Toward a modern concept of schooling: A case study on Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel developed the concept of institutionalized education, which reflected public schooling and its legitimacy in the context of rapid transformation of European feudal societies to modern societies. The concept of school reflects the Hegelian theory of Bildung and the concept of modern society. What makes Hegel’s philosophy interesting is his conviction that the processes of Bildung can take place only in the context of social institutions and in the highly organized forms of human interaction regulated by those institutions. Hence the development of an individual, according to Hegel, depends exclusively on institutionalized forms of interaction. In modern society, pedagogical institutions have a specific function: on the one hand, schooling is essentially an institutional form of initiating the process of Bildung in which an individual acquires culture and applies it to life—a life which consequently becomes consciously led by an individual self; on the other, schooling is essentially a way for modern society to ensure its self-preservation by preparing the individual to respond to the demands of civic society so that she or he can take part in the economic production and reproduction of modern society.     

Students' mental load,stress, and performance when working with symbolic or symbolic–textual molecular representations

In science education, representations are necessary inter alia for the understanding of relationships between structures and systems. However, several studies have identified difficulties of students when working with representations. In the present study, we investigated students' responses (regarding their preference, test performance, mental load (ML), and stress) toward two kinds of representations: symbolic representations, which only use abstract symbols, versus combined symbolic–textual representations, which additionally comprise textual elements. Therefore, students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: one group worked on test tasks accompanied by symbolic representations, and the others worked on the same tasks, but with symbolic–textual representations. Thereafter, the students' test performance and ML were assessed. The level of perceived stress and the salivary cortisol concentration were measured before and after the test and again a few minutes later. Additionally, heart rate variability parameters were assessed continuously. We found a strong preference of the test version with symbolic representations. Additionally, the students showed better test performance and lower ML when they worked with symbolic representations. However, the level of perceived stress was comparable between both groups and there was no strong physiological stress response: The cortisol concentration decreased in both groups and the heart rate was relatively similar. However, during the second half of the test, we observed a significantly higher ratio between low and high heartbeat frequencies in the group with symbolic–textual representations and we found an indirect influence of the kind of representation on test performance through its effect on ML. The poorer test performance and higher ML in connection with symbolic–textual representations confirm previous studies, which found that symbolic–textual representations pose major problems for students. Thus, teachers should enable students to understand symbolic–textual representations and consider carefully whether they can use symbolic representations instead, especially when they teach complex content.     

Models for the development of generic skills in Finnish higher education

This article examines how Finnish universities and other higher education institutes have responded to the challenges posed by rapid changes in the world of work and societies all over Europe, particularly with reference to the development of generic skills. The data were collected by means of individual and group interviews at three Finnish higher education institutes, including two universities and one university of applied sciences. The interviews involved 63 persons in charge of management, development and teaching at these institutes. As a result of the qualitative data analysis, we distinguished four models to represent the development of generic skills, which we named (1) Specialist Model, (2) Science-based Renewal Model, (3) Project-based Integrative Model, and (4) Model of Networked Culture. These models serve as analytical tools that help higher education institutes to examine their existing practices and to develop new ones.     

Keystroke-level analysis to estimate time to process pages in online learning environments

It is challenging for students to plan their work sessions in online environments, as it is very difficult to make estimates on how much material there is to cover. In order to simplify this estimation, we have extended the Keystroke-level analysis model with individual reading speed of text, figures, and questions. This was used to estimate how long students might take to work through pages in an online learning environment. The estimates from the model were compared to data collected from 902 volunteer students. Despite the huge differences in reported reading speeds between students, the presented model performs reasonably well and could be used to give learners feedback on how long it takes to work through pages in online learning environments. This feedback could be used to support students’ motivation and effort regulation as they work through online course components. Although the model performs reasonably well, we propose giving feedback in the form of intervals to indicate the uncertainty of the estimates.     

Prerequisites for the successful group mentoring of first-year university students: a case study

In this article we present a case study on a group mentoring practice proven successful in earlier studies in terms of student self-regulation and collaboration. The purpose of our study was to uncover the factors behind the success by interviewing the mentor teachers. The findings showed that the group mentoring focused on four main themes: (a) promoting social relationships, (b) providing personal support, (c) providing study guidance, and (d) strengthening the agency of students. The findings suggest that the leading ethos of group mentoring was related to a humanistic approach to mentoring. However, successful mentoring also seemed to require both situated apprentice and critical constructivist perspectives in addition to the humanistic approach. It is concluded that the combination of multiple goals and contents in group mentoring is the main contributing factor behind the success of the mentoring model examined. Additionally, the teachers reported a variety of positive impacts of group mentoring on teachers’ work.     

