Action Learning for Citizenship Education

The paper examines how the author has used what he calls action learning to encourage pupils to learn about citizenship in a secondary school. The paper argues that citizenship can be learnt by engaging young people in projects and other activities, which encourage them to develop an understanding of the responsibilities and skills needed to become citizens in society. The paper goes on to describe a small-scale research project which sought to assess the pupils' reactions to action learning. The young people's responses bring to life what they have learnt from their involvement in the action learning projects and how it has helped them to develop as citizens.     

成人英语合作教学探析

合作教学作为一种新的教育理念,以合作学习小组为基本教学形式。在成人英语教学中运用合作教学,有利于充分利用成人学习者的经验,激发成人学习者的学习动机,增强成人学习者的合作意识,培养新型的师生关系。通过选择适当的教学内容,进行经验分享式教学,师生之间加强交流与合作以及采用多元化的评价方式,促进成人英语合作教学的有效开展。     

Addressing bullying through critical making

This paper explores how maker pedagogies helped middle school students develop transferable competencies, such as creativity, problem solving, self-directed learning and citizenship skills. We offer an in-depth look at how purposeful or critical making related to bullying awareness can help struggling students develop positive attitudes related to their roles as contributing members of a classroom community of learners.     

Using metaphor to probe students' conceptions of chemistry learning

Changing students' views of themselves as learners and the learning strategies they use requires methods to make their views regarding teaching, learning and their roles as learners explicit to themselves and to teachers. This was an interpretive study that investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners within a Year 11 chemistry classroom. Students' metaphors were found to be congruent with their views of learning and their learning processes as evidenced from multiple data sources. In making students' views explicit, metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who aim to investigate and enhance students' learning processes and encourage metacognition.     

Citizenship education ‘goes global’: extra-curricular learning in an overseas campus of a British civic university

Active citizenship is increasingly being framed in the context of lifelong and life-wide learning. However, research on young people’s participation in and experience of different forms of civic practice, particularly in informal settings in different sociocultural contexts, is scarce. Consequently, little is known about how these experiences shape their learning about active citizenship, their understanding of the self and their relationship to society. This paper reports findings from a small-scale qualitative research on students’ experiences of participation in extra-curricular activities (ECAs) in a UK Transnational Higher Education institution in China, in relation to the development of active citizenship and lifelong learning capacity. The findings suggest ECAs can provide opportunities for students to accumulate knowledge and develop skills, attitudes and values that underpin the promotion of active citizenship, while developing habits and skills essential for lifelong learning.     

Multiple‐goal learners and their differential patterns of learning

The hypothesis in this study was that different types of multiple‐goal learners would have different patterns of learning. A sample of 797 adult distance learners enrolled in different programs offered by a distance learning university in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire assessing their goals, use of strategies, motivational beliefs, and attitudes towards the course they were doing. Two‐stage cluster analyses found a group of single‐goal learners (mastery focused) and three groups of multiple‐goal learners with different focuses in their goal profiles: performance focus, work focus, and multiple focuses. These four clusters of learners differed in terms of use of learning strategies, regulatory strategies, motivational beliefs, and attitudes towards the course. Learners focusing on work‐related goals or performance goals achieved better examination results than did those focusing on multiple goals or solely on mastery goals.     

Learning as Participation in Social Practices: Interpreting student perspectives on learning

This article explores a small group of students' observations on their learning as they come to the end of an A-level Politics course. It draws on the insights of Vygotsky and other theorists influenced by him, such as Lave, Wenger, Rogoff and Engestro¨m, who have made important contributions to study of the social and participatory nature of learning, particularly, but not exclusively, in contexts outside the school environment. These ideas illuminate the 'communities of practice' found within educational institutions. The students' perspectives reveal perceptions about the learning process and provide a sense of what they have valued during this phase of their studies. Whilst education in formal environments may be criticised for the constraints on learning, classrooms may promote activity that encourages learners to identify their problems with existing knowledge, to question and speculate in ways that transform understanding. Collaborative practices have enabled students to enhance understanding of subject knowledge and to develop skills.     

小组合作学习在《免疫学与病原生物学》教学中的应用与研究

目的：了解小组合作学习对提高学生学习成绩的效果。方法：实验班和对照班均采用讲述教学法,结合多媒体教学、实验操作,实验班再进行小组合作学习。结果：实验班成绩优于对照班,有显著差异（P〈0．05）。结论：有效的小组合作学习可以在小组成员间形成开放、包容的学习氛围,使小组成员间相互激励、相互促进,可以提高学生的学习效率、培养学生的合作精神、激励学生的学习兴趣、促进学生之间的共同进步。     

