增强思想政治理论课实效性的若干思考

思想政治理论课的实效性是教学实践中的重大问题。要增强实效性提高思想政治理论课的教学质量,就要:读懂学生,关注学生的思想需要;读懂教材,关注学生的理论接受能力;读懂实际,关注学生理论联系实际的能力;读懂方法,营造良好的课堂文化。     

诺丁斯关心理论视角下师生交往的困境与反思

师生交往是教师与学生之间进行的一种育人活动.诺丁斯关心理论强调关心学生,与学生建立关心关系,这是师生交往的内在需要.当前师生交往中关心严重缺失,学校对关心关系的认可度低,教师对关心关系存在误读,学生对教师的关心反馈不积极.因此,应该关心教师需要,营造关心的氛围,加强理论学习,树立关心的交往观,组织学生参与关心实践,建构关心型师生交往.     

Being Fair: Teachers’ Interpretations of Principles for Standards-Based Grading

Knowing that grades can have long-term consequences for students, teachers voice concern about being fair in the grading process. However, their interpretations of fairness are varied and sometimes contradictory. This study looked at how teachers in one standards-based educational system determined secondary students’ grades, focusing specifically on the extent to which they followed a specific set of principles for grading. The results support previous research, and suggest that a better understanding of essential principles is needed for grades to accurately reflect students’ achievement.     

Developing ‘Butterfly Warriors’: a Case Study of Science for Citizenship

Given worldwide concern about a decline in student engagement in school science and an increasing call for science for citizenship in New Zealand Curriculum, this study focused on a butterfly unit that investigated how students in a year-4 primary classroom learnt about New Zealand butterflies through thinking, talking, and acting as citizen scientists. The butterfly unit included five lessons. The researchers observed the lessons and interviewed students and the classroom teacher. The students completed a unit evaluation survey after the unit. Findings indicate that the students enjoyed and were interested in activities such as reading about butterflies, learning and using new vocabulary, drawing butterfly life cycles, as well as hunting, tagging and releasing butterflies and publishing the data they had collected on a dedicated website. Through their participation in the unit, students had opportunities to act locally and globally, and to ‘see themselves’ in science through ‘being there’ experience. Units like this have the potential to develop students’ interest for longer-term engagement in science, even those students who may never envision themselves as professional scientists.     

Teachers’ perceptions of their matched students

The purpose of the study was to investigate FD and FI teachers’ perceptions of their ‘matched’ students. The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered as a measure of cognitive style to four middle school teachers and 144 seventh and eighth grade students. The teachers rated their students on a five-point scale in relation to (1) the degree they liked the student, (2) the information they knew about the student, (3) the concern they had for the student, and (4) their rejection of the student. FI teachers were more positive of their matched students (FI) than were FD teachers.     

An investigation into the prevalence of ecological misconceptions in upper secondary students and implications for pre-service teacher education

Students’ and teachers’ misconceptions are an international concern among researchers in science education; they influence how students learn and teachers’ teach knowledge and are a hindrance in the acquisition of accurate knowledge. This paper reports on a literature synthesis of existing research about ecological misconceptions. One means of improving the application of misconceptions involves using diagnostic tests. These form an important component of a broader conceptual toolkit needed to teach science in conceptually accurate ways. Analysis of the results of a diagnostic test, completed by biology students and pre-service teachers in Ireland, revealed the presence of an unacceptably high level of misconceptions and uncovered flaws in students and teachers’ understanding of ecological concepts. A clear link was observed between the misconceptions present in pre-service teachers’ knowledge base and those dominant in students. In this regard, we discuss implications of these findings for teacher education, from pre-service to continuing education.     

学生在专业学习中的阶段性心理特征与对策

学生在专业学习的成长过程中会遇到较大的变化,也会因为相应的调整适应而出现不同的阶段性特征,同时也会对个人成长和发展产生各种不利影响。学校和教师应该关心学生成长,保障学生心理健康。     

Changing the System of Student Support in Norway: Intended and Unintended Effects on Students

In 2002 the student finance system in Norway went through a major restructuring. The changes included an increase in student support and an introduction of progression‐dependent grants. Using two student welfare surveys conducted in 1998 and 2005, the paper analyses the effect of the changes on the students. The analysis compares the risk of study delays, the students’ weekly working hours, and the students’ concerns about student loan repayments before and after the changes among different groups of students. Contrary to the intended policy goals, the findings indicate no decline in study delays. However, the findings reveal an increase in the amount of time students spend in paid employment. This may indicate that students respond to short‐term economic incentives. Furthermore, the findings suggest increased social differences in the students’ concern for the student loan repayment after the changes.     

