Online Schooling: A Cautionary Tale

In this controversy piece, we portray online learning as growing too fast for existing regulatory structures to oversee and generally as having failed to live up to its potential. Operators, particularly for-profit operators, have generally not produced successful schools. We urge reforms of cyber schooling funding mechanisms, data systems, and oversight.     

The Challenging Role of a Reading Coach,a Cautionary Tale

The purpose of this case study is to describe the challenges one coach faced during the initial implementation of a coaching initiative involving 33 teachers in an urban, high-poverty elementary school. Reading coaches are increasingly expected to play a key role in the professional development efforts to improve reading instruction in order to improve reading achievement for struggling readers. Data sources included initial reading scores for kindergarten and first-graders, pretest and posttest scores of teachers' knowledge, a teacher survey, focus group interviews, project documents, and field notes. Data were analyzed using a mixed methods approach. Findings revealed several challenges that have important implications for research and practice: that teachers encountered new information about teaching early reading that conflicted with their current knowledge, this new information conflicted with their core reading program, teachers had differing perceptions of the role of the reading coach that affected their feelings about the project, and reform efforts are time-intensive.     

Online Periodic Table: A Cautionary Note

The purpose of this study was (a) to evaluate ten online periodic table sources for their accuracy and (b) to compare the types of information and links provided to users. Limited studies have been reported on online periodic table (Diener and Moore 2011; Slocum and Moore in J Chem Educ 86(10):1167, 2009). Chemistry students’ understanding of periodic table is vital for their success in chemistry, and the online periodic table has the potential to advance learners’ understanding of chemical elements and fundamental chemistry concepts (Brito et al. in J Res Sci Teach 42(1):84–111, 2005). The ten sites were compared for accuracy of data with the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (HCP, Haynes in CRC handbook of chemistry and physics: a ready-reference book of chemical and physical data. CRC Press, Boca Raton 2012). The 10 sites are the most visited periodic table Web sites available. Four different elements, carbon, gold, argon, and plutonium, were selected for comparison, and 11 different attributes for each element were identified for evaluating accuracy. A wide variation of accuracy was found among the 10 periodic table sources. Chemicool was the most accurate information provider with 66.67 % accuracy when compared to the HCP. The 22 types of information including meaning of name and use in industry and society provided by these sites were, also, compared. WebElements, “Chemicool”, “Periodic Table Live”, and “the Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements” were the most information providers, providing 86.36 % of information among the 10 Web sites. “WebElements” provides the most links among the 10 Web sites. It was concluded that if an individual teacher or student desires only raw physical data from element, the Internet might not be the best choice.     

The New Evaluation: A Cautionary Note*

Pluralistic education is an educational concept which aims at the development in students of a so-called 'pluralistic attitude'. For its epistemological foundations the concept is based on Dewey and for its educational and psychological underpinning on the Vygotskian tradition. The concepts of activity , dialogue , and the importance of diversity are central. Furthermore, an important tenet is that education can have a real impact on the development of the students. When invited to react to the concept of pluralistic education, a group of teachers show a certain degree of affinity with it: they all hope to educate their students for a positive participation in a pluriform society. They differ from it, however, in some fundamental ways: in their conception of knowledge, in their stressing of security over insecurity, in their individualistic approach to teaching and learning, and in their quite pessimistic view of the possibilities for making a real contribution to the development of their students.     

一只海豚的故事

<正>In the tight confines~1 of a cement enclosure~2, a dolphin swam a repeated pattern of circles.It was twilight and she was alone in the tank.在水泥围成的狭小空间里,一只海豚游来游去,一圈一圈地重复着。天黑了,只有它一个人在水箱里。Earlier that day, she had performed her tricks for the people that flocked to see her, and     

Technology's Tendency to Undermine Serious Study: A Cautionary Note

Technology has transformed the lives of adolescents, including the ways they bully one another. Variously referred to as electronic bullying, online bullying, or cyberbullying, this new method of bullying involves the use of e-mail, instant messaging, Web sites, voting booths, and chat or bash rooms to deliberately pick on and torment others. To combat cyberbullying, educators need to better understand the nature of it and be aware of actions that they can undertake to prevent cyberbullying in the schools.     

俄罗斯传说

Once there were two brothers.One was rich,and one was poor—so poor he had only onehorse to plow his field,and that one died.Indesperation he asked his rich brother to lend him ahorse for just one day.At first his brother refused,butthe poor brother plead…     

A Cautionary Note Concerning the Cox and Stuart Test

A homework assignment led to the observation that the Cox and Stuart test is not symmetric under the transposition of the two variables. Examples of this feature are presented.     

Proportionality Assumption in Latent Basis Curve Models: A Cautionary Note

Latent basis curve models (LBCMs) have been popular in modeling change when the change trajectories are unknown or nonlinear. The estimated change trajectories from LBCMs are often viewed as optimal and used as reference points against which other change trajectories are tested. However, there is a proportionality assumption underlying LBCMs that has received little attention from researchers. This study uses a Monte Carlo simulation to show that violation of this assumption can potentially result in substantially biased estimates of the means and variances of changes and covariate effects on these changes, leading to incorrect statistical inference. The implications of the simulation study are discussed and alternatives to LBCMs are suggested for use when the proportionality assumption is likely to be violated.     

《儿女英雄传》与十三辙

十三辙是指明清以来中国传统戏曲、曲艺等通俗文学押韵用的十三个韵部。关于十三辙的直接来源,目前有如下三说:1.出自明代徐孝的《重订司马温公等韵图经》。提出此说的是赵荫棠。2.源自清代马自援的《等音》和林本裕的《声位》,其中前者更早一些。持此说的是罗常培。3.来源于明末鼓词作家贾凫西和清代《聊斋志异》的作者蒲松龄。持此说的是白云生。以上三说都根据不足。笔者最近发现《儿女英雄传》第三十八回有关于十三辙的一段完整资料,非常可贵,迄今为止音韵学界很少注意到。在本文中,笔者把该书的相关段落全部披露并加以分析,希望能够为音韵学史研究和戏曲学史研究提供一份难得的史料。     

一部女性主义元小说——论《使女的故事》的叙述特质

《使女的故事》采用独特的语言和叙述方式,揭示出一个极端政权对女性实施从身体到心灵的控制。主人公通过讲述女性自己的故事,不断审视叙述在创建历史记录中的作用和意义,质疑父权制度下历史与历史的构建方式,抵抗和颠覆男性话语。大量关于小说本身的叙述使文本充满了元小说的特质,小说文本成为一种纯粹的叙述行为。