Mapping Children’s Discussions of Evidence in Science to Assess Collaboration and Argumentation

The research reported in this paper concerns the development of children’s skills of interpreting and evaluating evidence in science. Previous studies have shown that school teaching often places limited emphasis on the development of these skills, which are necessary for children to engage in scientific debate and decision‐making. The research, undertaken in the United Kingdom, involved four collaborative decision‐making activities to stimulate group discussion, each carried out with five groups of four children (10–11 years old). The research shows how the children evaluated evidence for possible choices and judged whether their evidence was sufficient to support a particular conclusion or the rejection of alternative conclusions. A mapping technique was developed to analyse the discussions and identify different “levels” of argumentation. The authors conclude that suitable collaborative activities that focus on the discussion of evidence can be developed to exercise children’s ability to argue effectively in making decisions.     

Conducting Discussions on Controversial Issues in College Classrooms

Student identity,their dichotomous logical framework,and teachers’ beliefs constitute the major obstacles in conducting classroom discussion on controversial issues. This essay analyzes these obstacles and provides suggestions for teachers in tackling the problems,so that classroom discussions on controversial issues may exert beneficial outcomes.     

Teachers’ Discussions of Emotion in Child Care Centers

Teachers have the opportunity to discuss the emotions of children as they occur in the context of the classroom. As such, teachers play an important role in the socialization of emotions of young children. This observational study examines teachers discussions of emotions in three child care centers. The findings suggest that child care centers are important social contexts for learning about feelings because of ongoing interaction between teachers and children. Teachers in child care centers use various strategies with children to discuss their emotional expressions. They help children learn to identify emotion-related words, to understand the causes of emotion, and to provide them with constructive means of emotion regulation. The implications for teacher-training programs focusing on methods of facilitation of emotional competence and appropriate emotional socialization are presented.     

Discussions about Students’ Writing Ability Development in Senior High School

With the growing communication with western countries,English especially English writing is becoming more and more important while in China,some English teachers still haven’t given enough emphasis on fostering students’writing ability.Here the author will discuss it and give some suggestions.     

Exploring the Role of ‘Gendered' Discourse Styles in Online Science Discussions

In this study, we examined whether gendered discourse styles were evidenced in online, synchronous, physics collaborative learning group discussions, and the extent to which such discourse patterns were related to the uptake of ideas within the group. We defined two discourse styles: the oppositional/direct style, theorized to be the socialized discourse pattern typically used by males, and the aligned/indirect style, theorized to be the socialized discourse pattern typically used by females. Our analysis indicates the presence of both styles in these chats and the styles were generally utilized along theorized, gendered lines. However, we also observed male use of the stereotypically ‘feminine' discourse style and female use of the stereotypically ‘masculine' discourse style. Moreover, we found no main effect for discourse style on the uptake of ideas. The findings indicate that, contrary to prior research in both face-to-face science classroom settings and online physics settings, ideas were taken up at relatively similar rates regardless of the gendered discourse style employed. Design implications of this study are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.     

Engaging Students in Guided Science Inquiry Discussions: Elementary Teachers’ Oral Strategies

This study explores how elementary teachers perceive and use engaging oral strategies (i.e., manners of speaking that encourage students to participate and become engaged in science discussions). It is reported that the strategies employed as well as their frequency varied substantially depending upon on the teachers’ grade level and perceptions. While a kindergarten teacher viewed such strategies negatively and employed only a few figurative directives, fourth-grade teachers viewed them positively, frequently resorting to a variety of speech figures, parallel repetition and engaging questions. It is argued that teachers’ engaging oral strategies are multifunctional, serving important social and cognitive functions.     

Does Time Matter in Improving Mathematical Discussions? The Influence of Mathematical Autonomy

Facilitating students’ transition from less to more mathematically productive engagement in discussions is an important area of investigation. Research on mathematical whole-class discussions has consistently identified facilitating students' mathematical autonomy as a central component of this transition. Additionally, research commonly infers such transitions take time to manifest. The present study examined students' perceived mathematical autonomy and perceived engagement in mathematical discussions over a half year of school. Using hierarchical linear growth-curve modeling, the authors found that although it may take time for students to transition into more mathematically productive engagement in discussions, it may be the development of their mathematical autonomy, rather than mere exposure over time, that facilitates this transition.     

Developing High Quality Decision‐Making Discussions About Biological Conservation in a Normal Classroom Setting

The conservation of biodiversity is an important socio‐scientific issue that is often regarded as a precondition to sustainable development. The foundation for citizens’ understanding of conservation issues can be laid down in formal school education. This research focuses on decision‐making discussions about biological conservation issues among 131 15–16‐year‐old students, to address two main research questions:

1. Can peer group decision‐making discussions, in a normal science lesson setting, help develop students’ personal reasoning in relation to conservation issues?

2. Are there features common to high quality discussions about conservation which might be readily identified by classroom teachers?

Findings indicate the positive value of students taking part in these short decision‐making discussions guided by a structured framework and as part of their normal science classroom activities. Students increase their quality of personal reasoning, and modify their solutions to the issues. The study begins to uncover features about students both as individuals and as members of discussion groups, which can be associated with high quality decision‐making about conservation issues, and which teachers might realistically identify. The work calls for the need to cultivate these features and to integrate them appropriately with learning about the scientific concepts that underpin the theory and practice of conservation management. Such integration will facilitate the development of teaching strategies for dealing effectively with the complex topic of biological conservation; not just in terms of science content, but also in terms of how students are expected to engage with the issues.     

