Informal digital learning of English and English as an international language: The path less traveled

This exploratory study aimed to identify a model that explains the relationship between Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) practice and English as an International Language (EIL) perception. The hypothesized model—students’ engagement in IDLE practice will be significantly and positively related to their perception of EIL—was tested using a survey with 317 Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) university students. The results of Structural Equation Modeling showed a strong, significant and positive relationship between IDLE activities in which EFL learners engage and their EIL perception. Practically, these findings help broaden the scope of conventional EIL intervention beyond the classroom as a complementary EIL pedagogical model. From a theoretical perspective, this study represents a conceptual advance in our understanding of IDLE by adding a new insight to the current literature. This study also makes a contribution toward bridging an interdisciplinary divide between EIL and IDLE.     

浅谈高校创新教育与教育创新

高校创新教育有其基本内涵,它与素质教育、人文修养有区别也有联系,它是在新型工业经济基础上提出来的。高校教育创新应从观念创新、体制创新、工作机制创新和手段创新努力实践。     

数学教学中发现与创新能力的培养

在培养学生发现和创新思维过程中归纳出九条模式 :双轨迹模式、递归模式、类比推理模式、特殊化模式、一般化模式、化归模式、叠加模式、构造模式、逆向思维模式 ,运用这些模式能收到良好的教学效果 .     

面向新世纪 建设山水园林旅游城市

武夷山市是首批中国优秀旅游城市。面向新世纪 ,武夷山市要建设成山水园林旅游城市 ,塑造城市新形象 ,就必须置身于世界旅游业的大环境 ,认真总结景区的规划建设经验 ,学习欧洲的城市规划建设经验 ,加强武夷山市规划管理 ,坚持高标准建设 ,同时还要加大管理力度 ,提高城市管理水平。     

汉语连—介词的来源及其语法化的路径和类型

本文所谓连—介词是指能够兼做并列连词的介词,汉语的连—介词至少有四个来源:(1)伴随义动词"和、跟、同"等;(2)使役义动词"唤、教";(3)给予义动词"与、给";(4)同位结构"我两个"中的数量词"两个"。文中描述了这四类连—介词语法化的动因和路径,归纳了它们语法化的三种类型;对相关的语言现象进行了具体的考证和解释;结合论题,对语法化的普遍规律进行了一些概括和说明。     

The paths between gender,barriers, social support,coping efficacy and vocational indecision

We investigated the paths between gender, social support, barriers, coping efficacy, and vocational indecision in the light of social cognitive career theory. A path model was tested with a sample of 203 undergraduates. We expected coping efficacy to partially mediate the paths between career barriers, educational barriers, social support and indecision. However, this prediction was only confirmed for educational barriers. Results are discussed with reference to the literature and in terms of their practical implications.     

Strip mines in the garden: Old stories,new formats,and the challenge of change

She is exploring the impact of multimedia developments on the literate behaviors of children and adolescents.     

What changes in infant walking and why

This study compared the relative contributions of growing body dimensions, age, and walking experience in the development of walking skill in 9- to 17-month-old infants (N = 210), 5-6-year old kindergartners (N = 15), and college students (N = 13). Kinematic measures derived from participants' footprints showed characteristic improvements in walking skill. As children became bigger, older, and more experienced, their steps became longer, narrower, straighter, and more consistent. Improvements reflected a narrowing base of support and increasing control over the path of progression. Although both infants' age and the duration of their walking experience contributed to improvements in walking skill, experience was the stronger predictor. This finding suggests that practice is the more important developmental factor for helping infants to conquer their weak muscles and precarious balance.     

Sustainability education in a botanical garden promotes environmental knowledge,attitudes and willingness to act

Abstract

Creating behavior change to mobilize transitions toward sustainability is a significant challenge of our time. Inspired by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Farmer Field School, we developed a novel community-based education program to engage people in local sustainability topics. In the Sustainable Communities Field School (Field School) program, advertised as team building tours, participants from local organizations are guided by instructors through University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, while receiving verbal and experiential education on topics of food systems and choices, biodiversity conservation, water conservation, and waste reduction. We found that after the Field School program, participants were significantly more knowledgeable about environmental issues, more connected to nature, showed greater intentions and willingness to engage in sustainability actions compared to garden visitors from the general public who did not go through the program. The results suggest that interactive sustainability education in a botanical garden setting can be a useful education model to mobilize public engagement on sustainability.     

