The postmodern perfectionist,the pragmatic hedonist and the materialist maximalist: understanding high school students’ profile choices towards or away from mathematics,science and technology (MST) fields in the Netherlands

This study focuses on high school students’ profile choices and the choice for or against the Nature and Technology (NT) profile in the Netherlands. A mixed-methods approach is used to study cultural values that affect this choice. The quantitative part of the study shows that being female is negatively correlated with the choice for the NT-profile, irrespective of the grade average for mathematics, chemistry and physics. It further shows that students’ ethnic background does not have a significant effect on this choice. The qualitative part of the study reveals that students’ choice processes towards or away from NT can be categorised in three ideal types: the postmodern perfectionist, the pragmatic hedonist and the materialist maximalist. Gender differences appear to be more pervasive across these types than differences in ethnic background.     

Very long-term retention of the control of variables strategy following a brief intervention

Middle school students (n = 354) were tested for their understanding of the control of variables strategy (CVS) 2.5 years after participating in a study comparing three different interventions for teaching CVS. The key finding was that the pattern of effects observed in the 4^th grade continued to be observed in the 6^th grade. This was because (a) students who had mastered CVS in the 4^th grade were likely to continue to perform at mastery levels in the 6^th grade whereas (b) the learning of students who had not mastered CVS in 4^th grade was independent of the teaching intervention they had received in the 4^th-grade study. These findings demonstrate that a brief intervention of direct instruction in CVS can produce long-lasting learning of the principle of controlling variables.     

Identifying pathways of teachers’ PCK development

This paper describes a method of analysing teacher growth in the context of science education. It focuses on the identification of pathways in the development of secondary school teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by the use of the interconnected model of teachers’ professional growth (IMTPG).The teachers (n = 12) participated in a one-year action research project focused on their individual concerns related to teaching science. The use of the IMTPG revealed that teachers use different pathways of learning to develop different aspects of their PCK. For each PCK component, three distinct pathways could be identified, two of which clearly were associated with professional growth. When examining these two pathways in detail, it was found that (1) teachers learned about new instructional strategies and assessment methods mostly through literature reviews and discussions with peers and (2) teachers who analyzed and reflected on student learning as it happened in their classrooms developed understandings that helped them to select and apply instructional strategies to further promote student learning. Both the analytical method as well as the identification of the different developmental pathways help to better understand teacher development in the context of classroom practices.     

A framework for authenticity in designing a research-based curriculum

This conceptual paper is concerned with the discursive and applied attributes of ‘authenticity’ in higher education, with a particular focus on teaching science through student research. Authenticity has been mentioned in passing, claimed or discussed by scholars in relation to different aspects of higher education, including teaching, learning, assessment and achievement. However, it is our position that in spite of the growing appeal of authenticity, the use of the term is often vague and uncritical. The notion of authenticity is complex, has a range of meanings and is sometimes contested. Therefore, we propose here a practice-oriented and theoretically-informed framework for what constitutes authenticity within the context of teaching through research. This framework brings together aspects of the ‘real world,’ existential self, and embedded meaning, and aligns them with different outcomes relating to knowledge and to students. Different models of teaching through research with conflicting claims to authenticity are used to illustrate the framework.     

Framing of transitional pedagogic practices in the sciences: enabling access

Educational literature shows that students from working-class backgrounds are significantly less likely to persist to completion in higher education than middle-class students. This paper draws theoretically and analytically on Bernstein’s ([1990. Class, Codes and Control, Volume IV: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge; 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield]) thesis that, through differential framing of pedagogic practices, the curriculum has capacity to accommodate all groups of students. Pedagogic practices in both a science foundation course and four first-year mainstream science courses in a higher education institution in the South African context are examined. Whilst the foundation course exhibits modalities that generally favour access, the mainstream courses have some modalities that appear to be constraining. It is argued from a social justice perspective that holistic curriculum transformations that better enable epistemic transitions are an urgent imperative, and that consideration of differential framing of pedagogic modalities offer a close-up empirical means of conceptualising such reforms.     

地方科学基金定位与运作机制研究

在研究国内外地方科学基金运行管理模式的基础上,依据科技发展的形势与要求,提出了地方科学基金的定位原则及构建相应管理体系运行机制的层级原则,并对地方科学基金管理创新的若干问题提出了参考建议。     

连续出版物本源论

研究了连续出版物这一文献现象的形成机制，认为连续出版物本源于社会活动信息及其需求之间的一致的连续性属性，正是这一信息交流 本质规定性，促进连续出版物产生，并决定了它在编辑出版与文献形式方面的诸般属性和特征。     

Web of Science数据库检索系统

本文介绍美国ISI出版的Web of Science数据库检索系统。讨论了该系统的特点、检索界面、检索模式和方法、保存调用检索式、记录输出格式和下载方式等。     

信息探讨:情报概念的一个新的认识视角

基于“”理论的分析方法具有方法论的意义,根据相似性原理,通过情报过程与能量过程的比较,论证了把“”理论引入情报学的可行性。从“情报是在一定环境下对用户有用的信息”这一命题出发,提出了情报即“信息”的观点。从“信息”的情报观出发,阐述了情报学就是以“信息”为研究对象的学科,该学科的中心任务就是研究如何最大限度地开发信息中所包含的“信息”。“信息”是情报概念的一个新的认识视角,具有探索性。     

区域产业科技竞争力的比较研究

本文根据当代世界经济发展的新态势和M·E·波特产业国际竞争的阶段说,探讨了产业科技竞争力的内涵及其相应的评价指标体系。并从纵向和横向两方面,对福建省和上海市的石化、机械和电子三大产业科技竞争力进行了实证分析。最后,对福建省提高产业科技竞争力提出了几点建议。