Assessing Online Discussions Working ‘Along the Grain’ of Current Technology and Educational Culture

The paper reports a case study assessing asynchronous text-based online discussion amongst trainee teachers in Britain. It describes the project as working along the grain of current technology and educational culture since it aims to exploit the capabilities of the ICT used (e.blackboard¹) in ways which could be enacted in schools today whilst at the same time giving due attention to modify the constraints of time, place and hierarchy that the ICT revolution threatens in schools. Quantitative and qualitative results are discussed. The relationship between ICT and the wider social, political and cultural context is also discussed. The paper concludes with areas for further research and points to the need to review current assessment cultures in schools.     

What are “Complex Case Discussions” and how do they impact on key-workers?

Previous research has not focussed on defining the abstract, transferable processes which make ongoing consultation successful. This study aimed to explore and define the nature and impact of weekly consultations, or “Complex Case Discussions” (CCDs), with key-workers from two family intervention projects which were facilitated by educational psychologists (EPs) within one local authority (LA). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with key-workers. These were first transcribed and then analysed using thematic analysis. The themes identified fell into three overarching themes: “Process”, “People” and “Impact”. CCDs may lead to a quicker turnaround of families and to more sustainable changes. The key, transferable processes which make CCDs successful and valuable were identified as: time, hypothesising, a tailored approach and questioning assumptions. Due to the small-scale nature of this study, future research may look to apply these principles more widely and evaluate the impact of doing so.     

Teachers’ Discussions Of Students’ Thinking: Meeting The Challenge Of Attending To Students’ Thinking

The purpose of this article is to describe findings from a study of teachers’ social interaction during discussions about students’ thinking. The goal of the discussions was for the teachers to interpret their students’ thinking as revealed from work on non-routine, thought-revealing mathematical tasks, known as model-eliciting activities. The research reported in this article focuses on instances during the discussions when the teachers engaged in what the researcher termed ‘mini-inquiries’, occasions during which the teachers inquired into why their students thought about the associated model-eliciting activities as they did or when the teachers inquired into the underlying mathematical complexities associated with the model-eliciting activities. During these mini-inquiries, the teachers typically engaged in one of four types of interaction patterns that enabled them to meet some of the challenges of attending to students’ thinking that are described in United States reform documents.     

Turner Wanted to Come to China

TurnerwasbornonNovember3,1980.HewasborninasmallvillagenearRichmondinEngland.HisfamilymovedtoTorontoinCanadafiveyears     

They Decided to Fly to Florida

Onecolddayinthemiddleofawinter,MrandMrsRossdecidedtoflytoFloridaforavacation.MrsRosspackedtheirsummerclothesverycarefullythenightbeforetheirdeparture,andthenextmorningtheygotupearlyanddrovedirect-lytotheairport.Whiletheywerewaitingatthecheck-incounter,MrRossbegantoquestionhiswifeaboutthethingsshehadpacked.“Didyouremembermyredbathingsuit?”heasked.“Ofcourse,”sheanswered.“Youdidntforgetourtennisshoes,didyou?”heaskedagain.“Ofcoursenot,”shereplied.Sud-denlytherewasalongsilence.“Whatsw…     

Attention to Intentions—How to Stimulate Strong Intentions to Change

The implementation of educational reforms requires behavioral changes from the teachers involved. Theories on successful behavioral change prescribe the following conditions: teachers need to possess the necessary knowledge and skills, form strong positive intentions to perform the new behavior, and have a supporting environment for change. However, existing approaches to teacher professional development in the context of educational reforms are predominantly aimed at the development of knowledge and skills and at creating a supporting environment, but lack attention to teachers’ intentions to change. In the study described in this article, we performed “motivating-for-educational-change” interviews (MECI) and explored the influence on teachers’ intentions to change in the direction of the proposed national biology education reform, that is, the introduction of a context-based curriculum. The MECI comprised two tools: building on earlier successful experiences and using lesson segments to rearrange instructional approaches. We explored the influence of the MECI technique on the strength and specificity of participating teachers’ intentions. When conducting the MECI, many participants expressed that they now realized how they had already implemented aspects of the reform in their regular instructional approaches. Furthermore, all the participants formulated stronger and more specific intentions to change their regular instructional approach towards that of the proposed reform while taking their regular instructional approach as a starting point.     

because of,thanks to,owing to和due to 辨析

because of ,thanks to,owing to和due to这四个词组都有“由于;因为”的意思,都不能引导从句。但它们的用法各异,现归纳如下: 一、because of是复合介词,其后接名词、代词或动名词、构成介词短语,作状语。例如:     

How to

春天到了,伴着你过冬的手套千万不要丢掉哦,你可以把它变成有趣的手套娃娃!     

Learn to Share,Learn to Looe

Sometimes you give And I take And sometimes I give And you take     

too…to和so as to

too…to是个常用句型结构,一般表示否定意义.例如:My sister is too young to go to school.该句型的enough to结构意义相反,例如上句可以改为:My sister is old enough to go to school. 有时在too…to结构中再加上一个否定词,表示肯定意义.可以加在too前,也可以加在to前.     

too…to和so as to

too…to是个常用句型结构．一般表示否定意义。例如：My sisteris too young to go to school该句型和enough to结构意义相反。