Emerging Technologies: E-Textbooks,One Piece of the Puzzle

The Internet has not only brought about a new technological era, but also seen the introduction of a number of emerging technologies such as e-textbooks. However, the slow acceptance of e-textbooks is an issue of concern. The objective of this study is to investigate students’ perceptions and use of e-textbooks. Data was collected by using a self-completion questionnaire and a focus group discussion. The results showed that the two major obstacles identified in literature in adopting e-textbooks, access to electronic devices and the lack of computer skills, were not an issue of concern in this study. Unfortunately, the results of this study show that although students are positive about e-textbooks, this positive attitude does not necessarily result in high usage. This has real implications for academics, as the challenge will be to encourage students to try out e-textbooks by incorporating this as part of a pedagogical model, whilst providing safeguards against academic risks.     

学生主体需要下的高职英语“教学做”创新

学生主体需要是高职英语教学重点关注之一,但在实践中,存在以职场需求代替学生主体需要的做法。为此,应当正确认识学生主体需要的主要内容及其意义,并响应学生主体需要,重组教学环节,活化教学内容,改革评价标准,关注可持续发展能力,创新＂教学做＂。     

Exploring Engineering instructors’ views about writing and online tools to support communication in Engineering

To be fully prepared for the professional workplace, Engineering students need to be able to effectively communicate. However, there has been a growing concern in the field about students’ preparedness for this aspect of their future work. It is argued that online writing tools, to engage numbers of students in the writing process, can support feedback on and development of writing in engineering on a larger scale. Through interviews and questionnaires, this study explores engineering academics’ perceptions of writing to better understand how online writing tools may be integrated into their teaching. Results suggest that writing is viewed positively in the discipline, but it is not believed to be essential to success in engineering. Online writing tools were believed to support a larger number of students, but low knowledge of the tools limited academics’ understanding of their usefulness in teaching and learning. Implications for innovation in undergraduate teaching are discussed.     

回顾与前瞻:大学生就业问题研究十年(2001-2011)

自2001年以来,大学生就业问题已引起了学术界的广泛关注。十年来,有关这一问题的研究主要是围绕大学生"就业难"、大学生就业的影响因素、大学生就业质量、大学生就业诚信、大学生就业教育、大学生就业指导六个方面展开的。关于大学生就业问题的研究,仍有以下几个方面的问题值得进一步探讨:一是关于大学生就业体制的研究;二是关于大学生就业体系的研究;三是关于大学生就业观念的研究;四是关于大学生就业率统计的研究。     

A change of perspective – Exploring Mexican primary and secondary school students’ perceptions of their teachers differentiated instructional practice

With the increasing student diversity, the establishment of inclusive classrooms has become a top concern of policy-makers worldwide urging teachers to differentiate their instruction according to students’ individual learning needs. As the implementation of differentiated instruction (DI) relies mainly on teachers, previous research has mostly focused on examining teachers’ perspectives on their use of differentiation. In contrast, far less attention has been paid to explore students’ perspectives about their experiences in inclusive classrooms. Therefore, this study aims at examining students’ experiences of their teachers’ actual DI practice. Moreover, this study sets the spotlight on Mexico, a country that has faced changes with a recent proposed educational model. Results from a mixed analysis of variance revealed that students do in fact perceive that their teachers implement DI practices. It appears that both primary and secondary school teachers implement more frequent variants of mastery learning as well as tutoring systems as a means to differentiate their instruction. Implications of the results, as well as further lines of research, are discussed.     

Becoming an academic: international perspectives

Stress during doctoral study is common; however, its presence is of concern to students as it has a deleterious impact on well-being and performance, and to the university which has a duty of care to students and the desire to promote a supportive research environment. This article reports on the qualitative findings from an online survey that sought to identify students’ experiences related to stress during the early-stage doctoral study. All newly enrolled PhD students at the University of Otago (New Zealand) received invitations to participate and respond to two questions related to stress during the early-stage doctoral study. In total, 152 survey responses were acquired from 352 first-year PhD students (response rate 43.2%). Nine main areas of concern were identified from an inductive thematic analysis of participants’ responses. Key stressors were time pressure, uncertainty about doctoral processes, sense of belonging in scholarly communities, and financial pressures. Some findings are contrary to previous research with novel perceptions on the student–supervisor relationship, different financial issues, and transition stresses contrary to previous research; this may reflect the changed academic landscape of doctoral studies. Findings provide insight into potential support strategies to better support early-stage PhD students.     