Language learning and antiracism: some pedagogical challenges

It is often argued that the study of a foreign language can influence the attitudes and behaviour of learners. One of the goals of language teaching is to challenge stereotypes and encourage learners to engage with the cultural forms that can be accessed through a new language. Through learning a language it is hoped that learners will draw on their experiences to reflect critically on their own cultures and identities. We set out to examine these claims with respect to an advanced Open University French course for adult speakers of English. This article reports on a documentary analysis of the course materials for a particular unit and of a very small opportunity sample of student work and tutor comments. The unit sets out to provide a positive view of France as a multicultural society. The analysis focuses on the extent to which the materials and the tasks help learners engage with issues of racism, xenophobia, antiracism and human rights. We found that issues of race and racism are not presented in their complexity and that the materials and learning tasks unwittingly tend to reinforce stereotyped views. We suggest that attention should be given to helping students develop skills of intercultural evaluation. This requires an understanding of human rights on the one hand and of the various forms and manifestations of racism and xenophobia on the other. We conclude by proposing some guidelines for course writers and teachers that invite them to include a range of perspectives, including those of minorities. This attention to materials and pedagogy should enable students to engage critically with issues of race, identity and culture as they learn a foreign language.     

洛溪桥中的经济学——浅议案例教学的情景选择与问题设置

我们以“洛溪桥中的经济学”作为教学案例,将2005年上半年洛溪桥在还贷收费结束后,是否该收城市交通调节费设置为问题情景,通过呈现广州洛溪桥收费问题所引发的讨论,让学生参与到对这个真实事件的思考,激发学生解决问题的兴趣,逐步引导,通过师生互动,训练学生的经济学范式思维能力。     

Using mindful movement in cooperative learning while learning about angles

Unlike studies on cooperative learning that have focused on the verbal communication aspect of learning, this study focuses on the non-verbal aspect—mindful movement, which is the use of body movement to aid academic learning. Our research examined the link between five learning activities occurring within a cooperative group of children using mindful movement and improvement of their academic achievements in the study of angles in geometry class. The learning activities were: (a) physical contact with the studied environment; (b) using visual and kinesthetic modeling; (c) socio-kinesthetic interaction; (d) sustaining the movement-aided learning activity; (e) non-learning behaviors. 261 learners from eight-second and third grade classes in six different schools participated in the research. The experimental group included 158 learners from five classes. The control group included 103 learners from three classes. It was found that, compared to the conventionally taught control group, the experimental group using mindful movement in cooperative learning reached significantly better results in studying angles. Additionally, a significantly positive correlation was found between each of the five variants of learning activities and improvement in academic achievement.     

Citizenship education in civics textbooks in the Japanese junior high school curriculum

This article discusses the types of citizenship education that are included in a sample of Japanese junior high school civics textbooks. Seven civics textbooks that have been authorized by the Ministry of Education for use in junior high school from the 2012 academic year were analysed in the context of fundamental issues in citizenship education and the national curriculum guidelines in Japan. In contrast to some previously published research, it is argued that the textbooks encourage, to a limited extent, active, participatory approaches by students with exercises and practical tasks to help students develop skills and gain the understanding required to live in contemporary society. It is suggested that the textbooks place some limitations on active learning especially in relation to students' political participation and that they reflect the struggle Japan is experiencing in the search for an inclusive national identity. Further work may serve to clarify the nature of potential contributions to citizenship education including that associated with students' involvement in whole school issues.     

Workplace learning as a spiritual practice

This paper reviews the literature on workplace and transformational learning to explore how spirituality can be accessed to encourage individual growth through the development of critical awareness while providing a sense of direction in the workplace as part of organisational learning. In communities and societies where organisations may have replaced religious institutions as centres for adult learning, the workplace continues to respond to the universal need for community and support. These elements are related to spiritual values. Still, leaders of organisations need to consider values that underlie typical workplace activities and recognise how collective engagement and workplace interactions direct personal development and ground identity. Providing opportunities to reflect on meaning and direction at work supports a transformative approach to learning and leadership that promotes cooperative working conditions, conscious behaviour and informed citizenship through encouraging attitudes of critical awareness, praxis and collective engagement in workplace interaction.     

Mining learning social networks for cooperative learning with appropriate learning partners in a problem-based learning environment

Many studies have identified web-based cooperative learning as an increasingly popular educational paradigm with potential to increase learner satisfaction and interactions. However, peer-to-peer interaction often suffers barriers owing to a failure to explore useful social interaction information in web-based cooperative learning environments. This easily leads to learners being unable to seek appropriate learning partners for facilitating effective cooperative learning. This problem frequently causes poor learning effectiveness in web-based cooperative learning environments. Generally, instructor assigned or learner selected learning peers cannot ensure to compose suitable learning partners for individual learners in cooperative learning environments. A suitable learning partner can help the learner, who is learning in the personal way and encounters the difficulty, to solve problems. Inappropriate learning partners cannot only easily lead to poor learning interaction and achievement, but can also lead to the meaning of cooperative learning being lost. Although many web-based learning systems have already been developed to assist cooperative learning, supporting peer-to-peer interaction in computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL) is still immature. As a result, this study presents a novel scheme for recommending appropriate learning partners for individual learners utilizing mining of learning interactive social networks in a cooperative problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Results of this study show that the proposed scheme helps encourage learners to interact with learning peers more actively and positively, and facilitates learning performance in a cooperative PBL environment.     

