Visualizing Social Justice: Using Controversial Images in Social Studies Classrooms

In this article, we promote the use of controversial images to enhance the discussion of social justice issues in schools. Controversial images provide rich opportunities for students to question what is occurring currently in society as well as what has occurred in the past. We provide an example set of activities to be used in teacher education that can help future teachers explore engaging methods for teaching with controversial images, discuss tensions involved with the use of controversial images, and to develop connections between using controversial images and teaching for social justice.     

Using case studies in business education to promote networked thinking: findings of an intervention study

Case studies are central to the way management is currently taught at universities. Among other benefits attributed to the case study method is that it promotes networked thinking by learners. Networked thinking takes account of interactions and repercussions, making it crucial to decision-making within the complex system of rules that shapes current business reality. However, there is virtually no empirical evidence of the extent to which the case study method actually delivers the advantages attributed to it. This paper aims to remedy that gap in the literature. The paper considers the extent to which the case study method promotes networked thinking on the part of students on business and management courses. The research is designed as an intervention study involving pre- and post-testing. The study finds that students who have worked on a case study correctly identify more interactions in post-testing than in pre-testing.     

A tale of two countries: comparing civic education in the Philippines and Singapore

This article provides a comparative analysis of citizenship education in the Philippines and Singapore. Through an analysis of historical contexts, citizenship education policy and curriculum, it examines Makabayan in the Philippines and National Education in Singapore. It identifies particular policy and curriculum trajectories as responses to national and global imperatives to demonstrate how countries are redefining the kinds of knowledge, skills and values deemed necessary for national citizenship in global contexts. This comparative case study illustrates some of the tensions and contradictions facing citizenship education in new global contexts and highlights the different ways countries try to manage these tensions through citizenship education policies and curricula. Findings point to different factors that shape and constrain the implementation of citizenship education programmes in both countries.     

Exploring the position of curriculum studies across the continuum of teacher education in Ireland

Curriculum, while often narrowly defined, is a contested space that stimulates continuing international debate, yet the importance of curriculum studies is frequently overlooked across the continuum of teacher education. Within the Irish context a technicist interpretation of curriculum studies, focusing primarily of subject knowledge and development, has historically been adopted. More recent Teaching Council of Ireland policy documents have espoused a broader macro understanding of curriculum studies as a foundation discipline within initial teacher education. However, concerns have been raised regarding student teachers’ ability to fully engage with such material so early in their professional development. With the recently embraced continuum of teacher education in Ireland, this paper examines how curriculum studies is currently defined by Irish policy and problematises how it is addressed in practice. The paper proceeds to explore emerging opportunities to expand this area of study across the continuum. A case for the place of curriculum studies as central to the advancement of the profession through the promotion of teachers as change agents is presented.     

Middle school students' conceptual perceptions of the social studies course,and their transfer of the outcomes to daily life

The primary aim of this study was to identify middle school students' conceptual perceptions of the social studies course, and their usage and awareness of the course outcomes in daily life. Qualitative research methods and techniques were employed in the study. The participants were 34 middle school seventh-grade students from a state middle school in Istanbul, Turkey. Letter writing was used as the data-gathering tool, and the data were analyzed by means of the content analysis technique. The findings showed that the participants perceived social studies as a course consisting of social-humanistic sciences with an emphasis on history and communication in accordance with the theoretical structure of the course, and employed their outcomes from this course that they can partly use in daily life.     

The influence of aspirations on higher education choice: a telecommunication engineering perspective

This paper analyses the influence of external factors that affect the decision-making process in the selection of telecommunications engineering studies. Particularly, we have studied the influence of factors related to the generation of expectations about the studies. A survey was conducted on a sample of 701 male and female telecommunications engineering students. The results show the existence of a direct relationship between the choice of telecommunications studies in non-vocationally oriented students and their expectations of finding a job more easily, getting higher salaries and more prestige. On the other hand, non-vocationally oriented students show similar academic performance to that of vocationally oriented students.     

人学和21世纪高校学生素质与创造力的培养

从人学建设的现实视野出发，对高校文科学生的素质与创造力予以培养，必须进行文化的全面整合，创造力是综合素质，所以要综合培养，同时还要注意创造力培养的途径要求和具体方法，实用和超前是教育改革的两个支点。     

西方人本主义对文艺美学影响述评

对当代我国文学、影视、艺术产生重大影响的主要是西方近代、现代和当代的人文精神，特别是人道主义和人本主义的“人学”观念。本文综述和评析了几种理论观点，以期梳理和理解西方人本主义的概貌及对当代文艺思潮的影响。     

The effect of gender on students' sustainability consciousness: A nationwide Swedish study

This study extends previous environmental education research on gender differences by investigating the gender gap between boys' and girls' sustainability consciousness. The issue of whether the gender gap in environmental education can be identified also in sustainability education is addressed. It has been suggested that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a teaching approach that could play a key role in diminishing the gender gap. However, the possible gender-specific effect of an ESD-oriented teaching approach is empirically untested. A survey instrument was used to detect the hypothesized gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness on a sample of 2,413 Swedish students aged 12–19. Findings reveal a gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness. The gender gap increases throughout the age span and is amplified in ESD-oriented schools.     

新鲜植株碳氮素的快速分析及其应用

本文提出了植株碳氮素的快速分析法 ,并对水稻碳氮素代谢进行了研究。结果表明 :不仅分析方法快速、准确 ,而且用在研究水稻碳氮代谢 ,在探明不同时间采样、不同部位采样、施肥前后采样、不同生育阶段采样、不同器官采样等方面的碳氮变化规律均获满意结果 ,最后还总结出以营养诊断为目标的采样分析方法。