历史的规律：“天演”——有感于先秦的百家争鸣

本文以生物学上的进化论为理论工具,以春秋战国时期的刑法思想为考察对象,通过着重考察对后世有持续影响的儒、法两家关于刑法的思想体系及其演变过程,来探寻历史演变的规律.     

美国重塑政府运动

在工业革命时期建立的科层制官僚体制，在信息化时代变得体制僵化、程序繁琐。克林顿政府采纳“企业化政府”理论，改革政府管理体制，重新界定政府职能；转变政府行政观念，树立服务意识和效益理念；改善政府运行机制，引入竞争机制和企业管理模式。他采取的改革措施主要有：精简机构，裁减人员；简化规章，下放权力；减少垄断，实行公共服务市场化。     

Prediction and Contingency in Evolution by Natural Selection

Science & Education -     

Biological Principles and Threshold Concepts for Understanding Natural Selection

Modern evolutionary theory is both a central theory and an integrative framework of the life sciences. This is reflected in the common references to evolution in modern science education curricula and contexts. In fact, evolution is a core idea that is supposed to support biology learning by facilitating the organization of relevant knowledge. In addition, evolution can function as a pivotal link between concepts and highlight similarities in the complexity of biological concepts. However, empirical studies in many countries have for decades identified deficiencies in students’ scientific understanding of evolution mainly focusing on natural selection. Clearly, there are major obstacles to learning natural selection, and we argue that to overcome them, it is essential to address explicitly the general abstract concepts that underlie the biological processes, e.g., randomness or probability. Hence, we propose a two-dimensional framework for analyzing and structuring teaching of natural selection. The first—purely biological—dimension embraces the three main principles variation, heredity, and selection structured in nine key concepts that form the core idea of natural selection. The second dimension encompasses four so-called thresholds, i.e., general abstract and/or non-perceptual concepts: randomness, probability, spatial scales, and temporal scales. We claim that both of these dimensions must be continuously considered, in tandem, when teaching evolution in order to allow development of a meaningful understanding of the process. Further, we suggest that making the thresholds tangible with the aid of appropriate kinds of visualizations will facilitate grasping of the threshold concepts, and thus, help learners to overcome the difficulties in understanding the central theory of life.     

A Conceptual Characterization of Online Videos Explaining Natural Selection

Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.     

中国教育部-IBM"基础教育创新教学"合作项目外部评价报告

教育部—IBM"基础教育创新教学"项目是IBM公司全球大型公益项目"重塑教育"的重要组成部分,笔者接受IBM公司及教育部的委托,承担了对项目的外部评价工作。本项目的评价主要集中在宏观和中观两个层次,采用定性评价与定量评价相结合的方法。评价结果显示:该项目总体运行状况良好,各项投入及时,项目开展顺利,很好地实现了项目目标,取得了较大的社会效益;项目具有良好的可持续性发展基础;项目在内容、形式、组织、管理、达到的效果,以及企业的参与形式等方面具有明显特色,为其他国际大企业与中国教育部门的合作树立了典范。     

Reinventing School Finance: Falling Forward

States and school districts are facing unprecedented financial pressure due to the continued poor performance of the United States's economy. Dramatic shortfalls in funding due to reduced tax collections were held off for 2 years thanks to federal stimulus funds, but with these revenues already consumed and little likelihood of more in the near future, school districts are faced with some of the largest funding shortfalls they have ever experienced. This article offers a number of suggestions for ways schools and school districts can reduce spending while maintaining a strong emphasis on improved student performance. These ideas include focusing more resources on core subjects, making trade-offs that include the potential of larger classes in exchange for professional development in the form of instructional coaches, and establishing research-based priorities for the use of existing resources.     

