通识教育核心课程在复旦：变化与审视

复旦大学始终对通识教育进行着积极的探索,通识教育核心课程自2006年推出以来,发生了诸如课程量、开课院系分布以及主讲教师职称等多方面的变化。核心课程实施六年来,有＂得＂也有＂失＂,一方面增强了师生对通识教育理念的认同,突出了课程内容的经典性,有别于传统的公共选修课程;另一方面课程理念上出现了＂混乱＂,课程量上的不足难以确保核心课程的核心地位,课程内容缺乏跨学科性,课程评价向＂学分制＂妥协,课程实施缺乏足够的资源支撑。     

The Teacher Training Program for Doctoral Candidates in History at the University of Wisconsin

Abstract

One question of interdisciplinary education is how to encourage students to draw connections between disciplines and to engage in critical thinking. The authors developed a team-taught interdisciplinary course examining the history and literature of modern revolutions. The first time the course was given, students had difficulty making interdisciplinary connections and did not critically re-examine their assumptions. The authors restructured the course, re-thinking its emphasis, procedures, texts, and assignments, with substantial positive results. They also learned that teachers need to reassess their own ideology and teaching strategies to make interdisciplinary education effective.     

The Reliability of Students' Ratings of Faculty Teaching Effectiveness

Interdisciplinary teaching requires substantial effort to integrate the disciplines, especially when a wide interdisciplinary gap exists, such as when a course bridges the sciences and humanities. Creating successful science/humanities courses requires more than good intentions; it demands awareness of the challenges that faculty encounter in such courses, along with specific strategies to meet these challenges. We compile findings from theories, case studies, and instructional guides in the interdisciplinary literature, along with faculty interviews and our own teaching experience, to present seven main challenges and suggested strategies for each.     

Development and Evaluation of a Computer Literacy Course for Preservice Teachers in Singapore

The problem was to identify topics and concepts for a computer literacy course for preservice teachers in Singapore, to develop curriculum materials, and to evaluate the course in terms of achievement, attitudes towards computers, and reactions to the course by the participants.

The syllabus was designed and curriculum materials were developed for the course. The results of the study showed that the course had been effective in raising the computer literacy achievement of the preservice teachers but not attitudes towards computers. Reactions to the course were favourable and hands-on experience on the computer was considered the most effective aspect of the course.     

Tradition,Authority and Disciplinary Practice in History Education

Abstract

The concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘authority’ are generally understood to be problematical in history curriculum design. Drawing on MacIntyre’s account of disciplines as social practices, this article argues that, to the contrary, these are concepts that need to be incorporated into any curriculum theory that attempts to build a school subject on the foundations provided by an academic discipline. In history education, there is a strong consensus towards deriving the ideas of the history curriculum from the discipline of history, and this article argues that it is therefore necessary for history curriculum theory to account for the concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘authority’ as they exist in disciplinary practice.     

Redefining Interdisciplinary Curriculum: A Journey of Collaboration and Change in Secondary Teacher Education

When beginning to teach a secondary education course focusing on interdisciplinary curriculum together, four women teacher educators determined changes we hoped to make for the following semester. For example, we took up the notions of difference, arts integration, and collaboration all under the umbrella of interdisciplinary curriculum. We were in search of a model of interdisciplinarity that could incorporate our understanding of education and our teaching interests. We designed this model in order to guide our students into identifying themselves as educators rather than purely content-area specialists.Similarly, we saw this course as an opportunity to encourage collaborative practices. We could model team-teaching as our students planned interdisciplinary units together. Likewise, we could demonstrate to our students that transcending their own disciplines allows for more powerful teaching and learning. We saw redefining interdisciplinary curriculum as a route to encourage preservice teachers to teach for social justice and to show teaching's potential as a collaborative profession.This article narrates how we experienced the changes of crossing disciplines, co-teaching sections of the course, exploring arts integration, and providing practical experiences in four different voices. We use our varied voices as we hope the reader may then come to better understand our individual experiences as well as our collaborative journey. While we encountered several roadblocks on our travels, we also found that we offered opportunities for creating new knowledge among ourselves and our students.     

