Comment on “The Educational Relevance of Research in Cognitive Neuroscience”

Byrnes and Fox present a sophisticated approach to the development of useful relations between cognitive neuroscience and education. Their approach, which is similar to approaches advocated by other educational psychologists, emphasizes the importance of findings in cognitive neuroscience to the building of educationally useful models of learning. In contrast to that defensible approach is a popular but simplistic approach that tries to relate the results of individual cognitive neuroscience studies directly to the improvement of teaching. The advantages of the sophisticated approach presented by Byrnes and Fox are discussed and supported for their important roles in the development of productive relations between cognitive neuroscience and education.     

How to Improve My English?

Whenever I saw the winners flaunted(炫耀)their victories(胜利),I felt so sad in myheart.I stared at them,thinking of my hard work.There's an old saying"No pain,no gain."But for me,it's"Much pain,no gain."     

Profiles of Parenting for Low-Income Families and Links to Children’s Preschool Outcomes

Parenting is a multidimensional construct that includes practices, attitudes, and emotional capacity. The aims of the study were to examine variation within parenting through a person-centered approach and the extent to which child and family characteristics were associated with profiles of parenting as well as the link between parenting profiles and children’s preacademic skills, language, and behavior outcomes in preschool. This study used data from low-income, ethnically diverse, preschool-aged children (n = 740) and their parents (n = 713) who were participants in a network of high-quality early care and education programs across the United States. Latent profile analyses uncovered four parenting profiles: (1) low enrichment, conflict-oriented, and distressed parent; (2) average enrichment, conflict-oriented, and distressed parent; (3) low to average enrichment, emotionally close, and low distressed parent; and (4) high enrichment, emotionally close, and low distressed parent. Child (age, minority status) and parent (family structure, home language, maternal age, level of education, school/training status, and depressive symptomatology) characteristics were predictive of being in a particular parenting group. Further, parenting profiles were predictive of children’s preschool outcomes. Implications for intervention and programming are discussed.     

Willing to Think Hard? The Subjective Value of Cognitive Effort in Children

Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities in which children engage. Yet, little is known about how school‐age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in seventy‐three 7‐ to 12‐year‐olds using an effort discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.     

The Goals of Enhancing National and International Cultures. Challenges to Teacher Education?

Can teacher education promote cultural understanding? In the Norwegian context, culture is discussed as a tool to promote change: a crucial theme for teacher educators as a basis for their double role as bearers and communicators of a culture. Among actions undertaken to promote understanding, there are possibilities for cultural exchange in teacher education. A comparative study on INSET in the technical and vocational area in 11 European countries exemplifies a learning process where the individual cultural background had to face interesting challenges to all the participants. Among the proposals: ‘Introduction to cultural knowledge’ as a specific subject matter; reinforcement of foreign language learning and a deeper knowledge in history; research on teacher education as a cultural element; development of competencies among teacher educators to promote knowledge about culture at a national and at an international level; a network of persons and institutions promoting and enhancing the cultural qualifications among teachers and teacher educators.     

Cognitive Neuroscience and Educational Psychology: What Season Is It?

Byrnes and Fox get much right in their review of the relevance of cognitive neuroscience for educational psychology. They are correct that theoretical reduction is to be welcomed. They are also right that neurophysiological findings can constrain psychological theory and that this too is to be welcomed. Their review is on the mark in recommending that educational psychologists must become bilingual in their understanding of neurological terms and their analogous psychological constructs. The one difference in our positions that I do highlight is one of calibration rather than strong disagreement—my level of enthusiasm for scientific reduction in domains related to education is somewhat more muted than that of Byrnes and Fox because of wariness bom of the premature reductive attempts that litter our field.     

How to Improve Students’ Originality in Classroom Teaching

Economic invigoration relies on education. With the rapid advancement of science and technology and the fast development of society, more and more demand has been put on fostering talented people. And how to improve students’originality has become one of the hot topics in Chinese education forum. Beginning with analyzing different foreign language teaching approaches in foreign countries and the general language teaching situation in China, this article holds that enhancing teachers’qualification, analyzing the factors that influ ence students’originality, creating positive classroom atmosphere and conducting creative class activities are indispensable measures of im proving students’originality in classroom teaching.     

