The sunspot observations by Samuel Heinrich Schwabe

A long time-series of sunspot observations is preserved from Samuel Heinrich Schwabe who made notes and drawings of sunspots from 1825-1867. Schwabe's observing records are preserved in the manuscript archives of the Royal Astronomical Society, London. The drawings have now been digitized for future measurements of sunspot positions and sizes. The present work gives an inventory and evaluation of the images obtained from the log books of Schwabe. The total number of full-disk drawings of the sun with spots is 8486, the number of additional verbal reports on sunspots is 3699. There are also 31 reports about possible aurorae.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Relations among personal initiative and the development of reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is a self-regulated activity that depends on the proactive effort of the reader. Therefore, the authors studied the effects of personal initiative (PI) on the development of reading comprehension, mediated by reading strategy knowledge. Structural equation modelling was applied to a longitudinal study with two data waves separated by two years. At Time 1, the participants (N = 1,102) were either in third or fourth grade. At Time 2, third graders had moved to grade five, and fourth graders had moved to grade six (N = 1,009). At both grade levels, PI explained unique variance in reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension at Time 2. Moreover, from fourth to sixth grade the effect of PI on reading comprehension was mediated by reading strategy knowledge. No mediation was observed from third to fifth grade. These findings emphasize the relevance of PI in the development of reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension. They further reveal that the hypothesized mediation process does not unfold until sixth grade.

Die Veränderung der Einstellungen von Grundschulkindern zum gemeinsamen Lernen durch die SEGEL-Intervention

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird untersucht, inwiefern die Einstellungen der Lernenden zum gemeinsamen Lernen verändert werden können. Die Entwicklung der sozialen und personalen Kompetenzen wird in weiteren Publikationen vorgestellt. Die zugrundeliegende Hypothese nimmt eine Einstellungsverbesserung bei den untersuchten Grundschulkindern an. In Anbetracht der Einstellungsunterschiede in Abhängigkeit von der Art des sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarfs, die vorangegangene Untersuchungen zeigen konnten, werden in der vorliegenden Studie ebenfalls differenzielle Effekte erwartet. (DIPF/Orig.

De inflammatione morbo animalium et vegetabilium : dissertatio inauguralis medica

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1917523~S1*es

The Influence of Individual and Situational Factors on Teachers’ Justice Ratings of Classroom Interactions

Teachers, as role models, are crucial in promoting inclusion in society through their actions. Being perceived as fair by their students is linked to students’ feelings of belonging in school. In addition, their decisions of resource allocations also affect students’ academic success. Both aspects underpin the importance of teachers’ views on justice. This article aims to investigate what teachers consider to be just and how teacher characteristics and situational factors affect justice ratings of hypothetical student-teacher-interactions. In an experimental design, we randomly varied the description of the interacting student in text vignettes regarding his/her special educational need (SEN) (situational factor). We also collected data on teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion and experiences with persons with disabilities (individual factors). A sample of in-service teachers in Germany (N = 2,254) rated randomized versions of two text vignettes. To also consider the effect of professional status, a sample of pre-service teachers (N = 275) did the same. Linear mixed effect models point to a negative effect of the SEN on justice ratings, meaning situations in which the interacting student is described with a SEN were rated less just compared to the control condition. As the interacting student in the situations was treated worse than the rest, this was indicative for the application of the need principle. Teachers with more positive attitudes toward inclusion rated the vignettes as significantly less just. Professional status also had a negative effect on justice ratings, with in-service teachers rating the interactions significantly lower than the pre-service teachers. Our results suggest that the teachers applied the principle of need in their ratings. Implications for inclusive teaching practices and future research are discussed further.Peer Reviewe

Classroom climate and bullying experiences in relation to social acceptance and friendships in inclusive classes

Soziale Partizipation von Schüler:innen mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf (SPF) ist ein zentrales Thema aktueller Inklusionsdebatten. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es, zu untersuchen, ob sich die Wahrnehmung des Klassenklimas und der Bullyingerfahrungen von Jugendlichen mit SPF Lernen (LE) und emotional-soziale Entwicklung (ESE) von Schüler:innen ohne SPF unterscheidet und zu evaluieren, inwieweit soziale Akzeptanz sowie reziproke und gruppenübergreifende Freundschaften mit dem Klassenklima und Bullyingerfahrungen zusammenhängen. Dazu wurden von 894 Sechst- und Siebtklässler:innen aus 44 inklusiven Klassen soziometrische und Fragebogendaten erhoben. Mithilfe von Mehrebenen-Regressionsanalysen zeigte sich, dass ältere sowie Schüler:innen mit SPF ESE das Klassenklima negativer wahrnehmen. Für Jugendliche mit SPF LE und der Interaktion von Alter und SPF zeigten sich keine signifikanten Zusammenhänge mit dem wahrgenommenen Klassenklima und Bullyingerfahrungen. Darüber hinaus hingen alle drei soziometrischen Maße auf individueller Ebene signifikant mit dem Klassenklima und Bullyingerfahrungen zusammen. Für das Klassenklima ließen sich die ermittelten Zusammenhänge ebenfalls auf der Klassenebene beobachten. (DIPF/Orig.)Social participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) is a central topic in current inclusion debates. The goal of the present study was to analyze self-perceived classroom climate and bullying experiences of adolescents with SEN learning (LE) and social-emotional development (SED), and to investigate to what extent social acceptance, reciprocal, and cross-group friendships relate to classroom climate and bullying experiences. Sociometric and questionnaire data were collected from 894 sixth- and seventh-graders from 44 inclusive classes. Applying multilevel regression analyses findings revealed that older students and adolescents with SEN SED reported lower scores for classroom climate. For adolescents with SEN LE and the interaction of age and SEN, no significant relations were found with classroom climate and bullying experiences. Furthermore, all three sociometric measures were significantly related to classroom climate and bullying experiences at the individual level. For classroom climate, these relations were also evident at the class level. (DIPF/Orig.

