Design/methodology/approach: Initially, we defined ‘extension system’ as a wide range of actors integrating resources with the aim of co-producing value (not for but with) farmers. To capture the value flow within this constellation of actors we distinguished between the notion of ‘value in production’ – i.e. the value embodied in service offerings – and the value emanating when service content is used in real settings or ‘value in use.’
Findings: Our approach revealed that, despite their structural and organizational differences, the ES in the three countries share common problems arising from a limited focus on the issue of value in use.
Practical implications: The application of a systemic approach – seeing farmers as co-creators and not as end-users of extension services – in the evaluation of ESs contributes to better understand the complexity of value flow within the system and can strengthen extension systems’ effectiveness.
Theoretical implications: The present study, by reconsidering traditional evaluation approaches and by focusing on value co-production, offers an alternative value-centric framework for the conceptualization of extension services and points out to the need for refining the evaluation criteria of ESs.
Originality/value: Our work, by emphasizing the reciprocal creation of value within ESs, and by adding the concept of value in use, offers a new systems approach worth considering when evaluating ESs within different organizational and sociocultural contexts. 相似文献
Purpose: This study examined Grades 5 and 9 students’ views of uncertainty in their personal scientific research and the formal scientific research of professionals.
Sample: This study included 33 students in Grade 5 (n = 17) and Grade 9 (n = 16). The students were recruited from a charter school that emphasised inquiry instruction.
Design and methods: Data were collected through interviews. Students were asked their views of their inquiry-based projects and their views of professional science.
Results: Interview data and statistical analyses indicated that students recognized uncertainty in personal science, which varied across elements of the scientific process. Additionally, their views of uncertainty in formal science tended to change across grades and knowledge of uncertainty in personal and formal science were positively correlated.
Conclusion: These findings offer insights into the processes by which students come to understand uncertainty in science and point to ways of fostering such knowledge through teaching practices. 相似文献
Design/methodology/approach: We applied principles of Transformative Learning and Communicative Action theories to design a learning process structured by the Qualitative Expert Assessment Tool for Conservation Agriculture Adoption in Africa (QAToCA). Elements of the process include: agroecosystem health exploration, stakeholder mapping, innovation timeline, participatory video, the QAToCA exercise, and specifying change promotion. We tested this approach with a group of farmers and experts in Koumbia, Burkina Faso.
Findings: The agroecosystem in Koumbia is under demographic, economic, and climatic pressure. Conservation Agriculture has not been successfully integrated into socio-economic realities or implemented beyond a trial scale. The stakeholder mapping showed that dominant economic players and traditional means of communicating are essential to achieve innovation. Past interventions were not coordinated and focused on technical challenges. The participatory videos were rich in contextual information and created process ownership for research participants. The QAToCA provided a structure for lessons learned and suggestions for change.
Practical implications: The learning process may be applied to initiate innovation initiatives in an efficient manner.
Theoretical implications: The study shows how Transformative Learning and Communicative Action theories can be used for agricultural innovation. It also underlines the need for further work on how to address the implicit superiority of the process initiator and the integration of learning in institutional practice.
Originality: Few studies have attempted to design and test learning processes on agricultural innovation based on theories of learning and Communicative Action. 相似文献
Objective: In this paper, we employ a novel approach called Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) to encourage students to think more about their software development processes.
Method: We conducted IPR sessions with five undergraduate programming students—we screen captured them working on programming assignments, and then used the screen captures to stimulate reflection. IPR is hallmarked by several key features, namely its developmental (rather than evaluative) focus, and the use of a facilitator to guide reflection in a structured way.
Findings: We found IPR was useful for both the teaching staff and the students, revealing incongruence between the value students placed on certain development processes and what they actually do in practice.
Implications: IPR is a novel approach for shining a light on student software development processes. We hope this paper encourages other practitioners to consider adding IPR to their toolbox of approaches for encouraging students to reflect on their software development processes. 相似文献
Purpose: This study explores STEM students’ encounters with an interdisciplinary first year. Specifically, motivational patterns towards learning in two introductory courses followed by students from multiple study programmes are investigated.
Sample: 173 Danish undergraduate students enrolled in three science programmes: biomedicine; biochemistry and molecular biology; and physics.
Design and methods: Within the framework of Self-Determination Theory, a measure of autonomous and controlled motivation forms the basis for quantitative analyses (n = 173). A qualitative thematic analysis of students’ open responses further supplements and gives nuance to the findings.
Results: The motivational pattern of physics students is found to differ significantly from that of biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) students and biomedicine students. The comments reveal that some students struggle to realise the relevance of the course content for their chosen study programme to an extent that makes them reconsider their study choice.
