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Increased time-on-task is one of the overall goals for teacher education in both Denmark and Norway. However, student teachers' time-on-task in those programs are uncertain and highly debated indicators of research input. Researchers adopt this indicator with the expectation that student teachers must invest time and effort in their courses that are approximately equivalent to that expended during a standard workweek. The purpose of this article is to analyse the differences between Danish and Norwegian teacher education for elementary schools based on a uniform survey conducted in each country; more specifically, the survey queried student teachers' time-on-task in faculty- and student faculty-led campus activities. In this empirical study, we use survey data to examine factors that influence the duration of student teachers' time-on-task in Norway (n = 274) and Denmark (n = 1224). To meet the study's objectives, we conducted an ordinary least squares regression analysis and found that student teachers' self-discipline and perceived study demands are the most important exogenous factors in the duration of their time-on-task. The analyses led us to explore their implications for the structure of teacher education programs, particularly in terms of curriculum design and the articulation of academic expectations.

Studies have indicated that the learning results are closely related to how much effort a student puts into the course and how effectively the student works with the learning material. Adequate time-on-task is crucial for student teachers because it allows them to develop their teaching skills, build strong relationships with students, adapt to classroom challenges, and ultimately become more effective educators. It is a critical component of their teacher preparation and development. Time-on-task in a teacher education program can be considered a coarse-grained measure of study intensity. The purpose of the present study is to explore factors that could explain Faroese student teachers' time-on-task. Faroese schools received a PISA shock after the millennium. As one of several measures, the teacher education institute was incorporated into the country's sole university. The results show that it is their perceptions of the study requirements in teacher education that is most strongly related to time-on-task. Further, there is a tendency towards a weaker relation between self-discipline and time-on-task. A comparison with time-on-task in the other Nordic nations shows that time-on-task is somewhat low. If this is a problem, it might be important to increase the study requirements in Faroese teacher education.

El estudio de la empleabilidad pretende analizar las competencias desarrolladas por los estudiantes y su relevancia para la consecución de un empleo. Se trata de reducir los desajustes entre oferta y demanda de trabajo. La realización de prácticas en empresas se ha revelado como un importante factor de mejora de la empleabilidad, porque mejora de las competencias de los graduados universitarios. En este trabajo se ha analizado el papel de las prácticas en la mejora de dichas competencias y, en consecuencia, del papel de las mismas en la empleabilidad de los graduados. Para ello, se ha elaborado un cuestionario, basado en las cuatro dimensiones de la empleabilidad derivadas del análisis teórico, que incluyen ítems referentes a: competencias instrumentales e interpersonales, así como relacionados con la motivación y la adecuación o ajuste de las prácticas a la formación del estudiante. El cuestionario se ha enviado a 580 estudiantes de Administración y Dirección de Empresas (ADE) de la Facultad de Economía y Empresa (FEE) de la Universidad de Barcelona (UB). Del Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio (AFC), realizado con los resultados de la encuesta, se ha obtenido un modelo cuyas variables latentes confirman los cuatro factores previamente definidos de acuerdo con la teoría: las competencias instrumentales, las competencias interpersonales, la motivación y la adecuación de las prácticas. Adicionalmente, el modelo muestra la existencia de diferencias de género relacionadas con la motivación de los estudiantes en la realización de las prácticas.

Teacher education for primary and lower secondary school has received harsh criticism in many countries, also in Denmark. Teacher education programmes experience high dropout rates and has low appeal to potential students. The purpose of this study is to explore how preservice teachers' perceptions of campus experiences and field experiences are related to their prospective commitment to become a teacher as well as to their turnover intention. This focus is important because research indicates that prospective commitment to a profession is an important factor in sustaining good professional practices among preservice teachers as well as in preventing early exit from the programme. Structural equation modelling was used for the data analysis in this study. A survey was carried out with 1,435 participating Danish preservice teachers at four different campuses. The preservice teachers were asked to voluntarily complete a paper-based questionnaire after they had completed at least one teacher practice period. The analysis indicated that perceived relevance of subject didactics teaching and theory--practice interactions in the school-based section of teacher training are the most important elements in explaining both the prospective commitment of preservice teachers to their future profession as teachers and their turnover intention.

In today's age of information, the use of data is very powerful in making informed decisions. Data analytics is a field that is interested in identifying and interpreting trends and patterns within big data to make data-driven decisions. We focus on informal statistical inference and data modeling as a means of developing students' data analytics skills in school. In this study, we examine how students apply the data modeling process to draw informal inferences when exploring trends, patterns and relationships in a real dataset using technological tools, such as CODAP and Excel. We analyzed 17-18-year-old students' written reports on their explorations of data supplied by third parties. Students used a variety of statistical measures and visualizations to account for variability in analyzing data. They tended to make statements with certainty in their inferences and predictions beyond the data. When the pattern in the data was uncertain, they were inclined to use contextual knowledge to remain certain in their claims.

Terpene synthases are biotechnologically-relevant enzymes with a variety of applications. However, they are typically poor catalysts and have been difficult to engineer. Structurally, most terpene synthases share two conserved domains (α- and β-domains). Some also contain a third domain containing a second active site (γ-domain). Based on the three-domain architecture, we hypothesized that αβ terpene synthases could be engineered by insertion of a heterologous domain at the site of the γ-domain (an approach we term "Insertion-engineering terpene synthase"; Ie-TS). We demonstrate that by mimicking the domain architecture of αβγ terpene synthases, we can redesign isoprene synthase (ISPS), an αβ terpene synthase, while preserving enzymatic activity. Insertion of GFP or a SpyCatcher domain within ISPS introduced new functionality while maintaining or increasing catalytic turnover. This insertion-engineering approach establishes that the γ-domain position is accessible for incorporation of additional sequence features and enables the rational engineering of terpene synthases for biotechnology.

The school is an important institution in Faroese society, as elsewhere in the world. Among other things, schools must prepare students for further education, professional life, and their duties as citizens. The quality of teachers’ instruction is the most important factor influencing pupils’ learning. The concept of citizenship behaviour highlights the idea that student teachers have a responsibility not only to fulfil their duties but also to contribute to the well-being of their peers. Student teachers’ citizenship behaviour is assumed to influence the functioning of teacher education. Teacher education prepares student teachers and supplies schools with appropriately trained teachers. The purposes of this study are (1) to present an overview of Faroese teacher training, and (2) to explore the statistical relationships between Faroese student teachers’ motivational orientations and their citizenship behaviours. As expected, we find that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are related to citizenship behavior. Furthermore, we find that instructional self-efficacy is positively related to citizenship behaviour. Implications for practice and avenues for further research are discussed.

Mange evalueringer har vist, at lærerstuderende bruger beskeden tid på at studere. I denne undersøgelse undersøger vi indflydelsen fra udvalgte faktorer, som er relateret til lærerstuderendes studieintensitet, baseret på undersøgelsesdata og strukturel ligningsmodellering. Analyserne bygger på svar fra 1224 lærerstuderende på fire forskellige campusser. Den vigtigste konstatering er, at studenternes selvdisciplin og akademisk pres skiller sig ud som de vigtigste faktorer, som har betydning for de studerendes studieintensitet. Hvis et lavt niveau af studieintensitet betragtes som et problem, kunne stimulering af de lærerstuderendes selvdisciplin i studiearbejdet og en skærpelse af arbejdskravene i de campusbaserede elementer af læreruddannelsen være et muligt middel. Implikationer for praksis og videre forskning diskuteres.