Effects of writing instruction and assessment on functional composition performance

In this study the relationships between writing instruction and functional composition performance were analyzed. The data were obtained in a national assessment on the language proficiency of students in the third year of Dutch secondary education (age ±15). Multivariate multilevel analysis showed that 10 out of 36 instructional characteristics were related to functional composition performance. The effective instructional characteristics included: instruction and exercises in writing functional texts, writing for a specific purpose, tailoring to a particular audience, global rating of writing products by the teacher, and frequent evaluation of Dutch language proficiency through teacher-made tests and written assignments. No effects were found for the rather popular subskill exercises on idiom, syntax, spelling and punctuation, and for pre-writing activities, text revisions and peer-review. Furthermore, the effect of instructional characteristics was often different on one task than on another. Finally, there was little differential effectiveness for different groups of students. If one instructional characteristic was more effective than the other, this was generally true, to an equal degree, for boys and girls and for promoted and non-promoted students.     

Being and becoming a university teacher

This study examined how one academic framed the enablements and constraints to her project of being and becoming an academic. Complexity facilitated reflection in that it provided a visual representation of data, which was used to generate a concept map, which represented as equal all the component parts of her landscape. Five spaces with emancipatory potential to assist the academic in her professional development emerged, namely: communities of practice, academic freedom, position statements, development opportunities and a supportive environment. Rather than suggesting any generalisability in the findings, the authors argue that the significance of this study is theoretical and methodological. Complexity theory has the potential to help academic development practitioners understand the landscapes in which their academics operate, and guide appropriate development opportunities.     

Picking the winners by consensus: Grant-giving practice in the Netherlands

The Netherlands form a consensus democracy. In such a society the legitimacy of decisions is of great concern to all. An elaborate system of checks and balances tends to exist and the pressure to join an emerging consensus at meetings is both subtle and tremendously powerful. In the Dutch system of higher education and research the manifestations of the consensus ideal are numerous. This paper highlights them where appropriate. It reviews the Dutch research effort in an international perspective and concludes that R&D expenditure in the Netherlands, measured as a proportion of GDP, is declining. Fairly radical changes in science policy orientation since the 1960s are reviewed and the current frameworks for policy formulation, academic foresight and the organisation of support are sketched. After discussing NWO's different funding instruments, the practices of picking the winners are described in some detail. Three different peer review models are then discussed with special attention to their strengths and weaknesses. The paper's final section is focussed on the evaluation practices in force.     

What's wrong? Understanding beginners' problems with Prolog

This paper reviews psychological research on programming and applies it to the problems of learning and teaching Prolog. We present a psychological model that explains how a certain class of errors in programs comes about. The model fits quite well with the results of a small sample of students and problems. The problems that underlie these and other errors seem to be (a) the complexity of the Prolog primitives (unification and backtracking) and (b) the misfit between students' naive solutions to a problem and the constructs that are available in Prolog (e.g. iterative solutions do not map easily to recursive programs). This suggests that learning Prolog could be helped by (1) coherent and detailed instruction about how Prolog works, (2) emphasis on finding recursive solutions that do not rely on primitives such as assignment and (3) instruction in programming techniques that allow students to implement procedural solutions.     

Language proficiency and lateral position in the classroom

This paper not only makes a contribution to the mosaic of scientific knowledge of the brain and nervous system, but suggests implications of practical value. Observant, experienced teachers know empirically that some youngsters learn best, and perhaps only, when seated front-center, right before the teacher’s desk. Such children need to have the eye contact, or to be in quick arm’s reach, or to have distractions screened out. Drs. Bakker and Van Rijnsoever give evidence here that, for many children, taking in and remembering the message is dependent on their physical placement to catch most effectively the stream of sound. This is important to consider in the popular open classroom. Although many children can adapt readily to less-than-perfect physical learning conditions, for some we must “re-invent the wall,” not to climb, but to provide a place to call “home.” The theoretical re-inforcement presented in this paper proves that such boundaries can also provide source and direction for sound as part of some children’s currently needed sensory security and enhance the efficiency of their auditory intake. Editor     

Education on population matters in Europe: results from a comparative survey among students in five European countries

In 1996–1997, within the framework of the European Observatory for Population Education and Information, a comparative survey was conducted among students in final classes of secondary education in several European countries. On the one hand, the survey attempted to assess the effects of education on population in terms of knowledge acquired; the issues addressed in the questionnaire pertained to knowledge of demographic facts and trends (such as the ageing of Western societies and immigration). On the other hand it tried to ascertain students' opinions on demographic trends. What are young people's views on intergenerational solidarity, how tolerant are they towards immigrants, what are their views on recent changes in family structures? This knowledge is important since it is young people's attitudes and future behaviour that will help to shape both the social tissue and the economic prosperity of the European and world population. In this article we present a comparative analysis of survey results obtained in five European countries. We examined the question whether knowledge acquired in the course of scolarisation influences opinions. The results evidence a significant relationship between knowledge of the migrants' issue and attitudes of tolerance towards migrants. By means of multivariate analyses, the impact of factors such as social origin, study orientation and gender on both students' knowledge and attitudes, are investigated. We conclude that adequate educational training on population issues can have a significant positive impact on attitudes of tolerance.     

ICT and educational (dis)advantage: families,computers and contemporary social and educational inequalities

Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable debate about the growing gap between the so‐called information‐rich and information‐poor. Such concerns have led to high‐profile information technology policy initiatives in many countries. In Australia, in an attempt to ‘redress the balance between the information rich and poor’ by providing ‘equal access to the World Wide Web’ (Virtual Communities, 2002 Virtual Communities (2002) About us. Available online at: http://www.virtualcommunities. com.au (accessed 18 August 2002)  [Google Scholar]), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make ‘technology affordable for all Australians’ (Virtual Communities, 2002 Virtual Communities (2002) About us. Available online at: http://www.virtualcommunities. com.au (accessed 18 August 2002)  [Google Scholar]). In this paper, we examine four families, one of which had long‐term Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) access, and three of which took advantage of the Virtual Communities offer to get home computer and Internet access for the first time. We examine their engagement with ICT and suggest that previously disadvantaged family members are not particularly advantaged by their access to ICT.     

Building Equitable Literate Futures: Home and school computer-mediated literacy practices and disadvantage

This article examines the complex connections between literacy practices, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and disadvantage. It reports the findings of a year-long study which investigated the ways in which four families use ICTs to engage with formal and informal literacy learning in home and school settings. The research set out to explore what it is about computer-mediated literacy practices at home and at school in disadvantaged communities that makes a difference in school success. The findings demonstrate that the 'socialisation' of the technology--its appropriation into existing family norms, values and lifestyles--varied from family to family. Having access to ICTs at home was not sufficient for the young people and their families to overcome the so-called 'digital divide'. The article concludes that old inequalities have not disappeared, but are playing out in new ways in the context of the networked society.