Education & Pedagogy

Public education focuses on the lowest common denominator; cannot meet individual student needs; teaches competition; teaches children to learn for praise, not for the sake of learning; and has a 40 percent failure rate. These factors lead many to choose home schooling, but approaches to home schooling are so varied that a common definition of home schoolers is elusive. (TD)

Describes the characteristics and aims of problem-based learning (PBL) and reports on its application in medical and engineering education at Maastricht University (the Netherlands) and the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (the Netherlands). Analyzes differences between the medical and engineering applications. Also considers project work and guided small groups as alternative instructional methods in engineering. (DB)

Examines modularization and outcomes-based planning of higher education in South Africa as part of transforming higher education in a post-apartheid society. Discusses principles and assumptions of modularization and outcomes-based planning, identifies intended and unintended outcomes, and notes such issues as the origins of outcome-based planning, and determining authority for defining intended outcomes. (DB)

Interviews with administrators, faculty, and support staff (n=42) in a university agriculture department revealed that they recognized distance technology as a means of reaching new audiences; policies and procedures must expand to address technology issues; competition, external dependence, and Internet misinformation were threats. Recommendations to diffuse distance education technology included administrator support, training, and incentives. (SK)

Increased student expulsions have resulted from safe schools policies. The York Region (Ontario) school district established a program for expelled students to continue their education that includes academic learning, social and psychological counseling, life-skills development, work-related programs, and anger management. Students cited small classes, flexible work schedules, and teacher commitment as factors responsible for their improved academic performance. (TD)

Explores: (1) historical incorporation of degree-granting institutions in the United States as non-profit and the role of the State in provision of non-profit higher education; (2) benefits and challenges of non-profit and for-profit organizational forms in higher education; and (3) growth in commercial or for-profit behavior in research universities and its implications. (EV)

Describes selection of the first recipients of Gates Millennium Scholarships and examines philanthropy's role in overall spending on higher education and student aid. Asserts that while private efforts are important for the individual students they help, they have a negligible impact on access to higher education and cannot be counted on to express and support wider social goals. (EV)

This commentary provides an overview of federal initiatives to prepare teachers for working with students with disabilities, federal education legislation supporting equity and access, and remaining challenges for preparing teachers to work in inclusive environments. The need to ensure that students are meaningfully included is stressed. (Contains 14 references.) (CR)

Examined the process of marketization undergone by higher education in Hong Kong with particular reference to the strategies and approaches adopted by the University Grants Committee, the central funding body for higher education in Hong Kong, to ensure a "value-for-money" higher education. Discusses the implications of a management oriented approach in delivering educational services. (SLD)

A study involving 114 educators of students with profound and multiple learning difficulties, interviews with 20 head teachers, and observation in four British schools, found student assessment was largely informal, Individualized Education Programs were often lacking in detail, and about one-third of teachers had no special education qualifications. (Contains 19 references.) (CR)

Comments on the development of partnerships across schools, colleges, community agencies, and families to support at-risk students, analyzing: barriers to interagency collaboration and interprofessional training and research; changes necessary in higher education to handle these barriers; and implications of lessons learned from existing collaborative ventures. Suggestions for implementing family-centered programming are offered. (SM)

Developed a strategy to assess two facets of cooperating teachers' (CTs') supervisory responsibilities: what they observed during lessons when preparing comments for student teachers and what they subsequently mentioned to students. Physical education CTs watched videotaped lessons, wrote critiques, and completed interviews. The strategy was a viable means of identifying selected supervisory abilities and determining similarities and differences among CTs. (SM)

Suggests that certain mathematics and science concepts known to be difficult to teach can be learned using spatial-temporal reasoning methods and that music instruction can enhance the "hardware" in the brain for spatial-temporal reasoning. Discusses spatial-temporal and language-analytic reasoning, the Trion model of higher brain function, and the Mozart effect. (CMK)

In 1997, the Quebec Department of Education, as part of its reform of elementary and secondary curriculum, assigned the responsibility for citizenship education to history teachers. To explain this pairing, three questions are examined: Why must citizens be educated? What contributions do historians bring to our social heritage? How can the teaching of history help educate citizens? (Author/TD)

A University of Yucatan (Mexico) professor who taught a Mayan linguistics course to indigenous teachers in Mayan discusses three issues that are central to understanding how indigenous education interacts with pan-Maya identity: the importance of locally developed Maya literature, the symbols used to define Maya culture, and a conflict over Maya culture as uniform or pluralistic. (TD)