Designing a humane multimedia interface for the visually impaired

Whilst graphical user interfaces (GUI) have gained much popularity in recent years, the need of the visually impaired to use applications in a non-visual environment is great. This paper promotes the provision of interfaces that allow users to access most of the functionality of existing GUIs using speech. This has been achieved by the design of a speech control tool that incorporates speech recognition and synthesis into existing packaged software, such as Teletext, the Internet or a word processor. The tool developed has taken the menu structure as a means of demonstrating what is accessible by the use of speech input and output. The tool provides the facility to dump screen text into clipboard and read it out loud. Adapting existing GUI applications in this way requires successful integration of speech, which in turn requires a profound understanding of the medium and the development of human engineering techniques.     

Structuring experimental learning into a traditional political science curriculum

This paper describes the introduction of an experimental element into a traditional political science undergraduate curriculum. Careful consideration of this case study may enable those designing similar programs elsewhere to be more successful.     

An effective mathematics and science curriculum option for secondary gifted education

Project Ga‐GEMS (Georgia's Project for Gifted Education in Math and Science) viewed the effect that placement in an integrated, hands‐on mathematics and science curriculum had on the achievement of academically talented high school students. For a two‐year period of time, students gifted in the areas of mathematics and science participated in a curriculum which incorporated higher‐level thinking skills and more real life laboratory experiences into mutually reinforcing mathematics and science lessons. After the conclusion of the two‐year program, Ga‐GEMS participants and a control group were given the mathematics and science sections of the ACT as they exited the tenth grade. The Ga‐GEMS students scored significantly higher on the Science Math Total, Pre‐Algebra/Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry and Plane Geometry/Trigonometry sections of the ACT. To determine if the Ga‐GEMS students retained their higher scores throughout high school the SAT scores of both groups were compared as the students exited high school. Significant differences in the areas of total score and mathematics were noted. This study lends support for the use of a differentiated curriculum for educating gifted students in science and mathematics.     

Realising the school science curriculum

Abstract

This article identifies historical, pedagogical and epistemological problems which distance the school science curriculum from social questions, and issues of social justice more specifically. Drawing on a critical realist approach it addresses these problems and aims to demonstrate that social justice lies at the heart of inquiry in science in schools.     

Narrative in the science curriculum

Internationally, science curricula make specific demands on students for the achievement of some level of scientific literacy. The details of what this means, and how it is to be achieved, have often been left for the teacher to elaborate. This paper argues thatnarrative, as a valued component of scientific literacy, offers a structure that allows scientific concepts to be (1) more easily integrated into other conceptual understandings, (2) more easily recalled, (3) more easily ordered and structured in the mind, and (4) an important component of the what it means to be a Self. The paper ends with practical suggestions for the use of narratives in the science classroom. Specializations: language and science, science for nurses, narrative and science education.     

Competency-based curriculum development: An experimental model for social service workers

The call for relevance in higher education has opened the doorway from the classroom to the community. Creative methods to provide viable academic exercises within this context are being sought by increasing numbers of faculty and administrators. Competency-based curriculum development is one method being proposed as having strong potential. This article describes a competency design and documentation process that was developed during a one-year research and demonstration program for social service workers. The process was found to provide greater accountability for learning situations that link theory and fieldwork. It was also found to revitalize dialogue between field professionals and academic faculty, with students as active participants.George C. Burrill received his Ph.D. from the Union Graduate School (Yellow Springs, Ohio).     

Through the fingers: Use of plastinated anatomical specimens for visually impaired students

The plastination technique produces non-toxic human tissues, ensuring their safe handling in educational settings. This investigation aimed to understand if visually impaired students profit from the use of plastinated anatomical specimens in learning the anatomy of the nervous system. For this purpose, their learning performance was compared to sighted and blindfolded students recruited from three primary schools in Fortaleza city, in the state of Ceará. Initially, a questionnaire was applied before carrying out the pedagogical practice, followed by an anatomy lecture with practical components with the use of plastinated anatomical specimens and synthetic anatomical models of the nervous system. After these steps, the students answered the questionnaire previously applied. Our results showed that the tactile perception of the visually impaired participants was significantly more developed compared to sighted (p < 0.001) and the blindfolded (p < 0.0001) students. The average of correct answers in the reapplied questionnaire was higher in the groups that used plastinated specimens (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the use of plastinated specimens has proven to be an effective tool in promoting a better understanding of anatomical structures, mainly for students with or without visual impairments, making it a valuable asset in anatomy teaching.     

