Long overdue? Another look at the National Literacy Strategy

This paper discusses the teaching approaches which English primary schools are encouraged to use as part of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) and the ways in which the case for their increased use is supported by research and inspection evidence. This evidence suggests that, in the years immediately before the NLS was implemented, early reading in English primary schools was largely taught by individualised methods. The skills for dealing with information texts were taught rather patchily. Links between reading and writing were often not directly made. The paper argues that the reasons for this individualised pedagogy can be traced back to the influence of the Plowden Report of 1967. The limitations of individualised teaching with whole classes have subsequently been highlighted by school effectiveness research. The paper outlines the studies which have influenced the NLS in promoting greater direct interactive teaching of literacy and notes some critical issues which are still to be resolved.     

Paradigm revisited: Another look at the physical and social sciences

The study reexamines the paradigm concept as presented by Lodahl and Gordon with respect to the concept of consistency in professional life. The results show that high paradigm disciplines are more consistent than low paradigm disciplines on selected measures of educational background and professional activity. The conclusions of this investigation suggest first that the paradigm concept works well by itself in researching academic professions, and second that the concept of consistency offers a new way of both classifying faculty and exploring the dimensions of faculty characteristics.     

Living with parents every day of the year: A look at the three ‘L’ skills needed for effective parent-teacher communication

Living with parents every day of the year?! Sometimes it seems that way to early childhood teachers. Parents arrive with their children first thing in the morning. They have questions for you, and important things to tell you while you're trying to mix paint and to make sure the food has arrived and to put out the paper and puzzles and paste.     

A closer look at the impact of globalization on science education

This paper provides a historical overview of globalisation in order to illustrate how globalisation both shapes and is shaped by external forces. The authors use this perspective to generate a dialogue about the science education project The Case of Sustainability by the Bay, and raise some questions to further the discussion on the impact of globalisation on science education. The paper also discusses the importance of recognizing the historic developments around globalisation in order to understand how changes in the global economy have shaped and continue to shape education through policy regarding funding, curriculum development and implementation, as well as trends in teacher preparation and education. The paper concludes by offering implications for policy makers, researchers, and teacher educators as it relates to science education generally, and globalisation particularly.     

基于能力进阶培养模具设计与制造的综合技能

根据机械设计制造及其自动化专业中的计算机辅助制造与数控加工专业方向对模具设计与制造技术方面的基本要求,采取能力进阶的项目教学法着力培养学生设计和制造模具的综合技能。总结了项目教学法和模具设计与制造课程的主要教学内容,介绍了该知识模块的课程体系,重点阐述了模具设计、模具制造和模具装配等三个教学项目的具体内容和能力进阶方案的实施。最后,对项目教学的效果以及实施过程中碰到的问题进行了分析和讨论。     

浅谈企业职工岗位培训

阳泉煤业集团有限责任公司是我国最大的优质无烟煤生产基地,目前拥有10万职工。近年来,随着社会主义市场经济的不断发展,阳煤集团正加快改革步伐,实施人才培训战略和科教兴煤战略以适应社会发展的客观要求,并逐步建立自主经营、自我发展、自我完善的社会主义市场的竞争机制。要实现这一目的,关健是全面提高在岗人员的素质。     

Longitudinal study of the impact of requiring training for students with initially weak spatial skills

ABSTRACT

Three-dimensional spatial skills are a cognitive ability that have been shown to predict success in engineering. Michigan Tech has been offering a course to help students improve their 3-D spatial skills for more than two decades. In previous studies, students who failed a rotations test and enrolled in the course performed better on a number of measures when compared to those who failed the rotations test and did not enrol in the course. A valid criticism of these studies was that the two groups were self-selected. Beginning in 2009, the spatial skills course became a requirement for students who initially failed the rotations test. This paper reports on the results from a longitudinal study conducted to determine the impact of the spatial skills course when no self-selection is involved.     

Instructional design for advanced learners: training recognition skills to hasten expertise

Expertise in domains ranging from sports to surgery involves a process of recognition-primed decision-making (RPD) in which experts make rapid, intuitive decisions based on recognizing critical features of dynamic performance situations. While the development of expert RPD is assumed to require years of domain experience, the transition from competence to expertise may potentially be hastened by training that specifically targets the recognition aspect of RPD. This article describes a recognition training approach that is based on expertise theories, research findings, and laboratory measurement techniques. This approach repurposes laboratory research tasks as deliberate practice training tasks. Although pioneered in sports expertise research, this approach is appropriate for pre-service and in-service professionals in a wide range of domains that involve rapid, recognition-primed decision-making.

A look at the impact of raising standards in developmental mathematics

In this paper, we assess the effect of higher entry and exit standards at a community college in New York City. A complex set of university and college-wide policy modifications led to an increase in placement test cut-scores as well as increased requirements to complete remediation. The implementation of this policy change allows us to utilize quasiexperimental techniques. Utilizing cross-tabulations and logistic regressions from a total of 481 students, our results indicate that an increase in standards was associated with a significant decline in developmental sequence completion and credit-bearing course completion. On the basis of our findings, we conclude that the institution of higher standards alone is not a successful strategy; and in fact, can be expected to adversely affect student progression. Instead, we suggest that an increase in standards should include an increase in student supports to mitigate negative effects on students. We discuss these findings using the opposing forces framework developed by Jaggars and Hodara (2013). The work was funded in part by a PSC CUNY grant to the first author.     

A new look at the professional training of secondary school mathematics teachers

Typical patterns followed in American colleges and universities in the preparation of mathematics teachers are inadequate for at least four reasons: some mathematics courses are perceived by students as irrelevant, the preparation is often not in step with societal changes, little attention is given to developing a solid understanding of mathematics content which is particularly important for secondary teachers, and insufficient emphasis is placed on the big ideas and unifying themes which pervade all of mathematics. This article discusses the reasons for these shortcomings and suggests a possible remedy involving the design of a program based on the intersection of certain needs of a secondary teacher and certain mathematics courses studied by prospective teachers.     

谈英语关系分句的翻译技巧

英语关系分句(定语从句attributive clause)在英语语篇中无处不在,其翻译既是重点又是难点.不论是分译法,还是合译法,不论是前置法,还是后置法都应抓住关系分句深层结构上的问题,弄清楚某个具体关系分句在某个具体上下文中的确切含义、传达的信息、具有的功能、所起的作用.真正体现从语义到文体,在译语中能用最切近而又最自然的对等语来再现原文的信息,进而达到译文的最佳效果.