Designing Assessments and Assessing Designs in Virtual Educational Environments

This study used innovative assessment practices to obtain and document broad learning outcomes for a 15-hour game-based curriculum in Quest Atlantis, a multi-user virtual environment that supports school-based participation in socio scientific inquiry in ecological sciences. Design-based methods were used to refine and align the enactment of virtual narrative and scientific investigations to a challenging problem solving assessment and indirectly to achievement test items that were independent of the curriculum. In study one, one-sixth grade teacher used the curriculum in two of his classes and obtained larger gains in understanding and achievement than his two other classes, which used an expository text to learn the same concepts and skills. Further treatment refinements were carried out, and two forms of virtual formative feedback were introduced. In study two, the same teacher used the curriculum in all four of his classes; the revised curriculum resulted in even larger gains in understanding and achievement. Gains averaged 1.1 SD and 0.4 SD, respectively, with greater gains shown for students who engaged more with formative feedback. Principles for assessing designs and designing assessments in virtual environments are presented.

The Systems Approach in Education with Special Consideration of Environmental Education: A Review

Abstract

The Ministry of Education of Israel—through its Center of Curriculum Development—commissioned the development and implementation of environmental education curriculum for grades eleven and twelve in the national educational system. The aim of the curriculum was as follows: “This curriculum will deal with the interrelationships between man and his environment and will develop within students the readiness and the capability for personal contribution and social activity towards the improvement of the environment they are living in.” This aim has been translated and crystallized into a new innovative curricular model which, in turn, determines the characteristics, the processes, and the products of the Israeli Environmental Education Project (IEEP). This interdisciplinary, science-, student-, and value-oriented model is based on our contention that environmental education (EE) is problem-oriented education about the environment, in the environment, and for the environment and the human being as part of it, in which the wholistic, interdisciplinary system approach is used for the analysis of issues and the working out of possible alternative solutions. IEEP is currently in the stage of massive development, field testing, and initial implementation.     

School Management Teams’ Instructional Leadership Role in Closing the Achievement Gap in Impoverished Schools

Abstract

Although the South African government has made numerous strides in addressing equity and social justice in education, significant inequalities still exist in learner performance, especially in many impoverished schools. One of the reasons cited for poor learner achievement is the ineffective leadership role of school management teams (SMTs). This article reports on a study that explored the instructional leadership role of SMTs of public schools with the view to closing the achievement gap in poor performing schools. To gain better insights into the SMTs’ realities and experiences of their work as curriculum leaders, qualitative research located within the interpretivist paradigm was undertaken. The findings revealed that SMTs of impoverished schools exhibit consistently low to moderate instructional leadership competencies which ultimately affect student learning. In order to close the achievement gap in poor performing schools, SMTs should play a more pronounced instructional leadership role by leading and managing core curriculum matters and educational resources effectively and efficiently.     

Creative Teaching

Decoding disciplinary expertise for novices is increasingly part of the undergraduate curriculum. But how might area studies and other interdisciplinary programs, which require integration of courses from multiple disciplines, decode expertise in a similar fashion? Additionally, as a part of decoding area studies and interdisciplines, how might a sequential experience of library-based research practice support that curriculum? Finally, how might a program introduce students to fellowships and career opportunities in the field early in their studies? Area studies and interdisciplinary departments face particular challenges in this regard because of multiple entry points into the major and the lack of a consistent pattern of student movement through the major (due to students studying abroad or because of the array of different disciplinary courses comprising individual programs of study). A tested course designed to address these issues, and adaptable for other area studies or interdisciplinary programs, is part of the required curriculum for Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.     

Teacher use of the interactive whiteboard in primary schools: towards an effective transition framework

abstract

The growing use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in primary school teaching forms part of a number of initiatives within the schools of the United Kingdom to develop the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. The IWB presents both challenges and opportunities to teachers, particularly in terms of staff development and training. This study uses classroom observation and semi-structured interviews with teachers now working in a recently built, technology-rich primary school to develop a generic progressive framework and developmental model for schools introducing the IWB. This framework can be used to assess and guide teacher progress on the continuum towards becoming a ‘synergistic user’. As teachers make this transition there is a fundamental requirement to adopt an interactive teaching style, alongside the gradual development of specific ICT skills. The study also examines implications for teacher education and training for schools, both prior and subsequent to the introduction of the IWB into classroom use. These include specific technical and pedagogical competencies which need to be addressed for effective interactive use of the IWB in classroom teaching     

新工科背景下跨学科人才培养的探索与实践

新工科建设正在引领高等工程教育的深刻变革.未来的工程教育应以新科技革命和产业变革为驱动,整合多个学科领域的知识,以培养具有前瞻交叉思维、能解决复杂工程问题的复合型创新人才为目标,适应和引领未来工程技术的不断发展.本文首先对“跨学科”的概念及内涵进行了概述,其次介绍了国内外跨学科人才培养的现状和发展趋势,最后针对跨学科课...     

