Changes in teaching in order to help students with learning difficulties improve in Cypriot primary classes

This article aims to explore what changes two Cypriot primary school teachers brought in their teaching in order to help students with learning difficulties improve in their classes. The study was qualitative and used non-participant observation in two primary classrooms in different primary schools and semi-structured interviews with the main teachers of these classes. The findings revealed that the main changes implemented by these teachers were a differentiated programme of literacy and numeracy, and opportunities to students to process information through many senses. In addition, the teachers boosted the learning of students with learning difficulties by focusing on essentials, using process-oriented praise, peer tutoring, and regular communication with parents. The article concludes with suggestions about how Cypriot primary school teachers can boost the learning of students with difficulties and how leaders can support their efforts.     

核心素养在初中物理课堂的渗透策略

初中物理作为课程教学体系中的基本学科,在中考中所占的比率相对较大。在新课改教学目标的引导下,广大教师逐渐重视在初中物理课堂中渗透核心素养等相关内容,尤其是在教育改革背景下,开始运用多样化的课程教学策略,旨在帮助学生不断完善自我、优化自我。为帮助初中生更好地适应学习生涯发展的需要,教师要将物理课程教学策略进行优化和调整,激发学生的学习兴趣,探讨发展核心素养的有效方法。     

Questioning Techniques: A Study of Instructional Practice

To what extent do teachers use questions to encourage deeper thinking and elicit fuller responses? How do teachers use the levels of questions and wait time as a teaching technique? How do teachers make space for students to talk together so that their thoughts are visible to other students? This article seeks to provide answers to these important questions through a review of the literature that begins with a study of the history of questioning, and then turns to the following topics: developing higher level thinking through questioning strategies; the role of wait time within the context of classroom climate and peer interactions; and higher order questioning strategies aligned with student achievement in reading and language arts. Although the author's frame of reference for how these issues play out is within the context of a school where students’ ability to articulate understanding and their own point of view is purposefully promoted and highly valued, the insights will have broad applicability across a full spectrum of schools.     

中职英语教研：交互性语言教学的目标与策略

在中职英语教研教改中,交互性语言教学方法（Interactive Language Teaching Approach）应用需要明晰具体教学目标,包括宏观与微观目标,以教学目标为课堂教学设计及组织的核心,并以之为各种教学要素的起点。中职英语教师要探索适合具体职业或专业需要的交互性语言教学策略,培养中职学生在未来职场中英语的应用能力。中职英语教研中恰当的交互性语言教学策略,不仅可以提高学生的英语交际能力,还可以培养学生的思维能力、学习兴趣与自信心、培养合作意识。     

甘肃省初中数学新课程实施现状的调查研究

从教师和学生的视角对甘肃省初中数学新课程实施情况进行调查,发现师生对数学新课程的改革有较高的认同感,但教师对《课程标准（2011年版）》的熟悉程度较差;教师的教学行为和学生的学习活动发生了积极变化;数学新课程的评价依据与方式有积极变化,但“唯分数论”现象依然存在;数学新课程教学目标中“四基”和“四能”的达成情况较差。针对调查结果,提出如下建议：（1）发挥专家学者的引领作用,加强对数学教师的新课程培训工作。（2）进一步修订与完善教科书,为学生“提出问题”提供更多素材。（3）把“隐性知识”纳入教学范畴,全面提高学生的数学素养。（4）落实“综合与实践”的教学,培养学生的创新精神和实践能力。（5）进一步推进评价机制改革,实现过程性评价与终结性评价的融合。     

形成性评估中出现的问题及应对策略

形成性评估检查学生学习全过程,其反拨作用将对教师和学生起监督?反思和调节作用。文章根据对浙江科技学院的教学实践,对形成性评估进行探讨,总结实施过程中出现的问题并探索其应对策略。     

Teacher-directed learning to self-directed learning transition barriers in Pakistan

Present paper explores the implications and barriers associated with the transition from teacher-directed learning (TDL) to self-directed learning (SDL) in the EFL classroom in Pakistan. This study intends to explore teachers’ views about the nature and viability of implementing the SDL approach to teach English in Pakistan. A qualitative approach is followed in data collection and a contrastive thematic method is employed for analysis. With a sample of 16 English language teachers from four public universities, data is collected through semi-structured interviews. The results show that teachers view SDL with a potential to make students self-sufficient and autonomous, but Pakistani education system, cultural background, and learners’ psychological aspects hinder the process of transition. These obstacles may be removed through creating awareness among teachers and students, and by bringing more flexibility into syllabi and teaching methods, and most importantly, through training local teachers.     

