The Role of Knowledge,Social Norms,and Attitudes Toward Organic Products and Shopping Behavior: Survey Results from High School Students in Vienna

In 2005 a survey was used to investigate social norms and attitudes of Viennese high school students (14–20 years, n = 340) toward organic products. Young people, who already participate in household decisions and consume organic products, have not yet been recognized sufficiently in research. The Theory of Reasoned Action and discriminant analysis are used to explore relations of a number of variables and the complex field of factors influencing Viennese high school students’ shopping behavior when shopping for organic products. Key findings include the importance of primary socialization in forming social norms and shaping behavior. Surprisingly, knowledge of organic products does not explain students’ self-reported shopping behavior when shopping for organic products. Cultural patterns seem to be far more useful to predict behavior and attitudes toward organic products.     

Learning from multimedia presentations: Facilitation function of animations and spatial abilities

Animations may facilitate learning by providing external support for visual–spatial mental processing. Facilitation is challenged by findings that demonstrate involvement of spatial abilities in learning from animations, because this involvement indicates active internal visual–spatial processing. In the present study, learners attended to a system-paced multimedia presentation in which a verbal–auditory explanation was concurrently synchronized either with animation, with static core pictures, or with enriched static pictures that showed additional intermediate steps and arrows indicating motion. Results demonstrated better learning success with animations and with enriched static pictures than with static pictures. Spatial abilities were not substantively related to learning success with animations or with static pictures, but they played a crucial role for learning success with enriched static pictures. It is concluded that active visual–spatial processing was recruited with enriched static pictures. With animations, learning was truly facilitated by external support for visual–spatial mental processing.     

Let the context become your ally: school principalship in two cases from low performing schools in Cyprus

Context has a considerable effect on the role and responsibilities of school principals. The aim of this paper is to provide a holistic perspective of the effects of school principals’ involvement in two low performing schools with different contexts. A qualitative research approach was employed, with individual and focus groups interviews under a multi-actor perspective. Our results suggest that school leaders differ in the way they relate to the inner and outer environment of the school. We suggest that they have to acquire new skills that address entrepreneurial as well as pedagogical tasks, thus exercising edupreneurial leadership.     

Across institutional boundaries?: Research collaboration in German public sector nanoscience

Research collaboration is a key mechanism for linking distributed knowledge and competencies into novel ideas and research venues. The need for effective inter-institutional knowledge flows is of particular importance in emerging domains of research, and also a challenge for public research systems with a high degree of institutional differentiation. Motivated by concerns about favorable institutional conditions for the conduct of scientific research, we analyze research collaboration in the emergent domain of nanoscience within the highly segmented German public research system. Drawing on multiple data sources, such as co-publications, macro research statistics, and in-depth interviews, we identify governance structures that support or hinder scientists’ efforts to engage in collaborative work relations across institutional boundaries.     

Der Einfluss des lokalen Hochschulangebots auf die Studienwahl

Various studies show that local higher education provision and the distance to the nearest university effect study behavior. The probability of university participation increases with the geographical proximity of an institution of higher education. In this study we extend the question to the choice of subject of study and the specific institution using a human capital approach with reference to the ETH Zurich, Lucerne University and teacher training colleges. On the basis of a representative survey of holders (n?=?1454) of the higher education entrance qualification in German-language Switzerland, we show through regression analysis that the distance to the nearest university also has an effect on choice of subject and institution. The results are of policy relevance because they indicate a provision-induced study demand. Furthermore, they show that study behavior is not influenced by distance for students with a high socio-economic status. This can be understood as an indication that the importance of the proximity of a university is actually founded in the difference in study costs.     

An Evaluation of Synchronous Co-operative Distance Learning in the Field: The Importance of Instructional Design

This paper describes an empirical field study on synchronous co-operative distance learning carried out in a large software company. The goal of the study was to make an analysis of the co-operative learning process. Seven small groups consisting of three participants each completed an introductory web-based training about the Linux operating system. Four short synchronous co-operative phases were embedded in the web-based training. An analysis of the group discourses showed a large variation in the learning processes that took place in the different groups. This finding can be explained by the ill-defined instructional design on which the co-operative learning process was based. The methodology used in the present study enables both a detailed analysis of the learning process as well as for the development of task-specific process models that can be used for the re-design of instruction. Une evaluation de l’apprentissage coopératif synchrone sur le champs: l’importance d’un schéma

