Self-report measures of the home learning environment in large scale research: Measurement properties and associations with key developmental outcomes

Favourable home learning environments (HLEs) support children’s literacy, numeracy and social development. In large-scale research, HLE is typically measured by self-report survey, but there is little consistency between studies and many different items and latent constructs are observed. Little is known about the stability of these items and constructs over time when used in either longitudinal research or studies with children with a wide range of ages. A review of the literature shows commonalities and differences between approaches in research on HLE. When we tested the psychometric properties of a short-form measure of HLE with a Rasch item-response-model using longitudinal data from over 1600 Australian families, there was support for two dimensions of HLE—formal and informal learning frequency. We found that this measure was stable over the transitional period from pre-K to school as well as between gender and family language background. There were small but significant associations between the HLE measures and cognitive and behavioural developmental outcomes. We recommend that other measures of HLE could be similarly validated to assess their suitability for use in longitudinal research on learning environments. Recommendations are made for the future development of measures of broader constructs of the HLE.     

试论高校体育教学研究性学习

高校体育教学实施研究性学习是改革教师教学方式和转变学生学习方法的需要,具有实践性、开放性、过程性、问题性、应用性和差异性特点,有一定的实施方法.研究性学习要求体育教师本身具有较强的研究性学习能力,需要教师及时吸纳新知识,更新自身知识结构,更新教育观念,加强研究性学习理念的学习.     

论研究性学习的发展价值

研究性学习可以培养并发展学生的主体性 ,有利于使类主体的智力资源转化成个体的智力资源 ,有利于培养学生可持续发展的能力 ,有助于使学生养成良好的治学之道 ,明晓做人之理。     

Advances in research on classroom dialogue: learning outcomes and assessments

The goal of this special issue is to examine how certain modes of classroom dialogue might contribute to students' learning outcomes. The articles in this special issue share the idea of classroom talk as a problem-oriented dialogue. In other words, an interactional configuration based on exchanges among students and teachers that go beyond the predominantly monologic approaches of classroom talk. In each of the contributions to this special issue, different types of learning outcomes were studied as a result of specific ways of orchestrating classroom dialogue. All in all, the studies in this special issue yield a picture of the field as a productive research area: they provide evidence for the plausibility of the assumption that dialogic orchestrations of classroom talk may produce various desired learning and developmental outcomes in students, depending on what outcomes we want to articulate, and how they are assessed. Although the studies in this special issue yield promising results for future improvements of classroom practice more (preferably longitudinal) research is required.     

Motivational interference in school-leisure conflict and learning outcomes: The differential effects of two value conceptions

It was hypothesized that students' value orientations are connected to their experience of motivational interference in a conflict between a school- and a leisure-related activity as well as to school marks as indicators of learning outcomes. In a self-report study with Italian adolescents (N = 433; M = 14.5 years) using a school-leisure conflict scenario, first, the relations between the 10 values introduced by Schwartz and the Inglehart-based Achievement and Well-being value orientations were investigated. Correlations and multidimensional scaling analysis showed overlaps as well as differences between the two sets of value variables. Regression analyses revealed that the Schwartz values were significantly related to the experience of motivational interference during studying and during leisure as well as to school marks. The inclusion of Achievement and Well-being value orientations explained additional variance of the three dependent variables. The relevance of individual values in explaining students' reactions to motivational conflicts is highlighted.     

Student learning in science simulations: Design features that promote learning gains

This research examines science‐simulation software available for grades 6–12 science courses. The study presented, funded by the National Science Foundation, had two objectives: a literature synthesis and a product review. The literature synthesis examines research findings on grade 6–12 student learning gains and losses using virtual laboratories and science‐simulation software, derived from a review of 79 relevant studies identified. Based on that literature, significant aspects of how such products influence student learning are identified. Tables summarize the research‐based evidence about best practices in instructional design for such virtual lab and simulation products. Some products were then reviewed as case studies to determine in what ways and to what extent they implement such research‐identified best practices. The overall goal was to consider where the most progress is being made in effective virtual‐lab and simulation products, and what directions future development should take. The intent is to inform science educators, teachers, administrators, and policy makers who are using, buying, and examining middle and high school instructional materials. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1050–1078, 2011     