Conclusions: The study offers input to the discussion of how to present inter- and/or multidisciplinarity to students and points to implications on two levels: curriculum design and course content. The findings are of importance to educational planners, decision-makers and teachers dealing with the motivational range that exists within their courses. 相似文献
Purpose The study examined how an interactive theatre performance, where professional actors deliver a performance but invite regular audience participation as a way to promote active learning, benefited both understanding of plant reproduction and attitudes towards plants. Perceptions of the play and the way in which specific elements influenced learning and emotions were examined in detail and placed in a theoretical context.
Sample Opportunity sampling was used to recruit participants from five public primary schools in Devon, UK. One hundred and forty-four students (aged 9–11 years) participated in the study.
Design and methods A mixed methods approach was adopted. Quantitative analysis of pre- and post-intervention knowledge tests involved t-tests and repeated measures ANCOVA. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews made use of an emerging theme analysis with a priori categories.
Results Pre- and post-intervention tests indicated an increase in both knowledge of plant reproduction and positive attitudes towards plants. Follow-up interviews identified elements that were particularly beneficial for learning and enjoyment, including the thematic singing, humour, novelty of the play, visual elements and participatory art activities.
Conclusions This case study demonstrates the potential that an interactive theatre production offers for enhancing appreciation and interest in school science while improving knowledge. 相似文献
Purpose: This study aimed to develop a mediational model providing the factors accounting for Taiwanese junior high school adolescents’ science learning self-efficacy (SLSE), especially from the perspectives of both interpersonal and intrapersonal factors.
Design: We therefore proposed a mediational model to delineate the relationships among students’ perceived responses to capitalization attempts – science learning (PRCA-SL), science learning hardiness (SLH) and SLSE by conducting structural equation modeling (SEM).
Sample: A total of 1,170 junior high school students in Taiwan were invited to take part in the study.
Results: The results confirmed our hypothesis that students’ PRCA-SL fostered their science learning hardiness, which in turn contributed to their science learning self-efficacy.
Conclusions: The findings confirmed the mediational model wherein science learning hardiness completely mediated the relationship between PRCA-SL and science learning self-efficacy. 相似文献
Design/Methodology/Approach: Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study followed a correlational design and survey data were conveniently collected from 200 farmers of Trinidad.
Findings: Findings showed most farmers of the sample knew how to send and receive text messages, and many owned Internet-enabled smartphones. In addition, most farmers were willing to communicate with extension officers through text messages.
Practical Implications: Ministry Extension should revisit and revise their policies of communicating with farmers. Administrators should encourage extension officers to use SMS to respond to farmers’ requests and information needs.
Theoretical Implications: While the UTAUT provided an appropriate framework for understanding farmers’ use of text messaging, researchers should tailor the moderator variables to the country’s context.
Originality/Value: This study is the first to look at farmers’ willingness to use two-way information communication technologies in Trinidad. Results showed there is potential for Ministry Extension to use text messaging to communicate with farmers. 相似文献
Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate student perceptions in a Science Extended Curriculum Program (ECP) of both the traditional pen and paper method they used in 2016, and the new online resource method they used in 2017 to better prepare them for Physics laboratories, and to compare the two methods.
Sample: N = 51 students from a first-year Extended Curriculum Programme in physics at a South African university voluntarily participated in this study.
Design and methods: The research was conducted using two non-standardised structured questionnaires where the enrolled ECP students were asked both open-ended – and closed questions (using a Likert response scale). Google Forms using graphs assessed these responses. An additional source of data was iKamva/Sakai which is the University of Western Cape’s institutional Learning Management (LMS) system, which allowed for detailed information regarding online activities.
Results: Four main research questions focussing on preparedness, time spent, lab activities and online resources were identified. Findings from these suggest that an introduction of an online environment positively affected the students’ perceptions of the online environment for pre-laboratory preparation in comparison with using traditional pen and paper.
Conclusions: The present study has successfully managed to both reveal that the introduction of online environment for Physics laboratories brought about some positive benefits as perceived by the students, as well as fruitful avenues for future research. While more work is needed, in terms of research and continuing evaluation of eLearning in Physics education, there is reason to be positive in terms of renewed emphasis to add blended learning within the broader Physics learning and teaching communities. 相似文献
Objective: This study aimed at testing a hypothesized model of achievement in CS in terms of the learner and the learning environment characteristics.
Method: Data were collected using a questionnaire administered to a random sample of 315 eleventh and twelfth-grade advanced CS students (28% girls). Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis was utilized to test the proposed structural model.
