Making Connections in the School Curriculum

Abstract

Possibly the greatest problem now facing citizens and educators is the increasing polarization in society. In this article, I address today’s social and political climate and the challenges it poses to communication and civil discourse. The problem is acute on college and university campuses, as well as in schools. I’ll propose one potential curricular solution, interdisciplinary studies, as a means of opening minds, spurring dialogue, and reducing polarization.     

建立联想机制扩大词汇量

词汇学习是语言学习中的重要组成部分。对大多数中国大学生来说词汇量不足已是英语学习中的一大问题。建立联想机制 ,可以扩大词汇量     

Making Connections: Learning and Teaching Chemistry in Context

Even though several studies have reported positive attitudinal outcomes from context-based chemistry programs, methodological obstacles have prevented researchers from comparing satisfactorily the chemistry-learning outcomes between students who experience a context-based program with those who experience a content-driven program. In this narrative inquiry we are able to address the question: how do the recalled experiences of a student and her teacher in context-based and concept-based chemistry programs compare? From the student’s unique perspective of experiencing both programs with the same teacher, we have constructed our collective account around four themes; namely, the extent to which the student makes connections between chemistry concepts and real-world contexts, developing research independence through engaging in extended experimental investigations related to contexts, learning chemistry concepts through contexts, and conceptual sequencing in a context-based program. The student reported real-world connections between chemistry concepts and contexts, found her engagement in the context-driven tasks interesting and productive, and identified connected sequences of concepts across the contexts studied. Despite difficulties for teachers who are required to shift pedagogies, the student’s lived experiences and outcomes from a context-based program provide some encouragement in working through these issues.     

探析英语语法项目间关联性的建立

心理学研究认为,相对于孤立的新信息而言,有规律或与旧信息联系紧密的新信息更易于为大脑所接受。在一门语言的语法体系中,各语法项目之间存在着不易被察觉的内在联系。通过对不同语法项目进行比较,摸索其中的规律,建立各项目之间的关联,能激发学习者的学习兴趣,有利于他们对所学的知识进行融汇贯通,这对于掌握一门语言的语法知识具有重要意义。     

Making Critical Connections Between Social Studies Teaching and Student Achievement Using NAEP Data Explorer

In this analysis of promising practice, we demonstrate how social studies methods instructors can incorporate data analysis of the 2010 United States History National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP–USH) to facilitate pedagogical aims, engage teacher candidates in critical discourse, and investigate the contexts of teaching and learning. The NAEP data explorer application is a valuable tool for examining social studies theory and practice in relation to student learning outcomes. Our assessment of teacher candidates' responses to the activity leads to the recommendation that NAEP data analysis and results encourage self-evaluation of instructional practices while simultaneously supporting critical interpretations of the NAEP exam.     

Making Connections for Future Directions: Taking religion seriously in the sociology of education

This article argues that a problem for the contemporary sociology of education is that it has operated within a 'secularisation of consciousness paradigm'. This has limited both the depth and the scope of its intellectual enquiries. Sociological analysis which elides a religious dimension not only presents an over-simplified view of social relations in 'the Modern West', but it also fails to make an authentic engagement with many socio-cultural and educational situations internationally, where God is far from dead. The article suggests various ways forward for a reorientation of sociological writing and research.     

Making Connections: Linking Cognitive Psychology and Intervention Research to Improve Comprehension of Struggling Readers

Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of reading comprehension interventions for struggling readers, including students with learning disabilities. Yet, some readers continue to struggle with comprehension despite receiving these interventions. In this article, we argue that an explicit link between cognitive psychology and intervention research contributes to knowledge regarding for whom and under what conditions reading comprehension interventions are most likely to be beneficial. First, we provide a brief overview of a cognitive perspective on reading comprehension. Next, we illustrate an application of this perspective by describing a collaborative project in which we examined interactions among reader characteristics, text properties, and instructional contexts. Last, we highlight directions for future research and implications for practice.     

Making Connections Efficiently: A Comparison of Two Approaches Used by College Students to Construct Networks

This study compared the effects of two approaches to networking. Two intact classes of college students participated in this study. The major focus of this study was to examine the extent to which the mental construction of networks was sufficient for recall to occur. Two intact classes of students participated in this study. Experimental participants were taught to construct their own networks both on paper and mentally while control participants were not. Recall of ideas was assessed at the pretest and at the posttest using a free-written recall task and a multiple-choice test. The results showed that networking mentally is as effective for recalling ideas and more time-efficient than networking on paper. Moreover, participants used different networking modalities depending on the passage to be read and the level of detail they are attempting to recall. The results are promising as they provide college students with a powerful tool that encourages cognitive processing without unnecessarily depleting their time resources. However, the results of this study also reveal that some initial experience with the strategy is necessary.     

Connections:

No abstract available for this article.     

Reading-Writing Connections

Reading and writing are both processes dealingwith language. In a view of invention, lanaguage pro-vides an important foundation, language is not justthe passive copying of an extralinguistic reality, but     

怎样识别串联和并联

电路的串联和并联是初三电学的重点的难点.但是初学者往往不能识别它们,下面我就和同学们交谈一下怎样识别它们的方法.     

Children’s Participation in a Virtual Epidemic in the Science Classroom: Making Connections to Natural Infectious Diseases

This study investigated students’ understanding of a virtual infectious disease in relation to their understanding of natural infectious diseases. Two sixth-grade classrooms of students between the ages of 10 and 12 (46 students) took part in a participatory simulation of a virtual infectious disease, which was integrated into their science curriculum. The results from our analyses reveal that students perceived the simulation as similar to a natural infectious disease and that the immersive components of the simulation afforded students the opportunity to discuss their understandings of natural disease and to compare them to their experiences with the virtual disease. We found that while the virtual disease capitalized on students’ knowledge of natural infectious disease through virtual symptoms, these symptoms may have led students to think of its transfer more as an observable or mechanical event rather than as a biological process. These findings provide helpful indicators to science educators and educational designers interested in creating and integrating online simulations within classroom environments to further students’ conceptual understanding.     

画笔下的莫斯塔尔

I started doing 1)watercolor travel 2)sketches three years ago,in order to move at a slower pace and create richer memories of the places I visited.And so I arrived in Mostar,a small city in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.     

中国人的“缘”:一种文化心理学视野下的解读

我们日常生活中提到的“缘”多指“缘分”、“因缘”、“机缘、机遇”等意。现在中国人心中仍然持有“缘”的观念,按照多少、时间、性质、对象等划分标准,“缘”有多种分类。“缘”的观念的产生既受佛教的影响又有农业经济的原因,还和迷信有关。“缘”在中国人人际关系建立的各过程均发挥着作用,有利于人们的心理健康,但是应该尽量去除“缘”的迷信成分和减少它的消极作用。