The Strategies to Improve Interest of English Study

It‘s universally accepted that interest plays a key role in one‘s study. As a language, English itself is abstract, dull and dry. Besides. the students do not have relevant language environment. So it is likely that the students feel strange and have a distance with English. In order to make English study concrete and interesting, teachers must design class activities based on students‘ interest.     

How to Improve the Effectiveness of Teaching Writing under the New Curriculum?

The requirements of "Curriculum standards" for high school students to write have greatly improved than ever. Thus,in high school,teachers should seriously study teaching materials and "curriculum standards" and pay attention to the importance of English writing instruction,guide and organize students to do English writing to train and improve students’ writing skills and to improve their writing instruction effectiveness.     

How to Improve Listening Skills——in Light of the Information Processing Theory

Using Gagne’s information processing theory to analyze the listening process so as to provide a pedagogical model for L2 learners to solve listening problems as well as to cast some lights on listening teaching.     

How to augment the learning impact of computer simulations? The designs and effects of interactivity and scaffolding

Two investigations were conducted in this study. In the first experiment, the effects of two types of interactivity with a computer simulation were compared: experimentation versus observation interactivity. Experimentation interactivity allows students to use simulations to conduct virtual experiments, whereas observation interactivity allows students to observe segmented video clips of the simulation at their own pace and sequence. In the second experiment, the effects of two types of scaffolding for experimentation interactivity were compared: the driving question versus structured prompt scaffolding. A total of 128 eighth-grade students were involved. The learning outcomes examined include the students’ understanding of the concepts in the simulation, their learning time, total numbers of virtual experiments conducted or observed, and learning efficiency. All four designs resulted in comparable learning gains for the students. The driving question scaffolding resulted in better learning efficiency, whereas the structured prompt scaffolding supported students in conducting more virtual experiments.     

Using Cogenerative Dialogs to Improve Science Teaching and Learning: Challenges and Solutions in High School Students’ Internships

Internships in science research settings have received increasing attention as a means of helping students construct appropriate understandings, practices, tools, and language in scientific activities. To advance student–scientist partnerships beyond the status quo, the study aimed to investigate how cogenerative dialogs (cogens) may help high school students and scientists identify and address challenges collectively. The analysis identified nine major challenges discussed during cogens: (1) the quality and progress of scientific practice in laboratories, (2) the quality of scientists’/assistants’ instructions in classrooms, (3) the quality of student participation in classrooms and homework, (4) students’ absences, including arriving late or leaving early, (5) the quality of administrative support, (6) preparation for scientific presentations, (7) the process of deciding project topics, (8) students’ peer interactions and communication, and (9) students’ physiological needs. The three most salient challenges were “the quality and progress of scientific practice in laboratories” (39%), “the quality of scientists’/assistants’ instructions in classrooms” (20%), and “the quality of student participation in classrooms and homework” (17%). The study shows that cogens allowed students and scientists to agree on teaching modifications that positively influenced teaching and learning processes during the internship, such that issues were reduced from the beginning to the closing stages. Importantly, the challenges and solutions identified by students and scientists in this study provide accounts of first-hand experience as well as insights to aid program directors or coordinators in designing a learning environment that can foster effective practice for internships by avoiding the issues identified in the study.     

How Is The New Year Celebrated In Some Other Countries?

Canada:Instead of clearing away snow.The Canadians pile snow around theirhouses on New Year’s Day to keep away evils.新年那天,加拿大人不但不把雪清除掉,反而在房屋四周堆上雪,以防止邪魔入侵。France:People drink all the wine on New Year’s Eve,therefore,many Frenchpeople spend the New Year’s Day in toxication.人们在新年前夜喝光家中所有的酒,因此许多法国人酩酊大醉过新年。Switzerland:Swiss people go to snow-covered mountains in groups on NewYear’s Day.They hold that playing in ice and snow …     

How to Improve Students’English Listening Comprehension in Middle School

Listening is considered to be one of the most difficult skills in English learning.As one of the receptive skills,listening is the foundation to develop other language skills.For a long period of time,...     

The Job Interview and Cognitive Performance: Does Structure Reduce Performance on Selection Batteries,and Can Explanation of Purpose Improve It?