Findings: The hypothesized structural model fits the data reasonably, yet five of the 17 assumed effects were not significant. A modified model with only significant effects fit the data well and accounted for 41% of the variance. Mathematics achievement, self-efficacy and classroom learning environment are the most influential variables on achievement in CS.
Implications: The findings bear important implication for helping students by resolving obstacles that obstruct their learning and achievement. 相似文献
Objective: To summarize the commonly used variables and measurements in computing education and to compare them to best practices in measurement for human-subjects research.
Method: Systematic literature review analyzing 197 papers published during 2013–2017 in computing education research venues.
Findings: The review illuminates common practices related to: variables measured (including learner characteristics), measurements used, and type of data analysis. The paper lists standardized measurements that were used and highlights commonly used variables for which no standardized measures exist.
Implications: The paper concludes with information about best practices currently being used in the community that should be continued, as well as pointing out practices that could be improved along with recommendations for how to begin to adopt those best practices. 相似文献
Purpose: In this study, we investigated how students’ mental models about one-dimensional expansion can be extended for purposes of running mental simulations about expansion along two dimensions.
Sample: To that end a pretest-posttest quasi-experiment has been conducted, with 100 students in the control group and 95 students in the experimental group.
Design and methods: Whereas control group students received traditional instruction with a focus on formal representations, in the experimental group the students were led to draw an analogy between heating of a straight rod and a circular rod of same length, whereby the internal structure of the rods was represented by springs.
Results: Eventually, it has been found that students from the experimental group were significantly more successful at predicting the effects of thermal expansion, especially within contexts of objects with holes.
Conclusion: Analogies and extreme case reasoning can be effectively used for helping the students to correctly transfer their mental models about one-dimensional expansion to situations that require reasoning about expansion along two dimensions. 相似文献
Design/Methodology/Approach: The analysis of the FADN potential relies on the classification of innovations and the co-identification, through the Most Significant Change (MSC) approach, of the most relevant indicators for tracking and assessing the performances of innovations and attributing to them the effects of a specific innovation.
Findings: The study shows that the FADN has a certain range of useful indicators and that they have a good coverage of the different types of innovation. Furthermore, the farm visits let emerge the importance of participatory approaches to capture the different changes and interplays occurred in farming processes.
Practical implications: The paper lays the foundations for the adaptation of the current methodology for data collecting and provides useful insights concerning the overcoming representativeness claims, costs’ issues, and problems related to the observation time limit.
Theoretical implications: The paper reveals the importance of participatory monitoring and evaluation approaches in helping the collection of more robust and relevant account data on farm, as well as in attributing certain results to a specific innovation and recognising synergies and side-effects of cooperative processes.
Originality/Values: The paper provides some recommendations on how to enlarge the scope of the FADN survey in order to be used effectively in the analysis of the performance of cooperative innovations at farm level. 相似文献
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify preservice teachers’ ideas about how to increase students’ long-term interest in science.
Sample: The participants were 235 preservice primary teachers and 33 preservice secondary science teachers.
Design and Methods: Data collection was by questionnaire, interview and classroom observations.
Results: It was found that participants in both primary and secondary groups had very similar ideas about how to develop pupils’ long-term interest in science. These ideas mainly involved the use of hands-on activities, making science relevant, and using student-centred strategies or electronic media to make lessons fun and to enhance engagement. These can be interpreted as representing sources of situational interest (i.e. short-term interest arousal). These ideas broadly parallel the current theory on interest development, such that long-term individual interest is thought to develop from repeated experiences of short-term, situational interest.
Conclusion: The participants’ ideas in this study were intuitive, because they were not derived from an understanding of theory, but rather from their personal experiences of interest arousal at university, school and practicum. Nevertheless, their ideas were workable for a practitioner, because they broadly paralleled current theory on interest development. 相似文献
Design/Methodology: Teagasc, the public KT service provider in Ireland, experienced significant office closures (43%) and a reduction in advisers (38%) during the economic crisis, yet client numbers declined only slightly (4.5%). Administrative data are merged with a panel data set on farm-level performance to evaluate the impact through Random Effects estimation.
Findings: The results show that clients gained a 12.3% benefit to their margin per hectare over the period. However, there was a negative effect of 0.2% for each additional client assigned to the adviser which averaged at 9.6%.
Practical Implications: The quantitative findings provide a measure of impact that represents the value for money for the KT service. The key implication is that the client ratio for advisers should be considered when allocating resources and lower ratios would positively impact client margins.
