Explaining cheating in schools with Situational Action Theory: Within-estimations using a German school panel

Wikström's Situational Action Theory (SAT) explains rule-breaking by reference to the cognitive perception-choice process, which indicates how a person's propensity to break rules interacts with the setting's criminogeneity. SAT's situational model claims that the interaction between personal morality and the moral norms of the setting, the so-called moral filter, is critical in the explanation of rule-breaking, and that the influence of self-control is subordinate to this process. Self-control becomes relevant when individuals whose personal morality discourages rule-breaking are exposed to settings in which the moral norms encourage rule-breaking, that is, if the moral filter is conflicted. Whereas most previous studies have equated the moral filter with personal morality, we consider the moral norms of the setting as well. This allows for a more rigorous test of the moral filter, and thus the conditionality of self-control. Here, we investigate student cheating, using data from two waves of a large-scale German school panel study, and we conceptualise the setting's moral norms by reference to the descriptive norm: other students’ cheating behaviour. This ensures the spatio-linkage between the setting's criminogeneity and rule-breaking, which is necessary for investigating SAT. Additionally, our estimation strategy – person and school fixed-effect models – controls for alternative explanations by the selection of people into settings with different levels of criminogeneity. Moreover, it controls for heterogeneity across persons and schools. The findings are in line with SAT's predictions. In cases of a correspondence between personal morality and the moral norms of a setting, students with rule-abiding morality are least likely to cheat, whereas students with a rule-breaking morality are the most likely to cheat. Also, in line with SAT, self-control only matters for students with rule-abiding morality when they are exposed to moral norms that encourage rule-breaking.

Learning in and through classroom interaction: On the convergence of language and content learning opportunities in subject-matter learning

This study uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore the interplay of linguistic and subject-matter learning. Drawing on previous linguistic work on discourse and genre acquisition, subject-matter teaching as well as the convergence of linguistic and content learning in multilingual classrooms, the study seeks to examine the following questions: (1) How can patterns of classroom talk support or hinder the acquisition of academic discourse competence and subject-matter learning? (2) How are these two learning domains related? The analyses of 120 video-recorded mathematics and German lessons in five classes (n=149 students, 10 teachers) in different German school types revealed two patterns of teacher-student-interaction, which differ in the participatory roles and the (language) learning opportunities they assign to the students. Two larger excerpts from mathematics-lessons are analyzed to illustrate the ways in which linguistic and content learning merge in the two patterns.

Conclusion

The conclusion succinctly summarizes the primary aims of the book as a whole, before considering how ‘effective’ the education provided by the Napolas was in comparison with the Third Reich’s other educational institutions. The NPEA appear to have been in the vanguard of many educational developments which the Reich Education Ministry subsequently intended to apply more broadly throughout the German school system. They also formed a prototype for the non-elite system of state boarding schools founded by August Heißmeyer at Hitler’s behest in 1941—the Deutsche Heimschulen. The programme of the Adolf-Hitler-Schools, rival elite schools founded in 1937 by Reich Organization Leader Robert Ley and Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, was also to a great extent deliberately copied from that of the Napolas; however, these Party elite schools were never able to realize their full potential and compete with the NPEA on equal terms. The Napolas were also more effective in their provision of a National Socialist ‘total education’ than ‘civilian’ schools and the Hitler Youth, as well as institutions such as the Reich Labour Service (RAD), the ‘Year on the Land’ (Landjahr), or the Order Castles (Ordensburgen). Taken on their own terms, then, the National Political Education Institutes can ultimately be seen as the Nazi dictatorship’s most effective educational experiment.

