Puppets in science lessons Experiences and stories from Norwegian teachers who are using puppets

Ten teachers, from preschool to secondary school have tried out puppets as a stimulus in science lessons. Data were gathered by teachers answering a questionnaire and by interviewing the teachers. We report what teachers have experienced by using puppets in science classrooms and in science activities in preschools. Data indicate that the puppet can be used to stimulate science both in preschool, primary school and secondary school. Probably the puppet must be used in different ways in preschool and primary school than in secondary school to get the pupils to accept them. This pilot study has given us courage and ideas to start a following-up study in using puppets in science.     

音乐

Middle aged ex-punk rockers Josh and Gary are at a punk revival concert： Listen once and answer these questions： 1. Who used to be in a band？ 2. Who dances at the end？ Then, listen again and try to guess the meaning of the following slang expressions （also marked in bold in the text）. Write out a version of them in Standard English：     

Examining Samoan language development in Samoan bilingual students＇ understanding of texts in English

This paper examines language development of Samoan students in bilingual contexts in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In the absence of valid and standardized assessments tools in Samoan, one was designed to test reading comprehension and oral language development for Samoan students using common narratives as a base. For reading comprehension, the tool used a listening comprehension format to avoid possible decoding limitations and provided a gradient of difficulty with a surprising drop in both oral and reading comprehension at year 7. This drop was attributed to a change in competencies of some students entering the bilingual classroom at year 7. For example, the mixed levels of both L 1 （Samoan） oral and L1 （Samoan） reading comprehension within and across years of schooling likely reflects the varied provision in the Samoan bilingual classes and the variations across cohorts in different degrees of bilingualism. We argue that this might be due to the make up of the two schools of which one was an Intermediate school of years 7 and 8 students and, the other was a full primary school with students from years 4 to 8. The patterns suggest two general instructional needs in Samoan bilingual classrooms. One is the need to develop metacognitive components and the need for deliberate and explicit instruction to build awareness of strategies and effectiveness. The other is the ubiquitous need identified in reading comprehension instruction generally to develop vocabulary both through oral and written forms. There was a highly significant relationship between L 1 oral at L1 reading comprehension levels reflecting a general relationship found in other studies of monolingual in L2 （English） contexts.     

E-learning Contribution to the Enhancement of Higher Education Opportunities for Women in Saudi Arabia （Pilot Study）

Establishing the NCEDL （National Centre for E-learning and Distance Learning）, electronic universities are some initiatives to introduce e-learning to the KSA （Kingdom of Saudi Arabia）, which have led to a fast, strong, and impressive movement toward e-learning in the Kingdom. However, e-learning in Saudi Arabia is still in the early stage of its development due to many challenges of e-learning that will still have to be faced. E-learning in Saudi higher education has been examined in a number of studies. Yet, focusing on e-learning among Saudi women through the social and religious customs of society is not sufficiently examined. Therefore, this research seeks to investigate the possibilities that exist for the utilization of e-learning in the enhancement of the higher education opportunities of women in Saudi Arabia within the social customs and religious beliefs by identifying the barriers to higher education for Saudi women, the modes of e-learning that currently exist within the higher education programmes in the Saudi higher education system, how e-learning can support higher education opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia, and a successful model of e-learning to improve higher education opportunities for women in the KSA. In order to achieve the aim of this research, a pilot study was made by using a semi-structured interview as a method of data collection from Saudi females who live with their related （mahram） male in the United Kingdom and a three stage coding analysis of the grounded theory analyzing the data collected from the field to formulate a theory and a model. A primarily model was presented which described the contributions of e-learning to higher education of Saudi women. The model is presented consisting of three main categories： （1） social and religious barriers; （2） women＇s use of the Intemet; and （3） women＇s use of e-learning, as well as a number of sub-subcategories. In addition, the need to illuminate the ability of Saudi women to convert e-learning into a valuable educational achievement is demonstrated. The next stage of our research will investigate all of the issues indicated by the pilot study in order to improve the success of using e-learning for Saudi women＇s higher education and eventually to devise a research theory.     

