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Previous experimental studies have indicated that young people's text comprehension and summarisation skills can be improved by techniques based on text concept mapping (TCM). However, these studies have done little to elucidate a practical pedagogy that can make the techniques adoptable within the context of typical secondary school classrooms. This paper explains how a collaborative research approach has developed a new pedagogy, named TCM/4, for TCM, along with new technology that supports this pedagogy in effective ways. Case studies of the strategy indicate that pupils enjoyed their lessons and shared their teachers' views that it was helpful in comprehending texts.

Concept mapping is a powerful learning technique that can be enhanced by computer technology. Software tools are already available for the preparation of concept maps but as yet, few systems provide feedback on their content. The claim made by this article is that by enlisting the student as an assessment partner, computer-based feedback becomes both feasible and useful. The article reports on the development of a semi-automated software analyser for formatively assessing students' concept maps. The analyser is fallible: many of its assessments are initially incorrect. Crucially however, it is also reasonable: a student is able to argue for a more favourable assessment. The article reports classroom trials which indicate that high-school students' experience of concept mapping is enhanced by use of the analyser. The system's wider significance is that it points towards a new genre of educational software based upon a more genuinely dialogic model of human-computer interaction.

In England and Wales, Initial Teacher Education depends upon a legal and contractual partnership between schools and higher education institutions in which teacher mentors are often trained to support student teacher development. This article investigates the much less formal kind of partnership model that has evolved in Scotland, using one university's Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)(Secondary) programme as a case study. This research shows that the partnership is based on goodwill and relationships built up over time between university and school staff. However, school staff generally have only a weak understanding of the overall direction of the PGCE programme and they are uncertain about how best to fulfill their role in placement supervision. Partly in consequence, students find it hard to integrate school and university experiences and the quality of placement is very uneven. This article identifies scope for the development of mentoring skills among teachers and argue that current developments in Scottish education mean that this is a propitious time to begin to strengthen the links between school and university components of PGCE programmes.

Compares the impact of information technology initiatives in Scottish schools with a study of schools in the Silicon Valley (California). Highlights include computer use by subject; frequency of computer use in schools; student attitudes; questionnaire responses; obstacles to use of technology; and implications for policymaking. (LRW)

Encourages visionary questions relating to information technology and education. Describes the context of postmodernist change and discusses two contrasting visions of how education could change, paternalism and libertarianism. Concludes that teachers, learners, and communities need to articulate their own visions of education to ensure a desirable future. (LRW)

Three alternative tools to knowledge-based educational modeling were developed, using ideas from knowledge acquisition research, and their effectiveness was compared to that of an established rule-based shell. Children working with the new tools produced higher quality models and developed more positive attitudes. Knowledge acquisition systems and alternative forms of representation can contribute to improved forms of knowledge-based modeling. Contains 36 references.(Author/AEF)

Concept mapping is a powerful learning technique that can be enhanced by computer technology. Software tools are already available for the preparation of concept maps but as yet, few systems […]

Byline: Tom Conlon This paper describes InterModeller, a computer program intended to assist children in primary and secondary schools to learn concepts and skills associated with classification. The design of the program consolidates and extends previous work by including support for multiple forms of representation, provision for automatic transformation between representational forms, and the ability to convert an inefficient model into an efficient one. A 'seven steps' methodology for classroom model-building is proposed and justified. Evaluation evidence suggests that the program engages learners effectively in constructive thinking and that its incorporation of a variety of forms of representation enriches the model-building process.

In England and Wales, Initial Teacher Education depends upon a legal and contractual partnership between schools and higher education institutions in which teacher mentors are often trained to support student teacher development. This paper investigates the much less formal kind of partnership model that has evolved in Scotland, using one university's PGCE (Secondary) programme as a case study. Our research shows that the partnership is based on goodwill and relationships built up over time between university and school staff. However, school staff generally have only a weak understanding of the overall direction of the PGCE programme and they are uncertain about how best to fulfil their role in placement supervision. Partly in consequence, students find it hard to integrate school and university experiences and the quality of placement is very uneven. We identify scope for the development of mentoring skills among teachers and argue that current developments in Scottish education mean that this is a propitious time to begin to strengthen the links between school and university components of PGCE programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The questions that dominate the discourse of IT in education are mostly at the technical or craft levels. Visionary questions relating to the purpose of education and the proper place of technology are not much discussed. This paper seeks to undermine the idea that such questions should be avoided. The context of post modernist change is described and two contrasting visions of education are discussed. Each vision is a hypothetical but recognisable representation of certain trends in educational thinking. Each vision has appeal but also severe shortcomings. The paper concludes that unless teachers, learners and communities can articulate their own visions of educational change, new technology could take them into a future that they would never willingly have chosen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between diet and estrogens was studied in two groups of women with different dietary habits and breast cancer risks. Plasma estrogens and androgens and 24-h urinary and fecal excretion of estrogens were measured in premenopausal and postmenopausal Caucasians and recent Oriental immigrants from Southeast Asia to Hawaii. Premenopausal Caucasians had 30-75% higher plasma estrone and estradiol levels than their age-matched cohorts in Hawaii, and the postmenopausal Caucasians had 3-fold higher plasma levels of estradiol. The Oriental women excreted more than twice the amount of estrogen in their feces but they excreted significantly less in their urine. Thus, the ratio of urinary-to-fecal excretion was times higher in young Caucasian women. Analysis of dietary components and plasma estrogens in premenopausal women showed a positive correlation between daily intake of total fat and saturated fat and plasma estrone and estradiol concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]