素质教育评价的应然性及其现实化

素质教育评价是素质教育过程中一个不可或缺的环节，是有效实现素质教育目标的重要工具。素质教育评价发展过程是实然性和现实性两方面不断转化的过程，素质教育评价的应然性主要体现在评价应具发展性，教育性功能，评价主体应具广泛性，评价对象应具全面性，结果应具全面激励性。素质教育评价应然性向现实性转化是认识层面－理论层面－实践层面－认识层面的螺旋循环上升过程。实现这种转化的关键应是从认识，科学评价体系，以及有效实施机制等层面切入。     

论自然选择的双重性在生物入侵中的作用

自然选择及生存竞争是生物演化的根本动力，自然选择的双重性作用在一定程度上决定外来生物入侵的结果．自然环境与入侵生物具有双向选择作用，自然选择对生物入侵既有促进作用也有抑制作用，既有有利选择也有有害选择．外来生物进入新栖息地后，由于自然选择双重作用形成与土著生物间生存竞争，逐渐产生优势特性和较强的选择压力，同时对生境产生重大干扰和改变，土著生物选择性衰败和淘汰，形成生物入侵．在论述自然选择双重性内涵基础上，用自然选择的双重性原理分析了外来生物入侵过程的基本问题，为人类控制和治理生物入侵提供参考．     

试论校长负责制的重构与再造

校长负责制的巨大历史功绩虽毋庸置疑,但现行的校长负责制并不是完美的体制。随着我国教育改革形势、任务及教育改革社会背景的变化,这一体制的弊病愈益显露,甚至在一定程度上成了我国中小学深化改革和追求卓越的阻障。于是,对现行校长负责制的重构和再造便不可避免。第二代校长负责聚焦于四个方面:由外控管理学校走向自主管理学校;校长的角色定位由“英雄”转变为“领导者的领导者”;学校民主管理机制的依法健全;学校-家长-社区伙伴关系的完整构建。     

Getting to Darwin: Obstacles to Accepting Evolution by Natural Selection

Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is central to modern biology, but is resisted by many people. This paper discusses the major psychological obstacles to accepting Darwin’s theory. Cognitive obstacles to adopting evolution by natural selection include conceptual difficulties, methodological issues, and coherence problems that derive from the intuitiveness of alternative theories. The main emotional obstacles to accepting evolution are its apparent conflict with valued beliefs about God, souls, and morality. We draw on the philosophy of science and on a psychological theory of cognitive and emotional belief revision to make suggestions about what can be done to improve acceptance of Darwinian ideas.     

Six Classroom Exercises to Teach Natural Selection to Undergraduate Biology Students

Students in introductory biology courses frequently have misconceptions regarding natural selection. In this paper, we describe six activities that biology instructors can use to teach undergraduate students in introductory biology courses how natural selection causes evolution. These activities begin with a lesson introducing students to natural selection and also include discussions on sexual selection, molecular evolution, evolution of complex traits, and the evolution of behavior. The set of six topics gives students the opportunity to see how natural selection operates in a variety of contexts. Pre- and postinstruction testing showed students’ understanding of natural selection increased substantially after completing this series of learning activities. Testing throughout this unit showed steadily increasing student understanding, and surveys indicated students enjoyed the activities.     

Learning Natural Selection in 4th Grade with Multi-Agent-Based Computational Models

In this paper, we investigate how elementary school students develop multi-level explanations of population dynamics in a simple predator–prey ecosystem, through scaffolded interactions with a multi-agent-based computational model (MABM). The term “agent” in an MABM indicates individual computational objects or actors (e.g., cars), and these agents obey simple rules assigned or manipulated by the user (e.g., speeding up, slowing down, etc.). It is the interactions between these agents, based on the rules assigned by the user, that give rise to emergent, aggregate-level behavior (e.g., formation and movement of the traffic jam). Natural selection is such an emergent phenomenon, which has been shown to be challenging for novices (K16 students) to understand. Whereas prior research on learning evolutionary phenomena with MABMs has typically focused on high school students and beyond, we investigate how elementary students (4th graders) develop multi-level explanations of some introductory aspects of natural selection—species differentiation and population change—through scaffolded interactions with an MABM that simulates predator–prey dynamics in a simple birds-butterflies ecosystem. We conducted a semi-clinical interview based study with ten participants, in which we focused on the following: a) identifying the nature of learners’ initial interpretations of salient events or elements of the represented phenomena, b) identifying the roles these interpretations play in the development of their multi-level explanations, and c) how attending to different levels of the relevant phenomena can make explicit different mechanisms to the learners. In addition, our analysis also shows that although there were differences between high- and low-performing students (in terms of being able to explain population-level behaviors) in the pre-test, these differences disappeared in the post-test.     