How to Use Newspaper or Magazine Articles to Teach English Language Skills

With the development of the society, especially with China‘s entry into WTO,English is badly needed in various fields. English learning has been a fashion not only in college, but also in the society. However. how to let the students learn English in an efficient and interesting way is still a hard nut to those teachers. At present, the knowledge in the textbooks is so limited and impractical, trying to use other materials maybe a useful way to solve this problem to some extent. With my ten-years teaching experiences in college, I‘ve found that using English newspaper or magazine articles to teach English language skills is a very good way, for their uses of language is very up-to-date and attractive. This article is discussing this method in details     

Academicians＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning curriculum instructional design in Malaysian public tertiary education

This research is attempted to examine universities＇ academic staffs＇ curriculum instructional design in the teaching and learning process in applying the technology enhanced classroom （TEC） learning. The universities have embarked on a costly project to create an innovative and creative learning and teaching environment to promote and establish a state-of-the-art, smart, efficient, effective and high quality education. The teaching and learning culture of universities have great influence on determining the level of students＇ achievement. Seven dimensions of public universities in Malaysia were examined to determine the percentage of academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. There is a significant difference among factors concerning the academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in their teaching and learning processes in the classroom management. Their self-preparedness in using the provided technology is closely related to the experiences and practicality of the teaching materials. This study represents an addition to the extant literature on universities＇ academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. Academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in using TEC learning instructional design is of the utmost important to disseminate knowledge to students, which will also fully help utilize the government＇s effort in providing technology to the additional instructional design, so as to achieve high quality education and technological enhance education to pave the way to achieve a techno-education environment for all public universities in Malaysia. This study provides furtber groundwork to assist existing tertiary educational managers to improve smart teaching and learning environment and to retain high quality academic staffs in the day-to-day classroom curriculum.     

Teacher learning： Reflective practice as a site of engagement for professional identity construction

This paper reports a qualitative study in response to the growing research interest in teacher learning. Informed by a sociocultural perspective, teacher learning is considered as a process of identity construction in the paper. This paper taps into the development of teacher identity embedded in teacher learning and views reflection as a social practice for enhancing teacher learning. Through a close analysis of a selected discussion thread, this paper aims to demonstrate that teacher-learners＇ reflective practice in the online learning community provided a site of engagement for developing their professional identity and shaping the practice of teaching in their process of learning to teach.     

School to Work： Using Active Learning to Teach Business Writing

To succeed as tomorrow＇s workers in the knowledge society of the new century---a world characterized by ceaseless change, boundless knowledge and endless doubt, today＇s business writing students must develop the skills and traits needed to become creative problem-solvers, flexible team-players and risk-taking life-time learners （Bereiter, 2002a）. And teachers must play an important role in helping students transit successfuUy from school to work by finding ways to develop useful life skills and the flexibility that facilitates a willingness to work cooperatively and a readiness to learn continuously. Preparing today＇s students for tomorrow＇s work world challenges 21st century teachers to reinvent their professional personas by creating a fresh professionalism founded not on old, comfortable abilities and attitudes, but on new, unfamiliar skills and traits. For many teachers （most of whom teach exactly as they were taught--typically, following the talk-chalk model that fills a classroom with five or 10 rows of passive listeners in fixed seats, and fills a class period with 50 or 60 minutes of garbled monotones in lecture format）, learning to teach in ways they were not taught represents the greatest challenge of their careers （Silberman, 1996; Hargreaves, 2003）. Challenging students and teachers to rearrange the furniture and to reconfigure the lecture, a well-considered active learning model （Bonwell ＆ Eison, 1991） can be applied to the business writing classroom （an application unexplored in the literature） to help students develop the abilities and attitudes most required for success in the work world of the 21st century （an area explored in the ＂futuristic business literature＂）--to help students learn and transit. In fact, classes in business writing, professional writing and tecl＇mical writing can function, through the use of active learning strategies, as dynamic workshops in which students can prepare for the change and doubt of the knowledge society by becoming creat     

