The effect of a brief teacher training on student achievement

On the basis of previously determined correlations between teacher behavior and student achievement, a training program for mathematics teachers was developed. Previous research had established that this training did change the behavior of teachers. This article reports the effects of the training program on teacher behavior, student achievement, and student attitudes towards mathematics. From this study it appeared that the timing of the training was important for its effect on student achievement. There was no effect on student attitude

Computer science in Dutch secondary education: independent or integrated?

Nowadays, in Dutch secondary education, computer science is integrated within school subjects. About ten years ago computer science was considered an independent subject, but in the mid-1980s this idea changed. In our study we investigated whether the objectives of teaching computer science as an independent subject are met when computer science is integrated within school subjects. The main problem was that there was no formal curriculum of computer science as an independent subject. Therefore we interviewed 13 experts in the field of computer science and then compared this formal curriculum with the operational (integrated) curriculum, which is still in the development stage. It appears that most of the components of the formal curriculum are being covered by the operational curriculum, and we therefore concluded that these curricula are equivalent, although there may be differences in the level of teaching. In our opinion the best approach to computer science is to combine the independent and the integrated approaches

Adoption of alternative transport technologies in the construction industry

This research examines how the construction industry adopts alternative transport technologies. This paper presents the general characteristics of the adopter and what his perceptions are towards innovative transport technologies. The study focused on four rates of innovation, related tot alternative transport technologies. The results show that 83% of the respondents choose innovation over no innovation; more than half of the respondents choose an innovation that can be characterized as “architectural”. Further, the perceived benefits of the innovation characteristics for an incremental innovation are higher then the perceived benefits for an architectural or radical innovation. Finally, from the ventures that chose to innovate, smaller companies prefer an architectural - more challenging - innovation rather then an incremental innovation

Organising for Effective Academic Entrepreneurship

The contribution has three parts. In the first part the concept of academic entrepreneurship is explained, defined and put into the context of the entrepreneurial university. In the second part four cases are described: - (1) The Nikos case at the University of Twente: In Nikos teaching, research and spin-off activities are combined into one research institute. - (2) The NICENT case at the University of Ulster: NICENT is set up under the Science and Enterprise Centre activities in the UK. It focuses on education and training of students (undergraduates, graduates and post-graduates) and the stimulation of academic entrepreneurship in the academic constituency. - (3) The S-CIO case at Saxion Universities for Applied Sciences: In 2004 Saxion set up this Centre to have a one-stop shop for all entrepreneurial activities at the University. - (4) The Chair in Technological Entrepreneurship at Tshwane University: The focus of the Chair is on education of (under)graduate students in (technological) entrepreneurship and on the stimulation of entrepreneurship in the wider community. Each case has its own specific angle on academic entrepreneurship and in the thrid part the four cases are compared and analysed according to the model presented in the first part. Finally, some conclusions are formulated regarding the organisation of effective academic entrepreneurship