Improving student wellbeing: having a say at school

The wellbeing of children and young people remains a concern internationally and an increasing focus of policy, programmes, and teacher professional development in schools. Supporting wellbeing is now central to the realisation of children’s rights, evidenced by an expanding literature linking children’s participation and their wellbeing. As promising as such scholarship might be in advocating for the democratisation of schools, little empirical research has investigated these links. Drawing on relevant findings from a large mixed-methods study in Australia that sought the views of students, principals, teachers, and other staff about wellbeing at school, this paper explores a number of links between student voice and wellbeing. The findings revealed that students understood wellbeing in multifaceted ways, including having a say, being listened to, having rights, and being respected. Further, both students and staff identified positive associations between having a say at school, being recognised (cared for, respected, and valued), and wellbeing.     

From traditional accountability to shared responsibility: the benefits and challenges of student consultants gathering midcourse feedback in college classrooms

The explicit purpose of gathering feedback in college classes is to improve those courses, usually along the lines of structure, organisation, pace, or some other aspect of the course over which the professor typically has control. A potential outcome that is less immediately obvious is the shift that can take place regarding who is responsible and in what ways for the analysis and revision of pedagogical practices at the college level. In this article, I take as a foundation for my discussion the premises of new wave student voice work, and I describe a project through which students were positioned as consultants who gathered midcourse feedback for faculty members. I analyse how those student consultants supported faculty members in revising not only their courses but also their relationships with students – both student consultants and students enrolled in the courses.     

Realizing children's right to participation in early childhood settings: some critical issues in a Norwegian context

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has during recent decades influenced professionals and policy‐makers in Norway as well as in other countries, resulting in changes in documents regulating early childhood institutions. Little is known, however, about the way this right is understood and realized in everyday practice. How is the concept of participation understood by professionals in the field? What issues emerge as problematic in everyday practice? Combining findings from an evaluation study and research from early childhood institutions, it is possible to unravel three problem areas. They are described under these headings: (a) Interpreting participation with a bias towards individualism? (b) Play and playful interaction – an integral part of children's right to participation? (c) Are the youngest children ‘mature’ enough? The article is rounded off by pointing to the need to pay critical attention both to what is happening on policy levels, and to theoretical perspectives influencing the professionals in the field.     

Intelligent design: student perceptions of teaching and learning in large social work classes

Research into the effects of large classes demonstrates that students are disadvantaged in terms of higher order learning because interactions between teachers and students occur at lower cognitive levels. This has significance for social work education, with its emphasis on the development of critical thinking and problem solving, both higher order cognitive skills. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative research that explored social work students’ perceptions of different teaching and learning strategies in a large mental health course designed with reference to principles of student‐centred learning and constructive alignment. Findings revealed that well‐integrated design, relevance to the real world and teacher enthusiasm were seen as most useful by students, rather than particular learning strategies per se. Higher satisfaction ratings and grades were also associated with this student‐centred course compared with an earlier traditional lecture‐style course. The paper concludes that design based on the interplay between diverse learning activities, including lecture input, strengthened the student‐centred orientation of learning and recommends further research that compares learning outcomes associated with these contrasting approaches to professional education.     

Toward professional practice: student learning opportunities through participation in engineering clubs

ABSTRACT

Clubs constitute a prominant co-curricular activity to prepare students for effective professional careers, yet the role of engineering clubs in students' professional formation is poorly understood. This qualitative, comparative case study investigated three student engineering clubs at a large American public university. The clubs included a domestic chemical reaction car competition; a formula racing club that partners with a German team and competes both domestically and internationally; and a humanitarian engineering club centred on service learning projects in developing countries. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with participants (N?=?19) and observations of club work sessions (N?=?27). Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as the analytical framework, the transcribed interviews were coded to characterise the activity in each club. The findings demonstrate that a confluence of elements, especially decision-making rules and division of labour, leads to a fundamentally distinct activity system in each club. Consequently, each club differs in the ways it influences students’ professional formation. More generally, this study illustrates the potential of CHAT for analysis of co-curricular activity that can lead to alternative approaches to activity design.     

