Putting persons back into education

Both the language of performance management and the target-setting culture of our schools lead to a ‘depersonalisation’ of education—a failure to respect young learners as persons. They become a ‘means’ to some further non-educational ‘end’. John Macmurray challenged this depersonalisation in terms not only of its impoverished educational consequences but also of a fundamental philosophical error in giving primacy to persons as ‘thinkers’ rather than to them as ‘doers’. Not ‘I think, therefore I am’, but ‘I do, therefore I am’.     

Evaluation of a model science teacher education program

This study assessed the effectiveness of one science teacher education program designed to be a model program. The study provided evidence that preservice science teacher education can have a very positive effect on the development of preservice science teachers into effective practicing teachers. Thirty program graduates completed a pilot version of the 1985 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education providing information on course objectives, teaching strategies, equipment use, time allocation, and textbook use. The responses of program graduates were compared to the responses of a select national sample of teachers. All teachers in the comparison group were from programs in the Search for Excellence in Science Education, Presidential Award winners, recognized as outstanding state science teachers, employed as department chairs, or actively involved in the development of science curriculum. Analysis of the responses indicated that both program graduates and comparison group teachers had similar course objectives and teaching strategies, used materials and equipment a similar amount of time, and allocated class time in similar ways. In another component of the study, students of 37 program graduates completed a questionnaire that assessed their attitudes toward science teachers, science classes, and the study of science. Analysis of attitudinal data from their 2871 students indicated that students of program graduates generally had positive attitudes. For instance, 89% of the students perceived their science teacher as asking questions and 80% perceived their science teacher as letting them ask questions. In general, the data are in stark contrast to the images obtained from National Assessment efforts.     

以领导执行力模型构建为基础 提高领导科学发展能力

领导执行力是将部门和个人的系统、制度、组织、文化和操作办法由决策转化为结果的能力,即"正确的做事"的能力。针对实践中因为领导执行力不佳存在的许多困境,构建由"业务"、"目标"、"激励"和"沟通"四极组成的领导执行力模型对提高领导科学发展能力具有重要意义。     

Globalization and science education in a community-based after-school program

What are the effects of globalization and how are these manifested in local communities and in the learning of science there? These questions are unpacked within one local community in the United States, a place called “Uptown” where I examine the educational opportunities and pathways in science that are available for low-income Black American girls. The data comes from eight years of work both as an after-school science education program director and researcher in Uptown. The results suggest that globalization is taking hold, both in the social and economic circumstances of the community and in the everyday lives of the girls who live there. Further, there is possible evidence of globalization in the micro-dynamics of the after-school program. Yet opportunities for science education that could prepare the girls and their community for a globalizing world lag far behind.     

Attitude modification in health education through an interventive,antismoking program incorporated within traditional science curriculum

The effectiveness of a smoking-prevention program—incorporated within a traditional science curriculum—was assessed in terms of attitude modification in such categories as health, peer pressure, and social image as related to smoking. The study indicates that most relevant attitudes, the emotionally intense in particular, are modifiable in the desired direction, although the changes are small. Some gender differences in the recorded changes suggest a difference in the dynamics of the response to smoking intervention between male and female high school students. A desired change of attitude frequency distributions (e.g., from less extreme to more extreme responses) has also been found. In addition, the tendency of the experimental students to actively act against smoking within family circles increased, although not significantly. All the above was accompanied by a decrease in the number of smokers in the experimental group and a significant increase in the number of smokers in the control group. These results suggest that it is educationally possible to modify attitudes in health education in the desired direction by means of a properly designed interdisciplinary science curricular unit implemented within ongoing traditional science teaching.     

The science(s) of adult education

This article deals with the problems of forming a scientific system for adult education. The first part contains different concepts of sciences of education in developed countries, with a special emphasis on the difference between pedagogy as ‘practical theory’ and the sciences of education than can withstand meta‐scientific criteria. This is followed by a survey of the educological system of the knowledge of education, and the scientific and non‐scientific knowledge of adult education are contrasted. To enable us to distinguish unambiguously between scientific and non‐scientific knowledge the survey contains some major criteria for determining whether a discipline is a science or not. In this context andragogy, as well as pedagogy, are defined as ‘technological’ disciplines with the task of applying the principles discovered by the sciences of adult education: the educational psychology of adults, the sociology of adult education, the economics of adult education and the educational anthropology. In other words, andragogy is the ‘praxiology of adult education’, i.e. the science of applying scientific knowledge about adult education in the practice of that education. Andragogy could become ‘the general science of adult education’ and acquire a supra‐technological character if it grew into a science of the effectiveness of systems of adult education. In that case andragogy would study the interaction between the elements of the system as well as the interaction between these elements and the subsystems of the educational environment.     