论网络教师在师生互动中的印象管理

网络教学环境是一个技术支持下的社会化空间,师生在网络环境下处于相对分离的状态,只能通过技术工具与平台实现互动,师生互动是影响网络教学绩效的关键因素之一。由于学生对网络教师的印象不仅会影响他们对网络学习的满意度,而且还会影响学习效果,因此网络教师在师生互动过程中应学会印象管理。网络教师实施有效的印象管理有利于增加师生之间的信任程度,优化网络教学环境下的师生互动效果。网络教师在师生互动过程中的印象管理内含印象动机与印象建构两种成分,前者是指网络教师具备主动促使学生对自己形成好印象的意识与愿望,后者是指网络教师通过适当的策略与方法展现自我形象,调整自己的行为表现,努力让学生对自己形成自己所期望的印象的过程。网络教师的印象管理策略包括基于提升＂教学临场＂的专业化策略、基于社交技能的社会化策略以及基于技术素养的技术性策略。针对网络教师实施印象管理的具体策略,开展实证层面的应用效果和评价研究是未来的努力方向。     

The Strategic Teaching Framework: The use of multimedia in teacher education

Conclusion Teaching needs to be studied in context, as a whole. This approach would require the student to spend much time in classrooms and in reflection. The STF is a learning environment which while not replacing actual teaching experience, can support that experience and allow students to maximise the benefit of the time they do have in the classroom. Students can learn about instructional strategies in a classroom context, tapping into an experienced teacher's knowledge and experience. The motivation for creating the STF was not to ‘teach’ the students the ‘correct’ strategies to use in the classroom, but to support them in constructing and testing their own understanding of the instructional strategies in a classroom context. The next phase of the project will be trials of the STF with pre-service primary teaching students. A copy of the prototype will be installed at Newling Primary School so that the teachers there can become familiar with the project and offer comment. After this exposure to the concept, a survey will be conducted to determine the structure and content of an STF which would support in-service training. Specializations science education, senior secondary students' understanding of biological concepts, applications of multimedia.     

Emotional labor and burnout among Turkish primary school teachers

Emotions play a critical role in teaching, especially in primary schools. Teachers have to manage their feelings in order to sustain a positive classroom climate. Managing feelings as a requirement of work is called emotional labor, which is a relatively new area of research in teaching. The main aim of this research was to investigate the type of emotional labor strategies Turkish primary school teachers often use and whether emotional labor is a predictor of burnout for primary teachers in a Turkish context. Also, the authors explore if there is a significant variation in emotional labor in terms of gender and school type (public/private). A survey was conducted with the participation of 370 primary school teachers from Ankara, Turkey. Results indicated that Turkish primary school teachers mostly engage in genuine emotions in their relationships with students. Female teachers use deep and surface acting strategies more often than males. Also, private school teachers were found to use deep acting strategies and display genuine emotions more often than public school teachers. Finally, it was found that emotional labor is a significant predictor of burnout among Turkish primary school teachers.     

Effective teaching and learning strategies in outdoor education: findings from two residential programmes based in Australia

This paper aims to contribute to on-going discussion about the teaching and learning strategies used in effective outdoor education programmes. A naturalistic inquiry was conducted with two schools that participated in 28-day outdoor education programmes facilitated by the same outdoor provider in Australia. Data were collected through five semi-structured interviews with the school teachers and programme leaders and five focus groups conducted with the students. The Life Effectiveness Questionnaire was also administered to 261 students pre- and post-programme and results confirmed that the outdoor education programmes were producing desired improvements in the students’ perceptions of their general life skills. The findings of the qualitative analysis confirmed the importance of carefully sequenced activities, a facilitative teaching style, and active engagement as teaching and learning strategies. More research is needed to confirm the teaching and learning strategies that should be prioritised in the education of future outdoor education leaders.     

研究性学习在普通高校排球选项课教学中的应用

采用专家访谈法和实地调查法对研究性学习在排球教学中的应用进行了研究.结果表明:学校层面要有效整合校内外教学资源,为排球选项课研究性学习提供必要的软、硬件设施;教师层面要转变观念,在研究性学习的设计、开展、实施、评价过程中发挥积极的作用;学生层面要提高学生积极性,掌握研究性学习的策略.     

