Building capacity in climate change policy analysis and negotiation: methods and technologies

Capacity building is often cited as the reason “we cannot just pour money into developing countries” and why so many development projects fail because their design does not address local conditions. It is therefore a key technical and political concept in international development. Some of the poorest countries in the world are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their vulnerability is in part due to a lack of capacity to plan and anticipate the effects of climate change on crops, water resources, urban electricity demand etc. What capacities do these countries lack to deal with climate change? How will they cope? What steps can they take to reduce their vulnerability? This innovative and high-profile research project was part of a larger project (called C3D) and conducted with non-governmental organisations in Senegal, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The research involved several participatory workshops and a questionnaire to all three research centres

Debate as a Teaching Strategy for Language Learning

Abstract – The paper focuses on the potential of debate as a teaching strategy for language learning, as well as an innovative, student-centered technique, aimed at engaging the learner with interactive, collaborative and effective tasks. Literature on the role of debate as a teaching format for language learning will be discussed, highlighting its potential in enhancing the learners’ motivation, language skills and soft skills (critical thinking, cooperation, collaboration, creativity etc.). In order to show how debate can be perceived by teachers and students as a method for improving language learning, initiatives at international and national level will be described. In particular, data collected from a survey in Italy will be analyzed, highlighting the potential of this technique, as reported by teachers and students. The main provisional outcomes will be presented, analyzing some of the data gathered, using qualitative methods: the interviews with the teachers and a questionnaire delivered to a class of students. The results of the survey, even if limited, indicate that debate may be an effective strategy to foster both language skills and soft skills. These outcomes may be useful for further studies and investigations in this field

Connecting Theory to Practice – Effective Ways of Teaching Motor Learning Course for Undergraduate Physical Education Students

Motor learning is an important subject and is a required course for undergraduate students who major in health and physical education according to NASPE standards two. The objective of motor learning courses at the undergraduate level is to prepare our students to be competent to teach motor skills in the future. However, teaching the motor learning course effectively at this level is truly challenging due to the abstractness of the motor learning theories which are largely based on laboratory experiments. Many times students? motivation of learning could be compromised due to a potential disconnect between theory and practice of motor learning course in general. Thus, the purpose of this paper is two-fold: (a) to illustrate the obstacles of teaching motor learning courses, and (b) to introduce the effective ways of connecting theory to practice for teaching motor learning at the undergraduate level

The Decline of the Socratic Method at Harvard

The Socratic method has long been considered a defining element of American legal education. Among both lawyers and laypersons, Socratic questioning is perceived as a rite of passage that all law students endure in their first year of law school. However, the traditional Socratic method is today more myth than reality because legal pedagogy has changed dramatically, and the Socratic method still common during the 1950s and 1960s is nearly extinct. The purpose of this paper is to explore this revolution by examining the teaching styles, attitudes, and classroom influences of the faculty at one leading law school. Section II of this article summarizes the debate over the Socratic method that has appeared in both academic journals and popular culture. The discussion explores the strengths and weaknesses of the method and provides a context for understanding the various approaches to its use. Section III presents the results of interviews and explores how today\u27s Harvard Law School professors teach law. The professors are categorized as traditionalists, who derive their style from the traditional Socratic method; quasi-traditionalists, who combine significant elements of the Socratic dialectic with substantial innovations; and counter-traditionalists, who expressly reject the Socratic paradigm. Section IV profiles the professors in each of the three categories, focusing on how they reacted to the Socratic method as students and how their teaching styles have changed since they began teaching. Section V concludes the article by offering an explanation for the decline of the Socratic method at Harvard and suggesting how the results of this article might lead to a rethinking of the contemporary debate over the Socratic method

Estudios sobre motivación y enseñanza-aprendizaje de inglés en Ecuador

The purpose of this work is to document the investigations on motivation and EFL teaching and learning in elementary school, secondary school, and university settings in Ecuador that have been published since 2010 until November 2023. The literature review technique was used to answer the three research questions formulated for this study. The questions inquired into what has been investigated, the main findings, and the research gaps of the literature concerning motivation and EFL teaching and learning in Ecuador. 19 research articles and 1 book chapter composed the unit of analysis. Overall findings reveal that studies have focused on investigating the factors that impact students’ motivation to learn EFL as well as the strategies, techniques and methods that motivate students to learn this language. Motivation on EFL teaching and learning in Ecuador has been highly explored in higher education. Yet, there is little literature on the topic in relation to primary and secondary school. Research gaps indicate the need for longitudinal studies as well as studies that focus on: motivation and cultural factors, the implementation of appropriate strategies to make the integration of supplemental resources more motivating for students, training of teachers on motivation-based teaching practices, motivation and higher-order thinking, reading and motivation, learning content adjustment to motivate learners, and motivation and language learning in virtual settings.    El propósito de este trabajo es documentar las investigaciones sobre motivación y enseñanza-aprendizaje de inglés como lengua extranjera en entornos de educación primaria, secundaria y universitaria en Ecuador, publicadas desde 2010 hasta noviembre de 2023. Se utilizó la técnica de revisión de literatura para dar respuesta a las preguntas de investigación. Las preguntas indagaron sobre lo que se ha investigado, los principales hallazgos y los vacíos en la literatura sobre el tema. La unidad de análisis estuvo compuesta por 19 artículos de investigación y 1 capítulo de libro. Los hallazgos generales revelan que los estudios se han centrado en investigar los factores que impactan la motivación de los estudiantes para aprender inglés como lengua extranjera, así como las estrategias, técnicas y métodos que motivan a los estudiantes a aprender este idioma. La motivación en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de inglés como lengua extranjera en Ecuador ha sido ampliamente explorada en la educación superior. Sin embargo, hay poca literatura sobre el tema para los niveles de primaria y secundaria. Las lagunas en la investigación indican la necesidad de estudios longitudinales, así como estudios que se centren en: motivación y factores culturales, la implementación de estrategias apropiadas para hacer que la integración de recursos suplementarios sea más motivadora para los estudiantes, la capacitación de los docentes en prácticas de enseñanza basadas en la motivación, motivación y pensamiento de orden superior, lectura y motivación, adaptación del contenido de aprendizaje para motivar a los alumnos y motivación y aprendizaje de idiomas en entornos virtuales.   &nbsp

