Materials Research in France: A Short-lived National Initiative (1982–1994)

This paper describes the French initiative in materials research against both a national and an international background, in an attempt to disentangle the local circumstances, which prompted this governmental initiative, and to characterize the specific profile of materials research in France. In presenting a biography of the interdisciplinary program in materials research (PIRMAT), we argue that: i) the PIRMAT denotes a failure of the French science policy in materials research; ii) the leadership of the CNRS led to a specific style of research, quite different from the engineering approach of Materials Science and Engineering, and characteristic of a French style in materials research.     

汶川重建中的国际合作

2008年5月12日发生在中国的汶川毁灭性地震,造成整个四川省超过6万人遇难,500万人无家可归,而灾后的重建工作将需要很长时间。虽然当前救援组织和当地政府已经紧急修建了临时住房并提供饮用水,但同样重要的是我们应该开始考虑在救援人员离开后,国际社会应该如何有效在而合适地发挥长久的作用。     

Do students' style preferences differ by grade level,orientation toward college,and academic major?

Students' preferences for learning styles as well as their preferences for communication styles of their teachers are examined to determine if those preferences are related to gender, grade level, and major in college. A total of 327 adolescents in grades eight through twelve completed questionnaires measuring their preferred learning styles (Dependent, Independent, Competitive, Collaborative, and Participative) and their preferences for teacher communicator styles (Open, Attentive, Relaxes, Precise, Impression Leaving, Dramatic, Friendly, Animated, Contentious, and Dominant). Also, 235 college students in various majors were measured. The rank ordering of preferences was generally stable across all grade levels in the adolescent sample. However, the college students exhibited several important differences in preferences from the adolescents and across majors.     

Understanding reforms,school reactions to major changes: the case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Two major education system reforms were introduced by Israel’s government in collaboration with the teachers’ unions. These reforms redefine principals’ and teachers’ roles, increasing teachers’ work hours, and the scope of their work. School principals absent from the reform negotiations, are expected to apply the reform, although their work conditions were harmed. This research examines how principals cope with those reforms, and why they sometimes apply them in ways that seem to contradict their interests? Semi-structured interviews with 30 school principals, and 10 schoolteachers, indicated that the reforms have encumbered school principals’ complex tasks. They have little time or ability to thoroughly apply the reforms, responding to multiple stakeholders, political pressures, the exam regime, human resource management, etc. They often ignore policy directives, delegating authority to others, refrain from using certain resources provided by the reforms and allow internal forces to lead, while remaining uninvolved. Conclusions are presented.     

Teaching experience and teachers' expectations for grades in academic subject areas

Seventy-nine subjects who had less than 1, 2, to 3, and more than 3 years of teaching experience were given either a favorable, neutral, or unfavorable fictitious psychological report to read, describing a kindergarten child. Subjects then watched a 5-year-old child in a videotaped testing session. Expectancies toward the child were evaluated using report card grades the subjects expected the child to receive at the end of first grade. A multivariate analysis of variance with five subject area grades as the dependent variables revealed significant multivariate main effects for experience and psychological report. Significant univariate interactions in science and social studies, and social and emotional development suggested that teachers with more than 3 years of experience may have reduced susceptibility to biasing influences in psychological reports.