Effects of class size and adaptive teaching competency on classroom processes and academic outcome

In many studies of class size effects, teacher characteristics are missing, even though many argue it is not class size that is important but teacher quality. In the present study teachers' effectiveness on the learning progress was assessed while teaching a unit with predefined learning objectives. To measure adaptive teaching competency a multi-method approach was employed (e.g., vignette and video test). There were 49 teachers and 898 students. Smaller classes led to higher academic learning progresses, better knowledge of students, and better classroom processes. Adaptive teacher competency remained relevant in smaller classes, that is, class size and teacher quality were independently important.     

Learning oceanography from a computer simulation compared with direct experience at sea

Considerable research has compared how students learn science from computer simulations with how they learn from “traditional” classes. Little research has compared how students learn science from computer simulations with how they learn from direct experience in the real environment on which the simulations are based. This study compared two college classes studying introductory oceanography. One class learned using an interactive computer simulation based on a dynamic, three‐dimensional model of physical oceanography. The other class learned by spending a day on a research ship using scientific tools and instruments to measure physical properties of the ocean directly. In classes preceding and following the simulation or field experience, students performed the same exercises regarding currents and salinity, had the same instructor presentations, and did the same homework. The study found that the field experience helped contextualize learning for students with little prior experience of the ocean while the simulation made it easier for students to connect what they learned from it to other content they learned in class. These and other findings shed light on what computer simulations can and cannot help students learn, and what concepts are best learned in the real environment. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 25–42, 2006     

One Hundred Thirty "Foreign Ph.D.s" Settle Down in the Pioneering Park : Two Are Elected to the Political Consultative Conference

In the effort to grasp the key link of class struggle and bring order to schools, many schools in Liaoning province have regrouped students into different classes according to their scholastic attainments. This is an effective measure that gives a powerful impetus to teaching quality. Regrouping students according to their performance in study aims to teach students in accordance with actual conditions and the students' aptitude. In this way, all students who are of different study levels can improve somewhat from their original bases, thus universally raising the quality of education and making it possible to train more qualified personnel faster for the four modernizations. Nevertheless, in grasping the key classes some schools have relaxed their demands on and control of classes that fall behind. They even go so far as to let such classes drift. This problem merits our attention and should be solved promptly.     

Effects of Class Size and Equipment Availability on Student Involvement in Physical Education

This study examined the effects of two different environmental conditions upon the classroom behaviors of teachers and students. Three primary school physical education teachers were videotaped teaching introductory soccer lessons to year 5 and 6 students. Class sizes were 12, 24, and 44; equipment availability was either unlimited or limited to two balls and four markers. The “academic learning time-physical education” instrument was used to measure teachers’ time allocations to subject matter and student involvement. Students in the double-sized class conditions spent significantly more time in nonacademic tasks and in game/scrimmage motor activities, whereas more time in the half-sized class condition was spent in skill practice. Student involvement showed significantly more motor-appropriate activity and more cognitive and less organizational activity in classes where there were unlimited amounts of equipment available, irrespective of class size. These data are interpreted as demonstrating that teacher decision making and resultant pupil opportunity to respond are strongly influenced by environmental variables and that such influence can be both systematic and predictable. The reporting of significant environmental features and increased attention to their effects is thus seen as essential for future research in the teaching of physical education.     

高校文献检索课教学改革探析

文检课教学是高校培养大学生创新能力的重要途径,为了适应形势发展的需要,文检课的教学内容有待于更新,教学方法有待于改善,教学目的有待于强化,实践教学有待于加强和改进,加快文检课教学改革已是当务之急。本文对文检课教学实践进行有益的探讨,以求达到促进文检课教学改革、提高文检课教学质量之目的。     

篮球和健美操班大学生身体自尊特点分析

采用身体自尊量表对体育专业健美操和篮球两个专选班大学生进行测查,结果表明,篮球与健美操两个班大学生的身体自尊特点具有显著差异,表现在一般身体自我价值感和次领域的三个维度的6个项目上。在篮球与健美操专选班中,男、女大学生的身体自尊在不同维度部分项目上具有显著差异。     

Teachers developing assessment for learning: impact on student achievement

While it is generally acknowledged that increased use of formative assessment (or assessment for learning) leads to higher quality learning, it is often claimed that the pressure in schools to improve the results achieved by students in externally‐set tests and examinations precludes its use. This paper reports on the achievement of secondary school students who worked in classrooms where teachers made time to develop formative assessment strategies. A total of 24 teachers (2 science and 2 mathematics teachers, in each of six schools in two LEAs) were supported over a six‐month period in exploring and planning their approach to formative assessment, and then, beginning in September 1999, the teachers put these plans into action with selected classes. In order to compute effect sizes, a measure of prior attainment and at least one comparison group was established for each class (typically either an equivalent class taught in the previous year by the same teacher, or a parallel class taught by another teacher). The mean effect size in favour of the intervention was 0.32.     