Critique of a Language-Learning Website

Listening plays a crucial part in the learning of overseas students in the United Kingdom. Students can never follow a lecture or discussion in English without listening. Traditional classroom teaching in listening limits students＇ time and space. However, the Web-based listening course accommodates listeners a great deal, enabling them to access the Internet at their own pace. In this paper, the author would like to study on a language learning Website for developing learners＇ listening skills, designed by the CELE （Centre for English Language Education） at the University of Nottingham. In the first part, the author will review the issues concerning listening, conventional materials design, CALL （computer assisted language learning） and actual Websites established for EAP （English academic purposes）. Through analysis, the author would develop a set of evaluation criteria in order to evaluate the CELE listening Website. These guidelines should also be helpful for teachers and students to select suitable online listening materials. By using these criteria and comparing with other Websites for similar purposes, the author would highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the CELE Website and offer suggestions for its improvement. In the last section, the author would consider the generalisability of the Website in respect of design principles, exercise types and tools, to check whether it is appropriate for teaching listening in a specific context and whether it is applicable for creating a parallel site developing reading skills.     

Facilitating adult learning and a researcher identity through a higher education pedagogical process

This empirical study uses auto-ethnography to describe a higher education pedagogical process that facilitated largely doctoral students in preparing their candidacy proposals through the use of specific adult learning principles. Students＇ experiences and points of view of such a learning environment were explored, including： （1） how they contributed to their peers＇ learning; （2） how their peers contributed to their own individual learning; and （3） how the learning environment impacted the process. Key factors identified as pivotal to learning to learn, include creating a learning sanctuary and trusting relationships, engaging in mutual inquiry and the co-construction of meaning, and bridging research theory and practice. These factors enabled students to expand their identities to include a researcher identity and to negotiate deep knowledge at the personal level. Throughout this article, the students＇ points of view are used to elucidate shared and diverse experiences, in addition to supporting conclusions and recommendations for practice and further study.     

邮局

Listen to this dialogue and learn some useful vocabulary and expressions.In this conversation Nigel is in the post office talking to a clerk. Listen to the conversation and answer these two questions.     

Reading and education for students of immigrant origin in some Swedish municipalities

Researchers from Mid Sweden University and Kalmar University organised surveys on reading skills in Swedish municipalities. This paper will focus on the surveys made in four municipalities between 2002 and 2007. All students in grade 8 in these four municipalities participated in the surveys--in total 16,287 students. These surveys included a reading test for the students and information about the students collected from the teachers, including participation in instruction in Swedish as a second language and in their mother tongues. Students of immigrant origin in Sweden are offered the possibility to participate in instruction in Swedish as a second language and in instruction in the student＇s mother tongue. No obvious trends over time in the participation in Swedish as a second language and mother tongue instruction were found in the four municipalities on the tests we gave, in spite of national trends. There was no difference in results on the reading tests in Swedish between those students who participated in mother tongue instruction and those who did not, but there was a difference in test results between those who participated in Swedish as a second language and those who did not. Those who did not participate （in Swedish as a second language instruction） did, on average, score higher on the test. When different language groups are compared, it can be noted that a majority in all groups of immigrant students neither participate in Swedish as a second language nor in mother tongue instruction. However, there are important differences between boys and girls and between language groups. Girls seemed to be more willing than boys to participate in voluntary mother tongue instruction, while boys more often than girls had to participate in compulsory lessons in Swedish as a second language.     

Learner Autonomy and English Teaching——On Fostering Learner Autonomy in FLT

Learner autonomy has been a buzzword in foreign Language teaching in recent years. The concern with teaching and learning has shifted from the teachers‘teaching to the students＇ learning. This paper reports an experiment conducted by the author using tests, questionnaires and interviews in a senior middle school located in Hubei Province. It has proved the promotion of learner autonomy helps to improve students＇ foreign language proficiency and confidence in learning the language.     

