Primary pupils' use of information and communication technologies at school and home

Based on survey data from 612 pupils in five English primary schools, this paper investigates children's engagement with information and communication technologies (ICTs) inside and outside the school context. Analysis of the data shows pupils' engagements with ICTs to be often perfunctory and unspectacular, especially within the school setting, where the influence of year group and school attended are prominent. Whilst the majority of children felt that ICT use led to gains in learning, the paper discusses how there was a strong sense of educational uses of ICTs being constrained by the nature of the schools within which 'educational' use was largely framed and often situated. The paper concludes by suggesting possible changes to ICT provision in primary schools, most notably relaxing school restrictions regarding Internet access and developing meaningful dialogues with pupils about future forms of educational ICT use.     

Dissolving boundaries: cross-national co-operation through technology in education

This article reports research on cross-national co-operation through Information and Communications Technology (ICT) within the statutory curricula of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the views and experiences of teachers in partner schools in the north and south of Ireland were sought on the capacity and potential of asynchronous computer conferencing and videoconferencing to generate collaborative work in a cross-border setting, to promote cultural awareness among primary and post-primary pupils, and to improve teacher and pupil competence in ICT. The results showed a significant improvement in ICT competence, and also revealed that technical training, enthusiasm and commitment were the key factors for success, and that not only did the pupils develop an awareness of the cultural identity of distant peers, but their sense of responsibility, self-esteem and motivation grew. This particularly helped less able and quieter pupils. There was unexpected rôle reversal when children helped their teachers within an ICT context, a situation not found elsewhere in the curriculum. Additionally, there were beneficial effects on literacy, group work and independent learning, and the skills acquired were transferable. The commitment of the teachers to continue this cross-national work with limited support is a measure of its potential sustainability.     

Patterns of interaction between teachers' and students' classroom thinking, and their implications for the provision of learning opportunities

This paper reports on a study of teachers' and pupils' perceptions of effective teaching and learning. A total of 13 teachers and 325 pupils (aged between 11 and 12) were observed and interviewed. The central focus of the paper is the interaction that was detected between teachers' and pupils' ways of thinking. A grounded analysis of the interactional data yields support for a transactional theory of learning (the works of Bruner and Haste and Vygotsky are cited in particular). The paper also introduces the idea of a continuum of teaching strategies, and shows how percieved teacher effectiveness can be associated with the teacher's ability and willingness to move freely between different points of the continuum, thereby implicitly rejecting crude dichotomies between teacher-centred and pupil-centred learning. It is shown that pupils claim to benefit from both teacher-centred and pupil-centred strategies when the strategies are selected in order to cater for pupils' specific learning requirements. The greatest coherence in teacher pupil accounts of effective teaching and learning, however, seems to focus on the mid-point of the continuum, described here in terms of “interactive” and “reactive” strategies.     

小学数学探究性学习的教学策略

丰富学生的学习方式,掌握有效的数学学习方法,是新课程强调的重要理念之一,也是学生今后进一步学习的基础。在小学数学教学中,切实有效地实施"探究性学习,"需要创设情景,唤起学生"探究性学习"的需求;提供机会,展开主动有效的探究活动;反思明理,强化探究的知识成果;实践应用,获取数学学习的积极情感,体验成功乐趣。     

小学生综合作业的设计研究与实践

综合作业以综合为主要特征,在教师有目的、有计划的设计指导之下,从学生的兴趣和社会需要出发,融合各学科的特点,侧重知识的整体性和系统性,对作业内容、作业形式、作业时间实行变革,使学生自己建构知识,形成良好的知识结构。综合作业的类型有:研究性作业、活动性作业、操作性作业。综合作业的评价实行:无劣评价,纵向衡量,寓作业于快乐,在快乐中求发展。     

谈学生主体与问题提出

培养学生主体意识,创设了一个良好的学习氛围引导学生观察提问,使学生能针对学习过程中的疑问,会用批判或怀疑的眼光去看待,勇于进行"问题提出";具有"打破沙锅问到底"这样一种精神,凡是都会多问几个"为什么"怎么样",养成提问的习惯,尊重学生学习的合理思考,使学生乐于提出问题;发挥学生的主体作用,使学生在民主、平等、自由的学习环境中学会主动学习,提高学生的学习能力,使学生对自己所从事的数学活动产生一种自我意识、自我分析与自我调整,从而使学生善于恰当的进行"问题提出"。     

Pupils' understanding of combustion

A questionnaire survey of 300, 14 and 15 year-old pupils in England and Spain was carried out to investigate pupils' general ideas about the process of buring and their ideas about specific types of combustion, using open-ended and structured response questions. Pupils' responses were analysed and categories were defined from a classification scheme previously reported by Andersson (1990). A possible model for progression of pupils' ideas about combustion is discussed. Specialization: science teacher education. Specializations: Problem-solving, pupils' alternative concepts, initial teacher education. Specializations: Environmental education, science teacher development (international).     

