ASSESSING THE APPROACHES TO LEARNING OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS

The reliability and validity of the Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987) is investigated for 352 Nigerian undergraduates. The concepts involved in the SPQ are relevant to Nigerian students and the SPQ scales and subscales were found to be of adequate internal consistency reliability for research purposes. This conclusion was further enhanced by the meaningful factor structure of responses to the SPQ subscales found for the Nigerian sample. However, doubt is cast as to the metric equivalence of SPQ scales across cultures making it difficult to Interpret direct cross‐cultural comparisons of mean scale scores.     

TRANSITION TO SCHOOL: THE EXPERIENCES OF CANADIAN AND IMMIGRANT FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Transition to school for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) places demands on children, parents, and school settings. The unique experiences of parents from diverse backgrounds have not been studied extensively. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 5 Canadian and 5 immigrant families during the transition to school for their children with ASDs. Parent perceptions of support systems during this transition and their experiences with preschool and elementary school staff were analyzed to understand their experiences. Thematic analyses of parent interviews revealed that parents perceived the quality of care during preschool as more supportive than the care received in elementary school. A variety of resources, such as familial, educational, and community support, seemed to help some Canadian and immigrant families in different ways. The transition to school experiences of parents of children with ASDs has important implications for school psychologists who facilitate and mediate parent–school partnerships and interagency collaboration.     

高校内部教育供给中存在的主要问题及对策研究

部分专业师资紧缺,专业老化,层次偏低,管理效益差,观念落后是当前高校内部教育供给中存在的主要问题.为此,需要加强教师队伍建设,正确定位专业、学科的类型和层次,更新办学观念,提高管理效益.     

“一体化”之外──介绍台湾重度智能障碍儿童教育措施与课程内容

对于重度智力障碍的特殊儿童所显现的问题，无论是生理上的，还是心理上的都会严重阻障他们的学习和生活。本文就台湾重度智能障碍儿童的教育措施与课程内容，提出几项重要的、能够运作的模式和原则。     

CLASSROOMS AND CULTURE: THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN SHAPING MOTIVATION AND IDENTITY FOR SCIENCE LEARNING IN INDIGENOUS ADOLESCENTS

Many rural indigenous communities rely on science knowledge and innovation for survival and economic advancement, which requires community members to be motivated for learning science. Children in these communities have been viewed by some as unmotivated due to their low science achievement as they progress in school, particularly into majority secondary schools. Current theories of motivation, such as achievement goal theory, take classroom context into account when examining individual motivation. However, motivational climate can also be considered as tightly woven with the cultural and social practices of a community rather than individual perception. In this study, researchers spent time in two indigenous villages observing classrooms, participating in community events, and talking with community members. During those visits, Attayal/Sediq children in Taiwan (n?=?18) and Mopan Mayan children in Belize (n?=?18) participated in three semi-structured interviews about their experience learning science in school, home, and community. Results indicate that motivation for learning science is closely linked with their identity as science learners. Three themes emerged to illuminate how social practices may or may not support individual identity, and consequently motivation, for learning science—student/teacher relationships, support for learning, and motivational climate. Differences between children in Taiwan and Belize are explored. Implications for motivation theory, educational practice, and policy are discussed.     

POSSIBILITIES AND POTENTIAL BARRIERS: LEARNING TO PLAN FOR DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCIENCE

Research indicates that differentiated practices enhance the likelihood of meeting the needs of students who find literacy learning challenging (Tobin & McInnes, 2008; Tomlinson, 2003). The aim of the professional development project described here was to leverage these findings and to build the foundation for future research exploring if similar outcomes occurred in science. We wanted to examine teachers’ perceptions regarding planning and implementing Differentiated Instruction (DI) in science. Our workshops emphasized multimodal possibilities, so the project draws on research indicating that elementary students are able to demonstrate their understanding of science concepts in a variety of ways (Tippett, 2003) as well as research on DI in the context of language and literacy instruction. The study yielded insights about in-service teachers’ perceptions of the possibilities and potential barriers presented by DI in science.     

