“What Do I Do Now?”

ABSTRACT

Recent advances made by medicine and psychiatry in the development of practice guidelines and evidence-based interventions are spreading to social work and other helping professions. As the movement toward evidence-based practice grows, more demands for the use of tested interventions will be placed on practitioners. In this paper, we argue that social work practice education must change to respond to this demand. Specifically, evidence-based interventions must be incorporated into the teaching of the middle phase of social work practice more than it is now. Social work training has traditionally relied on untested interventions that have come from the tacit knowledge of accumulated practice wisdom. Although tacit knowledge has an important place in social work practice, instructing students about evidence-based, empirically derived interventions provides them with critical knowledge and skills they will need to enter the competitive world of social work practice. Moreover, this approach amplifies the importance of launching practitioners with skills of evidence-based thinking; that is, the identification, evaluation, and selection of interventions with demonstrated effectiveness.     

Intervention for children with language impairments: a model of evidence-based outcome research

Over the past 30 years successive governments in the UK have endeavoured to make the statutory framework suitable for children with special educational needs (SEN). More recently, efforts have been made to personalise children's learning, making educational experience more innovative and responsive to the diversity of needs in schools. A drive is emerging in health and education to develop and evaluate intervention strategies for children with language impairments (LIs), which is both methodologically challenging and rewarding. The current review demonstrates difficulties encountered with using evidence-based (evidence-related) outcome research involving children with LIs. Many studies have inherent methodological problems such as small sample sizes, ill-matched groups and designs that are difficult to replicate or compare. Such approaches are unlikely to yield significant results, or if they do, it is difficult to devise clear guidance regarding choice of intervention strategies. In the light of these difficulties, theoretical, methodological and practical issues are discussed herein and a model is proposed to assist in enabling interventions to be identified, evaluated in a robust manner, and the results shared with educators. We suggest that the use of a process-driven model ensures a more rigorous approach when undertaking large-scale systematic, evidence-based research into the effective approaches to teaching children not only with LIs but across the field of special needs education.     

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers Bridge the Gap Between Research and Practice

The goal of this study was to examine the two related links of research to teaching practice and teaching practice to research that pre-service elementary teachers made during an action research project focusing on a conceptual-change teaching experience with elementary school students. Data were collected from the final written reports from 144 groups of students. Analysis of the data by the process of grounded theory showed that the majority of students (96%) were able to link current educational research successfully to their teaching practice while fewer students (16%) were able to link their teaching practice back to the research base. Many students (30%), however, found new knowledge in the form of identifying new misconceptions or finding previously reported misconceptions with new populations or confirming prior research. Preliminary results (n = 17) based on the changes to the course showed significant improvement.     

Piloting autism intervention research with teachers in mainstream classrooms

Although there is a recognised need for effective practices to support students on the autism spectrum in mainstream schools, there is a research to practice gap in the area of autism and education, whereby evidence-based intervention may take decades to translate into mainstream classroom practice. Thus, current recommendations are that, rather than presenting mainstream school teachers with interventions developed and tested in clinical or special education settings, a participatory research process should be used to facilitate implementation in real-world mainstream classrooms. This article reports on a case study that aimed to refine a structured teaching intervention package for use in mainstream classrooms, while at the same time tailoring research methods for evaluating the package in these settings. The outcomes of the project are presented with respect to (a) the development and refinement of the intervention package in consultation with a mainstream classroom teacher and (b) the lessons learned during the process that other clinical researchers, teachers, and clinicians could apply when implementing educational interventions in mainstream settings.     

基于科技创新项目的培养模式研究与实践

学生科技创作是学生专业技术的综合应用,是学校创新实践教学,推进教学改革的一项举措.分析了科技创新项目在本科创新型人才培养的作用与成效.通过引用典型的实例验证,开放独立实验室,引导大学生参加科技创新,能充分锻炼其工程分析、创新能力,培养其良好的交流与组织协调能力.     

