Models in Science and in Education: A Critical Review of Research on Students' Ideas About the Earth and its Place in the Universe

Research on students' conceptions about the Earth and its place in the universe has been active since 1976. These years have also witnessed the development of the constructivist model of learning and a growing interest in epistemological and historical considerations among science educators. The paper presents a critical review of the research in the light of epistemological, historical and cognitive aspects. The analysis shows that, as far as the research on the shape of the Earth is concerned, the research results are valid and conclusive in giving general information about children's ideas. The same cannot be said for the research concerned with the position of the Earth in the Universe, where the Copernican model, seen as the final essence of astronomical concepts, drives the research questioning with little correlation of the model with the empirical level of observation.     

通识教育的实践困境及路径选择

通识教育正成为高校改革的一个热点,鉴于它目前面临的问题,对于它的功能与路径有必要进行明确的定位。在此基础上,结合财经类大学的特点阐述了推行通识教育须注意课程选择、非正式课程开展等问题。     

Victimizers and Their Victims: Children''s Conceptions of the Mixed Emotional Consequences of Moral Transgressions

4-8-year-old children's conceptions of the emotional consequences of moral transgressions were assessed in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, most children expected victimizers to feel positive emotions and victims to feel negative emotions, but 8-year-olds who assessed victims first subsequently attributed less positive emotions to victimizers. Despite efforts to manipulate the salience of victims' losses in Experiment 2, children had similar expectations about the emotional consequences of transgressions. However, a developmental shift emerged: 4-year-olds attributed extremely positive emotions to victimizers due to the material gains produced by victimization, whereas 8-year-olds attributed less positive emotions to victimizers, in part due to the unfairness and harm produced by victimization. Probe questions revealed that older children also attributed additional negative-valence emotions to victimizers, suggesting that victimizers are expected to feel conflicting rather than exclusively positive emotions. Discussion focused on potential cognitive constraints in children's conceptions of moral emotions.     

莎士比亚是世界上第一位心理学家吗？

目标：提高英语阅读和听力水平。想一想：你看过莎士比亚的喜剧吗,是哪一部？在剧院还是电影院看的？你认为它怎么样？你的国家有著名的剧作家吗,是谁呢？他们因什么而著称？考试：本文有助于你备考CAE、IELTS和TOEFL等。     

数学教学中如何培养学生的反思能力

分析了数学教学中培养反思能力的做法。即说理过程中使用了什么知识、什么思想方法？该命题是否还有其他说明方法？还可以得到什么结论？条件可否特殊化或一般化？题目中的题设和结论是否可以互换？     

The development of trait explanations and self-evaluations in the academic and social domains

The present study was designed to investigate the development of children's trait explanations and self-evaluations in the 2 domains. 144 white, middle-class children in kindergarten, first, second, and fourth grades (mean ages 5-8, 7-0, 7-9, and 10-0 years, respectively) were interviewed individually about their explanations for both academic and social outcomes and their evaluations of their own outcomes. Trait explanations emerged earlier in the social domain. In addition, trait explanations emerged earlier for success than for failure. Self-evaluations became less positive in both domains and less similar across domains with increasing grade level. An experiential theory of the development of understanding of a domain is presented.     

Head start children''s conceptions of and expectations for their future schooling

This study examined children's conceptions of and expectations for their future schooling, determined whether participation in a Transition Demonstration could affect these, and explored how these are related to children's academic achievement. Two cohorts, 151 former Head Start children completing kindergarten, and 171 children completing Head Start, were assessed. Two major themes in children's conceptions of school emerged: play and the cognitive or learning environment. Children realistically talked about the work of school becoming less play centered, more difficult, and more centered on academics as they moved from grade to grade. Children in the Demonstration group in both cohorts gave significantly more responses to the questions than those in the Comparison. Children's expectations for their future schooling were optimistic. There were several small but significant correlations between children's conceptions and expectations for school and their academic achievement as measured by subtests of the Wood-cock-Johnson-R.     

Uncovering Young Children''s Psychological Selves: Individual and Developmental Differences

3 major goals were addressed: (1) to examine whether 3 1/2-7 1/2-year-old children have consistent and meaningful concepts that reflect psychological self-understanding, (2) to uncover individual differences in young children's self-concepts, and (3) to determine whether any observed differences are stable over time. A new method was developed for assessing young children's self-concepts. 180 children between 3 and 8 years of age were presented with pairs of statements representing the high and low end points of 10 psychological dimensions. For example, the statements "It's not fun to scare people" and "It's fun to scare people" represent the low and high ends of the psychological dimension of aggression. Children were then asked to pick the statement that best described themselves. The dimensional scores were factor analyzed and higher-order factor scales were constructed. These factor scales were found to be internally consistent and psychologically meaningful in each age group, indicating that even young children have psychological concepts of themselves. Moreover, substantial individual differences were demonstrated on the scales even among the youngest children. Finally, these differences were found to be moderately stable over a 1-month test-retest.     

