A Rational Basis for Engineering College Education

The paradox of engineering education is that it must prepare the student to undertake work in areas unknown at the time he is attending college. An attempt is made to formulate criteria for establishing engineering curricula which will meet this apparently self-contradictory requirement. Rather than basing education on apparatus and techniques possessing high rates of obsolescence, it is suggested that the following be emphasized: the disciplining of the mind; communication techniques, both linguistic and mathematical; the cultural heritage of mankind; the macroscopic properties of the three states of matter; invariant principles of laboratory apparatus; fundamental network theory; and the field concept and radiation.     

Novice Science Teachers: Expectations and Experiences

This project grew out of concerns expressed by several novice teachers about their lack of preparation to deal with common problems in the classroom. Several trends were evident with the teachers involved in this study. They all came to recognize the importance of effective, organized instruction during the term of the study, along with the importance of effective classroom management and discipline skills. This included an emphasis on planning, preparation, and adequate knowledge of subject matter. They all felt that they were well prepared by their college classes in their primary content area, but less prepared in supporting areas of science. It is hoped that this information will be used to further refine teacher education programs at the university level.     

高职学院训练中心建设的若干问题研究

论述了在高职学院工程训练中心建设工作中，无论是管理体制与软件建设、硬件建设、师资队伍建设，还是教学改革，都应该以高职教育的高技能人才培养目标和产学结合人才培养模式为依据，体现出自身的职业技术教育特色与优势。     

Competition,cream‐skimming and department performance within secondary schools1

The performance of departments has been largely neglected in previous studies of subject choice in secondary schools. This is a significant omission because analysis at departmental level enables a fuller assessment of the effects of competition and specialisation on pupil performance. This paper examines relationships between both absolute and value‐added measures of departmental performance and the likelihood of students being entered for examination in a subject. It examines these relationships with reference to four option subjects: French, German, Geography and History. It utilises data from an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded study which examined trends and patterns in departmental effectiveness using a sample of 664 schools which participated in the Yellis monitoring system for a minimum of five years during the period 1995–2002.     

高职院校图书馆电子阅览室的管理

电子阅览室的管理与服务是图书馆的新课题，电子阅览室的管理包括硬件设备和软件系统的维护及管理，人员管理，制度管理，采购管理，收费管理等，要深化电子阅览室的服务内容，使图书馆真成成为学校的三大支柱之一。     

Prioritising progression over proficiency: limitations of teacher-based assessment within technician-level vocational education

This article examines the evolution of assessment policy and practice in technician-level vocational education. Using the example of an advanced-level BTEC National programme in Engineering in one college in the UK, the article highlights how the origins of current assessment practice lie in genuine concerns since the late 1950s about the appropriateness of examination-based assessment for assessing technician engineering skills, resulting in a shift to teacher-based, criterion-referenced assessment and an emphasis on formative feedback. Data are presented from a case study of assessment practice in an engineering department of one college of further and higher education in the UK during the academic years 2006–2008, which investigated salient influences and considerations underpinning lecturers’ constructs of assessment. The study found a departmental ethos of facilitating students to achieve a pass, and the use of assessment methods that would ensure that students got through. However, lecturers were dubious whether their assessment practices developed the proficiency required for students’ progression into HE or employment, and their practices did not appear to have a strong educational or occupational rationale for their approach. We argue that the limitations of teacher-based, criterion-referenced assessment and associated formative assessment practices, of which our study provides an example, contribute to a temptation to simply return to what is deemed more rigorous assessment through examination, which however may well bring back the problems identified in the past, of inappropriate approaches for assessing technician-level skills associated with low success rates.     

Creative listening

The purpose of this article is to: (1) identify the types of subjects used in published speech communication research; (2) report the results of a survey of 100 speech communication departments to determine existing practices and policies regarding the use of subjects in research; (3) explain the potential effects of existing subject selection practices on generalizing from research results; and, (4) provide methods for resolving generality problems arising from subject selection practices and policies. This review indicated excessive use of male college students and subjects enrolled in basic speech communication courses. The departmental survey indicated that most subjects participate as part of a course requirement. The generalizing of speech communication research to non‐college populations is questioned. It also is suggested that researchers should take more cognizance of ethical considerations when requiring subjects to participate in research projects.     