应用型本科高校大学生科研训练模式的实践与探索

提高本科生的科研和创新能力是大学教育的首要目标,本科生参与科研训练对提高学生的创新素质具有重要影响和作用。通过本科生走进科研实验室在导师的指导下参与学生创新创业训练项目研究,激发学生科研创新热情,培养学生创新能力和实践能力。实践证明,以教师科研项目和学生独立科研项目为依托,通过整合科研和实验室资源,采用分层指导、因材施教、有效沟通、多方激励,建立导师指导下的本科生科研训练创新模式,能够有效培养学生的实践能力和创新创业精神。     

Social Workers' Attitudes toward Peer-Reviewed Literature: The Evidence Base

Social workers from one state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers were surveyed to assess their use of and attitudes toward the peer-reviewed literature and their engagement in evidence-based practice. Results reveal that, in general, the practitioners in this study did not read the peer-reviewed literature, particularly articles describing research. One-half of the social workers reported feeling prepared by their social work education to read and critically evaluate the theoretical and empirical literature. Yet, they typically did not believe that the literature, particularly the empirical literature, was relevant for their practice, nor did they feel they were able to understand the implications of what they read for their practice. Further, the respondents generally did not engage in activities associated with evidence-based practice including using the results of research to guide practice, evaluating their practice, and using practice techniques for which there is empirical support.     

Preparing BSW Students for Service-Learning: Enhancing Epistemological Reflection

This article includes a review of the literature on personal epistemology and the reflective judgment model and applies these theoretical concepts to undergraduate students who engage in service-learning projects. The application will provide instructors with greater understanding of students’ abilities and limitations in their service-learning experiences. Included are traditional, modern, and expressive teaching activities that were designed, with literature support, to enhance students’ epistemological reflection and aid them in preparing for and completing service-learning projects.     

Pre-service teachers’ cultural and teaching experiences abroad

This study investigates Turkish pre-service teachers’ experiences related to a two-month international teaching and cultural experience in the United States of America. In total, 289 graduate students from Turkey participated in a collaborative project from 2001 to 2010. The experience included an orientation week, six weeks of student teaching in a high school, seminars and projects at Iowa State University and cultural visits. The data were collected through a pre-service teacher questionnaire and their reflective journals. The results showed that pre-service teachers perceived the international teaching experience helped them develop professionally and personally. Through cross-cultural exchanges with their mentors along with other students and their community, the pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge of a new culture and adapted to a new working environment.     

关于大学教师进行研究性教学的探讨——以大学数学教师为例

针对大学研究性教学的现状,主张大学教师注重研究教学本身,正确理解和把握教学内容,以提升课堂教学的吸引力,注重培养学生的学习毅力和创新能力,鼓励学生参与教师的研究项目、多种实习和其他有严密指导的实践性学习。倡导大学教师以高度的责任心,满腔热情地投入到教学改革中去,在研究自己专业发展的同时,增强大学教学的学术性和艺术性,改进教学方法,促进课堂教学质量的进一步提高。     

Mapping MSW Research Training

The surge of interest in evidence-based interventions necessitates MSW graduates who will pursue research activities in the workplace. However, evidence suggests that social workers tend not to use their research skills after graduation. This study examined three constructs that inform students’ relationships to research: (a) confidence in research skills, (b) academic activities that stimulate students’ interest in research, and (c) anticipated outcomes from future involvement in research activities. The findings suggest that MSW programs need to extend research training beyond the classroom by providing holistic research learning environments that clarify the role and purpose of research for the social work profession and provide opportunities for students to transform didactic research training into practical research skills.     

“机械设计”课程设计教学改革研究与实践

课程设计是机械设计课程教学的重要组成部分。提高课程设计的教学质量,对培养学生分析和解决工程设计问题的能力起着十分重要的作用。在实际当中“机械设计”课程设计存在诸多不足之处,从而导致教学效果不佳,无法达到预期的人才培养目标。随着教育改革的深入和持续发展,对机械设计课程进行教学改革与重新设计成为了必然的结果。就如何提高机械设计课程设计的教学质量,从设计课题、实物操作、实施模式和绩效评价等方面指出了教学改革的建议和举措。     

提高电气工程及其自动化专业毕业设计质量的研究与实践

本文结合电气工程及其自动化专业的实际情况,分析和总结了毕业设计的现状及存在的问题。从学生、指导教师、学校等多方面对影响毕业设计质量的问题进行了较全面地分析,并提出了相应的建议。     

The Experience of Disseminating the Results of Doctoral Research

Postgraduate study is something of growth industry with, worldwide, a substantial increase in the number of courses offered and students enrolled (Kerlin, 1995). A substantial part of the requirements for the successful completion of a research degree is that the research conducted should be in some way original and also make a worthwhile contribution to knowledge. Given these requirements it would be expected that the dissemination of the results of the research should be a routine part of the process of postgraduate study and its aftermath. However, it would seem that this is not the case and that the progression from completed dissertation to publication is not the universal experience. Certainly, those publications which deal with 'how to' get a research degree rarely if ever specifically address the issue of dissemination at any length. One would assume that supervisors of postgraduate research would see advice about the matter as one of their duties but it is not at all obvious whether this is the case. This article reports the results of two international studies of the experience of 'doing the degree' conducted with samples of 139 and 53 doctoral holders. Specifically, it concentrates on the participants' experiences of disseminating, or otherwise, the results of their research.     

