Consumer learning for university students: a case for a curriculum

This article indicates how the application of a simplified version of the analytical abstraction method (AAM) was used in curriculum development for consumer learning at one higher education institution in South Africa. We used a case study design and qualitative research methodology to generate data through semi‐structured interviews with eight learning facilitators at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. This data set forms the basis of the reported research. Application of basic‐ and higher‐level analysis resulted in the identification of patterns that confirmed the need for consumer learning and informed the situation analysis with regard to a ‘readiness climate’ at the institution. We also gained insight into aspects that need to be considered during curriculum development for consumer learning as the AAM has proved to be a useful guiding tool in developing a structured explanatory framework for curriculum development. The article concludes with the view that the promotion of consumer learning in university curricula has been under‐researched and that, despite current efforts, university curricula are slow to adopt consumer learning as a critical learning outcome. We suggest several possibilities that might assist in overcoming this inertia.     

一类常微分方程特征值的带权估计

考虑一类常微分方程的特征值的带权估计,利用分部积分、Rayleigh定理和不等式估计等方法,获得了用前n个特征值来估计第n＋1个特征值的上界的不等式,其估计系数与区间的几何度量无关,其结果在物理学和力学等领域中应用广泛。     

Taking light for a walk

Recent research on manipulating the speed of light has established the possibility of bringing down the speed of light to a value that can be challenged by a humble bullock cart. The processes that influence the speed of light in natural and artificial materials have been investigated in depth, leading to the design of specific techniques to slow down and even store light in appropriate medium at room temperature. We introduce here the basic science of slow-light propagation in materials and artificial structures such as photonic crystals and highlight the important milestones in research on this fascinating frontier.     

Approaches for a Postmodern Context

This article is on the culture of conversation in the studio art classroom. What can be assumed as simple pedagogical acts, talking to one another, become increasingly complex in the context of postmodernism. Breakdowns in perceived truths, agreed‐upon styles, and monoculturalism demand that conversation is looked at in a metasense — what is it? what skills, values and agendas do we bring to the process? This work includes reflections on a multiyear field study conducted in New York City studio classrooms. Exemplary professors of art, such as the ones studied, practise conversation through an awareness of their position/biases, being pluralistic and practising authenticity. A history of conversation in schools of art is included to demonstrate historical continuity of artists and art students in conversation. Finally, ways to invest in the act of conversation, such as bracketing the time and space for the act in the classroom, are suggested.     

搜房记

最近我急切地想要换个新公寓。原因有很多：现在住的地方太吵了;赚的钱快要负担不起新涨的计程车费;想换换四周的景色。所以我告诉房东一个月内就会搬走,然后就开始找房了。刚来北京时的两次搬家都轻而易举——事实上那两次我都是一眼就相中了房子,所以非常顺利。     

Creating a Context for Chemistry

Until relatively recently, the teaching of chemistry at the college and university level in the United States has been quite traditional and oriented primarily toward the preparation of chemists. Students not concentrating in the sciences have often been poorly served by existing courses. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society, a textbook for nonscience majors developed under the sponsorship of the American Chemical Society, is an effort to address the needs and interests of this audience. The book introduces the phenomena and principles of chemistry within the context of socially significant issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, alternate energy sources, nutrition, and genetic engineering. The chemistry is presented as needed to inform an understanding of the central topics, and the text features student-centered activities designed to promote critical thinking and risk-benefit analysis as well as an understanding of chemical principles. This paper summarizes the origin, development, content, pedagogy, evaluation, and influence of Chemistry in Context and considers its potential implications for other disciplines and the instruction of science majors.     

关于新闻教育联合办学模式的思考

以培养新闻人才、促进新闻事业发展为终极目的的新闻教育应随着新闻事业的发展而不断创新。在新闻事业日新月异发展的今天，时代呼唤新的教学模式——联合办学模式。联合办学是一种对住、共赢的教学模式。     

Foreseeing a Religious Educational Program for a Local Church

The members of the Editorial Staff and Committee invite the readers of Religious Education to participate in the Forum. Let us know what you think about the articles appearing in the journal. If you feel we are over‐emphasizing some fields and under‐emphasizing others — tell us. If you feel that we are failing to get at some of the things we should be handling, discuss them through this section of the journal. We will welcome your cooperation and participation.     

Unsteady simulation for a high-speed train entering a tunnel

In order to study the unsteady aerodynamics effects in railway tunnels, the 3D Reynolds average Navier-Stokes equations of a viscous compressible fluid are solved, and the two-equation k-? model is used in the simulation of turbulence, while the dynamic grid technique is employed for moving bodies. We focus on obtaining the changing tendencies of the aerodynamic force of the train and the aerodynamic pressures on the tunnel wall and train surface, and discovering the relationship between the velocity of the train and the intensity of the micro pressure wave at the tunnel exit. It is shown that the amplitudes of the pressure changes in the tunnel and on the train surface are both approximately proportional to the square of the train speed, so are the microwave and the drag of the train.     

