What Will Robots be able to do in the Future?

What will robots be able to do in the future? Let's have a guess.I think if I have robots,I will let them clean the house.They will help me to do my homework.They will help me to buy some things that I want to buy.Robots will tell some jokes to me and that will make me laugh.They will also take care of my little sister,so my parents will have more free time.     

Looked-after Children: what supports them to learn?

This paper outlines a study which explored six young Looked-after Children’s perceptions of what supports them to learn. The participants were aged between eight and nine years old and lived in the UK. The study adopted semi-structured interviews and notepad diaries as research methods and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the research methodology. Three super-ordinate themes were developed, which focussed on the importance which participants placed on school as the major support for learning as summarised in the themes: a place where I am accepted; a place where I can make choices; and a place which personalises learning. A model seeking to outline the findings was generated and the implications which the research raises are discussed. Additionally, considerations for future research are outlined.     

Environmental education research: to what ends?

This paper engages questions about ends in environmental education research. In doing so, I argue that such questions are essentially normative, and that normative questions are underrepresented in this field. After cautioning about perils of prescribing research agendas, I gently suggest that in environmental education key normative questions exist at the intersection of ‘education’ and ‘ethics’, and that they point to an area of research that deserves more attention. In describing the intersecting nature of these ideas, I show that how education is conceived in turn shapes interpretations of ethics, and vice versa. Seen this way, I also show how ethics inquiry in an educational context can be conceived as a means to explore controversy, dissonance, unconventional ideas, and to imagine new possibilities. Finally, I argue that research at this intersection of education and ethics can provide insights that can enable us to teach, inquire, and ultimately live as if the world mattered.     

Women planning to major in computer science: Who are they and what makes them unique?

Despite the current growing popularity of the computer science (CS) major, women remain sorely underrepresented in the field, continuing to earn only 18% of bachelor’s degrees. Understanding women’s low rates of participation in CS is important given that the demand for individuals with CS training has grown sharply in recent years. Attracting and retaining more women to high-paying fields like CS may also help narrow the gender pay gap. Further, it is important that women participate in developing new technology so that technology advances serve the needs of both women and men. This paper explores the background characteristics, career aspirations, and self-perceptions of 1636 female first-year college students in the United States who intend to major in CS and compares them with 4402 male CS aspirants as well as with 26,642 women planning to major in other STEM sub-fields. The findings reveal a unique profile of women who pursue the CS major and notes many significant differences between men and women in CS and between women in CS and those in other STEM fields. For instance, women in CS tend to earn lower high school grades than women in other STEM fields, but earn higher SAT verbal scores. They also rate themselves higher than men in CS and women in other STEM fields on measures of their artistic ability, but rate themselves lower on other self-ratings, including academic and leadership ability. Further, women in CS are more likely to be undecided in their career plans than men in CS and women in other STEM fields. Understanding the unique characteristics of women in CS will help inform policies and recruitment programs designed to address the gender gap in computing.     

Web site credibility: Why do people believe what they believe?

This research investigates university students’ determinations of credibility of information on Web sites, confidence in their determinations, and perceptions of Web site authors’ vested interests. In Study 1, university-level computer science and education students selected Web sites determined to be credible and Web sites that exemplified misrepresentations. Categorization of Web site credibility determinations indicated that the most frequently provided reasons associated with high credibility included information focus or relevance, educational focus, and name recognition. Reasons for knowing a Web site’s content is wrong included lack of corroboration with other information, information focus and bias. Vested interests associated with commercial Web sites were regarded with distrust and vested interests of educational Web sites were not. In Study 2, credibility determinations of university students enrolled in computer science courses were examined for 3 provided Web sites dealing with the same computer science topic. Reasons for determining Web site inaccuracy included own expertise, information corroboration, information design and bias. As in Study 1, commercial vested interests were negatively regarded in contrast to educational interests. Instructional implications and suggestions for further research are discussed. Preliminary results from Study 1 were presented as a poster entitled “Users’ Confidence Levels and Strategies for Determining Web Site Veracity” (Iding et al. 2002a) and appeared in associated proceedings for The WWW 2002: The Eleventh International World Wide Web Conference, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Preliminary results from Study 2 were presented as a paper entitled, “Judging the Veracity of Web Sites” (Crosby et al. 2002) and appeared in associated proceedings for the International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2002) in Auckland, New Zealand.     