Project Clarion: Three Years of Science Instruction in Title I Schools among K-Third Grade Students

The purpose of the study was to measure the effects of higher level, inquiry-based science curricula on students at primary level in Title I schools. Approximately 3,300 K-3 students from six schools were assigned to experimental or control classes (N?=?115 total) on a random basis according to class. Experimental students were exposed to concept-based science curriculum that emphasized ??deep learning?? though concept mastery and investigation, whereas control classes learned science from traditional school-based curricula. Two ability measures, the Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised (BBCS-R, Bracken 1998) and the Naglieri Nonverbal Intelligence Test (NNAT, Naglieri 1991), were used for baseline information. Additionally, a standardized measure of student achievement in science (the MAT-8 science subtest), a standardized measure of critical thinking, and a measure for observing teachers?? classroom behaviors were used to assess learning outcomes. Results indicated that all ability groups of students benefited from the science inquiry-based approach to learning that emphasized science concepts, and that there was a positive achievement effect for low socio-economic young children who were exposed to such a curriculum.     

篮球和健美操班大学生身体自尊特点分析

采用身体自尊量表对体育专业健美操和篮球两个专选班大学生进行测查，结果表明，篮球与健美操两个班大学生的身体自尊特点具有显著差异，表现在一般身体自我价值感和次领域的三个维度的6个项目上。在篮球与健美操专选班中，男、女大学生的身体自尊在不同维度部分项目上具有显著差异。     

The effect of grouping of laboratory students on selected educational outcomes

The purpose of this study was to discover if grouping students in the laboratory on the basis of their formal reasoning ability affected (1) their science content achievement, (2) their formal reasoning ability, (3) the learning environment in the laboratory, and (4) the relationships between individuals in a particular group. The laboratory groups for three physical science classes for preservice elementary teachers were arranged as follows: (1) one class with students of unequal reasoning ability grouped together, i.e., one highly developed formal reasoner per group (the heterogeneous group), (2) one class with students of similar reasoning ability grouped together (the homogeneous group), and (3) one class arranged in groups according to the desires of the class members (the student choice group). The three classes were compared using pre-and post-scores on content and formal reasoning instruments and scores for classroom environment and social relationships. Results indicated that the groupings as described had significantly different effects on science content achievement but not on any of the other questions posed above. The students in the class with laboratory teams grouped by student choice had significantly lower science content scores than the students in the classes with teams formed using either the heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping procedures. The difference between the heterogeneously and homogeneously grouped classes was not significant at the 0.05 level.     

Spatial metaphors and writing hypertexts: Study within schools

This article deals with the writing of hypertext during regular school lessons. We suppose that hypertext-environments can be used as “cognitive tools” to promote the comprehension of semantic relationships within a subject and the reflection about knowledge structures. From research on learning by writing traditional text (Bereiter &; Scardamalia 1987), it can be expected that the constitutive features of “hypertext” must be comprehensible for leaner. In this study, we focus in particular on the question: Which metaphors are helpful to introduce the main idea of “hypertext” as a cognitive tool? In an explorative field study, we examined two parallel classes constructing hypertexts during their regular school lessons. The teachers in both classes used completely different metaphors to introduce the concept of hypertext. The metaphor chosen influenced both the structures of the completed hypertext-documents and the discussion about the subject matter. The space-metaphor seems to be especially appropriate to introduce the concept of hypertext to the learner in such a way that a creative interaction between the structure of the hypertext and the semantic structure of the subject could result. Three tests were administered to measure the degree to which knowledge about semantic relations and structures was acquired. The class that had discussed hypertext with spatial metaphors showed significantly better results than the parallel class.     

幼儿园公开课的反思

幼儿园公开课具有促进教师专业成长,实践探索,教学教研交流的作用。但是同时也存在一些问题,公开课异化在教学内容、形式和评价中体现出来。本文通过分析这些异化现象及其产生原因,对公开课异化现象的反思,提出相应重构幼儿园公开课的建议。     

MFV-Class: a multi-faceted visualization tool of object classes

Classes are key software components in an object-oriented software system. In many industrial OO software systems,there are some classes that have complicated structure and relationships. So in the processes of software maintenance,testing,software reengineering,software reuse and software restructure,it is a challenge for software engineers to understand these classes thoroughly. This paper proposes a class comprehension model based on constructivist learning theory,and implements a software visualization tool(MFV-Class)to help in the comprehension of a class. The tool provides multiple views of class to uncover manifold facets of class contents. It enables visualizing three object-oriented metrics of classes to help users focus on the understanding process. A case study was conducted to evaluate our approach and the toolkit.     

MFV-Class: a multi-faceted visualization tool of object classes

INTRODUCTION The increasingly complex and large number ofsoftware products in today’s software industrymakes the tasks of software maintenance, softwarereuse and software restructuring more and moredifficult. With the popularity of the object-orientedprogramming paradigm, the ability to reverse en-gineer and understand object-oriented legacy sys-tems has become an important problem to be ad-dressed. In the object-oriented reverse engineering(OORE) research area, most researchers f…     

Class‐size and Learning: the Tennessee experiment — what follows?

