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This paper analyses how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can assist in increasing access to quality education and discusses how it can contribute to the content and learning methods on the Education for All (EFA) agenda. It explores both the tensions and the common ground between ESD and EFA, and identifies the potential synergies between them. ESD implies a transformation of every aspect of school life at all levels: pre-school, primary and secondary. At the policy level, governments are in a position to establish links between ESD and EFA, recognising that the purpose of education is not just to support present economic development, but also to help individuals and societies to develop their potential without damaging the environment. At the grassroots level, in schools, much can—and must—be done by school leaders, teachers and students to integrate sustainability into all aspects of school life and the curriculum, thereby establishing connections between social, environmental, cultural and economic problems and achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on work examining differences in the emphasis faculty place on effective educational practices, this study uses data from nearly 8,000 faculty members from the 2007 Faculty Survey of Student Engagement to explore how disciplinary area moderates the effect of teaching a general education course (GEC) on the emphasis faculty place on deep approaches to learning. Results showed that the GEC effect was strongest in hard-applied-life fields and weakest in hard-pure-life and soft-applied-life fields, suggesting that proponents of general education reform need to temper their efforts by a clearer understanding of disciplinary differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated curricular conditions and educational practices that influenced the development of life-long learning orientations among 405 undergraduate students. Results suggest that growth in life-long learning orientations was facilitated by instruction that included opportunities for reflection, active learning, and perspective-taking and that provided students with opportunities for positively interacting with diverse peers. Negative diverse peer interactions were found to stifle development. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Complementary degree programs arid research training are important alternative tracks in medical school that typically interrupt the traditional MD curriculum. OBJECTIVE: Examine effects of such a break on clinical knowledge after reentry into the MD curriculum. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred and two graduates of Mayo Medical School. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Compared years of delay between the second and third years of medical school with third year clerkship grades, National Board of Medical Examiner's (NBME) Subject Examinations, and United States Medical License Exam (USMLE) Step 2. MAIN RESULTS: 258, 13, and 31 students spent 0, 1, or ≥3 years pursing research between the second and third year. Baseline measures of knowledge before matriculation and before the third year were similar between groups. Whereas a 1-year delay had no significant effect, a ≥3-year delay was associated with fewer clerkship honors and lower NBME Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry percentiles compared to no delay (all p<.05). Students with a ≥3-year delay had a 77% reduction in the odds of honors in Medicine. For each year of delay beyond 3, students' third-year NBME Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatry scores decreased as did USMLE Step 2 scores (r=-.38 to -.50, p<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Delays of ≥3 years between the second and third years of medical school are associated with lower grades and scores on clinical knowledge tests. Further research is needed to determine the optimal timing of research training and develop effective interventions to facilitate reentry into the medical school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘independent learner’ is a key construct within discourses of educational policy and practice in the UK. Government policy statements stress the importance of developing learner independence, and higher education pedagogical practices tend to rest on the assumption that students are independent learners. This paper draws on research with undergraduate students in a post-1992 university to offer a critical appraisal of the discourse of the independent learner. The paper examines students’ perceptions of independence in both their first year of undergraduate study, and in the later years of their degree courses. Support for learning and issues related to asking for help are discussed. Whilst students tend to both expect and want to be independent, it is suggested that dominant constructions of the independent learner are gendered and culturally specific, and as such are inappropriate for the majority of students in a mass higher education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common finding in the literature is that institutional structures have little to no impact on student engagement and development. I argue that theory suggests peer ability (as measured by selectivity), institutional density, the differentiation of the curriculum, and the research orientation of the institution should all affect student engagement. Using the nationally representative Beginning Post-secondary Student survey, a non-linear selection on observables correction for selection bias, and a multilevel modeling approach, I find that institutional structures do affect student engagement in predictable and substantively significant ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Learning environments overtly or implicitly address patient-centered values and have been the focus of research for more than 40 years, often in studies about the ‘hidden curriculum.’ However, many of these studies occurred at single medical schools and used time-intensive ethnographic methods. This field of inquiry lacks survey methods and information about how learning environments differ across medical schools. OBJECTIVE: To examine patient-centered characteristics of learning environments at 9 U.S. medical schools. DESIGN: Cross-sectional internet-based survey. PARTICIPANTS: Eight-hundred and twenty-three third- and fourth-year medical students in the classes of 2002 and 2003. MEASUREMENTS: We measured the patient-centeredness of learning environments with the Communication, Curriculum, and Culture (C³) Instrument, a 29-item validated measure that characterizes the degree to which a medical school's environment fosters patient-centered care. The C³ Instrument contains 3 content areas (role modeling, students' experiences, and support for students' patient-centered behaviors), and is designed to measure these areas independent of respondents' attitudes about patient-centered care. We also collected demographic and attitudinal information from respondents. RESULTS: The variability of C³ scores across schools in each of the 3 content areas of the instrument was striking and statistically significant (P values ranged from .001 to .004). In addition, the patterns of scores on the 3 content areas differed from school to school. CONCLUSIONS: The 9 schools demonstrated unique and different learning environments both in terms of magnitude and patterns of characteristics. Further multiinstitutional study of hidden curricula is needed to further establish the degree of variability that exists, and to assist educators in making informed choices about how to intervene at their own schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship-Centered Care acknowledges the central importance of relationships in medical care. In a similar fashion, relationships hold a central position in medical education, and are critical for achieving favorable learning outcomes. However, there is little empirical work in the medical literature that explores the development and meaning of relationships in medical education. In this essay, we explore the growing body of work on the culture of medical school, often termed the "hidden curriculum." We suggest that relationships are a critical mediating factor in the hidden curriculum. We explore evidence from the educational literature with respect to the student-teacher relationship, and the relevance that these studies hold for medical education. We conclude with suggestions for future research on student-teacher relationships in medical education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the additive interspersal procedure was extended by exposing seventh-grade students to curricula-based (e.g., educationally valid) language arts assignments. In Experiment I, each student was given a control language arts assignment containing 20 discrete target items and an experimental assignment containing 24 equivalent target items, plus eight interspersed briefer items. After working on both assignments for 10 minutes, significantly more students chose a new experimental assignment for homework. Individual analysis showed that 85% of the students preferred or chose the assignment associated with higher discrete task completion rates. In Experiment II, students completed both assignments. Results extended previous research by showing that even after expending more effort to complete the 20% more target items plus the additional interspersed items on the experimental assignments, significantly more students chose an experimental assignment for homework. Applied and theoretical implications are discussed along with limitations of the current study and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an innovative approach to introducing pre-service early childhood teachers to math, science and technology education. The approach involves the creation of partnerships between pre-service early childhood and engineering students to conceive, develop, implement and evaluate curriculum in the area of math, science and technology by using robotics and the engineering design process. In this paper we first present the theoretical framework for the creation of these partnerships. We then introduce an experience done at Tufts University in which three different forms of partnership models evolved: the collaborator’s model, the external consultant’s model and the developer’s model. We also present different case studies from this experience and finally we conclude with some remarks and observations for making this work scalable and sustainable in other settings and universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the quality management principles of Deming with the educational theories of Feuerstein and Bloom in the design of a system of engineering education in which every student, on graduation, will display mastery of the subjects in the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion forum is a significant component of online courses. Instructors and students rely on these asynchronous forums to engage one another in ways that potentially promote critical thinking, meaningful problem solving, and knowledge construction. In spite of the importance of these forums, predominantly used methods for the assessing the content and outcomes of these forums has often been limited to frequency counts and other quantitative measures. Only recently have researchers developed protocols for conducting meaningful qualitative analysis of online discussion forums. This study compares the application of two content analysis protocols for online discussion boards by applying both to the content of one-week student-led discussion. Our analysis provides a detailed description of how to use both protocols and evaluates each for its strengths and weaknesses toward the overall goal of providing educators and researchers with valid tools for assessing discussion forum content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]