Explaining a reverse gender gap in advanced physics and computer science course-taking: An exploratory case study comparing Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking high schools in Israel     

Halleli Pinson  Yariv Feniger  Yael Barak 《科学教学研究杂志》2020,57(8):1177-1198

In the past three decades in high-income countries, female students have outperformed male students in most indicators of educational attainment. However, the underrepresentation of girls and women in science courses and careers, especially in physics, computer sciences, and engineering, remains persistent. What is often neglected by the vast existing literature is the role that schools, as social institutions, play in maintaining or eliminating such gender gaps. This explorative case study research compares two high schools in Israel: one Hebrew-speaking state school that serves mostly middleclass students and exhibits a typical gender gap in physics and computer science; the other, an Arabic-speaking state school located in a Bedouin town that serves mostly students from a lower socioeconomic background. In the Arabic-speaking school over 50% of the students in the advanced physics and computer science classes are females. The study aims to explain this seemingly counterintuitive gender pattern with respect to participation in physics and computer science. A comparison of school policies regarding sorting and choice reveals that the two schools employ very different policies that might explain the different patterns of participation. The Hebrew-speaking school prioritizes self-fulfillment and “free-choice,” while in the Arabic-speaking school, staff are much more active in sorting and assigning students to different curricular programs. The qualitative analysis suggests that in the case of the Arabic-speaking school the intersection between traditional and collectivist society and neoliberal pressures in the form of raising achievement benchmarks contributes to the reversal of the gender gap in physics and computer science courses.  相似文献   

Effects of Visual Spatial Structure on Textual Conversational Multitasking     

Eli Dresner  Segev Barak 《Communication quarterly》2013,61(1):104-115

Textual computer-mediated communication gives rise to conversational multitasking—participation in several concomitant synchronous textual conversations. This study examined how this communication competence is affected by several visual parameters—the distance between conversation windows, number of windows, and window size. Results show that comprehension of concomitant textual conversations is not affected by the distance between conversation windows, and that the advantage of separating conversation threads into distinct windows is greater when overall window size is larger. This study considers the implications and applications of these results to communicative multitasking phenomena, in general, which become prevalent in technologically advanced societies.  相似文献   

Inventive and uninventive clusters: The case of Canadian biotechnology   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Barak S. Aharonson  Joel A.C. Baum  Anne Plunket 《Research Policy》2008,37(6-7):1108-1131

We examine factors influencing the relative productivity of different geographic locations. Our analysis of the Canadian biotechnology industry during the 1990s reveals that inventive and uninventive locations are distinguishable within small geographic areas corresponding to roughly 7000 postal addresses. Inventive locations exhibit greater resource scale and technological focus, as well as greater emphasis on R&D investment and public and private collaboration. Comparison of inventive locations across three major metropolitan areas – Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal – indicates, however, that inventive locations vary in their emphasis on technological scale and focus relative to collaboration, and thus that location advantages can develop in distinctive ways.  相似文献   

Closing the Gap Between Attitudes and Perceptions About ICT-Enhanced Learning Among Pre-service STEM Teachers     

Miri Barak 《Journal of Science Education and Technology》2014,23(1):1-14

The goal of this study was to examine pre-service STEM teachers’ attitudes and perceptions about the effectiveness of various learning methods and, in specific, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as means for enhancing progressive education. The study was conducted among two cohorts of pre-service STEM teachers (N = 103) in the years 2006 and 2012. The mixed method approach was used to compile data from two research tools: an attitudes questionnaire and reflective drawings. The findings of the first cohort indicated a conflict between the participants’ declared attitudes and their perceptions, suggesting a gap between their inclination to coincide with educational trends, and their actual views about the use of ICTs in the classrooms. The first cohort’s drawings illustrated ICTs as distractive technologies, ineffective tools for teaching and learning, impairing teachers’ authority, and distancing teachers and students from each other. Findings of the second cohort indicated that the gap between attitudes and perceptions was narrowed in such a way that preservice STEM teachers did not see ICTs as threatening, but they perceived them as instrumental for leveraging progressive education.  相似文献   

Majoring in Technology Studies at High School and Fostering Learning     

Barak  Moshe  Waks  Shlomo  Doppelt  Yaron 《Learning Environments Research》2000,3(2):135-158

A framework for helping low-achieving pupils through reinforcement in technology at high school is presented. Social-cognitive theory, concepts of authentic learning, learning by doing and peer learning all underpin the efforts to remove pupils from the vicious circle of low expectations and failures. The primary goal of modern technology studies is to impart pupils with high cognitive and personal competencies, as an alternative to teaching motor-based skills or memorising-based knowledge. This study's subjects were two groups of pupils who learned technology in an Israeli comprehensive high school. In tenth grade, the pupils became acquainted with the LEGO-Logo learning environment, acquired thinking tools from de Bono's CoRT program and worked in groups or individually on original projects. At the same time, they learned theoretical topics such as the physics of static mechanical systems and computerised technical drawing. In the eleventh and twelfth grades, the pupils took advanced courses in mechanical engineering, such as design of machine parts, automation and control systems. Observations in classes, interviews with the pupils and their parents, and findings from pupil questionnaires indicated an improvement in the pupils' self-efficacy and increased motivation to study at the present and in the future. The main features of the program, in the pupils' eyes, were construction activities, team projects and free study. The major ‘outputs’, in the pupils' eyes, were independence, initiative and interest in their studies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Concepts and figures in geometrical reasoning     