Diagnosing ADHD in Danish primary school children: a case study of the institutional categorization of emotional and behavioural difficulties

This study of institutional categorization reports an investigation of the practices, procedures and assumptions of psychiatric staff members when diagnosing ADHD. The main data upon which the study is based consist of transcribed audio recordings of meetings in the psychiatric clinic. Here children referred from primary schools on the suspicion of ADHD are attended to. The tools and procedures for gathering information are shown to produce decontextualized and individualizing representations of children’s conduct. The evaluation against a number of norms is found to be central. Finally, the discussions at the central team conferences are shown to reveal the use of hypothesis testing structured around a number of dichotomies, where isolated aspects of the child’s life are considered against each other as the source of the difficulties. Together, these practices have cumulative and profound consequences for how children’s problems come to be understood as caused by a neurological condition.     

Vorzug Ganztagsschule? Zusammenhänge mit der Kompetenzentwicklung im Bereich Lesen und Mathematik

Politicians and scientists are pinning their hopes on the expansion of the provision of all-day school, assuming that these programs provide particularly favorable conditions for supporting students’ cognitive skills. Against this background, this paper examines whether and under what conditions participation in all-day schooling is connected with the development of competencies in the domains of reading and mathematics. Using data from Starting Cohort 3 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), our research considers different forms of all-day schools, the usage of extracurricular learning activities, as well as student ratings of the attractiveness of extracurricular activities. Furthermore, selective access to different school types and usage of extracurricular activities is carefully controlled for. The results show a positive association between student-rated attractiveness of extracurricular activities and competence development. Neither the organization of schooling nor participation in learning activities show significant independent main effects on competence development from grade five to seven.     

Quantification of improvement in triathlon swimming performance by textile speedsuits

To quantify swimwear-induced differences under triathlon-specific conditions, we compare the swimming performance, the metabolic cost, and the standardised passive drag of well-trained triathletes when wearing (1) five speedsuit models by different manufacturers from 2017, (2) usual swimming trunks/swimsuits (men/women), and (3) individually preferred competition trisuits. Because of the complexity of the underlying hydrodynamic and biomechanical effects, three separate experimental stages were realized, each with 6–12 well-trained short- and middle-distance triathletes (male and female, mean age 22?±?5 years) from the German national elite or junior elite level. All measurements were conducted on the basis of real athletes’ motion in the water to correctly account for all relevant effects, including skin and muscle vibrations. First, the athletes took part in a series of 100 m short-distance tests at maximal effort in a long-course pool to quantify swim-time differences in absolute terms. Second, the subjects completed multiple submaximal 400 m tests at 95% of their individual maximal speed in a swimming flume, with their swimwear-related differences in metabolic load being explored in terms of blood lactate and heart rate. Third, the passive drag of the triathletes was measured in the flume during a towing test under standardised conditions in velocity steps of 0.2 m/s within the triathlon-relevant range of 1.1–1.7 m/s. In all three test stages, the speedsuits exhibited performance advantages over trunks/swimsuits: in the 100 m maximal test, the mean swim time with speedsuits decreased by 0.99?±?0.30 s (????1.5%). During the 400 m submaximal flume test, the mean heart rate showed a reduction of 7?±?2 bpm (? ??4.0%), while the post-exercise blood lactate accumulation decreased by 1.0?±?0.2 mmol/L (? ??26.2%). Similarly, the passive drag in the towing test was lowered by 3.2?±?1.0 W (????6.9% as for normalised power and ??5.2% as for normalised force) for the speedsuits. Wearing speedsuits instead of usual trunks/swimsuits is shown to improve the swimming performance and to reduce the metabolic cost for well-trained triathletes under triathlon-specific test conditions. The reduction in passive drag of the passively towed athlete’s body due specific speedsuit surface textures seems to be only one reason for performance advantages: the effective reduction in muscular, soft tissue, and skin vibrations at the trunk and thighs during active propulsive motion of the swimmer seems to further contribute substantially.     

Correction to: Primary school students’ perceived social support in relation to study engagement

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

Teachers’ enactment of policy in classrooms: making students accountable through inscriptions from the curriculum in classroom interactions

The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex relationships between educational policy and classroom practice. By employing a sociocultural perspective, we examine formulations inscribed in socio-material artifacts about what students should learn and how they should engage with knowledge. We explore how these formulations are mobilized in instructional work and the implications this activity has for student participation. To address this issue, we analyzed video data of how teachers invoke competence aims from the national curriculum in their instructional work in six classrooms. The analytical procedures were derived from interaction analysis. The analysis focuses on how such formulations explicitly mediate social interaction as it unfolds on a micro level. The findings show that competence aims gain different functions as they are mobilized in classroom practice; in other words, they serve different purposes in teachers’ instructional work and anticipate different modes of student participation. In this study, the competence aims were (a) invoked as a source of authority, (b) translated into instructions, and (c) mobilized to obtain social order in the classroom. More rarely, the competence aims were used in meta-level discussions, where they functioned to reach agreements on how to pursue work toward joint goals. We discuss the implications of these ways of invoking competence aims for student participation.