Fighting for a New Act

The Bill on the civil rights of disabled persons was a casualty of the recent general election. Bert Massie who is director of RADAR, and is also disabled, says the fight for legislation to outlaw unjustifiable discrimination must continue.     

Reversing a Sentence for Life

How selected children are returned stage by stage to mainstream education from the Castle School for ESN(M) children in Walsall, is described by Janet Bond, headteacher, and Ann Lewis, deputy head at the school     

一帧照片的五种说明

一帧1907年拍摄、1927年公开发表的梅兰芳照片,由于它的重要性,在20世纪多种戏曲史和人物传记中,被反复使用。由于社会、文化等的因素,照片使用时的说明文字有很大的变化。照片说明在不同时期、不同使用者那里发生的这种更易,折射了文学史(戏曲史)写作中常见的“意识形态”禁忌。     

影响物流中心选址的因素及一种选址方法

文章论述了影响物流中心选址的七大因素,建议采用模糊评判的方法,该方法克服了传统选址方法的片面性、局限性和计算的复杂性,可对多种可供选择的方案做出明确的排序,使选址问题变得更加合理、科学与全面,更加反映客观实际.     

The need for a manifesto for educational programme evaluation

This paper explores the progress of educational programme evaluation over three decades through the lens of a group of evaluators primarily from the UK and the US who met periodically from 1972 to 2004 to review the state of the art of educational programme evaluation—what it could and could not do—in relation to the complexity of programme initiatives and the policy and political contexts of the times. These meetings came to be known as the Cambridge conferences as they were always held at a university college in Cambridge. They were sponsored in the main by the Nuffield Foundation and, in 2004, by the ESRC. The nucleus of original group membership was retained over the years for continuity with additional members joining as the specific focus of the conference changed and new ideas were sought. There have been six conferences. This paper first locates the contextual origin of and reason for the first conference and the manifesto that was written from it. Secondly it documents the revisiting of that manifesto at the sixth conference leading to the construction of a ‘new’ manifesto that reflects changes required in evaluation methodology in the socio/political context of the first decade of the twenty‐first century.     

Assessment for learning: a catalyst for student self-regulation

The development of students as lifelong, self-regulating learners is a valued outcome of higher education. To this end, the current project investigated how students in an undergraduate course experienced and responded to a teaching–learning environment where they were expected to take responsibility for their learning. The pedagogic environment of this course was grounded in strategies and activities associated with assessment for learning (AfL). As such, students were expected to participate in activities that provided them with opportunities to exercise control over their learning. Data gathering comprised individual semi-structured interviews and the collection of artefacts. Findings indicated goals helped students know where they were going; exemplars provided insights into what was expected and what constituted quality work; course activities elicited evidence of learning; dialogic interactions around these generated feedback about understandings and progress; the evaluation of exemplars developed evaluative knowledge, skill and expertise; peer review and feedback provided an authentic context for evaluation and monitoring of works-in-progress. It was concluded that, while each of the AfL strategies contributed to student self-regulation, the full impact of AfL as a catalyst for self-regulated learning was realised in the cumulative and recursive effect these strategies had on students’ thinking, actions and feelings.     

Research for a Movement

Reflecting from the Philippine experience, this article explores an emerging picture that characterizes contemporary Bible reading attitudes of college students. Six new attitude factor definitions are developed following the development of the Bible Reading (BR) attitude scale for college students constructed by this author in a separate study. Through empirical procedures, the pre-tested scale produced six new attitude factor definitions that displaced the nine original pre-test attitude sub-factors. Their Bible reading attitudes are described in terms of motivation, reading preference, and acquaintance. This research provides practitioners with useful attitudinal dimensions for youth formation particularly in biblical formation and religious education.     

Is Economic Status Really Important for a Woman Important for a Woman

<正>Simone de Beauvoir said,"A woman is not born but made."Then,what makes women?Culture?Parental teaching?Social environments?...When women are born,they are told they are a girl and brought up in the way that girls grow up.Gradually,an invisible and powerful voice is rooted in their mind,"I’m a girl and that I’ll be a woman or housewife."     

Comparison of Methods for Combining the Minimum Passing Levels for Individual Items into a Passing Score for a Test

The purpose of this study was to compare several methods for determining a passing score on an examination from the individual raters' estimates of minimal pass levels for the items. The methods investigated differ in the weighting that the estimates for each item receive in the aggregation process. An IRT-based simulation method was used to model a variety of error components of minimum pass levels. The results indicate little difference in estimated passing scores across the three methods. Less error was present when the ability level of the minimally competent candidates matched the expected difficulty level of the test. No meaningful improvement in passing score estimation was achieved for a 50-item test as opposed to a 25-item test; however, the RMSE values for estimates with 10 raters were smaller than those for 5 raters. The results suggest that the simplest method for aggregating minimum pass levels across the items in a test–adding them up–is the preferred method.     

一类偏微分方程特征值的带权估计

考虑一类偏微分方程特征值的带权估计,利用分部积分、Rayleigh定理和不等式估计等方法,获得了用前n个特征值来估计第N＋1个特征值的上界的不等式,其估计系数与区域的度量无关,这个结果在力学和物理学中有着广泛的应用。