d’instruction. Cet article décrit une étude de cas empirique sur un enseignement À distance synchrone et coopératif menée dans une grande compagnie productrice de software. Let but de l’étude était de faire une analyse du processus d’apprentissage coopératif. 7 petits groupes comprenant chacun 3 participants ont suivi une formation introductive basée sur le Web sur le systéme opératoire Linux. 4 courtes phases synchrones coopératives étaient comprises dans l’apprentissage basé sur le Web. Une analyse des discourse des groupes a montré de grandes variations dans le processus d’apprentissage qui a eu lieu dans les différents groupes. Ces résultats peuvent être expliqués par le fait que l’élaboration de cette instruction sur laquelle le processus d’apprentissage coopératif étant basé était mal définie. La méthodologie utilisée dans l’étude présente permet À la fois une analyse détaillée du processus d’apprentissage aussi bien que le développement de modéles de tÂches spécifiques que peuvent être utilisés pour la re-élaboration de l’instruction. Ein Feldversuch mit kooperativem synchronem E-Learning: Die Bedeuting des Instruktionsdesigns. In diesem Beitrag wird eine empirische Feldstudie in synchronem kooperativen Distance Learning beschrieben, die in einer

grossen Softwarefirma angestellt wurde. Ziel der Studie war, einen kooperativen Lernprozess zu analysieren. Sieben kleine, aus drei Teilnehmern bestehende Gruppen führten jeweils ein web-basiertes Einführungsprogramm über das Linux Betriebssystem durch. In das web-basierte Training waren vier kurze synchrone kooperative Phasen eingebaut. Eine Analyse der Gruppendiskurse ergab eine grosse Varianz der in den einzelnen Gruppen stattfindenden Lernprozesse. Diese Befund Kann durch den unklaren Unterrichtsentwurf, auf den der kooperative Lernprozess gegründet war, erklärt werden. Die in der angeführten Studie verwendete Methodologie liefert sowohl eine detaillierte Analyse des Lernprozesses als auch die für die Weiterentwicklung des Lernprogramms benötigten aufgabenspezifischen Modelle.     

Combining cognitive and affective support in order to promote learning

The present study investigated the impact of cognitive and affective support intervention on the learning outcomes of learners working with a simulation in economics. Cognitive support was given by statements in order to increase reflection and self-explanation in learners. Affective support was given by a goal-based scenario. Participants were 104 students of social science classes who were randomly allocated to a variant with cognitive and/or affective support as well as a basal variant without affective and cognitive support. Perceived germane cognitive load was increased by cognitive support but not by affective support. Understanding, as measured by posttest performance, was significantly increased by a combination of affective and cognitive support as compared to the basal variant without any support, while a single support intervention had no significant impact. The need for an augmented Cognitive Load Theory by the inclusion of affective factors is applied.     

The role of national archives in constructing national master narratives in Europe

This article analyses the role of national archives for the construction of national master narratives. It starts off by discussing the different origins of national archives, the merits of talking about proto-national archives and the importance of the French revolution for establishing the modern national archive system. It goes on to highlight the difficulties of historians with obtaining access to the archives in the nineteenth century. The importance of archives in authenticating and legitimating the authority of historical work meant that archives became increasingly important for the professionalization of history writing. As history writing saw one of its prime tasks in legitimating the nation-state, archives soon occupied an important position for nation-building projects. They got involved in editing sources regarded as being of national importance, and they played a role in projects of national pedagogy. The article also charts efforts to centralize archives at the national level which resulted in failure almost everywhere. Nevertheless, whilst archives were clearly important for imperial and also subnational projects, it was the national archives that captured the imagination of nation-states in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Despite the importance of national archives, the articles goes on to argue that it is striking that most national master narratives in the modern period were not based on archival work.     

Communities,networks and ICT professional development across schools in close physical proximity

ABSTRACT

Many studies have focused on professional development within schools, while this article focuses on ICT (information and communications technology) professional development across schools. The aim of this article is to explore how the encouragement of communities and networks might contribute to ICT professional development across schools in close physical proximity. The study is based on a two-year action research project and interviews with the participants of a lead teacher community across five schools. Although the lead teachers and school leaders played a central role, ICT professional development was dependent on a complex interplay of different types of communities and networks, both within, across and outside the schools. This study illustrates how ICT professional development occurred in both expected and unexpected ways and emphasises the need for professional development to take account of the complex needs of teachers, rather than being a ‘one size fits all’.     

Associative properties of a conditioned inhibitor as a function of age in kittens

The efficacy of conditioned inhibition in a novel conditioned stimulus/conditioned inhibitor (CS/CI) compound was tested in 6-, 10-, and 14-week-old kittens. The conditioned response was suppression of respiration elicited by a 5.1-sec CS paired with a brief, mild footshock. During original inhibitory training, a CI was presented 2 sec after the onset of the CS, and the stimuli coterminated 3 sec later without the shock. As previously reported, the CI trained in this paradigm is more potent in older kittens but passes a summation test in all age groups (Dess & Soltysik, 1989). In the transfer test, the order of the CS and CI was reversed, so that the CI preceded the CS with no stimulus overlap. Transfer of inhibition to this new compound was virtually absent in the 6-week-old kittens and nearly perfect in the 14-week-old kittens. The CI alone (before CS onset) elicited a strong fear response in the youngest kittens, moderate fear in the 10-week-old group, and very little fear in the oldest group. The transferability of inhibitory training to a different temporal configuration of the CS and CI is absent at 6 weeks of age and fully developed 8 weeks later.