From voicing your opinion to politicised voice: a youth-led social justice class at an urban continuation high school

This article examines the work of three urban youths as they designed and taught a social justice class at an urban continuation high school in California, USA. Drawing from a two-year ethnographic study of the project, it shows that youth participants constructed a set of imagined binaries to frame teachers, schoolwork and coercion in opposition to students, voice and liberation. The article examines how the youths distinguished ordinary coercive teaching from their own liberatory teaching, creating a coercive/liberatory binary that served as metaphor for a series of binaries shaping their approach to social justice education: teacher/student, adult/youth and schoolwork/voice. It concludes that although the social justice class accomplished many important aims, the reconstruction of and reliance on a coercive/liberatory binary within the project ultimately limited its effectiveness as a social justice education effort.     

Where practice and theory intersect in the chemistry classroom: using cogenerative dialogue to identify the critical point in science education

This paper argues for an inclusive model of science education practice that attempts to facilitate a relationship between “science and all” by paying particular attention to the development of the relationship between the teacher, students and science. This model hinges on the implementation of cogenerative dialogues between students and teachers. Cogenerative dialogues are a form of structured discourse in which teachers and students engage in a collaborative effort to help identify and implement positive changes in classroom teaching and learning practices. A primary goal of this paper is to introduce a methodological and theoretical framework for conducting cogenerative dialogue that is accessible to classroom teachers and their students. I propose that researchers must learn to disseminate their findings to teachers in ways that are practical, in that they provide teachers with information needed to make concrete connections between the research and their teaching, while continuing to make available the theories that support their findings. Using an integration research framework in conjunction with a temporality of learning model, I introduce a method of disseminating research findings that provides both classroom teachers and researchers with access to different forms of knowledge about cogenerative dialogues in the same paper. In doing so, this article examines the relationships between teacher knowledge and researcher knowledge by exploring the practical application of cogenerative dialogues for classrooms teachers and the theoretical implications of using cogenerative dialogues for researchers.

高校学生工作在创新人才培养中的实践对策研究

随着国际竞争日益激烈、经济全球化日益深化和国家对创新人才培养要求的紧迫,高校学生工作面临巨大挑战。针对高校学生工作在创新人才培养中存在的信仰引导、精神培养、行为示范、环境熏陶等功能发挥不够充分的现状,提出了树立着眼于促进学生全面发展、激发创新潜能的工作理念,采取着力于帮助学生适性发展的工作方法,构建着力于信仰与精神引导、咨询与服务拓展的内容体系,建立着力于鼓励学生创新的工作机制,打造具有职业化、专业化水平的学生工作队伍;营造崇尚科学与学术自由、注重实践与勇于创新的校园文化环境等有利于创新人才培养的高校学生工作实践对策。     

市场竞争中的高校评估及其范式的更新

在市场力量的推动作用下,当今的高校评估不再局限于学校内部,而是依据高校自身设定的使命完成评估的循环过程,以期同步实现问责制。作者提出了一个新的三级评估范式,以对公众需求的信息做出回应。新评估范式的三个等级需要展示学生学习的成果、显示高等教育投资回报率和确保高校的社会效益。在这个三级评估范式中,评估活动根据信息接收端的需求展开,并且上一级的评估总是建立在下一级评估所提供的信息基础之上。     

去圣即凡：中国古代“制作”思维的生成及表现形式

作为一种原创性思维方式的“制作”,其生成和展现的一种内在逻辑和理路表现为,在中国古代儒家传统意识形态话语以及与之相伴而生的自我消解的历史中,逐渐超越了“圣人”、“先王”的身份指涉性,扬弃了以超时空的“道”为终极追求和价值依据的内在规定性,而将其视野复归当下语境与处身其中的主体性情与智识。这可以称之为中国古代“制作”思维生成和展现的一种内在逻辑和理路。     

Enhancing student engagement through practice experience in social work education: the Social Work Studio

It can sometimes be difficult to engage students in ‘real life experiences’ within the classroom. In one Bachelor of Social Work program, the development of a Social Work Studio (the Studio) has provided students with opportunities to engage in simulated social work practice in a safe and supportive environment. This article reports on a small exploratory study of students' responses to a survey that sought their views and reactions to the development of this Studio initiative. Findings were analysed from a sociocultural perspective. They indicate that students' responses to the development of the Studio reflect their emerging constructions of the cultural world of social work.     