Careers Education in a Primary School

It is frequently argued that work relating to key areas of pupils' personal and social education starts too late, that it takes place after crucial attitudes, perceptions and understandings have already been developed by pupils. Generally the problem is that work does not start until the secondary stage. This paper describes an evaluation of careers work undertaken with Year 4 pupils in a primary school. In this school, a yearly careers week was held when structured activities were organized around talks about their work given by parents. The researcher found that 5 months after the careers work, the Year 4 pupils remembered much of significance. These findings are then related to a number of theories of career development which support such work early in pupils' careers. The paper concludes by outlining the benefits that careers work in the primary school offers.     

社会关系对小学生孤独感的影响

用问卷法和同伴提名法对876名小学生的亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳与孤独感之间的关系进行研究。结果表明:亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳与小学生孤独感之间存在显著相关;各变量的不同水平之间儿童孤独感存在显著差异;亲子依恋、教师接纳、同伴接纳对儿童的孤独感有较大的预测作用,但在不同性别、年级水平上又存在明显不同。     

Educating teachers in Hong Kong for leadership in the age of the internet: a re-conceptualisation

There is very little argument that one of the major developments to have impacted in schools in the past decade is the rapid and world-wide development of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet. In Hong Kong, reforms in the ICT teacher training policy, and the fact that Hong Kong is a ‘wired’ city, has resulted in pre-service teachers being well versed in the technical competencies of computer usage and its pedagogical manifestations. However, there has been scant attention paid to the fact that students are actively engaged in large-scale autonomous, teacher-less learning via the Internet. In this paper, it is argued that for teachers to be leaders in contemporary classrooms, teacher education programs need to focus more on the deeper and wider implications of ICT and the Internet in education than has hitherto been the practice.     

离异家庭小学生心理压力状况调查

目的:探讨离异家庭小学生心理压力特点并比较不同亚群体离异家庭小学生的心理压力状况的差异。方法:运用问卷法对165名离异家庭小学生的心理压力进行测量。结果:(1)离异家庭小学生总体心理压力水平显著高于完整家庭小学生的总体心理压力水平。来自父母教养、教师、丧失、学业、需要缺乏和不良行为方面的压力事件对离异家庭小学生的影响显著大于对完整家庭小学生的影响;(2)高年龄段学生受到来自丧失和社会两方面压力事件的影响显著大于低年龄段学生受到的影响;(3)父亲文化水平较低的离异家庭小学生受到来自学业方面的压力事件的影响显著大于父亲文化水平高的离异家庭小学生受到的影响,母亲文化水平较低的离异家庭小学生受到来自学业、不良行为方面的压力事件的影响显著大于母亲文化水平高的离异家庭小学生受到的影响;(4)来自需要缺乏、父母教养、不良行为方面的压力事件对离异家庭小学生的快乐感有较大影响。     

Staying on task: can a thinking skills approach support a productive pedagogy for inclusion?

This study investigates the effects of a thinking skills approach on the on task rates of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN). There were three situations: two experimental and one controlled. The experimental situations compared on task rates of 19 primary-aged pupils with SEN in thinking skills (TS) and non-thinking skills (XTS) lessons. These same 19 pupils' on task rates were then compared to the 19 different pupils with SEN in the control situation (CON). The study found that pupils with SEN had significantly higher on task rates in thinking skills lessons compared to the non-thinking skills lessons and pupils with SEN in the control situation. This study also found that pupils' on task rate was directly proportional to the level of thinking skills content in a lesson. In addition it was found that pupils in thinking skills lessons spent significantly more time working collaboratively.     

让学生在课堂中亲近生活

《买东西看什么》这一课的教学活动表明:教学目标源自学生生活;情感激发源自丰富的学生活动;价值体验源自社会生活;指导生活实践源自活动延伸。小学品德课就应该引领孩子在课堂中亲近生活,从生活走向课堂,从课堂回归生活,让他们在感受与领悟中得到收获。     

让学生在课堂中“玩”——《品德与生活》活动化教学形式的实践与体会

《品德与生活》是活动型的综合课程,它以密切联系学生生活的主题活动或游戏为载体,引导学生热爱生活、学习做人为核心,这种主题活动的教学活动方式带有"玩"的色彩。教师在教学中让学生在课堂中"玩",在动态的教育中,闪烁创新的思维,让学生既在"玩"中感知,又在"玩"中体验,并能在"玩"中领悟。科学合理地运用"玩"的策略,才能充分发挥学生的潜能和个性,努力让课堂焕发生机和活力,真正提高思品教学实效。     