The research environment of universities

Part‐time study is one of the foci of the widening participation agenda in the UK. The experiences of part‐time students, however, have received remarkably little attention from scholars, especially in a comparative context. This paper explores existing historical data going back over a decade to identify the main themes of part‐time experience at a number of UK higher education institutions and how it compares and contrasts with the full‐time experience. The surveys use the Student Satisfaction Approach. The main themes emerging from institutional survey data over time are the work/family/study balance, assessment and feedback, access to learning and catering resources, and students' financial situation. There is sometimes a question of identity, but unlike many studies of part‐time student experience, which focus on aspects of disadvantage, social, and cultural capital, the data for this paper indicate that many part‐time students have a sense of themselves as being ignored or at worst marginalised in contemporary higher education.     

African American female faculty at large research universities: Their need for information

African American female faculty at large research universities are given the same responsibilities as other faculty. They must teach, conduct research, engage in worthwhile service to the university community, and regularly disseminate the results of their work in scholarly publications. Rewards from the university are directly tied to the level of success that the faculty member experiences. The minority label is often a barrier to the African American female faculty member's search for full standing in the university's community of scholars. To overcome this barrier, African American women must find and use the best information available to help them. This includes finding a good mentor, mastering a variety of information sources, and building a strong personal and professional network.Melvin M. Bowie is an associate professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia. She received her A.B. degree in history and French from Tougaloo College; an M.S. in library science from the University of Illinois; and, a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instructional Media from Iowa State University. Her current research interests, including studies carried out for the National Reading Research Center, focus on collection development and resource-based teaching. Her teaching areas include technical services in school media centers, collection development, and administration of school media programs.     

Pains and gains of working in Chinese universities: an academic returnee's journey

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, an increasing number of overseas Chinese PhD graduates have returned to China to develop their career. For these academic returnees, one of the challenges is to (re)construct an academic identity in a familiar context that is also strange because they have been absent for a few years. In this autobiographical paper, the researcher describes and reflects upon the pains and gains experienced when re-entering and working in Chinese universities as a PhD returnee, revealing the process of his academic identity (re)construction when adjusting to different academic assessment policies. This writing offers an individual perspective on the challenges to returnees’ academic identity (re)construction and argues for the need to set up in-between spaces for inter/cross-disciplinary academic discourse between returnees and local scholars at Chinese universities. This paper aims to contribute to pedagogic debate on the development of more open research practices in Chinese universities.     

The universities and the research councils in Britain

The British government supports five semi-independent research councils covering agriculture, medicine, science, social science and the environment. These councils do not follow the same procedure but are an important element in the support of research in universities and in the maintenance of postgraduate students. It is possible that some of these research councils may be brought to an end and this would mean that universities would have to deal directly with the government departments concerned. Their budgets have not expanded at the same rate as the universities; if the same proportion of undergraduates stays on to undertake research and if this increasing number continues to be maintained from council funds, the expenditure on research will decline.

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Résumé Le gouvernement brittannique entretient cing conseils de recherche, relativement autonomes, qui couvrent l'agriculture, la médicine, la science, les sciences sociales et l'environnement. Ces conseils n'utilisent pas les mêmes procédures, mais ils aident puissament la recherche dans les universités ainsi que l'entretien des étudiants de troisième cycle. On envisage de mettre fin à l'existence de certains de ces conseils de recherche et, en ce cas, les universités auraient directement affaire aux départements gouvernementaux qui les concernent. Leurs budgets ne se sont pas étendus au même degré que les universités; si la même proportion d'étudiants reste à l'université pour faire de la recherche et si l'on continue à entretenir sur les fonds des conseils une population croissante, il est évident que les dépenses de recherche iront en diminuant.