SOME UNIQUE EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TELEVISION AND SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

The author attempts to distinguish those unique educational characteristics of television which separate it from other media and which have implications for teaching and learning: distributional and social characteristics, control characteristics, and symbolic (audiovisual) characteristics. The discussion is based on published surveys and on research carried out by the author and his colleagues at the Open University. Ten key issues are identified which relate to the question of how people learn from television, as distinct from other media.     

北京市残疾儿童、少年随班就读调查报告

大力开展残疾儿童少年随班就读是普及残疾儿童义务教育的需要。它既符合国情，是发展残疾儿童少年义务教育的主要形式，也符合国际上残疾儿童少年教育发展的大趋势。“七五”中期至“八五”期间，北京市在开展盲、低视力、聋和重听以及轻度弱智儿童随班就读方面进行了较为广泛的实验。这次对随班就读工作的全面调查和分析，为贯彻北京市特殊教育“九五”发展规划中提出的“巩固、发展、完善、提高”一方针，使北京市残疾儿童随班就读工作发展到一个新的水平，提供借鉴和参考。     

THE USE OF LEARNING PROFILES IN ASSESSMENT AND IN THE EVALUATION OF TEACHING

This paper reports how individual students respond to a nine‐week course in plant anatomy using two teaching techniques: self‐instruction and group interaction.

Students vary widely in their responses to teaching by these techniques. Over the four years of the study (1975–78) four major patterns of response have emerged. These are described as learning profiles. The profiles are composed from curves depicting the attainment of individual students, measured in seven weekly assessment tests given during group sessions. The assessment tests measured performance in four capacities, based on Bloom's criteria, viz. recall of knowledge, comprehension, application and short‐chain problem solving. Learning curves for each of these four capacities were obtained for each individual student. Other variables, e.g. general ability, age, sex, anxiety, motivation, time spent etc. were also determined for each student.

The purpose of the course is to train students to solve problems in plant anatomy. Although strategies for solving long‐chain problems were not practised in groups, the component skills used in their solution were practised in the weekly test items.

From the profile types — i.e. the patterns of individual response to the teaching ‐ it was possible to make some prediction about performance in the final examination, although this examination was predominantly one to test capacity to solve long‐chain, multi‐step problems.     

终身学习背景下培训与继续教育的公平及其政策课题

培训与继续教育在人力资源的持续开发、促进就业、增强劳动者与企业的竞争力、缩小知识与技能差距、促进社会公平方面发挥着不可替代的作用,是我国在构建终身学习体系和学习型社会过程中需要大力加强的领域。本文主要探讨了在我国培训与继续教育需求持续增大且趋向高级化与多样化的背景下,培训与继续教育中不同人群参与机会与成本分担上的差距状况,并从促进培训与继续教育公平的角度,提出应加强制度保障与公共服务体系、完善成本分担机制、促进培训与继续教育机会与内容的多样化等政策建议。     

天津市残疾儿童、少年随班就读调查报告

通过典型调查，就天津市九年义务教育的基本情况、现有的特殊教育评估体系、随班就读的规模、安置形式、分布情况及各界的态度反映和对随班就读的教学、管理、评估与师资培训等十二个方面问题进行研究，反映出天津市随班就读效果的实际情况，并通过调查探索残疾儿童少年成功随班就读的决定因素，为推广随班就读的原则、措施、方法提供理论依据，促进这项事业更快发展。     

上海市残疾儿童、少年随班就读工作调研报告

通过对上海市残疾儿童、少年随班就读工作调查，上海市取得的主要经验表现在组织管理、政策保障、入学鉴定、就学管理、师资培训、教学研究方面，同时对随班就读存在的问题加以明确。本文在对随班就读教师、家长问卷调查结果分析基础上指出：教师和家长在随班就读工作中起重要作用。