Health and Growth: Causality through Education

Purpose--The paper theoretically and empirically investigates the impact on human capital investment decisions and income growth of lowered life expectancy as a result of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Design/methodology/approach--The theoretical model is a three-period overlapping generations model where individuals go through three stages in their life, namely, young, adult and old. The model extends existing theoretical models by allowing the probability of premature death to differ for individuals at different life stage, and by allowing for stochastic technological advances. The empirical investigation focuses on the effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy and on the role of health on educational investments and growth. We address potential endogeneity by using various strategies, such as controlling for country specific time-invariant unobservables and by using the male circumcision rate as an instrumental variable for HIV/AIDS prevalence. Findings--We show theoretically that an increased probability of premature death leads to less investment in human capital, and consequently slower growth. Empirically we show that HIV/AIDS has resulted in a substantial decline in life expectancy in African countries and these falling life expectancies are indeed associated with lower educational attainment and slower economic growth world wide. Originality/value--The theoretical and empirical findings reveal a causal link flowing from health to growth, which has been largely overlooked by the existing literature. The main implication is that health investments, that decrease the incidence of diseases like HIV/AIDS resulting on increases in life expectancy, through its complementarity with human capital investments lead to long run growth..

African American and Teaching in Higher Education IS a Course on Race and Culture

Using theoretical applications, the authors present an overview of theories that highlight approaches for teaching culturally sensitive content, personal experiences as educator and colleague in a predominantly white college campus and strategies for addressing culturally insensitive experiences in and outside the classroom. Presenters focus on the recruitment and retention of people of color and stress the need for today's predominantly white institutions to become more knowledgeable, tolerant and sensitive about their environments in an effort to make them more accepting.

African American Student Access To and Completion Of Higher Education, 1960-1992: A Correspondence Theory Analysis

“This presentation utilizes correspondence theory to analyze African American undergraduate student access to and completion of higher education in the United States. Findings from this research are presented and policy recommendations affecting Black student enrollment and graduation are discussed.”

The integration of curriculum and assessment in interpreter education

In dieser interdisziplinären, translationswissenschaftlichen Studie wird die Integration von Curriculum und Evaluierung in der Dolmetscherausbildung theoretisch fundiert und im Rahmen einer Fallstudie empirisch untersucht. Dolmetschkompetenz wird als ein durch zweckgerechte und messgenaue (valid and reliable) Bewertungsmethoden dokumentiertes Ergebnis der Curriculumanwendung betrachtet. Definitionen, Grundlagen, Ansätze, Ausbildungs- und Lernziele werden anhand der Curriculumtheorie und Dolmetschwissenschaft beschrieben. Traditionelle und alternative Evaluierungsmethoden werden hinsichtlich ihrer Anwendbarkeit in der Dolmetscherausbildung erprobt. In der Fallstudie werden die Prüfungsergebnisse zweier Master-Studiengänge-MA Konferenzdolmetschen und MA Dolmetschen und Übersetzen-quantitativ analysiert. Die zur Dokumentation der Prüfungsergebnisse eingesetzte Bewertungsmethodik wird qualitativ untersucht und zur quantitativen Analyse in Bezug gesetzt. Die Fallstudie besteht aus 1) einer chi-square-Analyse der Abschlussprüfungsnoten getrennt nach Sprachkombination und Prüfungskategorie (n=260), 2) einer Umfrage unter den Jurymitgliedern hinsichtlich der Evaluierungsansätze, -verfahren, und -kriterien (n = 45; 62.22% Rücklaufrate); und 3) einer Analyse des ausgangssprachlichen Prüfungsmaterials ebenfalls nach Sprachkombination und Prüfungskategorie. Es wird nachgewiesen, dass Studierende im MA Dolmetschen und Übersetzen tendenziell schlechtere Prüfungsleistungen erbringen als Studierende im MA Konferenzdolmetschen. Die Analyseergebnisse werden jedoch als aussageschwach betrachtet aufgrund mangelnder Evaluierungsvalidität. Schritte zur Curriculum- und Evaluierungsoptimierung sowie ein effizienteres Curriculummodell werden aus den theoretischen Ansätzen abgeleitet. Auf die Rolle der Ethik in der Evaluierungsmethodik wird hingewiesen.

