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Full-Text Articles in Education

El Elusivo 1% Para Ciencia Y Tecnología: ¿Llegará?, Marion Lloyd Dec 2012

El Elusivo 1% Para Ciencia Y Tecnología: ¿Llegará?, Marion Lloyd

Marion Lloyd

Seven successive Mexican presidents have promised to bring total national investment in science and technology research to 1% of GDP, and six have failed. Will Enrique Peña Nieto succeed?


Are Teacher Education Programs Failing The Nation’S Urban Schools? A Closer Look At Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Working With Inner-City Students, Servet Celik Oct 2012

Are Teacher Education Programs Failing The Nation’S Urban Schools? A Closer Look At Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Working With Inner-City Students, Servet Celik

Servet Celik

To address the issue of pre-service teachers being under-prepared for work in multicultural and impoverished environments in America’s urban schools, teacher education programs have taken steps to improve diversity-oriented curricula and provide relevant fieldwork experience. However, research indicates that a large proportion of teacher candidates still do not have the necessary skills to deal with students from divergent upbringings. This interpretive study investigated the beliefs of pre-service teachers about urban students and how well their teacher education programs are addressing the issues of working in inner-city schools. The results revealed that, although some progress has been made, a significant gap …


The Dangers Of Mexico´S Student Loan Program, Marion W. Lloyd Aug 2012

The Dangers Of Mexico´S Student Loan Program, Marion W. Lloyd

Marion Lloyd

In unveiling Mexico´s first nationwide, federal student loan program in January 2012, President Felipe Calderón cited the “success” of similar programs in the United States, Chile, Colombia and Great Britain in democratizing access to higher education and boosting enrollment. However, the president did not mention that those programs have led to staggering levels of student debt in all those countries and fueled recent mass protests against the student loan model. Calderón also failed to mention that the terms of the Mexican program are among the most onerous in the world, including 10%-plus interest rates and short-term payment periods.


La Mea Culpa De Los Ranqueadores, Marion Lloyd Jul 2012

La Mea Culpa De Los Ranqueadores, Marion Lloyd

Marion Lloyd

In the wake of the conference Latin American Universities and the International Rankings: Impact, Scope and Limits (Las Universidades Latinoamericanas ante los Rankings Internacionales: Impactos, Alcances y Límites), the representatives of several of the principle ranking agencies wrote publicly criticizing the misuse of their own classification systems by governments and policy-makers.


O Colégio Da Bahia E O Ensino Superior: A Formação Da Elite Na American Portuguesa, 1572 A 1759 [The College Of Bahia And Higher Education: Educating The Elite In Portuguese America, 1572 A 1759], Karl M. Lorenz, Ariclê Vechia Jul 2012

O Colégio Da Bahia E O Ensino Superior: A Formação Da Elite Na American Portuguesa, 1572 A 1759 [The College Of Bahia And Higher Education: Educating The Elite In Portuguese America, 1572 A 1759], Karl M. Lorenz, Ariclê Vechia

Karl M Lorenz

An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the X Conference of the Iberoamerican Society on the History of Latin American Education, held in Salamanca, Spain in July 2012. The paper discusses the nature and the evolution of the studies of the College, noting the addition of advanced courses of study in philosophy and theology to the traditional study of the humanities; and the efforts of the Society of Jesus, the elites and the City Council of Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, to obtain the approval of authorities in Portugal to transform the College of …


“We’Re Off To Replace The Wizard”: Lessons From A Collaborative Group Project Assignment, Miguel Centellas, Gregory J. Love Jul 2012

“We’Re Off To Replace The Wizard”: Lessons From A Collaborative Group Project Assignment, Miguel Centellas, Gregory J. Love

Miguel Centellas

This article examines the effectiveness of a collaborative group learning project for teaching a core competency in comparative politics: constitutional structures. We use a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to assess the value of a consti- tutional writing group project and presentation. The results provide strong evidence that these learning tools are highly valuable for teaching abstract concepts. Students who par- ticipated in the project scored significantly higher on a short series of questions in final exams given several weeks after the completion of the group project. Somewhat paradox- ically, the project increased competency but did not affect student …


Information Literacy In The Workplace: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu Apr 2012

Information Literacy In The Workplace: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Diana H. Wu

This cross-cultural study has two main purposes: to investigate how information literacy is perceived in the workplace and to discover how employees obtain information to carry out their jobs in an effective and timely fashion. This project applies a mix of research methods, including site visits, interviews, and a survey. More than 120 participants from forty companies were involved in this study. They were from a wide variety of industries in Taiwan and Silicon Valley, in Northern California, where many companies base offices or operations from around the world. Major obstacles in conducting cross-continent research are cost, time demands, scheduling, …


Meaningful Inclusion And Involvement Of Men In The Elimination And Prevention Of Violence Against Mothers, Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor Mar 2012

Meaningful Inclusion And Involvement Of Men In The Elimination And Prevention Of Violence Against Mothers, Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor

Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor

Keynote Presentation at the 2013 International Women’s Day- Paper on- Meaningful Inclusion and Involvement of Men in the Elimination and Prevention of Violence against Mothers By Dr. Williams E. Obiozor


Looking East, Looking West: Penang As A Knowledge Hub, Solvay Gerke, Hans-Dieter Evers Feb 2012

Looking East, Looking West: Penang As A Knowledge Hub, Solvay Gerke, Hans-Dieter Evers