Reinventing discovery learning: a field-wide research program

Whereas some educational designers believe that students should learn new concepts through explorative problem solving within dedicated environments that constrain key parameters of their search and then support their progressive appropriation of empowering disciplinary forms, others are critical of the ultimate efficacy of this discovery-based pedagogical philosophy, citing an inherent structural challenge of students constructing historically achieved conceptual structures from their ingenuous notions. This special issue presents six educational research projects that, while adhering to principles of discovery-based learning, are motivated by complementary philosophical stances and theoretical constructs. The editorial introduction frames the set of projects as collectively exemplifying the viability and breadth of discovery-based learning, even as these projects: (a) put to work a span of design heuristics, such as productive failure, surfacing implicit know-how, playing epistemic games, problem posing, or participatory simulation activities; (b) vary in their target content and skills, including building electric circuits, solving algebra problems, driving safely in traffic jams, and performing martial-arts maneuvers; and (c) employ different media, such as interactive computer-based modules for constructing models of scientific phenomena or mathematical problem situations, networked classroom collective “video games,” and intercorporeal master–student training practices. The authors of these papers consider the potential generativity of their design heuristics across domains and contexts.     

Reinventing Gerocounseling in Counselor Education as a Specialization

Recent trends in counselor education are moving away from a standardized academic track in gerocounseling. We propose three types of academic models (integrated in-house, out-of-house, and combined) that provide greater academic freedom to counselor education faculty who wish to construct a gero-specialization specific in their program.     

自然选择原理的解释作用及其同义反复问题

当代生物学哲学对选择解释的同义反复问题的研究有三条进路：怀疑自然选择原理的科学地位、重新定义适合度和选择的概念、放弃科学理论结构的正统观点。这三种研究都不能彻底解决同义反复问题。当被作为生物与环境的关系并运用工程分析的方法来定义时，选择解释都不是同义反复的。当用实际的后代数量来估计适合度的值时，对种群构成变化的选择解释并不产生同义反复；而对具体个体的存在进行选择解释就是同义反复的     

Scaffolding Preservice Science Teachers' Evidence-Based Arguments During an Investigation of Natural Selection

In this qualitative case study, preservice science teachers (PSTs) enrolled in their advanced methods course participated in a complex, data-rich investigation based on an adapted version of the Struggle for Survival curriculum. Fundamental to the investigation was the use of the Galapagos Finches software and an emphasis on giving priority to evidence and constructing evidence-based arguments. The questions that guided the research were: (1) What is the nature of the scientific arguments developed by PSTs? (2) How do PSTs go about constructing scientific arguments (emphasis on processes and strategies)? (3) In what ways do the scaffolds embedded in the Galapagos Finches software influence the development of PSTs arguments? Two pairs of PSTs were selected for in-depth examination. The primary sources of data were the electronic artifacts generated in the Galapagos Finches software environment and the videotaped interactions of both pairs as they investigated the data set, constructed and revised their arguments, engaged in peer review sessions, and presented their arguments to the class at the end of the unit. Four major patterns emerged through analysis of the data. First, using the software, PSTs consistently constructed claims that were linked to evidence from the investigation. Second, although PSTs consistently grounded their arguments in evidence, they still exhibited a number of limitations reported in the literature. Third, the software served as a powerful vehicle for revealing PSTs knowledge of evolution and natural selection. Finally, the PSTs approach to the task had a strong influence on the way they used the software.