培养学生的积极情感,提高学习效果

课堂教学是学生日常获得知识的主要方式,教师在教学活动中关注学生的心理活动,在教学活动的各个环节培养学生学习的积极情感,就会为教育的成功提供强大动力和有效保障。通过激发学生的求知欲,变学生被动接受知识的教学模式为学生主动探究知识的教学模式,即从"要我学"变为"我要学",以达到良好的学习效果。     

Balancing supportive relationships and developing independence: an activity theory approach to understanding feedback in context for master’s students

Abstract

Master’s students are expected to be self-regulating and independent learners. Dialogic feedback has been identified as one way of promoting such independence. There continues to be concern about the extent to which master’s students are achieving this level of functioning. This study aimed to identify feedback practices and contexts which facilitated student engagement and independence. Working with students as co-researchers, interviews were conducted with 27 master’s students from three programmes. Activity theory was used as an analytical tool to generate understanding of feedback in the social context of each programme. Findings indicate there can be tension between factors which promote dialogical feedback and those which promote independence, and that active dialogic feedback with staff may limit student engagement with peer feedback.     

The relation of moral judgement to authoritarianism,sexism, ethnocentrism,and concern about nuclear war

Abstract

This study focuses on the relation between moral arguments and political attitudes such as concern about nuclear war, sexism, attitudes toward minority groups, and authoritarianism. Forty‐six high school students were involved in a quantitative study based upon tests and questionnaires, and 19 of them participated in a qualitative study based on interviews. The measures were: the ‘Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure’, the ‘Inventory of Nuclear War Attitudes’, the Slade and Jenner sexism scale, an ethnocentrism scale, and a Dutch version of the F‐scale. Using a multivariate analysis it was shown that concern about nuclear war and ethnocentrism are particularly related to moral judgement level. The qualitative study illustrates the context of these relationships.     

Students Abroad Studying Their Own Thing

Abstract

This paper defines teacher empathy, argues that teacher empathy enhances student learning, and offers suggestions for increasing teacher empathy. Teacher empathy is the degree to which an instructor works to deeply understand students’ personal and social situations, to feel care and concern in response to students’ positive and negative emotions, and to respond compassionately without losing the focus on student learning. Teacher empathy is communicated to students through course policies as well as the instructor’s behavior toward students. To increase teacher empathy, we review non-pejorative explanations for undesirable student behavior (e.g., fear of failure), and we suggest ways in which faculty can learn about their students and can structure course policies to increase teacher empathy. Ultimately, we call for research on teacher empathy and student learning.     

Reading the Local and Global: Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools in Australia

Recently Australia has witnessed a revival of concern about the place of Australian literature within the school curriculum. This has occurred within a policy environment where there is increasing emphasis on Australia’s place in a world economy, and on the need to encourage young people to think of themselves in a global context. These dimensions are reflected in the recently published Australian Curriculum: English, which requires students to read texts of ‘enduring artistic and cultural value’ that are drawn from ‘world and Australian literature’. No indication, however, is given as to how the reading and literary interpretation that students do might meaningfully be framed by such categories. This essay asks: what saliences do the categories of the ‘local’, the ‘national’ and the ‘global’ have when young people engage with literary texts? How does this impact on teachers’ and students’ interpretative approaches to literature? What place does a ‘literary’ education, whether conceived in ‘local’, ‘national’ or ‘global’ terms, have in the twenty-first century?     

Development of decision‐making skills and environmental concern through computer‐based,scaffolded learning activities

This article focuses on the development of decision‐making skills and environmental concern by 11‐ and 12‐year‐old students through computer‐based, scaffolded learning activities. The enacted activities provided necessary scientific information and allowed for the consideration of multiple aspects of the problem, the study of the effects of every possible solution and the formulation and balancing of criteria. The optimization strategy for decision making was adopted, because it allows for the development of compensatory thinking which is more relevant to actual situations of decision making. Twelve students participated in the pilot enactment of the proposed activities. Data collection relied on students’ reports and pre‐ and post‐ tests as well as a closed questionnaire designed to measure students’ environmental concern. The teaching intervention proved quite successful in enhancing the decision‐making skills of the participating children. Moreover, students’ performance on the environmental concern questionnaire correlated in interesting ways with the improvement of decision‐making skills.