Structuring job interviews is a method of decreasing bias and increasing the predictive validity of job performance, but research suggests that applicants can react negatively to structure (Chapman & Zweig, 2005) and that negative attitudes about selection tools can predict performance (Hausknecht, Day, & Thomas, 2004). The current exploratory study investigates how structuring the job interview in conjunction with priming the ethnicity and sex of the applicant, and in some conditions providing an explanation of the structure, affected post‐interview cognitive ability performance. Three levels of structure were randomly assigned. Those who experienced a structured interview without an explanation of its purpose scored lower than those who experienced an unstructured interview, but those who experienced a structured interview with an explanation of its purpose did not score lower than those who experienced an unstructured interview. Scores differed for females and Hispanics depending on the structure condition, but not in the same manner. Implications for recruitment, selection, and performance management are discussed.     

How to avoid reputation damage in financial restatement? The role of investor relations management

In order to examine the effects of avoiding reputation damage by investor relations management under certain corporate governance structures and mechanisms, samples of 1120 listed companies are used to research the influence on financial restatements by corporate governance. Then the moderating effects of investor relations management on financial restatements are analyzed. The result is that the more dispersed the equity, the higher the probability of financial restatements will be (This includes the government-controlled companies). Also the higher the proportion of independent directors and the higher the level of investor relations management, the lower the probability of financial restatements will be. Furthermore, as a moderating variable, investor relations management can eliminate the negative effects of corporate governance, enhance the effect of independent directors and reduce the probability of financial restatement.     

How is childhood emotional abuse related to major depression in adulthood? The role of personality and emotion acceptance

Accumulated evidence provides support that childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is related to adult major depressive disorder (MDD) outcomes. However, the psychological mechanisms of this relation are still not well understood. Changes in personality and emotion regulation are indicated to play a mediating role what should be examined in this paper. A sample of 123 MDD inpatients was examined in a prospective observational study with two times of measurement. Patients provided data on childhood trauma history, personality disorder (PD) traits and emotion acceptance. Self- and expert-ratings of depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment. Treatment duration as an objective indicator of treatment outcome was additionally considered. Partial correlation analyses revealed associations between CEA and self-ratings of MDD symptom severity and symptom improvement independent of sexual and physical abuse. Expert-ratings of depression and treatment duration were not related to CEA. Mediation analyses revealed that particularly the factors borderline psychopathology as well as acceptance of pleasant emotions mediated the association of CEA and self-rated MDD symptoms. Passive-aggressive PD traits mediated the link between CEA and a lower self-rated symptom improvement. CEA affect specific personality traits and acceptance of emotions. This association may play a critical role for self-reported depressive symptoms with implications for prevention, psychoeducation, and treatment of MDD.     

陶教授与学生互动谈:How to Improve English?

敬爱的陶叔叔:您好!我是一名初中生,对于我而言,学习英语却总是那么的难,看着别人的英语成绩直线上升,心中有说不出的羡慕。而自己的英语却是一味的下降,最后,对它失去了兴趣。因此,我的成绩一落千丈,遭到老师的批评,家长的教训。我也特别的清楚英语是主课,是必须学习的科目,升高中英语有120分,对于想考上好的高中的我来说,无疑还是在原路上徘徊、思考着。偶然的一次,我在《中学生英语》杂志上看到了《陶教授专栏》,我欣喜万分。我想,也许您可以帮助我,解开我的心灵之锁。陶叔叔,我想请问您:(1)怎样才能把英语学好,而且又轻松?(2)英语听力怎…     

陶教授与学生互动 谈:How to Improve English?

敬爱的陶叔叔:您好!我是一名初中生,对于我而言,学习英语却总是那么的难,看着别人的英浯成绩直线上升,心中有说不出的羡慕。而自己的英语却是一味的下降,最后,对它失去了兴趣。因此,我的成绩一落千丈,遭到老师的批评,家长的教训。我也特别的清楚英语是主课,是必须学习的科目,升高中英语有120分,对于想考上好的高中的我来说.无疑还是在原路上徘徊、思考着。偶然的一次,我在《中学生英语》杂志上看到了《陶教授专栏》,我欣嘉万分。我想,也许您可以帮助我,解开我的心灵之锁。陶叔叔,我想请问您:(1)怎样才能把英浯学好。而且又轻松?(2)英语听力…