Mastery goal,value and self-concept: what do they predict?

Background:?Students’ motivation is known to influence academic outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research showing the relative influences of motivational factors on short-term and long-term outcomes.

Purpose:?The study investigates the relative influences of motivational factors – mastery goal orientation, value of schooling, and academic self-concepts (perceived competence in and affect to schoolwork) on four outcomes – rule acceptance, identity, general self-efficacy and achievement.

Sample:?Students in grades 3 to 6 from six primary schools in the Sydney were surveyed (N = 979). The ages of the participants varied from 8 to 13 years (mean = 9.78).

Design and methods:?Students completed a questionnaire and literacy and numeracy achievement tests. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the paths from four predictors to four outcomes.

Results:?Whereas all four predictors were positively associated with all four outcomes, students’ mastery goal had stronger positive influences on self-efficacy and identity. Value, perceived competence and affect were found to influence outcomes in different ways – positive influences were found for value on achievement, rule-acceptance, and identity; for perceived competence on achievement and efficacy; and for affect on rule-acceptance and identity.

Conclusion:?Mastery goal had stronger influences on long-term outcomes while other predictors are stronger for short-term outcomes. To facilitate short-term and long-term outcomes, all four motivational factors need attention.     

What are you going to do?

新年到了,辞旧迎新之时,美国人常向别人表明他们新的一年的打算,这就是他们的New Year's resolutions(决心)。同学们在新年开始也一定有很多计划吧,怎么用英语说出来呢?跟我老T来学几个句型吧。I’m going to study hard.我打算好好学习。I want to do more exercises.我想加强     

Teach For/Teach First candidates: what conclusions do they draw from their time in teaching?

Teach For and Teach First programs now constitute a significant pathway into teaching in a number of countries. One criterion for selection into these programs is leadership capacity, and evidence indicates that many candidates do move into leadership roles in education, business, and policy in the years following their time as a Teach For/Teach First candidate. Given their capacity to influence policy directions and school practice, and to speak with the authority of at least some experience in challenging schools, it is important to understand the types of conclusions they draw from their time in teaching, and the solutions they propose to the problems of educational inequality. This study set out to explore the types of attributions made by 76 Teach For candidates for the low achievement of disadvantaged students, and what they consider to be potential means of effectively addressing the achievement gap. Participants gave most importance to the types of people attracted to and retained in teaching, and placed relatively little importance on improving school resourcing or addressing systemic and structural contributions to educational disadvantage. Implications for those training and working with Teach For candidates are discussed.     

School Leaders as Learners: what attitudes and preferences do they have?

Leadership development is a key issue for success in leading educational reform and school improvement. Demands for more flexible, responsive, and enterprise‐driven schooling require that school leaders can create the kind of conditions which sustain vigorous processes of continuous school improvement. To meet this requirement, school leaders must be in command of a broader range of leadership and management expertise than was traditionally required of them. The changing environments make it essential for school leaders to have a high level of awareness of their preferences for leadership development and a commitment to improve their professional performance. This paper discusses findings of a survey‐based study of school leaders’ attitudes and preferences for professional development in Western Australia. Surveys conducted among principals and deputy principals of primary (n = 233) and secondary (n = 180) schools reveal some important similarities, as well as differences, in the extent to which primary and secondary school leaders have recognized the potential for work‐based and peer‐assisted learning.     

The village school context and principalship in Hong Kong: what do they contribute to leadership studies?

To enhance the cost effectiveness of primary schools, the government of Hong Kong imposed a regulation for operating primary one classes up to a minimum enrolment rate in 2003. This policy has forced a number of village schools to cease operation. During 2005–2006, 36 of them were involved in this enforcement, accounting for two-thirds of the total number of such schools, causing a possible extinction of them. This paper is part of a research project with the purpose of tracing the history and development of village schools in Hong Kong since the 1930s and 1940s. Adapting Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field, this paper examined the village school context of Hong Kong from a socio-historical perspective and examined how the context was related to leadership characteristics of village school principals. Related issues were also discussed. It is hoped that the study has suggested a direction for understanding principal leadership within different school contexts.     