Attributes of Affective E-learning Behavior： Emerging Issues Beyond Teaching and Learning

Many studies have focused on factors affecting e-learning and its effectiveness by comparing e-learning with face-to-face traditional classes. This study, however, aspires to contribute to the literature by exploring factors that contribute to student success in the e-learning environment. This study tested the assumption that a student＇s success in e-learning is a function of the specificities that are linked to this pedagogical model. It further postulated that these attributes are outcomes of an affective learning behavior. Data for this study were collected from a random sample of 486 respondents （close to 10% of the total student population） in a small university. The empirical data helped map out the hierarchy of the attributes that contribute to the development and experiences with e-learning. This study further provided suggestions to improve the areas that seem essential for a successful e-learning environment.     

Assessing students＇ reflective responses to chemistry-related learning tasks

Key to renewed concern on the affective domain of education （Fensham, 2007） and on school graduates＇ readiness for a world of work （DEST, 2008; WDA, 2006） is the student＇s inclination-to-reflect when engaged in a learning or problem-solving task. Reflective learning is not new to education （Dewey, 1933; Ellis, 2001）. Since the inclination-to-reflect may not be obvious even among adults at work （Seibert ＆ Daudelin, 1999）, how much more can we expect from school students？ This article presents part of a research on secondary school students＇ inclination-to-reflect when engaged in chemistry learning tasks. The instrument used is the three-part Chemistry Learning and Thinking Instrument （CLTI）. The first part seeks to characterize students＇ inclination-to-reflect while attempting chemistry learning tasks and the other parts aim to characterize their learning-thinking preferences in the subject. This article shares the construction of the learning tasks in the first part and how students＇ reflective responses to these tasks are encouraged, scored and analyzed. Since assessment is said to drive teaching and learning, an alternative form of assessment, such as these CLTI items, may help students become more reflective in their learning habits and hence mare adantable tn the world of work.     

The exploration of student-centred approaches for the improvement of learning programming in higher education

The author has undergone a major shift in the way of teaching his undergraduate computer programming courses. In the classroom, the teacher＇s computer is connected to a splitter and a video projector that display the computer＇s screen to the entire class. Using this technology, the programming language itself is used live in class to help the students learn how to program. The students are learning in a context by far livelier than those of previous methods. Teaching computer programming is not achieved by lecturing and writing the program instructions on board or by displaying program instructions to the class on transparencies or slides of electronic presentations. With the implementation of student-centered approaches, the students migrated from the state of passive receivers to constructors of computer programming concepts. Students are coached to develop a sense of exploration, individuality and autonomous thinking. The enthusiasm for technology has been facilitating and supporting the learner-centered approach. Everyone in this approach is a learner, including the teacher.     

Synergizing pedagogy, learning theory and technology in instruction： How can it be done？

Instructional reform movements in the 1990s called for an effective and concurrent integration of various educational components. For effective classroom instructional reform, it was suggested that teaching method （pedagogy）, learning theory, and technology be promoted concurrently to form synergistic relationship. Thus, the primary purpose of this paper is to report a research that investigated the use of constructivism （learning theory） and technology in project-based learning （pedagogy） in elementary school classrooms. This paper consists of three main parts. The first part introduces the idea of integrating elements of pedagogy, learning theory and technology in a synergistic manner. The second part outlines the research findings of the extent of such integration in an elementary school. The final part of this paper provides suggestion on how these elements can be integrated in an effective and synergistic manner in order to bring about an instructional reform in education.     

English Teaching for Young Learners

Many young learners know nothing about English when they begin to learn it in schools.English learning takes them to a broader world and this will mean specially to the chil-dren both in ways and in mind. They are interested in the“strange” thing,but they also feel a little fear about it.This ambivalent feeling can be easy settled if the teacher has var-ious teaching methods.     

2nd International conference on cybercrime forensics education ＆ training 2008 September 1st ＆ 2nd,Canterbury Christ Church University,UK

Cybercrime Forensics is one of the fastest areas of growth within Computing. This is a direct response to the growing complexity and vulnerability of computer systems and the new forms of criminal activities making use of them. The demand for people qualified to assist in Cybercrime investigations is very large and growing. This has led to many universities world-wide offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in this new area and a wealth of commercial training courses.