英国为何斥巨资投入国际援助？

目标：提高英语阅读和听力水平。想一想：你向慈善机构捐过款吗,是哪些机构？你们国家向其他国家的捐资有多少？你认为国际援助的效用如何？你认为帮助落后国家的最有效方式是什么？考试：本文有助于你静考FCE、IELTS和TOEFL等。     

Contact-2: a computer-assisted instructional strategy for promoting conceptual change

Previous research seems to support the assumption that students need instructional guidance to activate and correct their preconceptions. Such an instructional strategy is the CONTACT strategy, characterised by continuous, computer-assisted activation of the conceptions of individual learners. Our previous study showed that the CONTACT strategy was effective in promoting conceptual change in text processing (domain: physical geography) because students (fifth- and sixth-graders, primary education) constructed more correct conceptions. However, students mainly seemed to focus on the central concepts from the training texts, disregarding other information. Therefore, the strategy was adapted to solve this problem of selective attention and to increase its effectiveness. Subjects (74 fifth- and sixth-graders) were assigned to three instructional conditions (original CONTACT condition, revised CONTACT-2 condition and control condition NO ACTIVATION). A mixed between-within-subjects design was used with 2 between-subjects factors (instructional condition and students' familiarity with the central concepts from the 7 texts used). Dependent variables concerned quality of conceptions and learning performance. Students from the CONTACT-2 condition constructed better conceptions and achieved higher learning performance scores than students from the other two conditions. Moreover, the effectiveness of the CONTACT-2 strategy appeared not to depend on the degree of conceptual resemblance between the performance test questions and the central concepts from the texts and on the moment of testing. Additional research should shed some light on the instructional conditions required to teach students how they themselves can initiate and perform learning activities aimed at conceptual change.     

Defining Social Goods and Distributing Them Fairly: The Development of Conceptions of Fair Testing Practices

Conceptions of fair educational practices develop differently for testing and learning situations. After about age 8, children judged peer tutoring to be an unfair practice during a test. (Most 6–8-year-olds judged it fair). Yet, peer tutoring was seen as the most fair way to help students learn until at least age 17. In addition, 4 levels of conceptions of fair testing practices were found. Adult-like conceptions of fair testing practices emerged at about age 11, which contrasts with about 18 for conceptions of fair learning practices. Conceptions of fair testing practices parallel the development of the concepts of ability and effort as factors limiting immediate performance; whereas conceptions of fair learning practices parallel the development of concepts concerning the long-term acquisition of intelligence. These findings support the conclusion that children's understanding of different types of situations is reflected in their conceptions of social justice.     

Knowledge, Concepts, and Inferences in Childhood

The role of knowledge in children's inferences was investigated in 3 experiments. Experiment 1 examined developmental changes in the role of categorical membership, perceptual appearance, and item complexity in inferences for natural kind and artifact concepts. Preschoolers (5-year-olds), second graders (8-year-olds), and fourth graders (10-year-olds) were taught novel properties about target concepts and asked whether each of 4 probes had those properties. Probes varied in category membership and perceptual appearance relative to the target item. Item complexity also varied. Experiments 2 and 3 examined inferences with known and unknown concepts for familiar and unfamiliar properties. Older children's knowledge led to differential weighting of categorical information over appearance but only for known concepts and/or familiar properties. Preschoolers made no distinction between category and appearance for either known or unknown concepts. Additionally, as target item complexity increased, older children made more inferences than preschoolers. No differences between inferences about natural kind and artifact concepts were found. The role of theories and knowledge in children's drawing of inferences is discussed.     

Tutors Talking

What do form tutors say about tutoring? For this special edition of the journal, focusing on tutors, I contacted some experienced tutors for some insights into the role. I asked them to respond to four questions.  What do you enjoy about being a form tutor?  What, in your experience, are the most significant problems you face in your role as form tutor?  What do you think your students get from you as a form tutor?  What advice would you give to a new teacher who is taking on the role of form tutor?Their positive and engaging responses reinforce how the care they give to the young people is a significant part of their work as teachers.     