Conditioned avoidance responses survive contingency degradation in the garden slug,Lehmannia valentiana

Joint presentations of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) strengthen the contingency between them, whereas presentations of one stimulus without the other degrade this contingency. For example, the CS can be presented without the US either before conditioning (CS–no US and then CS–US; latent inhibition) or after conditioning (CS–US and then CS–no US; extinction). In vertebrate subjects and several invertebrate species, a time lapse usually results in a return of the conditioned response, or spontaneous recovery. However, in land mollusks, spontaneous recovery from extinction has only recently been reported, and response recovery after latent inhibition has not been reported. In two experiments, using conditioned aversion to a food odor as a measure of learning and memory retention, we observed contingency degradation via latent inhibition (Experiment 1) and extinction (Experiment 2) in the common garden slug, Lehmannia valentiana. In both situations, the contingency degradation procedure successfully attenuated conditioned responding, and delaying testing by several days resulted in recovery of the conditioned response. This suggests that the CS–US association survived the degradation manipulation and was retained over an interval of several days.     

Transformation processes in higher education: More market,less government

Competitively allocated research funds, from both public and private sources, constitute an increasing share of university revenues. The article investigates empirically, using data on the Italian university system, whether structural and strategic features of universities—such as size, age and especially the importance that they assign to their teaching and research missions—affect their success in securing research funds. The analysis shows that universities that strategically prioritize their research mission also obtain higher funds per researcher, from different sources. These results are compared with those obtained by similar studies of other European higher education systems, and some general implications of the introduction of competitive funding mechanisms for university behaviour are derived.     

高职创客教育的机遇、挑战与路径探析

现代先进制造技术与新一代信息技术促成了创客与教育的机缘偶合,高职院校应借鉴和引入创客理念,营造校园创客文化,实施创客教育,培养自主探究、开放学习、动手实践、融合创新的校园创客。在创客教育的实施过程中可能面临创客空间、创客课程、创客导师等方面的困难,需要综合统筹、跨界合作,形成合力,共同应对。     

Qualification paths of adult educators in Sweden and Denmark

The qualification of adult educators is a central aspect of the quality of adult education. However, within current policy discourses and adult education research on the professional development of prospective adult educators, little attention is paid to teacher qualification when compared to other fields of education and training. In this study, we analyse the qualification paths, or learning trajectories, of prospective adult educators in Sweden and Denmark. The analysis is based on narrative interviews with 29 students in training to become adult educators. The career paths of adult educators are often long and winding roads. Becoming an adult educator could be their primary desire, but it could also be their ‘Plan B’, a second choice. Individual motives and external demands interact in the professionalisation process. A shift in focus from teaching subject and methods to teaching context and the relation to the learners is part of the professional development. Finally, we argue that both academic studies and hands-on work in the adult education community are crucial parts of the adult educator's qualification path.     

Childhood adversity, poly-substance use, and disordered eating in adolescent Latinas: mediated and indirect paths in a community sample

OBJECTIVE: Although many studies have identified associations between childhood maltreatment and later substance use and disordered eating, few have examined causal or explanatory pathways, and whether victim characteristics predict the development of one versus the other of these outcomes remains uninvestigated. Furthermore, relatively little childhood maltreatment research has examined Latino samples. To address these gaps, this study examined among Latina adolescents the effects of sexual abuse, physical/emotional abuse, neglect, disconnection from family, and parental alcohol problems on poly-substance use and disordered eating, and whether five individual characteristics explain or differentiate these outcomes. METHOD: Data from a community sample of 361 Latina adolescents were analyzed using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Physical/emotional abuse predicted poly-substance use and weight concerns, and these associations were mediated by impaired current attachment. Disconnection from family predicted bulimic behaviors, and this association was mediated by dysphoria. One indirect path also emerged: Disconnection from family predicted low social conformity, and low social conformity predicted poly-substance use. Childhood sexual abuse did not uniquely predict any adverse outcome or individual characteristic examined. CONCLUSIONS: Dysphoria and impaired current attachment appear to play important roles in the development of substance use and disordered eating in Latina adolescents when physical/emotional abuse or disconnection from family predicts these outcomes. Dysphoria and low social conformity may differentiate the development of bulimic behaviors and poly-substance use, respectively, when family disconnection predicts these outcomes.     

Middle leaders in successful and less successful schools

ABSTRACT

All large high schools have teachers in middle tier roles who help run the school, and subject leaders (SLs) who engage in administrative and pedagogical practices to improve departmental achievements. By applying structuration theory (Giddens, 1984. The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley, CA: University of California.) we seek to understand how rules, resources, and structural position enable SLs to contribute to school effectiveness. A multi-case study method was employed to study 12 SLs from two effective schools and two less effective schools. Interviews, observations, and document analysis served as data collecting tools. The findings indicate that all the SLs engage in administrative practices but in different ways. The SLs in the less effective schools devoted much more time to such practices and much less to pedagogical practices than the SLs in the effective schools, which provided clearer rules and sufficient resources. We conclude that on the pyramid of school needs, administrative practices are more basic for school effectiveness, and only after this is achieved can SLs devote time to satisfy pedagogical needs. However, the ability of SLs to satisfy administrative needs depends to a large extent on the principal providing them with the necessary rules and resources. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.