“The Case of Professors” in 1821 at St. Petersburg University in the history of Russian statistics

This publication is written in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the “Case of Professors" of St. Petersburg University, which heralds the important stage in the formation of conservative policy of the Russian government in the sphere of science and education. The object of this research is the impact of the events of 1821 upon the development of government science in Russia – the early direction of statistical science. The author analyzes the prerequisites for the emergence of political-economic direction of government science in Russia, draws parallel with the traditional German school, outlines the key peculiarities – attempt to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the phenomena under review, establish causal relationships between them, appose government science with political economics. In the course of the “Case of Professors”, two of the most prominent representatives of this scientific direction – C. T. Hermann and K .I. Arsenyev were exposed to harsh criticism by the officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. Leaning on the published and archival sources, the article explores the arguments of M. L. Magnitsky, I. S. Laval, A. N. Golitsyn on the topic of teaching statistics at the university. The conclusion is made that the major complaint of the officials to the teaching techniques and scientific works of Hermann and Arsenyev was their extensive interpretation of the subject of statistical science. The opponents of the scholars sought to bring the government science back to the traditional for the XVIII century descriptive school, as well as limit it solely to the empirical methods. It is indicated that the prohibition against using the works of Hermann and Arsenyev in the educational institutions entail significant consequences and halted the development of political-economic direction of government science for over two decades. The university statistical education returned to this tradition only after 1835, with the adoption of the new university charter.

German Transplants in Estonian Tort Law: General Duties to Maintain Safety

The jurisprudence and case-law approach of German tort law – and, more broadly, German-school legal thinking in general – has found its way into Estonian case law on torts and into Estonia’s scholarly texts on jurisprudence. From among the catalogue of transplants from German tort law that have reached Estonian law or legal practice, the paper focuses on one whose importance cannot be overestimated: the concept of tort liability based on breach of the general duty to maintain safety. This domain has witnessed remarkable change since the beginning of the 2000s, when an analogous concept of liability was still unfamiliar to many Estonian lawyers. The article examines whether and to what extent the concept of liability based on the general duty to maintain safety has become recognised in Estonian legal practice in the years since. Also assessed is the relevant case law to date, for ascertainment of whether any adoption of an equivalent concept of liability has been successful and, in either event, what problems remain to be resolved. The importance of this issue extends far beyond that of individual questions: the recognition of general duties to maintain safety affects our understanding of the very structure of tort law, of that of the general composition of tort, and of the connections that link the individual prerequisites for tort liability. Furthermore, this constellation influences our thought in the field of tort law more generally and our approach to the cases emerging in real-world legal practice.

Violin sonata fis-moll by Paul Natorp in the context of genre development

Исследуется творчество композитора-философа Пауля Наторпа, фигура которого в русскоязычном музыкознании практически не представлена. Отдавая себе отчет в том, что его творчество может вызывать интерес с самых разных точек зрения, мы фокусируем свой научный интерес на Сонате fis-moll для скрипки и фортепиано, созданной в период активного формирования новых художественных течений в музыке начала ХХ века. На примере произведений так называемого «второго ряда» Соната fis-moll может служить довольно ярким примером процессов обновления музыкального языка, в том числе на основе переосмысления классического наследия. Музыковедческий анализ Сонаты для скрипки и фортепиано fis-moll осуществляется в опоре на историко-стилевой метод и интертекстуальность. Доказано, что, будучи созданной в русле традиций Бетховена, Шумана и Брамса, Соната fis-moll для скрипки и фортепиано отмечена самобытностью и оригинальностью. Теоретическая значимость работы определяется заполнением лакуны в истории становления жанра скрипичной сонаты в немецкой композиторской школе. Практическая значимость связана с возможностью обогатить скрипичный репертуар за счет знакомства с камерным жанром, представленным в творчестве немецкого музыканта-философа. This work is dedicated to the work of the composer-philosopher Paul Natorp, whose figure is in practice not represented in Russian-language musicology. Realizing that P. Natorp's work can arouse interest from a variety of points of view, we focus our scientific interest on the fis-moll Sonata for violin and piano, created during the active formation of new artistic trends in music at the beginning of the twentieth century. Using the works of the so-called “ second row” as an example, the fis-moll Sonata can serve as a vivid example of the processes of updating the musical language, including on the basis of rethinking the classical heritage. The musicological analysis of the fis-moll Sonata for violin and piano is based on the historical-stylistic method and intertextuality. It is proved that, being created in line with the traditions of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, the fis-moll Sonata for violin and piano by P. Natorp is noted for its musical identity and originality. The theoretical significance of the work lies in filling a gap in the history of the formation of the violin sonata genre in the German school of composition. Practical significance is associated with the opportunity to enrich the violin repertoire through acquaintance with the chamber genre presented in the works of the German musician-philosopher.