Comparison of the effects of inquiry-based cooperative learning and demonstrations in science education

The reported research project involved studying how teaching science using demonstrations, inquiry-based cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two methods affected sixth grade students’ understanding of air pressure and density. Three different groups of students were each taught the two units using different teaching methods. Group one learned about the topics through both demonstrations and inquirybased cooperative learning, whereas group two only viewed demonstrations, and group three only participated in inquiry-based learning in cooperative learning groups. The study was designed to answer the following two questions: 1. Which teaching strategy works best for supporting student understanding of air pressure and density: demonstrations, inquirybased labs in cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two? 2. And what effect does the time spent engaging in a particular learning experience (demonstrations or labs) have on student learning? Overall, the data did not provide sufficient evidence that one method of learning was more effective than the others. The results also suggested that spending more time on a unit does not necessarily equate to a better understanding of the concepts by the students. Implications for science instruction are discussed.

The Concept of Developmental-Tasks and its Significance for Education and Social Work

The term "developmental-task" was introduced by Robert Havighurst in the 1950's. According to R. Harvighurst, the term refers to tasks which arise in a social context during an individual lifetime. Since the 1950's the concept of developmental-tasks has become an important theoretical approach in educational science and in theories of growth and development - but not in social work and social pedagogy. In the following article I aim to show that this approach is very important to theory and practice of social pedagogy and social work.

Sport psychology: Needs and perspectives for research, education and application

Sport psychology has shown an increasing development in the past 25 years. A first focus is laid on the growth of research output as indicated by the number of publications. A more detailed analysis shows that some mainstream topics are very dominant in the international research literature whereas other themes are completely lacking. Possible biases are discussed as well as consequences for the body of knowledge in sport psychology. The need for a sound training in sport psychology is discussed in relation with the progress in sport psychology research. Different concepts of education in sport psychology with their respective background are compared and their impact on the development of sport psychology is discussed. The field of application, mainly in top level sport, is presented with a focus on professional standards and deontological codes. Conclusions are drawn with the aim to open new perspectives for research, education, and application of sport psychology.

Educational Expansion and Persistent Inequalities of Education: Utilizing the Subjective Expected Utility Theory to Explain the Increasing Participation Rates in Upper Secondary School in the Federal Republic Of Germany

This investigation attempts to answer the question why more and more parents have chosen the Gymnasium for their children's secondary school education in post‐war West Germany. Based on the theory of subjective expected utility, the crucial mechanisms of parental educational decisions have been emphasized. From this perspective it is assumed that increasing educational motivation coupled with changes in the subjective evaluation of the cost–benefit of education were important conditions for an increasing participation in upper secondary schools. These were, however, in turn, the result of educational expansion. The empirical analyses for three time‐periods in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s confirm these assumptions to a large degree. Additionally, empirical evidence was found to suggest that in addition to the intentions of parents and the educational career of their children, structural moments of educational expansion and their own inertia played an important role in the pupils' transition from one educational level to the next. Finally, evidence was found that persistent class‐specific educational inequality stems from a constant balance in the relative cost–benefit advantages between social classes as well as from an increasing difference of primary origin effect between social classes in the realization of their educational choice.

The Prevalence and Focus of Medical Education Fellowships Across North America

Medical institutions have established medical education fellowships to equip faculty to meet the challenge of constant educational change and to empower faculty to assume programmatic leadership roles in medical education. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and focus of these programs. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Educational Systems and Gender Segregation in Education: A Three-Country Comparison of Germany, Norway and Canada

How do institutional settings and their embedded policy principles affect gender-typed enrolment in educational programmes? Based on gender-sensitive theories on career choice, we hypothesised that gender segregation in education is higher with a wider range of offers of vocational programmes. By analysing youth survey and panel data, we tested this assumption for Germany, Norway and Canada, three countries whose educational systems represent a different mix of academic, vocational and universalistic education principles. We found that vocational programmes are considerably more gender-segregated than are academic (e.g. university) programmes. Men, more so than women, can avoid gender-typed programmes by passing on to a university education. This in turn means that as long as their secondary school achievement does not allow for a higher education career, they have a higher likelihood of being allocated to male-typed programmes in the vocational education and training (VET) system. In addition, social background and the age at which students have to choose educational offers impact on the transition to gendered educational programmes. Overall, gender segregation in education is highest in Germany and the lowest in Canada. We interpret the differences between these countries with respect to the constellations of educational principles and policies in the respective countries.