Information Studies for Engineers

This paper proposes objectives for information studies for engineering students derived from several years' experience of teaching this subject at Napier Polytechnic, Edinburgh. Napier's approach to information studies is described and analyzed; sample curricula are appended. Information studies programmes should have both short-and long-term objectives. In the short term to make students more effective users of their university or college library. In the long term to provide lifelong information retrieval and analysis skills which will serve the engineer throughout professional life.     

高职建筑构造课程模块化设置研究

建筑构造课程是高职土木建筑类专业一门重要的专业基础课,将建筑构造课程模块化设置,激励学生主动学习,发挥学生的学习潜能,拓展学生的专业知识面,强化学生的专业技能,培养学生的职业素质和核心能力。模块化的课程结构体系需要充足的硬件设备资源、高素质的师资队伍和灵活的管理体制。     

The departmental rating game: Measure of quantity or quality?

What constitutes quality in graduate education? The most widely accepted definition has been proposed by Cartter who asked recognized scholars to rate departmental excellence in 30 disciplines. Cartter's instructions to the raters could have allowed the influence of a “halo effect” to operate. This is an error in rating which is produced when the particular characteristics being rated are contaminated by the rater's notion of the general worthiness of the object being rated. This study demonstrated that the halo effect related to size variables occurred in the Cartter study. Data were collected from public sources for each department of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and geology rated in the Cartter study as “extremely attractive,” “attractive,” “acceptable plus” and for a random sample of “less than acceptable plus” departments. These data consisted of the following size variables: (1) number of areas of specialization within a department; (2) number of faculty; (3) number of Ph.D. degrees awarded between 1960–64; (4) number of full-time students; (5) number of first year students; and (6) ratio of part-time to full-time students. Tests of statistical significance indicated that these variables differentiated the departmental ratings beyond chance expectation. A graphic illustration is provided for each discipline showing the relationships between the size measures and the mean departmental ratings. Implications of these findings are that measures of size ought not to be confused with measures of quality and that the development of measures of quality is a matter of urgent priority.     

Engineering Difference: Discourses on gender,sexuality and work in a college of technology

ABSTRACT This article explores the reasons behind the continuing underrepresentation of women in science and engineering. Reviewing existing debates, the article argues that there exists an impasse in debates on women in engineering which can be related to the dualistic frameworks within which existing research has tended to work. Explanations for the poor representation of women in these areas tend to emphasise either individual or structural factors, neither of which allow women's agency to be fully understood. Drawing on empirical research which examined the subject choices and occupational decision-making processes of two groups of students in a college of technology (one undertaking a course in traditional 'women's work' and the other a course in a non-traditional area), the analysis here employs a post-structuralist approach, employing aspects of discourse theory, to offer a new understanding of women in engineering and of the relationship between gender, sexuality and work, more generally.     

实行产学合作教育建立面向21世纪需要的工程专科教学模式

本文从高等工科学校教学改革的必要性出发,依据《高等工科学校教学改革实验工程》课题的实践,探讨了在工程专科教学改革中建立“岗位培训型”、“CBE型”、“工程项目型”、“预分配型”教学模式的可行性,总结了实施产学合作教育所取得的初步成果。     

Desiring to Fit: Fostering the Success of Community College Transfer Students in STEM

The United States is experiencing a dire need for individuals who possess training and expertise in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). With over half of the nation’s students entering university environments via community colleges coupled with a large portion of this population majoring in STEM areas, the successful transition and adjustment of community college transfer students is essential to the STEM workforce. This article uses an ex post facto survey research design to examine the socialization factors that impact the transition and adjustment experiences of community college transfer students in STEM disciplines. Two hierarchical regression models are employed to examine the factors that impact the academic and social adjustment of community college transfer students in STEM majors. This research was situated using an adaptation of Weidman’s (1987) Socialization Theoretical Framework. Implications, and recommendations for policy and practice will be provided based on the overall results of this study.     

