Project-based Model Research Articles

Decentralisation and governance of drinking water services in small West African towns and villages (Benin, Mali, Senegal): the arduous process of building local governments

This article analyses the development of decentralised water services in small West African towns and villages by focusing on the nature and dynamism of local project management arrangements. The paper will show how the capacity and legitimacy of local government has been undermined by competition with other forms of governance that focus on users committees or small private operators. It suggests that the pluralism in management approaches resulting from this accumulation of project-based models is not conducive to sustainable development and regulation of water services in small towns. Longer-term learning processes and alliances are required to craft workable co-production arrangements between strong local governments and other actors based on consistent coordination and regulation mechanisms. Résumé Cet article analyse le développement de la décentralisation des services d'eau dans des petites villes et villages d'Afrique de l'ouest. Ce travail démontre comment la capacité et la légitimité du gouvernement local ont été diminuées par la compétition avec d'autres formes de gouvernance – notamment celles des comités d'usagers et des acteurs privés. Cette étude suggère que le pluralisme des approches de gouvernance, résultant de l'accumulation de modèles de gestion issus des projets, n'encourage pas le développement durable et la régulation des services liés à la fourniture de l'eau dans les petites villes. Enfin, les processus d'apprentissage à long terme et les partenariats, basés sur la coordination et la régulation, sont nécessaires pour créer des accords efficaces entre des gouvernements locaux forts et les autres acteurs.

Coordination modes in public funding systems

The aim of this paper is to look at public research funding systems from the perspective of their broader institutional arrangements, in order to observe how these shape the relationships between funding agencies and research actors. Accordingly, public funding is considered as a multilevel and multiactor system, where stable patterns are largely generated by the collective interaction among actors (beyond formal rules and structures) and where coordination between actors (especially funding agencies and performers) represents a key for the functionality of the systems. This drives to characterise the main organisational forms of public research funding in terms of their underlying coordination mode and to use this framework to evaluate them against a number of criteria. Further, the way how these organisational forms can be combined to yield national-level configurations is discussed, and some of their properties and conditions of functioning are derived from the previous discussion; this also leads to identification of three main configurations of funding systems – the project-based model, the mixed model, the vertically integrated model – which describe the variety of national systems and, to a large extent, underpin current discussion on European research policy.

Interdisciplinary Project-Based Model for Enhanced Instruction of Courses

This study examines ability of an interdisciplinary group project to develop student’s abilities to work successfully in groups in a creative context. Group dynamics were investigated via interaction effects between students in a Graphic Design and Marketing class project. A repeated measures survey technique was used to assess student’s perceptions of group projects and their attributes. As a result of the project, student perceptions concerning the importance of creative contributions, as well as group participation factors became more positive, demonstrating that interdisciplinary group projects with students in a creative discipline offer business students a unique “outside the box” learning opportunity.

A Project-Based Model for Professional Environmental Experience

The projects described in this article were designed to provide a real world situation akin to the work of environmental professionals. The projects were conducted with Australian students working on environmental issues in Vietnam. The projects demonstrated that multi-disciplinary teamwork fits well into environmental projects, and importantly that the experiences are recognised by students as being valuable preparation for their environmental professions. The students demonstrated that they had learnt many skills that would be of direct importance to them in the professional conduct of a multi-disciplinary environmental project and also enhanced their cultural awareness and practice.

Geographic Information Technologies + Project-Based Science: A Contextualized Professional Development Approach

This study investigated the effects of using a long-duration, project-based science professional development model on the acquisition of declarative knowledge and basic terminology associated with the use of geographic information technologies (GIT), teachers' self-assessed confidence in using GIT skills, and the implementation of GIT in participants' classrooms. Results suggest that a long-duration, project-based science model was effective in teaching GIT declarative knowledge and raising teachers' self-confidence in using GIT tools. The academy was funded through a grant from the US Department of Education with additional support from Environmental Science Resources Institute (ESRI), Inc., and members of the New Mexico Geographic Information Council.

Data Management, Exploratory Data Analysis, and Regression Analysis with 1969–2000 Major League Baseball Attendance

The 1969–2000 Major League Baseball Attendance dataset contains Runs Scored, Runs Allowed, Wins, Losses, Number of Games Behind the Division Leader, and Home Game Attendance of each major league franchise for the 1969 through 2000 seasons. Also included for each franchise are its location, league affiliation (National or American), and division affiliation (East, Central, or West). These data have been used in a project-based modeling course to instruct students in basic data management, the use of exploratory data analysis to "clean" data, and construction of regression models. The dataset, which is both cross-sectional and time-series, is of a manageable size and easily understood. Furthermore, it provides a useful, interesting, and realistic classroom example for discussing many important statistical concepts.

Project-Based Science: Reflections of a Middle School Teacher

This article describes my experiences using the project-based science approach with 2 groups of seventh-grade students. I explain why I joined 10 veteran teachers and a group of university researchers in an effort to enhance the teaching of science. After identifying the key features of project-based science and describing the content and activities of the 2 project-based science units I taught, I discuss challenges I faced in implementing this approach. Time management presented the greatest difficulty. This included constraints imposed by district curriculum requirements, class period length, planning preparations, technology and telecommunication problems, and unit deadlines. Student collaboration and team cohesiveness also posed problems. I analyze how successfully the implementation of the units exemplified the project-based model. In the final sections I compare the strengths and weaknesses of my project-based and traditional science instruction. I decide that the "dividends" of project-based science are worth the energy and time "investment." However, I believe my students would benefit most from a project-based science approach if it were integrated into a school year punctuated by units of varying length, intensity, and learning styles. After acknowledging the new dimensions of student achievement stimulated by project-based science, I conclude that I could not be satisfied returning to a traditional approach to science teaching.