深入开展信息技术与理科课程整合刍议

本文通过具体分析几个英国科学教学案例,提出了深化我国信息技术与理科课程整合的几方面途径。(1)树立现代科学教育理念;(2)善于利用各种信息技术观察实验、问题解决以及讨论交流,特别是善于利用传感器、模拟与仿真、网络搜索引擎等信息技术来发现问题和解决问题;(3)还要注意数字化学习环境的建设;(4)注重信息技术与科学课程整合的实际效果。     

Language science in the tertiary curriculum

The goal of linguistics has been in dispute since its origin as a scientific discipline. The situation remains confused and consequently the curricular position of linguistics is ambiguous. An examination of the historical reasons for this indicates the following conclusions: At the time when language was first proposed as a subject for scientific study the natural sciences were still dominated by the mechanical model of Newtonian physics; this attitude of mind has inhibited the development of linguistics.Further development ought logically to depend on the harmonisation of linguistics with modern scientific concepts, such as relativity, probability, system and field. Such a move would constitute in part a new goal for linguistics. If such an innovation is admitted, those areas where language study overlaps with other subjects, e.g. psychology, logic and anthropology, provide natural exit points for a study of language and the epistemology of science.Linguistics is therefore capable of serving as a foundational discipline in a liberal arts curriculum. Its particular claim to assume this role lies in the fact that language is the object of both humanistic and scientific study. Hence to give linguistics a more central role in the tertiary curriculum offers a fundamental educational benefit in narrowing the cultural gap between the arts and science, and it is worth considering a change of emphasis in the curriculum to achieve this end.The aim of this paper is not to suggest detailed changes but to stimulate discussion of this consideration.     

Environment in the science curriculum: The politics of change in the Pan-Canadian science curriculum development process

This paper draws on the experience of the Pan-Canadian science curriculum development process as an instance of the more general problem of integrating science and environmental education. It problematizes the issue of incorporation of social and environmental dimensions within the science curriculum in terms of both policy and practice. The agenda of environmental education, as eco-philosophical and eco-political, provides a radically different base from which to explore the impact of change on science teachers and schools. Thus, the very idea of environmental education as an educational policy goal must be examined in light of conflicting agendas of science and environmental education. This paper argues that transforming structures and processes of school science to enable different teacher and student roles involves closing the gap between curriculum (policy) development and professional development as well as reconceptualizing science education, but from more overtly open moral value and political perspectives than have been considered in the literature of science education.     

Towards an indigenous science curriculum

The recent development of a national science curriculum in Māori opened up space to contest whose knowledge and whose ways of knowing are included. This paper outlines the background to the curriculum development work in Aotearoa New Zealand with respect to the indigenous Māori people and science education. Concern is expressed about the fitting of one cultural framework into another and questions are raised about the approach used in the development of the science curriculum. Further research in the area of language, culture and science education is discussed along with how Māori might move forward in the endeavour of developing a curriculum that reflects Māori culture and language. This paper forms part of an MEd thesis. For a fuller analysis of the development of “Te Tauākī Marautanga Pūtaiao: He Tauira” (Draft National Science Curriculum in Māori) see McKinley (1995) in the references. See alsoSAMEpapers 1995 (Hamilton, New Zealand: Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, University of Waikato).     

Knowledge engineering: An alternative approach to curriculum design for science education at a distance

Most of the curriculum design models within the technical-scientific approach utilise the rational and sequential process of designing and inter-relating the various elements of the design process. While this procedure may be efficient and adequate for conventional education in which the designers are professional science educators, there is doubt if it satisfies the particular needs of distance education. The experience accumulated through a multi-disciplinary team approach to distance learning courseware development for higher education at the University of Southern Queensland Distance Education Centre motivated this study which primarily focused on a search for an alternative approach to curriculum development with a more satisfactory functional value. Using selected units in Engineering as a focus, an experiment was designed in which a variant of the classical Wheeler model was used. This paper reports the results of this experiment. The implications for contemporary curriculum development initiatives in science especially within distance education settings are pointed out. Specializations: science education, learning strategies, curriculum development, instructional design, research and development in distance education. Specializations: Cognitive Science, curriculum development, instructional design, expert systems, research and development in distance education. Specializations: science education, learning strategies, curriculum development, instructional design, research and development in distance education.     

The science curriculum and education for democracy in the risk society

How can the science curriculum make a contribution to education for democracy in 'the risk society'? The characteristics of a 'risk society' are identified and the problematic role of scientific knowledge in such a society briefly reviewed. Kuhn's notion of science as a community of practice is suggested as the most appropriate model if the aim is to teach a view of science which is compatible with the provisional, 'risky' and collaborative nature of all knowledge in the contemporary context. Those features of the model which are particularly relevant to life in present-day society are clarified and the educational implications of this particular model are discussed under three headings: science as a way of knowing; science as cultural communication; and science as an expression of interests.     

将瑜伽手印练习用于视障大学生体育课的尝试

体育锻炼对身心健康具有重要的作用,有计划的体育锻练能够提高视障大学生的身体素质、促进其心理健康。以目前已掌握的残疾人及视障大学生普遍存在的心理问题的研究分析为基础,尝试性将瑜伽手印练习这一新颖的身心锻炼方式运用于视障大学生体育课,为今后残疾人大学体育教育提供参考依据。