Privatization And Vouchers In Colombia And Chile     

Alberto?ArenasEmail author 《International Review of Education/Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft/Revue internationale l'éducation》2004,50(3-4):379-395

The voucher model of financing schooling is becoming increasingly common throughout Latin America, with at least 12 countries using vouchers or voucher-like schemes. The present study focuses on the voucher models of Colombia and Chile, which have the most extensive programs of this type and those of the longest standing in the region. Using empirical evidence, the author compares the two models along four evaluative dimensions: educational quality, segregation, choice and socialization. After weighing the successes and weaknesses of each system, he concludes that, among other characteristics, the most effective and equitable voucher model features: (a) a flexible interpretation of educational quality; (b) financial grants which target solely the poor; (c) vouchers which cover the entire cost of tuition; (d) open enrolment at participating schools; (e) the participation of both secular and religious private schools; (f) accessible and meaningful information to parents; and (g) strong systems of accountability.  相似文献   

Alternative Conceptions in Animal Classification Focusing on Amphibians and Reptiles: A Cross-Age Study     

Chiung-Fen?YenEmail author  Tsung-Wei?Yao  Yu-Chih?Chiu 《International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education》2004,2(2):159-174

This study examined students alternative conceptions of reptiles and amphibians and the extent to which these conceptions remain intact through the elementary (grades 4 and 6), junior, and senior high school years. We administered multiple-choice and free-response instruments to a total of 513 students and interviewed at least 20 students at each educational level to get an in-depth view of their original conceptions. Then, we developed and administered a two-tier multiple choice diagnostic instrumentto assess various levels of students understanding of amphibians and reptiles(N=1267). The results showed that most students were able to classify snakes as reptiles, whereas fewer than 30% of the students across different ages classified sea turtles as reptiles; the remaining 70% classified sea turtles as amphibians. More students were able to correctly classify frogs as amphibians than toads. In most instances, students correctly classified prototypical representatives of the two animal classes more readily than less exemplary representatives, a finding that supports previous research (Trowbridge, J.E. andMintzes, J.J. (1988). Alternative conceptions in animal classification: A cross-age study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 25(7), 547–571). Interestingly, the alternative views of sea turtles as amphibians remained intact throughout the school years. Interview data indicated that students classified sea turtles as amphibians largely because sea turtles are able to live in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Semantically, amphi means living on land and in water. When asked to distinguish between reptiles and amphibians and to classify several species into those two groups, a wide range of alternative conceptions emerged and the origin of those alternative conceptions are discussed. Similar results were obtained when we applied a two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument to assess students understanding of amphibians and reptiles.  相似文献   

Study of CNG/diesel dual fuel engine's emissions by means of RBF neural network     

刘震涛  费少梅 《浙江大学学报(A卷英文版)》2004,5(8):960-965

Great efforts have been made to resolve the serious environmental pollution and inevitable declining of energy resources. A review of Chinese fuel reserves and engine technology showed that compressed natural gas (CNG)/diesel dual fuel engine (DFE) was one of the best solutions for the above problems at present. In order to study and improve the emission performance of CNG/diesel DFE, an emission model for DFE based on radial basis function (RBF) neural network was developed which was a black-box input-output training data model not require priori knowledge. The RBF centers and the connected weights could be selected automatically according to the distribution of the training data in input-output space and the given approximating error. Studies showed that the predicted results accorded well with the experimental data over a large range of operating conditions from low load to high load. The developed emissions model based on the RBF neural network could be used to successfully predict and optimize the emissions performance of DFE. And the effect of the DFE main performance parameters, such as rotation speed, load, pilot quantity and injection timing, were also predicted by means of this model. In resume, an emission prediction model for CNG/diesel DFE based on RBF neural network was built for analyzing the effect of the main performance parameters on the CO, NOx emissions of DFE. The predicted results agreed quite well with the traditional emissions model, which indicated that the model had certain application value, although it still has some limitations, because of its high dependence on the quantity of the experimental sample data.  相似文献   

Broad strokes of recovery: the case of Croatia     

Greta Pifat‐Mrzljak  Luka Juro?  Vlasta Vizek‐Vidovi? 《Higher Education in Europe》2004,29(3):373-380

For a long time after the proclamation of independence, Croatia suffered economic stagnation that negatively affected the development of science and higher education. However the turn of the millennium brought higher state investment in science and higher education, and all statistics now show a steady increase in the number of students and scientific personnel for the past several years. With these trends the focus has moved from the role the state can play in reviving science in Croatia to the necessity of greater participation in scientific funding, as well as the role that university graduates can play in the development of the country. The role of European integration and the brain drain phenomenon thus increase in importance, and this study provides some parameters for brain drain and the academic and intellectual labour market in Croatia.  相似文献   

Influence of eye movements,auditory perception,and phonemic awareness in the reading process     

Laura Megino-Elvira  Pilar Martín-Lobo 《The Journal of educational research》2016,109(6):567-573