高职院校二级学院新媒体平台建设探究——以杨凌职业技术学院生物工程分院为例

以杨凌职业技术学院生物工程分院为例,简述了高职院校二级学院新媒体建设的现状,分析了二级学院开展新媒体建设的重要性,从弘扬正确的价值观,提供信息服务功能,加强新媒体平台与学院文化活动的融合与互动,创建专业新媒体团队,加大新媒体平台软硬件投入五个方面,提出了高职院校二级学院新媒体平台建设的独特建议。     

EDUCATIONISTS AND ACADEMICS: RATINGS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS

Relationships between student ratings, instructor pedagogical training, subject‐matter preparation in teaching field, and length of teaching experience were examined for community college university transfer instructors. Moderate but statistically signficant relationships were found between pedagogical training, amount of subject‐matter preparation in teaching area, and the rating subscale of Course Organization and Planning. Results indicated that students tend to give higher ratings to instructors with pedagogical training, while instructors with greater amounts of graduate‐level, subject‐matter preparation tend to receive lower ratings.     

Subject matter competence and the recruitment and retention of secondary science teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of subject matter knowledge in science and the patterns of entering, leaving, and remaining in the teaching profession among college graduates trained to be science teachers. To do this, National Teachers Examination (NTE) Biology and General Science test scores served as the proxy for science subject matter knowledge for a sample of 83 individuals initially certified to teach science in North Carolina during a 4-year period of time. The career patterns of these individuals as science teachers were documented and their work status was identified as nonrecruits, defectors, or career teachers. Using maximum likelihood logistical regression (MLOGIT) analysis, the relationship between career status (the dependent variable) and knowledge of science, race, gender, and the race and status (public or private) of the college from which they graduated was investigated. Of the 83 individuals in the analysis, 30 (36.1%) were identified as nonrecruits, 31 (37.3%) as defectors, and 22 (26.5%) as career teachers. Science subject matter knowledge was found to have a significant (p = .01) effect on the likelihood of being a nonrecruit versus a career teacher. The magnitude of this effect was also important, with the likelihood of being a nonrecruit increasing 120% for every 100-point increase in score on the NTE Biology and General Science tests. Science subject matter knowledge also had a significant effect (p = .05) on the likelihood of being a defector versus a career teacher, with the likelihood increasing 80% for every 100-point increase in NTE Biology and General Science scores. No other significant relationships were found.     

Task,learner, and presentation interactions in television production

What presentation format is best for promoting affective learning via televised instruction? This study showed that for college students, both on-camera authority/model figures and dramatizations can be effective. It also confirmed the importance of considering interactions between presentation method, learning characteristics, and subject matter.     

新高考科目选考制的实施成效分析

为突破传统高考模式下文理区隔造成的负面影响,促进学生完善知识结构,为学生的个性化学习和多元化发展提供可能,新高考改革尝试引入灵活的科目选考制。研究使用改革试点地区的调查数据,系统分析学生的考试科目选择现状,探寻科目选择行为背后的动机,探究科目选择与高考成绩间的关联性。研究发现,科目选考制一方面有效促进了学生开展文理交融的跨学科学习,但另一方面也导致物理科目的选择比例低且逐年缩减。学生考试科目选择行为背后具有多元化的动机,以学科能力和自我发展规划为选科导向的学生,其高考成绩具有相对优势。与之相异,分数策略导向的科目选择反而会造成学生高考成绩下滑。鉴于此,新高考改革在赋予学生选择权的同时,还应建立完善的生涯规划与升学咨询指导体系,提升学生的选择能力与自主意识。     

关于土地资源管理专业高等教育发展的思考

土地资源管理是一门兼有社会科学属性和自然科学属性的交叉性学科,在发展过程中形成了各校的特色。近几年的专业发展出现了文科化的倾向,存在发展方向偏离、学科定位有偏差、人才培养机制有缺陷、师资队伍结构不合理和重教学、轻实践等问题,应该重视。国家应加强对学科发展的监督指导,学校应科学制定学科发展规划,并从师资队伍和教学科研基地建设等方面着手促进土地资源管理专业高等教育的发展。     

Engineering design in the classroom: Is it good science education or is it revolting?

The changing emphasis of science education today includes a shift from a narrowly disciplinary view of science to a more socially and technologically situated perspective. This article reports on the implementation of engineering design projects in about two dozen U. S. secondary science classrooms, following an inservice professional development course conducted at a university engineering college. Using data from an evaluation of the project and three sociological themes—secrecy and ownership, social persuasion and the status of facts, and the relationship between money and science—I argue that technological design projects provide a sociologically fruitful approach for teaching new themes in science education. However, teachers must rethink the nature of their subject matter, something that may be difficult if their training was disciplinary in emphasis.