Abstracts - Earli

Spanish piano teachers’ conceptions about didactics: the role of the educational experience.Alfredo Bautista, Autonoma University of Madrid, SpainJuan-Ignacio Pozo, Autonoma University of Madrid, SpainMaria del Puy Perez-Echeverria, Autonoma University of Madrid, SpainIn this study we analysed some features of 45 Spanish piano teachers’ conceptions about teachingand learning. Analyzing their written answers to an individual questionnaire exploring didacticideas, by means of the lexicometric program SPAD-T (version 5.5), we could see lexicaldifferences among groups of teachers, divided according to their professional experience. Factorialcorrespondence analysis was applied to the aggregate lexical table. The modal response procedurewas also employed. Results revealed three groups of teachers with different conceptions, relyingon one of the following representations concerning learning and instruction: direct, interpretativeand constructive (Pozo et al., 2006). The less experienced group (less than 5 years) showed aconstructive conception. The medium experienced group (between 5 and 15 years) showed aninterpretative conception. Finally, the most experienced group (more than 15 years) showed adirect conception. The conclusions were: first, it seems necessary to develop teaching updatingprograms for Spanish piano teachers in order to acquire more appropriate and powerfulconceptions; second, the results found with the statistical analysis of textual data fit researchesusing other methodologies; third, the statistical analysis of textual data is useful to infer mentalrepresentations or conceptions; this use is innovative, since it has only rarely been used to studysubjects’ textual responses.Supervisory influence – reaching beyond the research degree into the pursuit of an academiccareer?Maria Elisabeth Harde, University of Bielefeld, GermanyLilian Streblow, University of Bielefeld, GermanyIn a questionnaire survey of 119 psychologists currently undertaking doctorate degrees, theinfluence of social support, professional supervision and academic self-concept on the tendency toquit and the wish to pursue an academic career was examined. The final model indicatesdifferences in effects on men and women dependent on the variable in question. Thus, the qualityof the supervision shows coherence to the tendency to quit in women whilst it is connected to thewish to gain a professorship in the men. Moreover, social support does not affect the tendency toquit of women whilst it clearly is connected for men. For men the academic self-concept shows noconnection to the wish to pursue a further academic career, whilst it does for women.On representations of open knowledge..Pal Fugelli, University of Oslo, NorwayOur studies conducted in the ProLearn project (Professional learning in a changing society) ofcomputer engineers points towards open-source software projects as dynamic epistemiccommunities providing rich sources of distributed knowledge. Pieces of codes and chunks ofknowledge are swiftly distributed and shared internationally. How can we as researchersunderstand the structure and representations of these objects? What properties do they convey toattract potential learners? Following a ‘materialistic’ trajectory, this presentation focuses on theobject-side of the relation. The potential and attracting power of open knowledge is not necessarilyrestricted to software developing communities. Understanding the structure of open endedknowledge can provide educators with important clues on how to organize learning experiences– 451 –