Spannungsfeld Polyvalenz in der Lehrerbildung

The Bologna Process of higher education reform has led to a vast array of different programs of study in German teacher training. In this article, we firstly analyze the implementation of Bachelor programs in teacher training, comparing profession-oriented programs (i.e. those aiming to train students for the teaching profession from the beginning of studies) to polyvalent programs (i.e. those aiming at broad qualifications and including a late decision to become a teacher). Secondly, we investigate whether students enrolled in these study programs differ systematically in their subjective certainty about their career choice. To answer these questions, we analyze portfolios of documents related to teacher training programs from nine German universities that prepare students for teaching in the academic track. Additionally, we analyze data from N?=?2585 Bachelor and N?=?928 Master degree students. We found that most programs, even when they espouse polyvalence, require an early decision to become a teacher. Moreover, our data confirm findings from earlier studies indicating that student teachers are highly certain about their career choice from the very beginning, with students in polyvalent programs being slightly less certain than those in profession-oriented programs (d?=?0.32).     

Graduate Student Space and Service Needs: A Recommendation for a Cross-campus Solution

Focus group methodology was used to investigate graduate students' cross-campus technology, space and service needs. Although the library provides valued services and spaces, graduate students need enhanced and more equitable support for their roles as teachers and scholars. Librarians can provide leadership and act as advocates for graduate student needs in partnership with other campus stakeholders.     

Der Mathematikunterricht der PISA-Schülerinnen und -Schüler

Der Beitrag besch?ftigt sich mit dem Mathematikunterricht der PISA-Schülerinnen und -Schüler in Deutschland und berichtet über Ergebnisse aus einer Zusatzstudie zu PISA 2003. Aufbauend auf der mathematik-didaktischen Rahmenkonzeption von PISA, die Unterricht als Gelegenheitsstruktur für verst?ndnisvolle Lernprozesse versteht, wurden Schülerinnen und Schüler und ihre Mathematiklehrkr?fte zu Merkmalen der Unterrichtsqualit?t befragt. Es zeigen sich schulformspezifische Unterrichtskulturen: Ein kognitiv aktivierender Umgang mit mathematischen Inhalten ist eher in Gymnasien zu beobachten, w?hrend vor allem in Hauptschulen die Unterrichtsform mit geringem kognitiven Gehalt und ausgepr?gter Unterstützung überwiegt. Dennoch wird die Angebotsstruktur des Mathematikunterrichts von Jugendlichen an Hauptschulen positiv beurteilt, w?hrend Gymnasiasten ihren Unterricht eher kritisch bewerten. Diese Differenzen sind vor allem durch Unterschiede in der individuellen Lernunterstützung durch die Lehrkr?fte zu erkl?ren, welche von Schülerinnen und Schülern an Hauptschulen als besonders ausgepr?gt, an Gymnasien eher als gering beschrieben wird.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of interactive computer tutorials for an undergraduate mathematical literacy course

This article describes a study of learning when students used interactive spreadsheet‐based computer tutorials in a mathematical literacy course. It foregrounds theories relating to the role of computer technology (and specifically spreadsheets) as a mediator for learning of mathematics. It outlines the application of quantitative methods involving pre‐ and post‐testing of students, both in the computer laboratory and in the lecture sessions, and discusses factors constraining the experimental design and the usefulness of the results. There are indications that the data reveal real differences between the learning experiences in the lecture sessions and the computer laboratories. It appears that in some respects the computer tutorials were more effective in conveying the concepts than the lecture sessions were. A method of analysing and representing the data, that tracks the extent of learning of concepts through the pre‐ and post‐tests, was developed. It allows for the performance of sub‐groups of students to be examined separately. This analysis shows that simple definitions of disadvantage (such as having English as a second language) are inadequate to account for the poor performance of students in the lower quartile.     

Can individuals with Down syndrome acquire alphabetic literacy skills in the absence of phoneme awareness?

Two studies investigating the relationship betweenphoneme awareness and word reading ability in Downsyndrome (DS) are reported. The first study included33 Brazilian individuals with DS (mean age = 23years). They all had begun to read and all showedclear signs of phonological recoding skills. Thirty-three normal children (mean age = 7 years),matched with the individuals with DS for readingability, participated as controls. The second studyincluded individuals with DS with a wider range ofreading ability: a group of 46 readers (mean age = 22years) and a group of 47 nonreaders (mean age = 18years). The results question Cossu, Rossini, andMarshall's (1993a) claim that phoneme awareness is notrelated to alphabetic reading acquisition in DS.Although the individuals with DS who participated inthe first study performed rather poorly on a task thatpresupposes the ability to explicitly manipulatephonological representations, they performed quitewell on a task assessing the ability to detectphonemic similarities in words. We suggest that it wasthis ability that enabled them to acquire phonologicalrecoding skills as well as they did, despite theircognitive limitations. The results of the second studywere consistent with this interpretation. The abilityto detect phonemic similarities in wordssignificantly differentiated between the readers andthe nonreaders, even after we controlled forvariations in letter knowledge, intelligence, andchronological age.     

Implications of academic literacies research for knowledge making and curriculum design

This article explores the issue of what academic literacies research can bring to the study of knowledge and curriculum in higher education from a theoretical perspective and by means of illustrations from a work in progress academic literacies research project in the natural sciences. It argues that reading and writing are central to the process of learning in any discipline and that discipline specialists need to take this into consideration when planning their curricula. It also considers what knowledge means in the context of academic literacies research and how this conception of knowledge may differ from the knowledge structures researchers’ concern with knowledge as an object with its own properties. It comes to the conclusion that academic literacies research with its ethnographic-type exploration of social practice and theorisations of knowledge in the knowledge structures research can complement one another because each field of enquiry brings a lens that the other lacks.     

Cultural differences in cognitive responding to ads: a comparison of young American and Chinese consumers

This study explored the differences in young consumers' cognitive responses to visual ads across two cultures. In an experiment, 120 college students from the USA and 120 college students from China were exposed to different types of visual ads, and subsequently participants were instructed to recall objects from the ads, and to list thoughts regarding the product/brand meanings. It was found that compared with Chinese participants, participants from the USA recalled more salient objects and generated more product/brand thoughts elicited by salient objects from the ads. Moreover, Chinese participants were more likely to assign a social role to a person recalled from the ads than their American counterparts. These findings suggested that young Americans attended more to salient objects in the ads, and therefore are more analytic than their Chinese participants. Implications for international advertising were provided.