Abstracts - Earli

ehaviors (Ichilov, 2000; Torney-Purta et al., 2001). The study identified four civil-democraticindices that were examined with respect to their relationship to ethnic origin and gender: Moralsand social-political justice; Democratic involvement in the school ;Political involvement; Civilstaterelations. The research question: what is the system of relationships between civil-democraticindices and ethnic origin and gender among adolescents? FINDINGS: 1.The democraticinvolvement of female students in school is higher than that of male students; 2. The politicalinvolvement of male students is higher than that of female students. Male students supportedillegal protest such as spraying graffiti on walls and blocking roads more than female students. 3.Female students support equal rights for immigrants, minorities and women more than malestudents. 4.With respect to the perception of democratic values: female students are in favor ofsocial equality and freedom of choice more than male students, whereas male students supportfreedom of expression and liberalism more than female students; 5.The support of equalitytowards immigrants and women and pluralistic values is statistically significantly lower amongpupils of Oriental origin compared to the other ethnic origin groups. Discussion: The contributionof the current research lies in the examination of the relationships between ethnic origin ,genderand civic orientation among adolescents. The study also corroborates the research model thatsuggests paths for examining systems of relationships between a series of civil-democratic indicesamong adolescents with respect to ethnic origin and gender.K 1331 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 0.99SymposiumPromoting knowledge construction in different online learningscenarios in higher educationChair: Ineke Lam, IVLOS Institute of Education, Utrecht University, NetherlandsOrganiser: Teresa Guasch, Open University of Catalonia, SpainOrganiser: Anna Espasa, Open University of Catalonia, SpainOrganiser: Päivi Virtanen, University of Helsinki, FinlandOrganiser: Maria Jose Rochera, University of Barcelona, SpainDiscussant: Anne Nevgi, University of Helsinki, FinlandDiscussant: Alison Hudson, University of Umea, SwedenThe recent investigation of educational computer support scenarios has shown the importance ofsome elements implied in the knowledge construction processes that carry out the participantsduring the activities of teaching and learning online. These studies suggest that the nature andcharacteristics of factors as the cognitive and metacognitive presence, the patterns of participationfrom a technological point of view or the teaching presence can enhance effective learning in thoseenvironments (Garrison, 2003; Garrison & Anderson, 2003; Kanuka & Anderson, 2004). Fromthese assumptions, the symposium deepens in the knowledge construction processes (both,individual and group) that are produced in situations of teaching and learning in differenteducational computer support scenarios of Higher Education. Our purpose is to analyse differentprocesses of knowledge construction within four computer supported learning settings in HigherEducation: Knowledge Forum workspace, interactive on-line tutoring system, virtual campus ofthe Open University of Catalonia, and Moodle platform. The emphasis is in achieving a deeper– 612 –