Efraim Fischbein  Talli Nachlieli 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(10):1193-1211

The paper opens with the theoretical construct of figural concepts. It is argued that geometrical figures are characterized by both conceptual and sensorial properties. A geometrical figure is a mental abstract, ideal entity, the meaning of which is governed by a definition. At the same time, it is an image: it possesses extensiveness (spatiality), shape and magnitude. In geometrical reasoning the two categories of properties should merge absolutely, with the sensorial components providing the dynamics of invention and the conceptual component guaranteeing the logical course of the mathematical process.

The paper investigates the effects of interaction between the conceptual and the figural components of a number of geometrical figures under the impact of age and mathematical competence. It has been found that age does not improve the control of the conceptual component on the interpretation of figures (between ages 14 and 17) in contrast to what one could expect. Usually, as an effect of age (grade) the interpretation gets worse. On the other hand, there are striking differences between the three competence levels considered. Strong mathematical students are characterized by their capacity to overcome the apparent contradiction between the figural, direct, impressions and the definitory properties. Their decision is, ultimately, determined according to the formal constraints (axioms and definitions).  相似文献   

The conduct and reporting of intervention studies     

Barak Rosenshine 《Educational Psychology Review》1994,6(3):245-254

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Teachers’ motivations for master’s degree programs in education in Israeli teacher training institutions and the implications for government policy-making concerning those programs     

Khalid Arar  Ruth Zuzovsky  Smadar Donitsa-Schmidt  Ricardo Trumper  Judith Barak 《Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education》2019,47(5):524-538

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to identify teachers’ motivations to study Master of Education (M.Ed.) programs offered by teachers’ training colleges. M.Ed. degree programs have become available in Israel since 2004, with a rapid increase since then in the number of colleges offering various programs and a consequent increase in the number of graduates. M.Ed. degrees follow one of two teaching approaches: (1) top-down/transmission of knowledge (2) bottom-up transformative studies to support teachers’ professional autonomy. The first approach complies with the policy of the Council for Higher Education (CHE). The other is promoted by the Israeli Ministry of Education as an integral part of teachers’ professional development. The study’s methodology included examining data from multiple sources: documentation concerning the academic programs, government policy statements, and surveys administered to teachers who had graduated successfully from M.Ed. programs over the past decade and are now working in the field. We found that after the first decade of M.Ed. courses in Israel, significantly more programs incline towards the bottom-up/transformative approach, aiming to promote individual, personal and professional development instead of adopting the transmission approach. Teachers prefer M.Ed. programs at universities that include research. Yet their motivation to study is primarily intrinsic motivation, whether they aspire to study at universities or at teachers’ training colleges. Results are pertinent for government planning of teachers’ professional development. Further study into the needs of teachers is required to endorse these conclusions.  相似文献   

The theory of figural concepts     

Efraim Fischbein 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》1993,24(2):139-162

The main thesis of the present paper is that geometry deals with mental entities (the so-called geometrical figures) which possess simultaneously conceptual and figural characters. A geometrical sphere, for instance, is an abstract ideal, formally determinable entity, like every genuine concept. At the same time, it possesses figural properties, first of all a certain shape. The ideality, the absolute perfection of a geometrical sphere cannot be found in reality. In this symbiosis between concept and figure, as it is revealed in geometrical entities, it is the image component which stimulates new directions of thought, but there are the logical, conceptual constraints which control the formal rigour of the process. We have called the geometrical figuresfigural concepts because of their double nature. The paper analyzes the internal tensions which may appear in figural concepts because of this double nature, development aspects and didactical implications.  相似文献   

Defining in Classroom Activities     

Maria Alessandra Mariotti  Efraim Fischbein 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》1997,34(3):219-248

This paper discusses some aspects concerning the defining process in geometrical context, in the reference frame of the theory of figural concepts. The discussion will consider two different, but not antithetical, points of view. On the one hand, the problem of definitions will be considered in the general context of geometrical reasoning; on the other hand, the problem of definition will be considered an educational problem and consequently, analysed in the context of school activities. An introductory discussion focuses on definitions from the point of view of both Mathematics and education. The core of the paper concerns the analysis of some examples taken from a teaching experiment at the 6th grade level. The interaction between figural and conceptual aspects of geometrical reasoning emerges from the dynamic of collective discussions: the contributions of different voices in the discussion allows conflicts to appear and draw toward a harmony between figural and conceptual components. A basic role is played by the intervention of the teacher in guiding the discussion and mediating the defining process.  相似文献