Students’ communication, argumentation and knowledge in a citizens’ conference on global warming

An empirical study on 12th-grade students?? engagement on a global warming debate as a citizens?? conference is reported. Within the design-based research methodology, an interdisciplinary teaching sequence integrating an initiation to non-violent communication was developed. Students?? debates were analyzed according to three dimensions: communication, argumentation, and knowledge. Students regulated their oral contributions to the debate by identifying judgments in their discussions. Rhetorical processes developed by students were mainly related to the identity of debate protagonists with interest attributions, authority, and positions. Students?? arguments also relied on empirical data. The students?? knowledge focused on energy choices, economic, political, and science development issues. Implications for socioscientific issues integration in class are discussed.     

A new type of debate for global warming and scientific literacy

Expanding on some ideas introduced in the paper by Albe and Gombert (2012) ??Students?? communication, argumentation and knowledge in a citizen?? conference on global warming??, I explore two issues relevant to their work: global warming (GW) as a socioscientific controversy and scientific literacy in regards to climate change science. For the first issue, the definition of GW socioscientific controversy provided in the article raises controversies in both scientific communities and society or social groups concerned by the issue. I review this from two perspectives that can be considered at the extreme ends of a spectrum of perspectives. I then address the role of debates in education about global warming and climate change and suggest a new type of classroom debates to replace those addressing the existence and cause of global warming.     

政治文明视角下对高校教代会建设的新思考

高校教代会建设是高校政治文明的体现。搞好高校教代会建设才能更好地保障高校民主政治建设,实现民主决策、民主管理、民主监督,全心全意依靠教职工办出人民满意的高等教育。总结了高校教职工代表大会三十年发展的基本态势,分析了存在的主要问题,对高校教代会实现真正意义上的民主管理提出了新的思考和探索。     

The influences of parental acceptance and parental control on school adjustment and academic achievement for South Korean children: the mediation role of self-regulation

This study examined the effects of parental acceptance, psychological control, and behavioral control on children??s school adjustment and academic achievement, as well as the possible mediation effect of children??s self-regulation in those processes. To do so, we examined 388 upper-level elementary school students (mean age?=?11.38?years) in South Korea. In addition, the study examined whether the influences of parental psychological and behavioral control on children??s school outcomes were consistent between Western and East Asian cultures. Children reported on perceived parental acceptance, psychological control, behavioral control, self-regulation, and their own school adjustment and academic achievement. The results showed that parental acceptance, psychological control, and behavioral control were not directly related to children??s school outcomes. Parental acceptance and behavioral control indirectly influenced the children??s school outcomes but were mediated by the children??s self-regulation. However, the mediation effect of self-regulation between psychological control and children??s school outcomes was not statistically significant. These results suggested that children??s self-regulation plays a more significant role vis-à-vis children??s school outcomes than the direct effects of parenting and that parental psychological control did not have a negative effect on South Korean children??s school outcomes.     

Communication Between Early Educators and Parents who Speak English as a Second Language A Semantic and Pragmatic Perspective

In this article, we discuss communication between early educators speaking their native language and parents who speak English as a second language. Parents who may have a limited proficiency in the second language face challenges to understanding semantic and pragmatic aspects of English. Actual early childhood conference talk in which parents were speaking English as a second language will illustrate potential difficulties to listening comprehension and communication. Additionally, semantics and pragmatics will be used as a framework for recommending strategies to facilitate these parents?? ability to comprehend and communicate during discussions with early educators.     

An indigenous and migrant critique of principles and innovation in education in Aotearoa/New Zealand

This paper questions notions of individualism underpinning technocratic approaches to education that marginalise indigenous and migrant peoples?? knowledges in tertiary education. Focusing on New Zealand (Aotearoa) with its colonial and immigrant history, its M??ori and Pacific Islander citizens, the authors ask whether education, as its process is being communicated there, leaves indigenous and migrant people vulnerable and marginalised in the dominant, English-speaking, New Zealand European (P??keh??) mainstream society. The question is whether education refers to capacity-building and strengthening the potential of marginalised students?? language and culture; or whether it is only geared towards sustaining English-language ascendancy and technical virtuosity. Taking on board the cultural heritage of Pacific Islanders (Pasifika) resident in New Zealand, a new teacher training diploma was introduced by the Auckland University of Technology in 2004. Both authors are involved in the panel meetings (Fono) where the papers presented during the diploma course are evaluated.     