Exploring design features to enhance computer‐based assessment: Learners' views on using a confidence‐indicator tool and computer‐based feedback

Many institutions encourage formative computer‐based assessment (CBA), yet competing priorities mean that learners are necessarily selective about what they engage in. So how can we motivate them to engage? Can we facilitate learners to take more control of shaping their learning experience? To explore this, the Learning with Interactive Assessment (LINA) project, a small‐scale study, trialed a selection of online, interactive question features designed to increase motivation, particularly of work‐based learners, and to enhance learners' ability to self‐regulate their own learning experience. We present initial findings on learner perceptions of: (1) a confidence indicator tool—for learners to indicate their confidence that their answer will be correct before answering a question; (2) a learning log—for learners to insert reflections or view system‐recorded information about their learning pathway; and (3) question feedback—for displaying a range of author comments. Themes emerged relating to motivational, behavioural and cognitive factors, including risk taking and skills in self‐assessment. A serendipitous finding highlights learners' frequently not reading onscreen feedback and presents perceptions on when feedback becomes most useful. Motivators and barriers to engagement and self‐regulation are discussed in relation to principles of best feedback practice.     

浅谈电子闻览室对远程教育学生自主学习的支持和服务

电子阅览室为远程教育学生的独立探索提供了必要的学习资源环境和条件，已成为现代远程教育的支持体系。电子阅览室的管理人员不但要注重自身思想素质和业务技能的提高，还需要了解和熟悉远程教育，才能为远程教育学生自主学习提供优质的服务。     

Effects of locus of control on behavioral intention and learning performance of energy knowledge in game-based learning

Game-based learning has been gradually adopted in energy education as an effective learning tool because digital games have the potential to increase energy literacy and encourage behavior change. However, not every learner can benefit from this support. There is a need to examine how human factors affect learners’ reactions to digital games for supporting learning. This study addresses this issue by developing a digital educational game and examining the effects of locus of control on behavioral intention and learning performance of energy knowledge in game-based learning. The results demonstrated that learners with internal locus of control (ILC) outperformed external locus of control (ELC) learners in energy knowledge after interacting with the game. Moreover, the proposed game can reasonably reduce the differences in the behavioral intention of the ILC and ELC learners, indicating that ELC learners significantly improved their behavioral intention after playing the game, especially their external behavioral intention in the aspects of persuasion, legal action, and political action. The findings of this study are discussed to enhance the understanding of locus of control on behavioral intention and energy knowledge in the context of digital games.     

合作式自主学习模式下的学习者自我监控能力研究

合作式自主学习是在分组合作的模式下,以指导性小组目标为导向的自主学习模式.这一学习模式凸显了自主学习的社会性特征,通过小组合作建立的集体归属感能有效促进学习者的认知自我监控和意志自我监控能力发展,与同伴之间的互助协作有助于提升情绪自我监控能力,但是该模式对策略自我监控的促进不明显,这提示在今后的自主学习实践中应探索结合多种自我监控能力培养方法,更全面地提升自主学习能力.     

What pedagogical approaches can effectively include children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms? A systematic literature review

This article reports on a three‐year systematic literature review funded by the UK Training and Development Agency for Schools. In order to begin to answer the question posed by the title of this article, the researchers systematically reviewed the literature with reported outcomes for the academic and social inclusion of pupils with special educational needs. This review process led to a focus upon peer‐group interactions, the nature of teacher and pupil interactions and whole‐class, subject‐based pedagogies. This series of reviews highlights that within the complexities of a diverse mainstream classroom teachers' effectiveness is strongly influenced by their recognition of their responsibility for all learners and the centrality of social interaction to learning, as well as having a shared understanding of characteristics, skills and knowledge associated with a subject. It is also strongly influenced by a facility to plan for and to encourage participation in a communal learning experience through flexible groupings and roles, offering diverse opportunities to engage with concepts and practices using activities the learner finds meaningful. Effective practices are not about the teacher alone, but are rooted in the community of learners – including other practitioners – with whom they work.     

电影资源在职业学校英语教学中的作用

在中职英语教学中,利用电影资源可以激发学生的学习兴趣,增强其对跨文化交际的理解,从而提高英语听、说、读、写的能力,进而培养其自主学习的好习惯,达到让学生乐于学习,提高英语水平的目的。