A study of the effectiveness of the primary education improvement program (science) in selected schools of Northern Nigeria

The Primary Education Improvement Program (Science) developed in Nigeria from 1970–1980 adopted a “process approach” to the teaching of science for children in Classes One and Two of primary school. In that insufficient formative data were available a study was organized to evaluate the attainment of the program's major objectives in terms of the children's ability to practice process skills. The study also attempted to measure children's interest, active participation and understanding of the lessons, as well as the availability of materials and ease of preparing and teaching the lessons for the teachers. Data were collected by means of teacher opinionnaires and a children's test to measure the attainment of process skills. The teachers who completed the opinionnaires rated the program as successful in terms of all the measured criteria. Children in the experimental and control groups were tested and their performances were compared. The results indicated that there were some significant differences in total test scores in favor of the experimental group after one year of primary school but none after two years. The program, though highly rated by teachers, did not produce the intended changes in children's behavior.     

(W)rapping relationships between science education and globalisation

This essay reviews the contribution of Rowhea Elmesky in this volume, to the field of research in science education, and places it in the context of the juncture of youth disengagement with science, multicultural education and globalisation, with an underlay of a historical context and critiques of science education from feminist and postcolonial perspectives.     

实施高等教育收费必须不断完善助学贷款制度

我国高校经费来源多元化的格局已经形成,学费已成为政府拨款之外学校经费的主要来源。本从高等教育的成本及收益方面论述了高等教育必须收费的理论依据,认为我国高等教育收费是有据可依的,但关键在于要加大对贫困生的资助力度,特别是助学贷款。只有不断完善和创新助学贷款制度,才能确保高校收费政策的顺利实施。     

Style and substance in education leadership: further education (FE) as a case in point

As governments worldwide articulate the rhetoric of a ‘knowledge economy’ traditional cultures of education management and leadership are found to be wanting. At the same time, growing recognition that market and managerial reforms have not improved levels of educational performance has increased government interest in the transformative powers of business and charismatic leadership. This paper considers this phenomenon with reference to the changing conditions of corporate leadership taking place in the further education (FE) sector. Whilst ostensibly a ‘very English’ case study, the paper draws attention to the wider implications of managing and socializing others in the self surveillance rules of corporate education culture. Drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project the paper analyses the shifting discourse of leadership as it is experienced by principals and senior managers involved in the study. In so doing the paper seeks to examine how principals and senior managers mediate changing education policy agendas in a sector recovering from an intense period of financial crisis, industrial action and low staff morale.     

对英国NCSL学院的学校领导教育模式的研究

简要介绍了英国NCSL学院的学校领导教育模式，并分析其特点和存在的问题，进而提出其教学模式对我国的学校领导教育体系的构建和大学治理的启示。     

科学教育的社会需要研究

本文用报刊检索法调查社会对科学教育的需要 ,两份调查的结果一致表明 ,创新精神和创新能力培养是现今社会对科学教育的最主要需要。     

Putting learning back into learning analytics: actions for policy makers,researchers, and practitioners

Educational technology research and development - This paper is based on (a) a literature review focussing on the impact of learning analytics on supporting learning and teaching, (b) a Delphi...     

科技扶贫与青少年科技教育改革

科技扶贫计划本是一项美好的扶贫工程,实施数年后并没出现设计预期的结果。原因很多,其中青少年科技教育工作薄弱是我接触和考虑得最多的因素,伴随着新的一轮基础教育革,青少年科技教育必须改革。     

Social constructivism: Infusion into the multicultural science education research agenda

This article focuses on (a) theoretical underpinnings of social constructivism and multicultural education and (b) aspects of social constructivism that can provide frameworks for research in multicultural science education. According to the author, multicultural science education is “a field of inquiry with constructs, methodologies, and processes aimed at providing equitable opportunities for all students to learn quality science.” Multicultural science education research continues to be influenced by class, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, and different lifestyles; however, another appropriate epistemology for this area of research is social constructivism. The essence of social constructivism and its implications for multicultural science education research includes an understanding of whatever realities might be constructed by individuals from various cultural groups and how these realities can be reconstituted, if necessary, to include a scientific reality. Hence, multicultural science education should be a field of study in which many science education researchers are generating new knowledge. The author strives to persuade other researchers to expand their research and teaching efforts into multicultural science education, a blending of social constructivism with multicultural science education. This blending is illustrated in the final section of this article. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

邓小平科技教育思想与科教兴国战略的实施

本从邓小平科技教育思想出发，以科学技术是第一生产力为主线，就科教兴国战略的提出，我国科技实力现状与科教兴国的内涵及科教兴国的战略意义进行了较为详细的论述。     

Democratizing computer science knowledge: transforming the face of computer science through public high school education

Despite the fact that computer science (CS) is the driver of technological innovations across all disciplines and aspects of our lives, including participatory media, high school CS too commonly fails to incorporate the perspectives and concerns of low-income students of color. This article describes a partnership program – Exploring Computer Science (ECS) – that directly counters this problem in our nation's second largest school district. With a mission of democratizing CS learning, we argue that despite the constraints of working within public schools, it is imperative to do so. We discuss the ECS program based on inquiry, culturally relevant curriculum, and equity-oriented pedagogy. We describe two ECS-affiliated projects that highlight the importance of authorship, purpose, and agency for student learning and engagement: DietSens using mobile technology to study community health, and a project in which students create video games about social issues. Our work offers a counter-narrative to those who have written off the possibilities of working within public schools and a debunking of the too widespread myth within our educational system that females and students of color are inherently uninterested in rigorous CS learning.