What they think, what they know, what they do: Rural secondary teachers’ motivational beliefs and strategies

This research examined how rural high school teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of themselves, their students and the challenge of motivation influence their strategic classroom and interpersonal motivating practice. Participants were 13 teachers in three rural, public high schools in two US states. Teachers’ beliefs about motivation generally, and their students’ motivation specifically, reflect a position favouring need and willingness to intervene for unmotivated students. However, their self-perceptions reflect a relatively weak efficacy to intervene successfully. Generally, teachers’ prevalent choice of strategies aligned with their perceptions of reasons that students were undermotivated. In contrast, some teachers’ narratives of actual efforts to motivate a specific student were inconsistent with their self-reported philosophies and style of motivation, and with their general statements of how they would motivate students who needed it. These findings suggest implications for design of teacher education and inservice teacher professional development.     

Impact in participatory health research: what can we learn from research on participatory evaluation?

Participatory Health Research is a collective term adopted globally for participatory action research in a health context. As an approach to research, it challenges current ways used within the health sciences to measure research impact as research, learning and action are integrated throughout the research process and dependent on context and participation. The literature on participatory evaluation is explored to see if it can offer some insights into how best to articulate impact. Similar debates are taking place particularly concerning the relationship between degree of participation and impact, how impact should be defined and the role of wider social forces on the evaluation process. A focus on core values, such as social justice, differentiates transformative evaluation from more pragmatic participatory evaluation, but this is poorly conceptualised in evaluation models.     

What do upper secondary school teachers want to know from research on the use of ICT and how does this inform a research design?

This study investigates what teachers taking part in a longitudinal research project on the use of ICT for teaching and learning in three upper secondary schools in Sweden want to learn more about. At the beginning of the project eighty-four teachers were invited to respond to a questionnaire relating to what teachers wanted to learn more about during their participation in a research project, both for themselves, their colleagues and their students. The questionnaire consisted of Likert-scale and open-ended questions. Sixty teachers responded, thereby yielding a response rate of 71%. In focus in this paper is a qualitative content analysis of the open-ended questions. The analysis revealed six desired areas of learning: (a) technological aspects, (b) how to use ICT for teaching and learning, (c) the Learning Management System (LMS), (d) safety and plagiarism, (e) best practice and (f) collaboration and professional development. The aspects of knowledge addressed in these themes were analysed and discussed in relation to the TPACK model. A conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is that the teachers inquired different forms of knowledge and that interpretation of ‘technological pedagogical content knowledge’ only emerged in one of the themes. This study then informed the research design in multiple ways, the two most apparent being a survey of students acknowledging teachers’ expressed research interests and the design and implementation of a formative intervention group interview.     

Ageing and learning: What do they mean to elders themselves?

This paper is about a quantitative study which has examined and elucidated the conceptualizations of ageing and learning by a group of elders in Hong Kong. In more specific terms, the study has investigated how this group of older people understood the meaning of successful ageing and elder learning in the context of their later lives. Based on the ‘Learning and Ageing Survey 2013’ with a sample of 519 older adults in Hong Kong, the study aimed, first, to describe and conceptualize the meaning of ageing and learning as elders experienced it in later life; second, to investigate why and how elders engaged or did not engage, in organized learning, by comparing the differences between the ‘learning’ and ‘non-learning’ groups in terms of their personal characteristics, conceptualizations of learning, and the barriers to participation; third, to identify important learning issues for older learners, including their interests, needs, motivations, and learning preferences; and finally, to investigate the relationship between learning and successful ageing, and between learning and the overall well-being and satisfaction of elders in their later lives. The research findings and outcomes of the study provide insights into the experience and views of elders concerning ageing and learning, which contribute to the global understanding and knowledge base for elder learning and successful ageing; and which serve to inform the development of policy and practice geared to the planning and provision of programmes for learning in older age.