The actors that shape the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of Maltese youth

Not much is known about the environmental knowledge, attitudes and actions of young people in the Maltese islands. The main actors that are responsible for the acquisition and development of environmental perspectives in young people in Malta are also not well known. There is as yet, little understanding of the extent to which these actors are fostering a sense of environmental responsibility and a greater commitment towards sustainable development. A mixed method research methodology was employed to address this knowledge gap that included an extended questionnaire distributed to students in the post secondary age range and a number of focus groups to provide a more in-depth study of some of the issues arising from the questionnaire analyses. The focus groups allowed young people to frame their responses in their own words. This paper focuses on the results of the quantitative study. The data from the quantitative analyses indicates that students are more knowledgeable about the Global Environment than about the Local Environment, and that students receive most information from School, Television and the Internet. The sources of environmental information which were perceived by young people as being the most reliable included School, Books and the Internet. The overall attitude of students towards the environment appears to be strongly positive, however students seem to perform little positive actions towards the environment. Year group, Age and Gender were found to have a statistically significant effect on knowledge; Father’s work was found to have a statistically significant effect on attitude and Age was found to have a significant effect on behavior.peer-reviewe

Perception of the level of difficulty by post-secondary Maltese students of the biology advanced level practical examination paper

Maltese students sit for the Matriculation and Secondary Education Certificate (MATSEC) Advanced-level biology exam at the end of a two-year ‘sixth form’ course as a requirement to pursue studies related to science at the University of Malta. The exam consists of four papers, where Paper 1 consists of compulsory structured questions, Paper 2 involves essay-writing, Paper 3 is based on practical work related to theory, and Paper 4 consists of a single experimental design question. A questionnaire based on a Likert five-point scale was administered to students (N=102) two months before they sat for the MATSEC examination. The aim was to investigate the level of difficulty that students encounter with each of the exam papers as well when answering ten typical questions presented in Paper 4. No significant difference in the difficulty rating evaluation for males and females for Paper 1, 2 and 3 was found; however females found Paper 4 significantly more difficult than males. When presented with a test at school modelled on Paper 4, males felt more confident than females however they felt equally nervous. On the other hand, females felt more panicky than males. There was no significant difference between the level of difficulty encountered in each paper and the grade obtained at ‘Ordinary’ level biology (the examination taken at the end of secondary school). Students that were repeating their ‘sixth form’ second year encountered the same level of difficulty in each paper as those who were not. The same questionnaire was administered to tutors (N=13) in order to investigate whether student and tutor perceptions differ. Students and tutors rated the level of difficulty of each paper differently. None of the tutors perceived Papers 2, 3 and 4 as ‘easy’ whereas students did. Another difference in perception was noted in Paper 1: students rated Paper 1 as ‘difficult’ while tutors did not. Students and tutors also differed in the rating of level of difficulty in Paper 4 questions. Students found the question about devising an experiment as presenting the highest level of difficulty while for tutors the most difficult was that concerned was stating the sources of error. Writing a null hypothesis presented the least difficulty for students whereas drawing graphs was rated as least difficult by tutors. These differences in perception imply that tutors may be dedicating more time preparing students for papers and questions they (the tutors) perceive as difficult and thus may not be meeting the real needs of the students.peer-reviewe

2021 NCCEC Conference Program

Conference program for the 2021 National Cross-Cultural Counseling and Education Conferenc

The Road to Rights: Establishing a Domestic Human Rights Institution in the United States

While human rights are often discussed as international standards, they are realized first and foremost at home. Respect for human rights is a domestic endeavor — the promotion, protection and fulfillment of these rights falls to national and local governments, not to international bodies. Because the front line of human rights is domestic, full realization of these rights requires coordination and dialogue between civil society, national policy-making bodies and local institutions. U.S. human rights advocates have continually emphasized that “human rights begin at home,” and it is only when the full spectrum of rights are recognized and protected in local communities that we can claim equality, dignity and fairness for all. Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized this in his 1941 Four Freedoms speech, stressing that “[f ]reedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere.” A. Philip Randolph, one of the founders of The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, highlighted this in 1942 when he stated that “[a] community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess” and that engaging in a domestic “fight for economic, political, and social equality, thus becomes part of the global war for freedom.” The idea of fundamental, inalienable rights has permeated our history and serves as a foundational principle upon which U.S. democracy is built

Comparative education in the Mediterranean : reflections on the second MESCE conference held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 4-7th February, 2006

Reflections on the second MESCE Conference held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 4-7th February, 2006peer-reviewe

A summary account of the historical development and present state of the role of biomedical physics-engineering in the education of the healthcare professions

This paper presents a summary account of the historical development and present state of the role of biomedical physics-engineering (BMPE) in the education of the healthcare professions (HCP) as elicited from the English language literature. We first present a historical overview of the role of physicists and engineers in medicine as a backdrop to a better understanding of their role in the education of the HCP. This is followed by a review of the literature regarding the educator role itself. Included are relevant papers indexed principally in the three main healthcare related databases i.e., MEDLINE (search period: 1950 to present), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, 1982 to present) and EMBASE (Excerpta Medica, 1974 to present) and the educational database ERIC (1966 to present) with the words 'physics' or 'engineering' (and any relevant derivatives such as 'biophysics') in the title.peer-reviewe

An initial biomedical physics elements-of-competence inventory for first cycle physiotherapy programmes in Europe

This paper presents an initial version of a biomedical physics elements-of-competence inventory for First Cycle Physiotherapy programmes in Europe and describes the process used in its development. The research reported forms part of an ongoing project the purpose of which is to put the role of the biomedical physics educator within Faculties of Medicine / Health Science on a firm foundation. The results of this research has indicated that a strategic mission statement for the role would be that: "Biomedical physics educators will make a decisive contribution to quality healthcare professional education through the pursuit of practice-oriented curriculum research, development and delivery in the physics-engineering competences necessary for the scientific, effective, safe, ethical and efficient use of biomedical devices and the supervision of student research involving such devices" Biomedical devices are strongly underpinned by physics principles. They are crucial to modern healthcare and the subject of several EU directives, hence offering an excellent opportunity for role consolidation. In this context 'effective' means ensuring that the intended healthcare purpose for which the medical device is being utilized is achieved. 'Safe' refers to the avoidance of unnecessary risk to patients and the total elimination or reduction to acceptable levels of risks to users and others from physical agents associated with devices. 'Physical agents' refers to ionizing radiation, mechanical, electrical, acoustic, ultrasonic, magnetic, electromagnetic, high temperature, optical, ultraviolet, infrared, and laser risk sources. 'Efficient' refers to achievement of purpose with minimum device use time. A generic curriculum development model which can be used to drive curriculum development for the healthcare professions was derived from the above mission statement. The model has already been used for the construction of elements-of-competence inventories for Diagnostic Radiography, Medicine and Nursing [1-3]. This paper presents a similar inventory for physiotherapists (alternative professional titles in Europe are 'physical therapist' and 'kinesitherapeute'). Only one paper has been found in the literature which involves the teaching of physics in the physiotherapy context. It addresses teaching methodology and assessment [4]. This paper focuses on content.peer-reviewe