Raising the reading skills of secondary-age students with severe and persistent reading difficulties: evaluation of the efficacy and implementation of a phonics-based intervention programme

The importance of reading skills to academic achievement, job acquisition and future success is well documented. Most of the research on reading interventions focuses on children in primary schools but many children start secondary school with very poor reading skills and schools require evidence-based interventions to support these children. The aims of this study were (i) to explore the efficacy of a phonics-based reading intervention programme, Toe By Toe, among secondary age students with severe reading difficulties and (ii) to examine perceived barriers to implementing this intervention programme. Results showed the intervention brought about a statistically significant improvement in the students’ decoding and word reading skills. Interviews with staff and students indicated a wide range of positive responses to the intervention and some key barriers to implementation. This study adds to the evidence base for the use of reading interventions in secondary schools to support students with severe reading difficulties.     

Efficacy of the Check & Connect Mentoring Program for At-Risk General Education High School Students

Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students with disabilities. This study examined the efficacy of Check & Connect with general education students who showed early warning signs of risk for dropping out of high school in a large urban district. The sample included 553 students with the lowest predicted probabilities of on-time graduation based on attendance, behavior, and course performance in Grades 8 and 9. Students were randomly assigned to receive a Check & Connect mentor for three years, starting in the summer after Grade 9, or not. Findings suggest the program was implemented with fidelity, except with students who left district schools. Check & Connect did not have any statistically significant impacts on measures of engagement, academic progress, the likelihood of dropping out, or graduation. These results are discussed in the context of other literature on mentoring and dropout prevention.     

What about research and evidence? Teachers’ perceptions and uses of education research to inform STEM teaching

Abstract

The use of research evidence to inform practice has become an expectation of those working in many professions. There is a dearth of research on teacher use of scholarship to inform their practice. While there is an abundance of research that can be used to inform teacher practice, there are unknowns about how much teachers seek, access, read, apply and share evidence from research to inform their teaching. We address this gap in the literature by surveying inservice teachers about their perceptions and practices for using education research. In our analysis of the data collected from 452 teachers, we found teachers are interested in research and perceive value in research to inform their work. However, we also found that teachers struggle to identify sources of quality research and how to translate research to inform their teaching. Our findings have implications for school administrators seeking to promote teacher engagement in evidence-based practice and educational researchers hoping to have their research translated into K-12 teacher practice.     

大学生科研能力培养的一个实验及其评价

社会实践是高等教育重要的实践性教学环节,事实证明,提高社会实践课的教学质量,有助于提高学生学习兴趣,激发专业灵感,提高综合能力,有效地促进大学生素质特别是科学研究能力的全面发展。为此,我们结合我院实践性教学改革进行了本次实验,以期全程了解、测试对学生进行科学研究能力培养的效果,从而为下一步相关教学改革提供借鉴。     

Explorations in using arts‐based self‐study methods

Research methods courses typically require students to conceptualize, describe, and present their research ideas in writing. In this article, the author describes her exploration in using arts‐based techniques for teaching research to support the development of students’ self‐study research projects. The pedagogical approach emerged from the author’s sociocultural theoretical perspective in using symbols and dialogue as mediating tools. Three arts‐based research projects were utilized to assist doctoral students in articulating research interests, framing research proposals, and reflecting on their development as researchers. Data included students’ implementation and assessment of projects; the instructor’s teaching logs; and students’ course evaluations. The projects served to illuminate the subtleties of research interests, self‐understanding and understanding of other’s research, and learning about self‐study by practicing it. Research methods instructors are prompted to consider what happens when students are asked to demonstrate their understanding of research using the arts and when they study the ‘so what’ of using them.     

采矿与力学相融合的创新实验项目建设与实践

创新实验教学项目的开发与建设是新时代全面推进创新教育的要求.基于采矿工程背景及力学实验技术,以实践创新技能培养为导向,以矿业类科研项目为依托,设计制作了顶板岩层移动相似模拟实验教学装置及地表沉陷三维相似模拟实验教学装置,成功建设了"煤炭开采顶板运动相似模拟实验"及"煤炭开采地表变形相似模拟实验"两项创新实验项目,初步形...