Hans-Dieter Evers

Penang has always been a focal point, absorbing nowledge (and popular culture) from civilizations to the East and West. In modern Penang the pattern of cultural contacts has changed over time. Research institutes and universities in Penang cooperate with foreign partners to produce research papers and reports. Based on an analysis of joint research output, the changing international position of Penang as an emerging research hub will be analysed. The paper will show that international cooperation has increased considerably between 1970 and 2010, but that there has also been a remarkable shift from European, Australian and American partners to East …


Assessing And Instilling Hopefulness: A Case Study Of Swazi Youth, Connie Titone Dr., Laura Stefanik, Robert Mcnamara Jan 2012

Assessing And Instilling Hopefulness: A Case Study Of Swazi Youth, Connie Titone Dr., Laura Stefanik, Robert Mcnamara

connie titone

Hopefulness is a critical quality of human beings that provides us with the capacity to set goals and overcome adversity in the pursuit of those goals. Likewise, successful achievement of goals sustains hopefulness. High levels of hope can therefore positively affect a student’s education. The psychologist C.R. Snyder, a leading researcher of hope theory, developed the Children’s Hope Scale (CHS) to assess and analyze the state of hopefulness in children ages 8-17. This study expands on Snyder’s data by analyzing the results of the CHS administered to 38 students at an orphanage in Swaziland. The results presented here show that …


Attracting Black Male Students To Research Careers In Education: A Report From The Grad Prep Academy Project, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Andrew C. Porter, Ph.D. Jan 2012

Attracting Black Male Students To Research Careers In Education: A Report From The Grad Prep Academy Project, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., Andrew C. Porter, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

This report is about the University of Pennsylvania’s Grad Prep Academy, a project that prepares Black undergraduate men for graduate study and research-related careers in the field of education. The project is also a longitudinal research study that enables us to analyze Black men’s trajectories from undergraduate study through graduate degree programs and eventually into their careers. Eighteen students participated in our first two cohorts of Academy Scholars. The project described in this report, as well as the recommendations we offer, can be instructive for other schools of education and a range of stakeholders who are concerned about the diversity …


¿Créditos Educativos En México? ¡No! 1, Marion Lloyd Jan 2012

¿Créditos Educativos En México? ¡No! 1, Marion Lloyd

Marion Lloyd

Mexico´s first federal student loan program, unveiled amid much fanfare in January 2012, has sparked major criticism for a host of reasons, including: its onerous terms (including 10%-plus interest rates), its violation of the constitutional ban on public funding for religious instruction; its failure to acknowledge the deleterious effects in terms of skyrocketing student loans resulting from similar programs in countries around the world, among other issues. This article reproduces a series of presentations by higher education researchers at UNAM and other universities in Mexico, which argue the dangers of the student loan model in its current form.


Las Políticas De Fomento A La Ciencia Y Tecnología En México Y Brasil: Un Estudio De Caso De La Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México Y La Universidad De São Paulo, Marion Lloyd Jan 2012

Las Políticas De Fomento A La Ciencia Y Tecnología En México Y Brasil: Un Estudio De Caso De La Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México Y La Universidad De São Paulo, Marion Lloyd

Marion Lloyd

The thesis analyzes the science and technology policies in Mexico and Brazil from the 1930s to the present and their impact on the character, missions and scientific production of Latin America´s two leading universities: the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Sao Paulo (USP). The author concludes that major differences in those polices, as well as in higher education policies in both countries, largely explain the vastly different character of the two institutions. While Brazil has pursued ambitious, long-term S&T policies since the 1930s, and more intensively since the late 1960s, Mexico has largely paid lip …


Reclaiming And Re-Visioning Indigenous Voices: The Case Of The Language, Edward Shizha Jan 2012

Reclaiming And Re-Visioning Indigenous Voices: The Case Of The Language, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of teaching science to rural primary school students using a second language (English) in Zimbabwe. The study also investigated the opinions and attitudes of primary school teachers toward teaching science using an indigenous language (chiShona). Qualitative data was collected using twenty classroom observations and interviews with ten purposely selected primary school teachers. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings revealed institutional and attitudinal barriers to using chiShona as a language of instruction in science teaching and learning. The results also showed that some teachers frustrate and silence students’ …


The Arabic Language: A Sociolinguistic Study, Ahlam Alfouaim Jan 2012

The Arabic Language: A Sociolinguistic Study, Ahlam Alfouaim

Ahlam Alfouaim

It is very true that bilingualism boosts ones’ cognitive skills and increases ones’ executive system. A bilingual brain has the privileges to process languages and, sometimes, code switch unconsciously. Many bilingual speakers including ESL learners focus only on understanding and analyzing the target language, leaving behind understanding and embracing their own native language. The need to make a conscious sense of how we speak our native language, how others speak it, and how it is different or similar to other language varieties, is somehow misinterpreted. In other word, understanding ones’ mother tongue is vital for the progress of acquiring a …


The Critical Language Awareness Impact On Language Variation, Ahlam Alfouaim Jan 2012

The Critical Language Awareness Impact On Language Variation, Ahlam Alfouaim

Ahlam Alfouaim

The ideology of Critical Language Awareness is an integral part of any successful language education system. This area of specialization has played an important role in the development of sociolinguistics study. CLA expands substantially over a wide range of factors including language acquisition and variety, as well as human identity factors. Before diving into critical language awareness studies and its wide practices, the definition of CLA, according to Fiarcough, includes “how language conventions and language practices are invested with power relations and ideological process which people are often unaware of” (205). That is, language is not only a mean of …