Solving Sewing Machine Problems

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National evaluation of Diplomas: cohort 1 - the second year

The introduction of Diplomas for 14-19 year olds represented a major innovation in educational opportunity for young people in England. The Diplomas are being offered at three levels and across 14 subjects and have been implemented in three phases (from September 2008, 2009 and 2010). Following the establishment of the Coalition government in May 2010, a number of changes to the implementation and delivery of the Diploma qualification were introduced. The Minister of State for Schools announced that development of new Diplomas in science, humanities and languages, which were due to be introduced from September 2011, would be discontinued. Additionally the Diploma entitlement, whereby all young people within an area would be able to access any of the Diploma subjects, would be removed and that the decision about which Diploma subjects would be available to students would in future be made by schools and colleges. Moreover, it was decided that the Gateway application process whereby consortia (of schools, colleges, training providers, employers and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)) had previously submitted an application to the Department for Education (DfE) for each Diploma subject they wanted to offer would no longer be required for provision commencing from 2012. Other changes included the freedom for institutions to decide whether or not they wanted to work collaboratively to provide Diploma provision

Effective computer-aided assessment of mathematics; principles, practice and results

This article outlines some key issues for writing effective computer-aided assessment (CAA) questions in subjects with substantial mathematical or statistical content, especially the importance of control of random parameters and the encoding of wrong methods of solution (mal-rules) commonly used by students. The pros and cons of using CAA and different question types are discussed. Issues surrounding the selection and encoding of mal-rules are highlighted, especially for multi-choice and responsive numerical input questions. These generate mal-rule-specific feedback, the mal-rule used being deduced 15 from the student’s selection or input. Student answer file data from the use of over 800 questions and their embedding within an overall assessment regime is analysed and presented to show that this has had a very beneficial effect on the examination performance of a large cohort of first-year economics students in their mathematics module over the last 6 years. Question analysis of over 270,000 question attempts, identifying the most 20 difficult/discriminating questions, shows that the questions are robust, valid and span an appropriate range of difficulties. The idea of underlying mal-rules is examined to see how far this explains this range

Mesoscale patterns in the Cape Sao Vicente (Iberian Peninsula) upwelling region

The coastal upwelling region near Cape Sao Vicente, the southwestern tip of the Iberian Peninsula where the southern zonal coast meets the meridional western coast, was studied using over 1200 advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite images of sea surface temperature and time series of sea level height, wind velocities, and nearshore sea surface temperature recorded at coastal sites within 200 km of the cape. Summer upwelling is more intense and persistent off the western coast than off the southern coast, where a recurrent warm coastal countercurrent flows westward, and at times turns northward along the western coast after reaching the cape. In this region the equatorward current jet of cold water upwelled off the western coast is no longer bounded by a coast. Three preferred directions for the spreading of this water are identified. The most persistent is eastward along the southern shelf break and slope, possibly merging with waters previously upwelled locally, which becomes separated from shore by the coastal progression of the warmer counterflow. The second preferred direction results in the southward development of a cold filament feature fed by cold waters upwelled farther north and represents the southernmost extent of the intense coastal upwelling jet, which overshoots the cape. The least frequent feature to develop is a cold filament that grows westward at the latitude of the cape, appearing to result from the meandering of the equatorward jet. The coastal countercurrent is seen to interact with the equatorward jet at times of relaxation, not only by separating the cold upwelled water from the coast but, when it is energetic enough, breaking westward offshore through the equatorward cold flow and separating the eastward and southward cold features from the upcoast cold waters. Empirical evidence shows the presence of an alongshore pressure gradient, stronger in summer, driving the coastal progression of the warm counterflow. Wind forcing plays an important role in the circulation by augmenting or diminishing the effect of the preexisting alongshore pressure gradients. The extent of the progression of the warm coastal countercurrent along the southern and western coast is dictated by the the strength of the upwelling favorable wind stress, which is able to balance and reverse the alongshore flow, at least in the upper layers

Threshold Assessment: the experiences of teachers who were unsuccessful in crossing the threshold

This is a postprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Research Papers in Education© 2003 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Research Papers in Education is available online at http://www.informaworld.comThis paper, the second in a pair of articles, reports empirical research undertaken into the implementation of one of the UK government's strands of performance-related pay: Threshold Assessment (TA). This procedure was introduced in English primary and secondary schools in summer 2000. Although the recruitment and retention of teachers had become a growing concern for the government by that time, it would have been politically difficult to award teachers across the profession a pay increase without attaching any strings whatsoever. The Threshold Assessment procedure requires teachers to demonstrate that they have met a number of 'standards' in order to 'cross the threshold' and to receive a pay award (when first introduced, in 2000, this was 2,000). This then allows them access to an upper pay scale, although progression up this is linked to their performance via the Performance Management procedure which was also introduced into schools at that time. The Teachers' Incentive Pay Project, currently in progress at the University of Exeter, studied the implementation of the first round of the Threshold Assessment procedure. It examined the way in which the procedure was conducted across England by collecting data from head teachers, teachers and threshold assessors. Ninety seven per cent of teachers applying to cross the threshold in the first round in summer 2000 were successful. This paper focuses on the experiences of teachers who were unsuccessful in their bid to cross the threshold, having been deemed to have 'not yet met' the required standards (referred to in this paper as NYM or 'unsuccessful' teachers). A number of issues emerge including differences between schools in the way in which the procedure was approached and undertaken; relationship problems between head teachers and teachers; the support available to NYM teachers; the appropriateness of the current procedure for 'nonstandard' teachers such as advisory/learning support staff, supply teachers and part-timers; the procedure's impact on teacher performance.This paper reports some of the key findings of the Teachers' Incentive Pay Project (TIPP), a three year project funded by the Leverhulme Trust