Preparing teachers for realistic mathematics education

A shift in mathematics education in the Netherlands towards the so-called realistic approach made it necessary to prepare prospective teachers for a type of curriculum different from what they experienced as pupils. This article describes the characteristics of a preservice programme aiming at this goal and presents an analysis of the development of the student teachers' views of mathematics and mathematics education during the programme as well as their classroom behaviour. This analysis is based on two research studies. The first was a longitudinal study in which the student teachers were followed during years by means of questionnaires and interviews. The second was a study in which graduates from this programme were compared with graduates from a more traditional preparation programme by means of two teacher questionnaires and a pupil questionnaire, the latter measuring the pupils' perceptions of the actual teaching behaviour of the graduates. The teacher education programme appeared to be successful in changing the student teachers' views of mathematics education, especially in the direction of a more inquiry oriented approach, and in promoting effective teacher behaviour in the classroom. As far as their facilitating role as a teacher is concerned, the student teachers seemed to go through a two-stage learning process. Most of them reached the first stage, in which they realize that pupils have different preferences for learning and that a variety of possible explanations for problems should be offered. However, only a small number of student teachers seem to reach the second stage, in which they recognize the principle of building on pupils' own constructions, an important feature of realistic mathematics education. Possible explanations for the low impact of the programme, as well as solutions are discussed.     

Factors associated with successful learning in pupils with dyslexia: a motivational analysis

In 2002, Neil Humphrey and Patricia Mullins published their research into personal constructs and attribution for academic success and failure in dyslexia in BJSE's 'Research Section'. Their work suggested that pupils with dyslexia, in a range of settings, experience real challenges to their self-esteem and that dyslexia leads to 'negative consequences for their self-development'. This article by Robert Burden, Professor of Applied Educational Psychology at the University of Exeter, and Julia Burdett, an experienced teacher and part-time research assistant, challenges those findings.
Robert Burden and Julia Burdett interviewed 50 boys, aged between 11 and 16, attending an independent special school for pupils with dyslexia. The research tools explored the pupils' attitudes to learning and their sense of personal identity. The general levels of depression and 'learned helplessness' revealed were low in sharp contrast to the positive feelings of self-efficacy, locus of control and commitment to effort as an essential learning strategy reported by the pupils. Burden and Burdett explore the consequences of such cognitive self-appraisal for successful learning outcomes in pupils with dyslexia and speculate about the influence of specialist provision upon the positive self-image of the pupils in their study. They state their intention to take their research further with pupils in mainstream settings.     

让学生在空间与图形的学习中经历探究的过程

随着新一轮课程改革的不断深入,倡导学生主动参与探究学习,让学生经历探究的过程,已被广大教师所认同。特别在空间与图形领域,更应抓住新旧知识的连接点,激发学生探究欲望;开展实践探究活动,展现个体建构过程;教给学生学习方法,培养学生探究能力;体验成功喜悦,让学生乐于探究。     

Majoring in Technology Studies at High School and Fostering Learning

A framework for helping low-achieving pupils through reinforcement in technology at high school is presented. Social-cognitive theory, concepts of authentic learning, learning by doing and peer learning all underpin the efforts to remove pupils from the vicious circle of low expectations and failures. The primary goal of modern technology studies is to impart pupils with high cognitive and personal competencies, as an alternative to teaching motor-based skills or memorising-based knowledge. This study's subjects were two groups of pupils who learned technology in an Israeli comprehensive high school. In tenth grade, the pupils became acquainted with the LEGO-Logo learning environment, acquired thinking tools from de Bono's CoRT program and worked in groups or individually on original projects. At the same time, they learned theoretical topics such as the physics of static mechanical systems and computerised technical drawing. In the eleventh and twelfth grades, the pupils took advanced courses in mechanical engineering, such as design of machine parts, automation and control systems. Observations in classes, interviews with the pupils and their parents, and findings from pupil questionnaires indicated an improvement in the pupils' self-efficacy and increased motivation to study at the present and in the future. The main features of the program, in the pupils' eyes, were construction activities, team projects and free study. The major ‘outputs’, in the pupils' eyes, were independence, initiative and interest in their studies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Aspects of Children's Mathematics Anxiety

This study focuses on mathematics anxiety in nine- to eleven-year-old children and compares the mathematics anxiety of pupils taught in a traditional manner with that of pupils whose teachers adopted an alternative teaching approach emphasising problem-solving and discussion of pupils' own informal strategies. One finding is that pupils who were exposed to a traditional approach reported more mathematics anxiety than those who were exposed to the alternative approach, particularly with regard to the social, public aspects of doing mathematics. The question is raised whether it is these public aspects of doing mathematics in the presence of teachers and peers which actually evoke mathematics anxiety in many pupils, and not working with numbers or doing sums. However, the majority of pupils in this study reacted with either high or low anxiety to both aspects of doing mathematics.     

谈小学生作文创新意识的培养

创新是文章的生命力所在。激发学生兴趣,提高学生写作水平,打破传统教学方法,突出创意,开拓新视野,充分挖掘学生潜能,是当前深化小学作文教学改革的新课题。