Grade Placement of High-School Biology

Abstract

Using 35 elementary schools (3,350 fourth and sixth grade students), 10 secondary schools (3,613 eight and eleventh grade students), and 1,145 teachers, this study presents data summarizing the relationships between student' perceptions of "verified" principal competencies and selected school climate indices and outcome variables. The results indicated that there is a general tendency for positive teacher attitudes towards various dimensions of the school and working environment and higher student standardized achievement test performance to be associated with students' reports of a low frequency of interaction with die principal. A student "independence factor" was hypothesized to account for these results, with the implication being that principal/student interaction is minimized in schools where teacher and student attitudes are positive and student achievement is high. In addition, effective principal performance in dealing with student misbehavior was highly and positively associated with school average daily attendance at the secondary level. Supplementary analyses indicated that teacher and student attitudes "mediating" the school environment were relatively independent for both elementary and secondary samples. General support was found for higher correlations between student assessments of principal competencies and school environment measures than with student performance measures.     

高校“课程思政”协同育人体系构建研究

2016年底全国高校思想政治工作会议上,习近平总书记提出了各类课程与思想政治理论课同向同行,形成协同效应的新思路。当前,国内学者已对"课程思政"的必要性和重要性达成了共识,对影响"课程思政"实施的关键因素进行了分析,开始尝试构建"同向同行、协同育人"的新机制,并对"课程思政"的具体方法进行了理论探索与尝试性实践。为进一步推动"课程思政"改革,高校需以"思路攻坚"统一认识,以"师资攻坚"壮大力量,以"教材攻坚"丰富供给,以"教法攻坚"改善课堂,以"机制攻坚"明确方向。并在此原则下构建"课程思政"协同育人的体系,以道术合一推进理论课程协同育人,立德笃行推进实践课程协同育人,线上线下推进网络课程协同育人,善思善用推进项目课程协同创新,内外兼修推进补充课程协同育人,显隐相融推进专业课程协同育人。     

Best Practices for an Interdisciplinary Team-Taught Course

In the interdisciplinary course, Aging to Infancy: A Life Course Retrospective, the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for education were embraced through the role modeling provided by faculty both across and between disciplines. Over the five years since its creation, the course has introduced students to aging in a positive manner, establishing the foundation for higher level courses within each program's curriculum. The course also introduces students to the interdisciplinary healthcare team and reinforces the need for practitioners who value the interdisciplinary approach and expect it in their place of work. These are best practices for an interdisciplinary course.     

浅谈新工科背景下电子信息类课程群建设

在建设"新工科"背景下,围绕山东农业大学"双一流"学校建设目标,针对电子信息类等工科专业目前的课程体系群无法适应创新驱动发展战略的要求,建立一个能够促进学科交叉融合和培养持续创新能力的课程体系群,势在必行。     

The identification of threshold concepts: a review of theoretical complexities and methodological challenges

While the study of threshold concepts is a growing area of research, their identification has not proven to be an easy process. However, identification matters because of the potential impact of threshold concepts on the learning experiences of students. A dialogue amongst lecturers and/or students is common to the literature on identification of threshold concepts. This dialogue, with the inclusion of educational developers, has been called ‘transactional curriculum inquiry’ (Cousin in Researching learning in higher education, Routledge, New York, 2009). Diverse methods across a variety of disciplines have explored the identification of threshold concepts, including semi-structured interviews, analysis of exam responses and observation of classroom behaviour. A selection of these methods and disciplines is discussed in order to highlight two main challenges inherent in the identification process: first, the involvement of the wider professional and/or public community, and second, a lack of agreement amongst research participants about the threshold concepts within disciplines. This paper proposes that the transactional curriculum inquiry process should be extended to involve parties beyond the educational realm (e.g. the professional community) and that the use of consensus methodology offers the potential to facilitate agreement across the transactional process.     

面向情境体验的在线学习课程设计

情境认知理论和体验式学习理论强调知识在实际情境中的迁移,重视学习者在学习中的情境体验和经验对学习的重要作用。基于这一理论,可以建立面向情境体验的在线学习课程框架。该框架采用“主题一专题一体验圈”的组织形式,强调导学情境、交流研讨、多媒体呈现、拟真任务设计、反思与总结等策略。将这一设计框架应用到《多元智能教学应用》在线学习课程实例的设计与开发中,可以得出两点主要结论：一是在情境体验学习理论的指导下,学习者的整体学业成绩高于平均水平;二是学习者对该在线课程的总体框架和学习体验的满意度均较高。