The science/technology interaction: Implications for science literacy

Science literacy includes understanding technology. This raises questions about the role of technology in science education as well as in general education. To explore these questions, this article begins with a brief history of technology education as it relates to science education and discusses how new conceptions of science and technological literacy are moving beyond the dichotomies that formerly characterized the relationship between science and technology education. It describes how Benchmarks for Science Literacy, the National Science Education Standards, and the Standards for Technological Literacy have been making a case for introducing technology studies into general education. Examples of specific technological concepts fundamental for science literacy are provided. Using one example from the design of structures, the article examines how understanding about design (i. e., understanding constraints, trade‐offs, and failures) is relevant to science literacy. This example also raises teaching and learning issues, including the extent to which technology‐based activities can address scientific and technological concepts. The article also examines how research can provide guides for potential interactions between science and technology and concludes with reflections on the changes needed, such as the creation of curriculum models that establish fruitful interactions between science and technology education, for students to attain an understanding of technology. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 715–729, 2001     

听障儿童与正常儿童的自我意识对比研究

采用儿童自我意识量表对119名听障儿童与157名正常儿童进行了测试,结果发现:听障儿童在合群上存在明显的性别差异,正常儿童在行为、躯体外貌与属性、合群上存在显著的性别差异;听障儿童与正常儿童相比,自我意识偏低水平的比例明显高于正常儿童,而偏高水平的比例则明显低于正常儿童;听障儿童对自身的行为、焦虑、合群、幸福与满足等方面的意识明显地低于正常儿童,而对智力与学校情况、躯体外貌与属性的意识,则明显地高于正常儿童。     

UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF GOOD TEACHING IN THE UNITS OF HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATION

This article explores teachers in the units of high quality education in Finland. It focuses on three questions. First, What are conceptions of good teaching of teachers teaching in the quality units? Second, What do they consider important in their teaching? And third, What is the relation between teachers’ conceptions and the criteria used in the quality unit selection? Findings reveal that teachers’ conceptions of good teaching are in line with the theories of good teaching and with the main selection criteria of the quality units in Finland. Still, the role of appropriate assessment is not emphasised by the teachers.     

Relation of maternal cognitive stimulation, emotional support, and intrusive behavior during Head Start to children's kindergarten cognitive abilities

The current study examined how parental cognitive stimulation, emotional support, and intrusiveness measured during children's prekindergarten year were related to children's verbal and nonverbal abilities 1 year later. Participants were 110 Head Start children and their caregivers from primarily rural and low-income backgrounds. Analysis of children's scores on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities confirmed the predictive utility of cognitive stimulation, emotional support, and intrusive behavior for perceptual scores (20% of the unique variance) as well as the predictive utility of emotional support and intrusive behavior for verbal scores (15% of the unique variance). Parental emotional support during guidance of problem solving (positive feedback) explained statistically significant unique variance in children's perceptual scores beyond other measures of emotional support. Cognitive stimulation moderated the relation between positive feedback and perceptual scores. Although other syntactic forms of maternal utterances such as commands did not explain statistically significant unique variance in children's scores beyond emotional support and intrusive behavior, mothers' questions did. Specific policy implications of the effects are discussed.     

HIV/AIDS and Education: a study on how a selection of school governing bodies in Mpumalanga understand,respond to and implement legislation and policies on HIV/AIDS

Very little research has been done in South Africa on HIV/AIDS and education. This article is a small attempt to plug the gap. The purpose of the research is to investigate the legal and policy provisions and implications regarding HIV/AIDS for rural and township schools in the Mpumalanga district of South Africa. It seeks to answer three questions: (1) What is the status of policy and legislation on HIV/AIDS and Education in South Africa? (2) How do schools understand, respond to and manage issues of law and policy regarding HIV/AIDS? (3) What are the possible areas of conflict between legal and policy provisions and educational practices and behaviours? After examining the different laws relating to HIV/AIDS and education in South Africa a case study approach is used to explore the research questions in a number of rural and township schools. The findings highlighted a general ignorance of basic human rights issues, the right to confidentiality, the right to security from discrimination if it is known that a teacher or a pupil is HIV positive, the right to privacy and the right, under certain circumstances, to disclosure. The findings also reveal a distance between policy and practice so that schools need to develop vigilance with respect to any legal challenges that they might face at a local level. The findings also show that governing bodies should be made aware of the general legal issues surrounding the individual and HIV/AIDS before they can introduce fair and balanced policies.