Study of the influence of various types of incentives upon learning

The present review of the problem of incentives to learning gives some indication of the vast field which this subject covers, and of the comparatively minute amount of thorough-going research which has as yet been undertaken in the field. The value of a greater understanding of the incentive problem is clear if the studies made upon the wide discrepancies which exist between the A.Q. and the I.Q. can be used as a basis for judgment. Attention, intention, and attitude appear to be important factors in the learning process and if these can be increased and improved upon for good by the use of wisely administered incentives the case for each end every type of incentive is strengthened. The past quarter of a century has witnessed an amazing growth in the study of the underlying factors which determine man's behaviour. As these factors become better understood and classified the problem of relating environmental stimuli to them in order to obtain desired results becomes apparent. This relationship tends to present the incentive problem in a new light, as incentives come no longer to be considered as isolated factors in human behaviour but as closely allied elements, or better still as component parts of the total problem of human motivation. A review of the present existent theories of motivation show at least several fundamental urges or drives dominant in man and sensitive to external stimuli. Regardless of the interpretation given them by the various schools of psychology, the existence of certain fundamental motivating factors such as the desire for social approval, pugnacity etc. are recognized by most to be powerful determining elements in man's behaviour. The various types of expression which these inner drives take are important aspects of the problem of human behaviour. The better they become understood the more possibility is given to the hope of directing man's activity into desired channels. It has been pointed out in this study that if man's behaviour is determined by inner drives, urges, or instincts attempts to stimulate activity must take these into account and ally the external situation with the latent innate tendencies which in turn stimulate the individual into activity. External situations which do this have been classified as incentives. An analysis of the problem of incentives reveals several attributes which may be associated with them. Foremost among these is this factor made clear in the definition of incentives as used in this study, of the close relationship between incentives and the motivating elements in life. It has been suggested that this may account for a second rather generally recognized aspect of the incentive problem, that of the inter-dependence and inter-relationship. of the various incentives themselves. It has been pointed out further that before any incentive can be properly evaluated it must be considered in lip:ht of the total situation. of which it is a part. Moreover it must be recognized that the value of an incentive may differ at different times and in varying circumstances. Many incentives are thus far. little understood except to be vaguely recognized as being possible sources of stimuli. Others which are more generally recognized and which lend themselves more readily to research have been studied to some degree. The fore-going review of this experimental work reveals a great amount of material but one is readily struck by the lack of unity and thorough-going character of the research on any single incentive. Because of this fact an attempt has been made in this study to confine the experimental investigations to one type of incentive, namely, competition, and by so doing attempt to aid in the presentation of a more complete analysis of the development of the competitive spirit in children and adults. Previous studies have revealed that the competitive impulse probably makes its appearance at the age of three or four years, usually resulting in a decrease in output of work until about the age of five when the child begins to exert positive effort to out-do his fellow-worker and thus increase his efficiency. By the age of six it is thought that 90. of all children have the competitive impulse well developed. The investigations of this study dealt with three different age groups, namely, 9.5 years, 12 years, and university age. 'From the results obtained and insofar as competition was present as an incentive with the type of problem employed in this study, the following conclusions may be drawn regarding competition as an incentive: I. With children of 9.5 years of age both group competition and individual competition of the type employed in this study are effective in stimulating a greater amount of learning than results from mere practice. Group competition, however, has a greater effect than does individual competition. II. With 12 year old children both types of competition are also effective but individual competition more so than group competition. III. It appears from the present studies that girls are slightly more favorably affected both by competition and by practice than are boys. ion an IV. Superior subjects among older children tend to be less favorably affected by group competition than younger children of superior ability. The latter appear to be highly stimulated by it. Individual competition. proved to be more effective with superior children of the older groups than with those of the younger group. With inferior subjects individual competition produces a lower percentage of increase than does either group competition or mere practice. This was true in all three age groups studied. V. Contrary to prevalent belief the presence of competition as an incentive tends to increase rather than decrease accuracy. VI. Learning which takes place under the influence of competition as an incentive has a permanent effect both after one month and three month intervals. The percentage of retention is greater in the case of the older children than of the younger, in the type of learning and under the conditions employed in this study. There remains much to be done in the way of experimental research before any adequate summary of the problem of competition as an incentive can be given. Further investigations are needed with adult subjects. The inadequacy of the present study dealing with adults, and of those carried on by one or two other investigators serve to emphasize this need. Other types of learning need to be tested under the influence of competition; the relationship between the I.Q. and responses to competition needs investigation.; and many comparative studies should be made between the effects of competition and other incentives. It is hoped that some of these investigations may be undertaken at a later date. In summary, the competitive impulse, well-developed at the age of six appears to grow in strength throughout childhood and at the age of nine expresses itself most strongly in the form of response to group competition. At the age of twelve the emphasis appears to have shifted and individual competition proves to be more stimulating than group competition, at least in the type of problem used in this study. Indications suggest that perhaps as age increases the effect of group competition diminishes, and other factors enter in which have a strong additional incentive value. An understanding of what these may be and their relative strengths awaits further research