Spatial skill concentration agglomeration economies

Using the Brazilian census and administrative panel data, the present paper provides evidence that the spatial concentration of analytical skills generates positive wage externalities for all workers in the local labor market. We rely on shift‐share instrumental variables to overcome the endogeneity of skill concentrations. The observed externality is independent from the classical market size economies. The estimates are robust to geography, institutions and workers' sorting on unobservable abilities.     

What is Geography? Perceptions of first year undergraduates in South Africa

Disciplines such as Geography are well placed to respond to the changing needs of society and the effective application of geographical knowledge to real-world problems. This project surveyed first year Geography undergraduates’ understanding of “What is Geography?”, both before and after an exercise in which geographic topics were identified within recent newspapers. The survey instrument employed was an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire, and was undertaken with first-year undergraduate Geography students at a university in South Africa. Results show that the exercise enabled students (n = 158) to more readily see the application of geographical knowledge to both environmental and social problems that they identified in the newspaper stories. Students also identified that studying Geography may be able to help them increase their skills, employment prospects and earning potential. These findings can help locate the disciplinary concerns and applicability of Geography in post-apartheid South Africa within the wider context of the twenty-first Century world.     

Dewey’s concept of experience for inquiry-based landscape drawing during field studies

The epistemological and educational philosophy of John Dewey is used as a theoretical basis to analyze processes of knowledge construction during geographical field studies. The experience of landscape drawing as a method of inquiry and a starting point for research-based learning is empirically evaluated. The basic drawing skills are acquired through an online drawing course. The main aim is to foster the self-organized acquisition of relevant skills to explore, describe and reflect on subjective mental and linguistic concepts in relation to scientific landscape models. The results, based on an evaluation of the students’ drawings, their responses to questionnaires and a review of students’ “reflective notes”, indicate that the approach motivated students to learn about the processes which formed the landscape and that the students perceived the method of inquiry after Dewey as a way to overcome cognitive dissonance.     

浅谈高中英语写作能力训练

英语书面表达的训练是综合能力的训练之一,大量的多种训练要贯穿于英语教学的始终,因为英语的听说读写是相互影响、相互作用的有机统一体。平时要鼓励和指导学生多读多练,坚持不懈,熟能生巧,以至达到“下笔如有神”的境界。     

Editorial

Abstract

A recent online article in The Daily Beast listed archaeology as one of the thirteen most useless undergraduate degrees. The article failed to identify transferable job skills gained while engaged in archaeological work. Further, archaeological field programmes and labs offer an alternative learning environment that benefits some students. This article reviews two archaeological projects that used archaeology as a form of social activism to provide employment and education to an under-served community as a fundamental aspect of its goals. The Hopedale Archaeology Project is an archaeology field project based in a north-east Canadian community that provides education and work opportunities for Inuit students. The Veterans Curation Program based in the United States provides temporary employment to recently discharged military veterans in an archaeological and archival curation lab. These programmes assist individuals to re-establish themselves within the workforce and add to their academic and professional growth, as well as incorporate a public outreach component that makes archaeology and history more accessible to the public.     

Management skills for artists: ‘learning by doing’?

Although artists must usually be self‐reliant when managing their business, an artist’s education typically concentrates on artistic skills rather than managerial knowledge. This paper analyses the current curricula of 154 art institutions (public and private), focussing on the so‐called DACH countries (Austria, Germany and Switzerland). The results show a deficit in the implementation of economic and, especially, business‐related topics in the education of artists at art universities and institutions. A glimpse at Anglo‐American countries shows that, unlike in Europe, art schools are more open‐minded about implementing economic content into their curricula.     

Landscape interpretation with augmented reality and maps to improve spatial orientation skill

Landscape interpretation is needed for navigating and determining an orientation: with traditional cartography, interpreting 3D topographic information from 2D landform representations to get self-location requires spatial orientation skill. Augmented reality technology allows a new way to interact with 3D landscape representation and thereby facilitate the orientation of oneself in respect to the environment to determine goal location. This paper analyses if AR spatial landform improves the learner’s spatial orientation skill measured with the perspective taking/spatial orientation test by paired sampled t-tests. A workshop was conducted with 123 university students (63 treatment group, 60 control group) in which students had to identify locations and routes based on the interpretation of the relief, represented by AR. Results of the workshop showed an improvement in spatial orientation skill of 20.14 degrees average gain in the treatment group. Students who were not subject to the workshop (control group) did not improve their spatial orientation skill. The possibility of using free AR three-dimensional applications and exploit the potential of tablets and smart phones, which are widespread today, makes it possible to design and implement strategies for the development of spatial skills in formal teaching in the scope of Geography in higher education.     

基于旅游互动的背包客通用技能变化研究

通用技能也被称为通用能力,是在信息丰富的社会成为一个经验丰富的专业人才所需要的先天能力、后天能力和知识.旅游是一种非正式的学习,通过旅游互动能改变旅游者的通用技能.本文研究背包旅游者通用技能变化以说明旅游互动与通用技能变化的关系.本文通过文献、访谈,结合因子分析,完善并验证背包者旅游互动模型,将背包者旅游互动分为与环境的互动和与人的互动两种,并进一步基于旅游互动行为的特点,通过因子聚类分析,将所有样本人群分成3类.     

Revisiting the Skills Agenda: A Complicated Geography

This paper revisits the skills agenda and suggests that in light of shifts from supply-side to demand-led provision within the UK higher education sector, there is a need to think more critically about the role and place of skills within university curricula. It suggests that if universities are to respond effectively to sector changes, then the increasing focus on embedding employability and skill development within curricula needs to be accompanied by consideration of how skills are understood, negotiated and given meaning at the curricula level. Consequently, this paper assesses how ‘place’ affects our understandings of skills; it moves on to address the relationship between skills and the development of student personality, before concluding with an exploration of the performance of skills, which questions what we actually mean when we talk about skills.