Abstract

The exceptionally large ‘Tennessee experiment’ — involving 7000 pupils — to elucidate the effects of class‐size on primary school pupils’ rate of learning has been widely interpreted as showing convincingly that classes of 15 pupils learn more rapidly, in an important sense, than classes of 24 pupils. The present re‐analysis in terms of value‐added in learning — the annual increase in SAT scores (rather than the absolute levels of those scores) — indicates that the benefits to average children resulting simply from a lowering of class‐size, while positive, are negligible in magnitude and not justifiable in relation to the additional economic resources required. The paper suggests that benefits are more likely to result from targeting additional resources to improved teaching styles, improved teaching materials and providing small classes for pupils with recognised learning difficulties; further research on class‐size needs to concentrate on the correct proportion of low‐attaining pupils that would benefit from attending small classes, the optimal size of such classes, and the fractions of the day which pupils with varying difficulties should attend small and normal‐sized classes.     

Implementation of Game-transformed Inquiry-based Learning to Promote the Understanding of and Motivation to Learn Chemistry

Many studies have used the potential of computer games to promote students’ attitudes toward learning and increase their learning performance. A few studies have transformed scientific content into computer games or developed games with scientific content. In this paper, we employed students’ common misconceptions of chemistry regarding the properties of liquid to develop a computer game. Daily life situations and everyday phenomena related to the chemical understanding of the properties of liquid were also taken into account. Afterward, we applied a process-oriented, inquiry-based active learning approach to implement the game in a Thai high school chemistry course. We studied the implementation of a game-transformed inquiry-based learning class by comparing it to a conventional inquiry-based learning class. The results of this study include aspects of students’ conceptual understanding of chemistry and their motivation to learn chemistry. We found that students in both the game-transformed inquiry-based learning class and conventional inquiry-based learning class had a significantly increased conceptual understanding of chemistry. There was also a significant difference between the gains of both classes between the pre- and post-conceptual understanding scores. Moreover, the post-conceptual understanding scores of students in the two classes were significantly different. These findings support the notion that students can better comprehend chemistry concepts through a computer game, especially when integrated with the process-oriented, inquiry-based learning approach. The findings of this study also highlight the game-transformed inquiry-based learning approach’s support of students’ motivation to learn chemistry.

     

Classroom Learning Environment of City and Kibbutz Biology Classrooms in Israel

Summaries

English

The Learning Environment Inventory (LEI), adapted to conditions in Israeli schools and factor analysed on an Israeli sample, was administered to 572 students in 10th‐grade biology classes. Fourteen classes were in urban schools, six in Kibbutz district schools. All classes used the same BSCS (yellow version) curriculum. Seven out of the nine scales of the LEI Israeli version yielded significantly different scores for urban and Kibbutz samples indicating a more positive social learning climate in the Kibbutz than in the city. Differences were most marked on scales assessing cohesiveness, favouritism and cliquishness. Results were interpreted to indicate that social climate in classrooms is influenced by school‐wide policies regarding relationships in school, and not only by within‐class factors such as curriculum and teaching method.     

An analysis of the nature of classroom activities: A comparative study of an immersion English class and a non-immersion English class in the mainland of China

This study was designed to investigate the nature of activities in an immersion English class and a non-immersion English class in the mainland of China, and to find out the differences between these two types of class through data gained from observation and interviews. Spoken discourse analysis was used to analyze the data, where Engeström??s activity complex system was used as the analytical framework to examine the nature of activities in the two types of classes. The results showed that it is the dynamic and situated nature of activity that makes a difference between the activities in these two classes. The interaction among the activity components, the social relations emerging through the process, the use of target language as the main mediational tool, and the subject content revealed in the activities enhance our emic understanding of the nature of activities. Implications can be drawn for English language teaching and for students?? English language learning for the schools in the mainland of China. This study contributes to both immersion education and classroom interaction.     

Introducing teaching cases with face-to-face and computer-mediated discussion: Two multi-classroom quasi-experiments

Two studies were conducted in multisection introductory child and adolescent development classes to determine effects of introducing abbreviated teaching case studies that were then discussed either in face-to-face or online formats. Students receiving teaching case studies in either format in both classes showed improved ability to critically analyze probe and final cases compared to control participants. Both case study groups in the child development class also showed increased application of psychological concepts in analyzing new cases. No differences in course knowledge were expected as a function of condition and none were found. Hypothesized case-related increases in efficacy for teaching also were not observed. Results were interpreted as supporting a case analysis approach in educational psychology classes and use of online methods for presentation and discussion of abbreviated cases.     

关于大学英语分级教学后初级班教学的思考

在实施大学英语分级教学后，初级班的教学成了令人头疼的问题，许多教师不愿意承担初级班的教学任务。文章结合自己的教学实践，对初级班的教学策略、教学内容及教学模式等有关问题进行了探讨，以就教于同仁。