     

社会主义核心价值体系视阈中的高校学习型学生党组织建设

社会主义核心价值体系是中国社会意识形态的主体和灵魂,是优秀中华文化在当前时代条件下的重要体现。加强和改进新时期学习型学生党组织建设,高校必须坚持以社会主义核心价值体系为指导,切实增强高校学生党建工作的实效性。     

The research function of universities in Japan

Japan has long led the trend towards privatization of Research andDevelopment (R&D). With the recent establishment of corporate R&Dfacilities overseas, this has become more international in character. Therelative impoverishment of Japanese academic science has only recently begunto be addressed by the government. Despite the neglect, there appears to bea gradual increase in Japanese academic research, but international researchcollaborations are still quite limited in number. There are growing tieswith industry, but industry has been slow to recognize the value of graduateschool training. Stronger links may promote greater research activity, butwithout reforms to the structure of the education system and Ministry ofEducation policies, Japan will not be prepared to meet the challenge of the21st century, and the need for a highly-skilled, innovative workforce.     

The complexities of conducting ethnographic race research

This paper explores the challenges and dilemmas of conducting ethnographic race research in the context of the South African situation, forming part of my ethnographic race research PhD project, conducted in two historically white, single-sex schools in South Africa. First, it critically examines the theoretical dilemmas on crucial issues of objectivity and subjectivity in conducting ethnographic race research. It then explores the role of gatekeepers in determining who does research in predominantly white educational institutions; and shares the challenging accounts on what it was like to break the invisible barriers of difference in order to build social relationships for the purpose of research in very antagonistic environments. Finally, the paper provides some brief critical reflections. Pseudonyms are used for all the respondents, together with the official South African classification system, which refers to Africans as people of African descent and to whites as people of European descent.     

The impact of integrated learning system implementation on student outcomes: Implications for research and evaluation

Recently, studies have been initiated to evaluate computer-based integrated learning systems (ILSs). Among those characterized by good scientific design, few have found the ILS to have positive effects on student achievement or attitudes. These findings might lead one to believe that the ILS has little impact on valued student outcomes. However, in a large national study partially reported in this chapter, it was shown that there may be another explanation for such findings, namely that in most schools ILSs are not being implemented effectively. Analyses of effects of level of implementation on outcome measures revealed that with weak implementation there is little if any positive effect of the ILS and sometimes even a negative effect, whereas with strong implementation, the ILS had a positive effect on student outcomes. The authors argue that evaluation of an ILS before its implementation fully meets the vendor's implementation standards is premature at best and may seriously underestimate the potential effectiveness of the ILS. The authors suggest why school implementation of ILSs may not be optimal, and outline implications of these findings for future ILS research and evaluation.     

The research orientation of British universities

British universities differ considerably in the strength of their research orientation. Those of higher prestige tend to have a stronger orientation towards research, while those of lower prestige have a weaker research orientation, A university that is strongly research oriented in one group of subjects is likely to be so in the others it teaches too. It is the conventional wisdom that a good researcher is likely to be a good teacher at undergraduate level, and the negative relationship between the degree of research orientation and undergraduate wastage rates provides some slight support for this. The relationship between research and teaching seems to be more an indirect one (that anyone with the ability to do good research is likely to have the ability to teach well at university level) than a direct one (research makes a university teacher a better teacher).     

民办学院学风养成教育模式之我见

学风建设是民办高校工作永恒的主题,也是学生工作的重点,学风养成教育更是重中之重。学风养成教育模式的构建有利于促进人才培养质量的提高,因此有着重要的意义。本文即针对此从民办学院学风现状、其学风养成教育模式等方面展开分析论述。     

Black and other minority admissions to large universities: A four-year national survey of policies and outcomes

A survey of 108 large universities indicated that median new black freshmen enrollment has increased nationally to 5% in Fall 1972, from 4% in 1971 and 1970 and 3% in 1969. Open admission for all students was employed by 16% of the schools in 1972 compared to 12% in 1971. Schools were generally employing fewer selection variables in 1972 than previously. Schools with special programs for blacks were down to 54% in 1972 from 60% in 1971, although more special programs for American Indian and Spanish speaking students existed (14% in 1972, 8% in 1971), while private universities cut back considerably in all special programs. Results are discussed in terms of literature on minority admissions and current social trends.This study was sponsored and partially funded by Commission IX (Assessment for Student Development) of the American College Personnel Association. Portions of this study were presented at the American College Personnel Association Convention in Cleveland, April 6, 1973.