit VALSOFT

Zusammenfassung. Die Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt mu? alle eichpflichtigen Me?ger?te prüfen. Da heute fast jedes Me?ger?t durch Software gesteuert wird, mu? sichergestellt werden, da? der Datenpfad vom Sensoreingang zur Anzeige (Eichpfad) nicht durch externe Faktoren beeinflu?t werden kann. Das VALSOFT-Werkzeug erkennt, analysiert und visualisiert Beeinflussungen der Eichpfade. Grundlage der Analyse sind Program-Slicing und Constraint-Solving. Zu beliebigen Programmpunkten (z. B. Me?wertausgaben) k?nnen diejenigen Anweisungen bestimmt werden, die diesen Punkt beeinflussen (sog. Slice). Zus?tzlich k?nnen genaue Bedingungen berechnet werden, unter denen verd?chtige Datenflüsse stattfinden (sog. Pfadbedingungen). Anwendungen in anderen sicherheitskritischen Bereichen sind ohne weiteres m?glich. Eingegangen am 3. November 1998 / Angenommen am 23. M?rz 1999     

Toddlers Prefer Adults as Informants: 2- and 3-Year-Olds’ Use of and Attention to Pointing Gestures From Peer and Adult Partners

Two- and 3-year-old children (N = 96) were tested in an object-choice task with video presentations of peer and adult partners. An immersive, semi-interactive procedure enabled both the close matching of adult and peer conditions and the combination of participants’ choice behavior with looking time measures. Children were more likely to use information provided by adults. As the effect was more pronounced in the younger age-group, the observed bias may fade during toddlerhood. As there were no differences in children’s propensity to follow peer and adult gestures with their gaze, these findings provide some of the earliest evidence to date that young children take an interlocutor’s age into account when judging ostensively communicated testimony.     

The impact of students’ exploration strategies on discovery learning using computer-based simulations

Discovery-based learning designs incorporating active exploration are common within instructional software. However, researchers have highlighted empirical evidence showing that “pure” discovery learning is of limited value and strategies which reduce complexity and provide guidance to learners are important if potential learning benefits are to be achieved. One approach to reducing complexity in discovery learning is limiting the range of possible actions for the learner to ensure that they do not undertake exploratory activities leading to confusion. This article reports on a study in which the learning outcomes from two learning conditions using computer-based simulations were compared. One condition allowed exploration through manipulation of simulation parameters, while the other allowed observation of simulation output from preset parameters, the latter condition designed to limit the complexity of the task. Learning outcomes for the 158 university student participants were assessed via pre-tests and post-tests of conceptual understanding. Students’ exploration activities were recorded and their strategies subsequently coded as either systematic or unsystematic. The results showed that when compared with observation, systematic exploration resulted in learning benefits, while unsystematic exploration did not. These results have implications for the design of discovery learning tasks and instructional guidance within computer-based simulations.     

MuSofT – Multimedia in der Softwaretechnik

Zusammenfassung.   Im Rahmen des F?rderprogramms Neue Medien in der Bildung f?rdert das BMBF das Vorhaben „MuSofT – Multimedia in der Softwaretechnik”. Dieses Vorhaben soll in den n?chsten drei Jahren multimediale Lehr- und Lerneinheiten in die softwaretechnische Lehre einführen und insbesondere drei Aspekte der Softwaretechnik-Ausbildung unterstützen. Im ersten Aspekt wird die objektorientierte Modellierung als eine Folge von Phasen betrachtet, innerhalb deren Software-Produkte schrittweise konstruiert werden. Hierzu geh?ren insbesondere die Analysephase mit dem Erfassen von Benutzeranforderungen und die anschlie?ende Entwurfsphase mit dem Umsetzen dieser Anforderungen in technische Modelle. Ein zweiter Aspekt ist die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Entwicklungsprozess selbst und den dazugeh?renden übergreifenden T?tigkeiten wie dem Projektmanagement und der Qualit?tssicherung. Ein dritter Aspekt ist die fachdidaktische Herangehensweise an die softwaretechnische Ausbildung, die insbesondere für die Informatiklehrerausbildung von gro?er Bedeutung ist.      

The Attentional Blink in Developing Readers

The attentional blink refers to a reduction in accuracy that occurs when identifying the second of two targets presented within approximately 500 msec of each other. This research explored individual differences in the attentional blink in a sample of 86 children (aged 8–10) with normally developing reading skills. The attentional blink was examined in relation to general reading performance as well as specific orthographic and phonological reading subprocesses. No associations were evident between attentional blink duration and reading ability. However significant correlations did exist between each of the three reading measures and mean second target correct given first target correct (T2|T1) performance across all lags, with less skilled readers exhibiting inferior performance regardless of the temporal lag between first and second targets. Performance on a rapid naming task mediated some of the relationship between mean T2|T1 performance and reading, yet the association remained significant when this factor was accounted for.