Students' understanding of cloud and rainbow formation and teachers' awareness of students' performance

This study describes primary school students’ knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers’ predictions about students’ performance. In our study, primary school students’ (N?=?177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school teachers’ (N?=?110) awareness of students’ understanding was measured with questionnaires and the results will be discussed in relation to teaching experience and the use of different teaching practices. Our results show that students in every grade hold a wide-ranging set of misconceptions that reflect different combinations of their own understanding and learnt scientific knowledge. Teachers tended to overestimate students’ performance and described second-grade students’ knowledge more accurately than fourth- and sixth-grade students’ knowledge. Teachers with less teaching experience were found to less overestimate and more underestimate sixth-grade students’ knowledge than teachers with more teaching experience.     

Teachers using an integrated learning environment to cater for individual learning differences in Hong Kong primary classrooms

Abstract

This article reports on a project which involved enabling teachers in Hong Kong primary schools to use an online integrated learning environment (ILE) to design lesson plans to cater for students with different learning abilities. Teachers explored ways of using technology to enhance student learning. A case-study approach was used to collect data on individual teacher developments and document evolving classroom teaching strategies. The findings revealed that when using the ILE teachers were able to: 1. effectively design and create lessons which catered for different ability groups within the class; 2. employ varied teaching strategies to cater for different learning needs of students in the class; 3. shift from more traditional pedagogical approaches to embracing learner-centred principles which achieve a higher degree of classroom interaction; and 4. collaborate with others, discuss their feelings more honestly, evaluate and reflect on their own practice.     

Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.     

中学田径项目教学中存在的问题及原因分析研究

田径作为学校体育教学的主体内容,贯穿于学校体育的整个过程,有着不可替代的作用随着学校素质教育的执行,但是田径教学的问题也日趋突出。本文对中学田径项目教学开展状况、形式和教学内容设置、师资队伍配置、场地设施现状以及学生对田径项目的兴趣等进行研究,分析田径项目教学存在的问题及原因。同时对影响田径项目教学的主要影响因素进行分析,为中学田径教学提出一些有价值的参考,以促进中学田径项目教学的发展。     

Making learning interesting and its application to the science classroom

Generations of students are graduating from secondary school disinterested in post-secondary study of science or pursuing careers in science-related fields beyond formal education. We propose that destabilising such disinterest among future students requires science educators to begin listening to secondary school students regarding their views of how science learning is made interesting within the science classroom. Studies on students’ interest in response to instructional strategies applied in the classroom communicate the opinions (i.e. the ‘voice’) of students about the strategies they believe make their classroom learning interesting. To this end, this scoping study (1) collects empirical studies that present from various science and non-science academic domains students’ views about how to make classroom learning interesting; (2) identifies common instructional strategies across these domains that make learning interesting; and (3) forwards an instructional framework called TEDI ([T]ransdisciplinary Connections; Mediated [E]ngagement; Meaningful [D]iscovery; and Self-determined [I]nquiry), which may provide secondary school science teachers with a practical instructional approach for making learning science genuinely interesting among their students within the secondary school science classroom context.     

试述在初中英语教学中渗透思政教育的策略与方法

初中阶段是学生成长的关键时期,也是进行思想政治教育的最佳阶段。如今,必须将思想政治教育贯穿于初中教育的始终,促进初中生长远发展。在初中英语教学中渗透思政教育是势在必行的,让初中生在学习英语基础知识的同时,也能够获得思想素质的提升。本文将结合实际教学,从五个方面论述初中英语渗透思政教育的有效策略,旨在为初中英语教师提供教学参考。     

Constructivism-informed variation theory lesson designs in enriching and elevating science learning: Case studies of seamless learning design

The constructivist paradigm opens abundant opportunities for effective knowledge construction in which student build knowledge and continually evaluated and improved their knowledge. The teaching mode under constructivist pedagogy redefines the role of students and the teachers and their interrelationships by creating a nurturing environment. By adapting constructivist framework, this article demonstrates how the variation of learning practices was critical in facilitating Primary 4 students in Singapore to carry out seamless science learning. The variation of learning practices enables the students to explore a particular scientific concept through various learning experience across the contexts. The study adapted the framework of the Objects of Constructivist Learning Model for the improvement of the seamless science learning design. When redesigning the lesson, a conscious effort was made by the teacher to create relevant patterns of variation, that is, varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students discern those critical aspects. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in analyzing seamless learning as well as designing for constructivist learning experiences. The findings have also demonstrated that the complementary practice of constructivist pedagogy with variation theory as a viable and effective approach in seamless science learning, at which it deepened students' understanding through constructing the critical aspects of a phenomenon. Engagement with primary school students in experiencing the variations allowed the translation of theory into practice.