Eine Universitätsschule für Brandenburg: Transfer im Bildungskontext als Ausgangspunkt

An der Universität Potsdam, der einzigen lehrkräftebildenden Hochschule des Landes Brandenburg, wird im Kontext eines vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung finanzierten Transferprojekts die Konzeptionierung und Gründung einer Universitätsschule vorangetrieben. Der Beitrag umreißt zunächst den projektspezifischen Zugriff sowie landesspezifische Merkmale der Lehrkräftebildung und Schullandschaft, da die Universitätsschule als staatliche Schule konzeptioniert wird, die Modell- und Transfercharakter für ganz Brandenburg haben soll. Das Konzept der Universitätsschule, das gemeinsam von Vertreter*innen der Universität und der Schulpraxis entwickelt wird, schafft ein pädagogisch-didaktisches Gerüst für eine Schule, an der drei Schwerpunkte verwirklicht werden sollen: Ermöglichung evidenzbasierter Forschungssettings und enger Kooperationen zwischen Wissenschaft und Schulpraxis; Impulse für eine größere Praxisnähe des Lehramtsstudiums; Umsetzung curricularer Innovationen, die möglicherweise von anderen Schulen adaptierbar sind. At the University of Potsdam, the only teacher training university in the state of Brandenburg, the conceptual design and founding of a university school is being pursued in the context of a transfer project financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This article first outlines the project-specific approach as well as the specific characteristics of teacher training and public school forms in Brandenburg, since the university school is being conceived as a public school that is to serve as a model for the whole of Brandenburg. The concept of the university school, which is being developed jointly by representatives of the university and schools in the region, creates a pedagogical-didactic framework for a school that wants to realize three main goals: enabling evidence-based research settings and close cooperation between science and educational practice; impulses for a greater practical relevance of teacher training; implementation of curricular innovations that can potentially be adapted by other schools

A Standard Law for the Equatorward Drift of the Sunspot Zones

The latitudinal location of the sunspot zones in each hemisphere is determined by calculating the centroid position of sunspot areas for each solar rotation from May 1874 to June 2011. When these centroid positions are plotted and analyzed as functions of time from each sunspot cycle maximum there appears to be systematic differences in the positions and equatorward drift rates as a function of sunspot cycle amplitude. If, instead, these centroid positions are plotted and analyzed as functions of time from each sunspot cycle minimum then most of the differences in the positions and equatorward drift rates disappear. The differences that remain disappear entirely if curve fitting is used to determine the starting times (which vary by as much as 8 months from the times of minima). The sunspot zone latitudes and equatorward drift measured relative to this starting time follow a standard path for all cycles with no dependence upon cycle strength or hemispheric dominance. Although Cycle 23 was peculiar in its length and the strength of the polar fields it produced, it too shows no significant variation from this standard. This standard law, and the lack of variation with sunspot cycle characteristics, is consistent with Dynamo Wave mechanisms but not consistent with current Flux Transport Dynamo models for the equatorward drift of the sunspot zones.Comment: 12 pages, 7 color figure

Width of Sunspot Generating Zone and Reconstruction of Butterfly Diagram

Based on the extended Greenwich-NOAA/USAF catalogue of sunspot groups it is demonstrated that the parameters describing the latitudinal width of the sunspot generating zone (SGZ) are closely related to the current level of solar activity, and the growth of the activity leads to the expansion of SGZ. The ratio of the sunspot number to the width of SGZ shows saturation at a certain level of the sunspot number, and above this level the increase of the activity takes place mostly due to the expansion of SGZ. It is shown that the mean latitudes of sunspots can be reconstructed from the amplitudes of solar activity. Using the obtained relations and the group sunspot numbers by Hoyt and Schatten (1998), the latitude distribution of sunspot groups ("the Maunder butterfly diagram") for the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries is reconstructed and compared with historical sunspot observations.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; accepted by Solar Physics; the final publication will be available at www.springerlink.co