Theoretical Implications: This article outlines the value of quantitative studies to estimate impact in a clear translatable manner which can aid the policy discussion around resource deployment.
Originality/Value: This study evaluates the impact of KT during a recessionary period when resources were constrained, and uses client ratios to examine the spatial effects. 相似文献
Design/methodology/approach: To identify sustainability perspectives, this research uses Q-methodology which analyzes individual perspectives on sustainability, their differences, and similarities. This research also employs focus group discussions and interviews. In three regions in Indonesia.
Findings: Q-method resulted in two perspectives. The technologists perceive sustainable agriculture as food security and the use of organic pesticides. They also believe that the responsibility for sustainable agriculture lies with extension workers and governments. The environmentalists believe the concept of sustainability implies the active prevention of environmental degradation. They also believe that everybody should take responsibility for sustainability. The paper determines that boundary work needs highly motivated extension workers; the ability to gain trust from farmers; and government support.
Theoretical implication: This paper contributes to the literature on boundary work by connecting the concept of boundary work to agricultural extension.
Practical implication: The results may be used as inputs for Indonesian policymakers to develop a guideline on sustainable agriculture for extension workers.
Originality/value: In current studies on extension workers in developing countries, an analytical framework which employs the concept of boundary work is hardly found. Boundary work is a relevant concept to depict challenges extension workers are confronted with when brokering. Q-methodology aims to obtain individual perspective on a particular issue. This research provides insight on individual perspectives of extension workers on sustainable agriculture. 相似文献
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on overall educational performance as a result of engaging with technology subjects at post-primary level.
Sample: A five year cohort study was designed to gather longitudinal data from a total sample of 1761 pupils’ grades from the Irish Leaving Certificate examination. The sample was distributed across four schools.
Design and methods: Grades from the Irish Leaving Certificate were selected because the examination is considered high stakes as it serves as the country’s primary mechanism for matriculation into third-level education. Individual examinations are designed externally to schools by a government body ensuring the validity of each examination in capturing the holistic interpretation subject syllabi. Finally, a points system is used to score each examination facilitating comparisons between subjects.
Results: The results show that pupils who study the technology subjects are statistically significantly less likely to perform well overall in comparison to pupils who study science and mathematics subjects. They also show that for pupils who study the technology subjects, those subjects are statistically significantly likely to be their best performing subjects.
Conclusions: Due to the array of variables impacting subject selection, a definitive causal explanation cannot be deduced from the data for these results. However, it is possible to infer that the variance in knowledge types between the science and technology subjects has an impact on the results. A case is made that a compulsory technological component should be incorporated into educational curricula to provide a comprehensive and general education and to facilitate the holistic development of pupils. 相似文献
Objective: We explored the relationship between students’ first programming languages and both their final grades in an introductory computer science course and their attitudes about programming.
Method: Multiple matching techniques compared those whose first language was graphical (e.g., Scratch), textual (e.g., Java), or absent prior to college.
Findings: Having any prior programming experience had positive effects on both attitudes about programming and grades in introductory computer science courses. Importantly, students whose first language was graphical had higher grades than did students whose first language was textual, when the languages were introduced in or before early adolescent years.
Implications: Learning any computer language is better than learning none. If programming is to be taught to students before early adolescence, it is advised to start with a graphical language. Future work should investigate the transition between different types of programming languages. 相似文献
Design/methodology/approach: Using cluster analysis we determined groups of farms according to their sustainability performance and explored the correlations between contacts with advisory services and a set of farm-level sustainability indicators.
Findings: There exist significant differences in the number of farmers’ contacts with advisory services across countries, type of farms, farmers’ degree of agricultural education, utilized agricultural area, legal type of farm ownership and economic size of the farms. We identified three groups of farms that have different sustainability performance, are different in farm characteristics and relate differently to advisory services. The number of contacts with advisory services is positively related to the adoption of innovations, the number of information sources utilized and the adoption of farm risk management measures. We find no clear linear relationship between advisory services and environmental sustainability.
Theoretical implications: This study derives hypotheses to analyze causalities between indicators of farm-level sustainability and advisory services.
Practical implications: Results suggest the importance of taking into account the heterogeneity of farming systems for the design, targeting and evaluation of advisory services. In addition, results confirm the importance of selection of indicators that can be used in multiple sites.
Originality/value: We used a harmonized indicator of advisory services and a harmonized set of farm-level sustainability indicators in nine different EU countries that could be used to evaluate the role of advisory services in the achievement of multiple objectives in different groups of farms in multiple sites. 相似文献