从逻辑到实践:当代大学生入党信仰教育的维度建构与效度生成

随着党执政能力的不断提高与高校招生规模的不断扩大,大学生党员人数剧增,信仰教育成为高校党建工作的重要议题。基于七一讲话精神与科学发展观意蕴对大学生入党信仰教育进行从逻辑到实践的路径探究,在信仰教育的维度建构中帮助大学生树立科学信仰,在实践中探寻有效的现实操作增强信仰教育的实效性。     

对初中物理教学情景创设的几点思考

本文从学生的知识和能力的关系,学生学习初中物理的兴趣转化过程,论述情景创设在初中物理教学中的重要性,及创设良好的物理教学情景的一些方法.     

让党旗在社区高扬:关于高校学生社区党建工作的几点思考

当前我国高校学生社区建设及后勤产业化改革不断推进,在学生社区开展大学生党建工作,既是大学生思想政治教育工作的迫切需要,又是大学生党建工作的内在要求。高校必须站在全局的高度,注重大学生社区的文化与环境建设,营造良好育人氛围,强化组织建设,使社区党建工作和院系党建互为补充、相互促进。     

对株洲市城区中学生参与体育活动的态度和动机的调查与分析

利用综合的研究方法对株洲市城区中学生参与体育活动的态度、动机等现状进行了调查与分析。结果表明：中学生对体育活动的态度是比较积极的,具有较强的体育运动倾向,男生对体育活动的态度明显好于女生;在参与体育活动的频度与意识上男生明显高于女生。中学生对参与体育活动的兴趣比较高,对现有的运动项目（如篮球,排球,足球,长跑,羽毛球,舞蹈,乒乓球,体操,武术等）的兴趣比较集中,并且女生兴趣的稳定性要高于男生;保持身体健康和增强体质仍是中学生参与体育活动最主要的目的。     

中学生英语口语学习困难的成因及对策

中学生在英语口语方面有这样那样的困难 ,究其原因 ,有使用英语口语的机会少 ,学业负担重、高考无需口试、外语教师素质等外在因素和学习者的主观因素。针对这些问题 ,教师应当采取一些对策 ,如激发兴趣、增加口试、活跃对话课、培养开口交际能力、充分调动元认知策略等。     

美国早期儿童学习标准的理念与特点——以明尼苏达州3-5岁早期儿童学习标准为例

完善的早期儿童成长标准体系是促进早期教育质量不断提升的根本保证。《早期发展指标:明尼苏达州早期学习标准》将文本的概念框架转化为具体的外在行为,进而收集不同责任机构在应用标准时的真实表现证据,在此基础上观察评估儿童的各项能力发展,以此作为教师改进课程教学计划、社区完善资源服务、家庭实施科学教育以及政策制定者评估标准效果的依据。该标准具有目的呈现清晰,指标描述具体,兼顾文化差异,主体分工明确等特点,对修订与完善我国《3-6岁儿童学习与发展指南》有重要参考价值。     

How clicker use facilitates existing pedagogical practices in higher education: data from interdisciplinary research on student response systems

This article identifies how clicker use can support or augment existing principles of good teaching across different disciplines in higher education. While many of these principles will be familiar to instructors, the link between student response system (SRS) use and existing pedagogical methods is still often unclear, even for scholars who are well read in the literature. Functioning as a resource for both novices and instructors who have already incorporated clickers into their courses, this article synthesizes existing literature and offers empirical data from five courses in three disciplines to show how SRSs can be used to support contemporary pedagogical goals. The authors discuss five exemplary practices, providing sample clicker questions along the way, to show how clickers can be used to facilitate active learning in large courses.     

高校学生党员先进性教育的困境及路径选择

高校学生党员是中国共产党的新生力量,是未来社会主义现代化建设的中坚,对学生党员进行先进性教育具有十分重要的意义。文章分析了目前高校学生党员先进性教育存在的问题和困境,并对如何解决问题提出了对策。