Over the past years a substantial amount of research has been undertaken relating to the development of powerful learning environments for the acquisition in students of worthwhile educational objectives focussing on conceptual understanding, higher-order cognitive and metacognitive skills, and self-regulated learning. This research has been mainly undertaken from three distinct, but related perspectives in the study of learning and instruction, namely instructional psychology, instructional technology, and instructional design. Against this background a "research community" involving 14...

This book deals with the implementation and application of the "in the best interests of the child principle" in research and practice. With contributions by authors from nine different countries (United States, Belgium, France, Norway, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Israel, Ireland, Canada) an international perspective is adopted. After the outline of the theme given in the introductory chapter, the first part illustrates the search for theory-driven and empirically-based models to deal with the complexity of parenting. In the second part illustrations about the implementation and...

The analysis of vegetation history is one of the prime objectives for vegetation scientists. In order to understand the recent composition of local floras and plant communities a second knowledge of species com- position during recent millenia is essential. With the present concern over climate changes, due to human activities, an understanding of past vegeta- tion distribution becomes even more important, since the correlation between climate and vegetation can often be used to predict possible impacts to crops and forests. I was very fortunate to receive the help of Drs. Webb and Huntley to...