The authors' aim was to analyze the relationship of eye movements, auditory perception, and phonemic awareness with the reading process. The instruments used were the King-Devick Test (saccade eye movements), the PAF test (auditory perception), the PFC (phonemic awareness), the PROLEC-R (lexical process), the Canals reading speed test, and the ACL-1 (reading comprehension). The sample was composed of 52 first-year primary school pupils. After the correlational analysis, results indicate that all of these factors correlate in reading (lexical process, speed, and word comprehension). Moreover, the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test reveals that children with saccade eye movements and auditory perception problems obtain lower reading levels. In addition, children with lexical problems obtain a lower level of phonemic awareness. Given the importance of these variables, the authors conclude with a proposal of neuropsychological activities to improve reading skills.  相似文献   

An Interview Study of Gender Difference in Preschool Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Children’s Play     

Anette?SandbergEmail author  Ingrid?Pramling-Samuelsson 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2005,32(5):297-305

The aim of this study was to investigate, identify and describe different ways that female and male preschool teachers conceive, understand and experience play. The research questions addressed are: What perspectives do female and male preschool teachers have on play? Are there differences in play experiences related to gender? The interview study is inspired by phenomenographical research. The sample consisted of ten female and ten male preschool teachers’. The results show differences between female and male preschool teachers’ play willingness. This study found that male preschool teachers contribute with more playfulness, and this is something that both female and male preschool teachers noticed. Female preschool teachers tend to value calm play and emphasize the importance of social development while male preschool teachers accentuate the significance of physical development. All preschool teachers in the study emphasized that it is important to create inspiring environments for play and outdoor play.  相似文献   

Development and Application of a Two-Tier Diagnostic Test for High School Students’ Understanding of Flowering Plant Growth and Development     

Sheau-Wen?LinEmail author 《International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education》2004,2(2):175-199

This study involved the development and application of a two-tier diagnostic test measuring students understanding of flowering plant growth and development. The instrument development procedure had three general steps: defining the content boundaries of the test, collecting information on students misconceptions, and instrument development. Misconception data were collected from interviews and multiple-choice questions with open response answers. The data were used to develop 13 two-tier multiple-choice items. The conceptual knowledge examined was flowering plant life cycles, reproduction, precondition of germination, plant nutrition, and mechanism for growth and development. The diagnostic instrument was administered to 477 high school students. The correlation coefficient of test-retest was 0.75. Difficulty indices ranged from 0.24 to 0.82, and discrimination indices ranged from 0.32 to 0.65. Results of the Flowering Plant Growth and Development Diagnostic Test suggested that students did not acquire a satisfactory understanding of plant growth and development concepts. Nineteen misconceptions were identified through analysis of the items that could inform biology instruction and resource.  相似文献   

Scalars vectors in physics - II     

A.?W.?JoshiEmail author  Alok?Kumar 《Resonance》2004,9(11):56-67

In Part I, the nature of scalars and vectors was discussed for the Newtonian world. However, in the relativistic world, physical quantities follow Lorentz transformations. This change of transformation from Galilean to Lorentz results in interesting distinctions in their properties: mass and time are no longer scalars, time and space become intertwined, etc. This part discusses the nature of scalars and vectors in the relativistic world.  相似文献   

Facilitating action research: reflections on the challenges and opportunities faced by a doctoral researcher engaged in education for sustainable development     

Gisela Cebrián 《Educational Action Research》2020,28(4):668-685

ABSTRACT

Many universities have signed international and national declarations that have publicly committed them to embed sustainability within education, research, outreach and management operations. To date, research has focused on examples of good practice and case studies. Little research exists that has looked at the change process itself. This paper is based on a doctoral study conducted at the University of Southampton in which a doctoral student was engaged as a facilitator and critical friend for a period of more than one and a half years working with a group of staff and students trying to embed sustainability within the institution. In this paper, evidence is provided on the impact and contributions made by the critical friend and facilitator role, and reflections presented on the challenges and opportunities the doctoral researcher encountered during the research.  相似文献   

Using Student Video Cases to Assess Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Engineering Teaching Responsiveness     

Tejaswini?DalviEmail author  Kristen?Wendell 《Research in Science Education》2017,47(5):1101-1125

Our study addresses the need for new approaches to prepare novice elementary teachers to teach both science and engineering, and for new tools to measure how well those approaches are working. This in particular would inform the teacher educators of the extent to which novice teachers are developing expertise in facilitating their students’ engineering design work. One important dimension to measure is novice teachers’ abilities to notice the substance of student thinking and to respond in productive ways. This teacher noticing is particularly important in science and engineering education, where students’ initial, idiosyncratic ideas and practices influence the likelihood that particular instructional strategies will help them learn. This paper describes evidence of validity and reliability for the Video Case Diagnosis (VCD) task, a new instrument for measuring pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching responsiveness. To complete the VCD, participants view a 6-min video episode of children solving an engineering design problem, describe in writing what they notice about the students’ science ideas and engineering practices, and propose how a teacher could productively respond to the students. The rubric for scoring VCD responses allowed two independent scorers to achieve inter-rater reliability. Content analysis of the video episode, systematic review of literature on science and engineering practices, and solicitation of external expert educator responses establish content validity for VCD. Field test results with three different participant groups who have different levels of engineering education experience offer evidence of construct validity.  相似文献