The Garden and the Jungle: Burnett, Kipling and the Nature of Imperial Childhood

Imperial British India is the point of origin for protagonists in both Frances Hodgson Burnett??s The Secret Garden (1911) and Rudyard Kipling??s The Jungle Books (1894?C1895), two influential children??s stories in which late Victorian notions of childhood education and nature converge with those of national and imperial identity. In Burnett??s The Secret Garden, Mary Lennox, orphaned in colonial India, is restored to health only as she is ??schooled?? in the English countryside. Kipling, meanwhile, finds the imperial setting a fine and fitting place to raise his hero Mowgli. In both cases the young protagonists develop physically, spiritually and socially in classrooms of nature outside or parallel to mainstream culture. This paper follows the different ??escapes?? offered characters in these works, while tracing the contours of class structure, gender, family relations, educational standards and imperial identity as experienced in the last decades of the nineteenth century.     

What chemists (or chemistry students) need to know about computing

During the on-line conference, Applications of Technology in Teaching Chemistry, June 14-August 20, 1993, the topic What Chemists (or Chemistry Students) Need to Know About Computing generated considerable discussion. In this paper some of the key points of the discussion are collected and integrated with information from the literature. The key points developed here include: the computer as a tool for learning study, research, and communication; hardware, software, computing concepts and other teaching concerns; and the appropriate place for chemistry computer usage instruction. Some suggestions for access, implementation, and extent of implementation of useful skills for the chemist and chemistry student are given in the paper. The papers, graphics, discussion streams, and related materials from the on-line conference have been archived. Information on retrieving these documents and the documents themselves can be obtained through anonymous ftp: inform.umd.edu, Path: /Educational Resources/Faculty Resources and Support/Chemistry Conference (CHEMCONF).     

A navy video teletraining project: Lessons learned

Abstract

This paper discusses two modifications to the conduct of computer‐conference‐based master's degree courses: a maximum length for conference messages was suggested and, more importantly, conference moderators, or topic leaders, were appointed from among the student cohort. Drawing on previous work on conference moderation, it is argued that the differing power relationships between student and student and between instructor and student result in a context in which instructor and student moderators can perform complementary functions to ensure a more productive conferencing environment.     

Ernst Mach and the Epistemological Ideas Specific for Finnish Science Education

Where does Finnish science education come from? Where will it go? The following outside view reflects on relations, which Finns consider ??normal?? (and thus unrecognizable in introspection) in science education. But what is ??normal?? in Finnish culture cannot be considered ??normal?? for science education in other cultures, for example in Germany. The following article will trace the central ideas, which had a larger influence in the development of this difference. The question is, if and why the Finnish uniqueness in the philosophy of science education is empirically important. This puts Finnish science education into the perspective of a more general epistemological debate around Ernst Mach??s Erkenntnistheorie (a German term similar to the meaning of history and philosophy of science, though more general; literally translated ??cognition/knowledge theory??). From this perspective, an outlook will be given on open questions within the epistemology of Finnish science education. Following such questions could lead to the adaptation of the ??successful?? ideas in Finnish science education (indicated by empirical studies, such as the OECD PISA study) as well as the further development of the central ideas of Finnish science education.     

Child and adult witnesses: the effect of repetition and invitation-probes on free recall and metamemory realism

Witnesses?? event recall and the realism in their evaluation of the correctness of their recall are of great importance in forensic processes. These issues were investigated in the present study by use of calibration methodology. More specifically, we analyzed the effects of two recalls of the same event (repetition) and of probes (non-informative follow-up questions at recall) on 9?C11?year-old children??s and adults?? open free recall and the degree of realism in the participants?? confidence judgments of the correctness of the recall after they had seen a short video clip. The findings were that repetition resulted in more units recalled both for children and for adults, and in that the children showed higher overconfidence compared with one recall, but not the adults. Moreover, when only the statements in the repetition conditions that were recalled twice were included in the analysis, higher confidence was found for the children (independent of an increase in the proportion correct statements of all statements) but not for the adults. Probing increased the number of units recalled for both children and adults, decreased the children??s proportion correct statements but not the adults??, decreased both children??s and adults?? confidence and increased the children??s overconfidence, but not the adults??. Finally, the combination of two recalls and probing disrupted the children??s but not the adults?? metacognitive performance.     

Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy,burnout, and stress in online professional development: a mixed methods approach to understand change

ABSTRACT

This mixed methods study examines the impact of online professional development on preschool teachers’ self-efficacy, burnout, and stress. Participating teachers (n = 89) were randomly assigned into four groups: one of three treatment conditions (course-only, conference, reflective writing) or a control group. All treatment conditions received a 14-week online course on teacher-child interactions, which included regular homework assignments and community discussion boards. The conference and reflective writing conditions received additional supports. Regression analyses revealed that teachers who were in the course-only treatment condition had decreased self-efficacy and increased emotional exhaustion, a component of burnout, relative to the control group. However, teachers in the conference and reflective writing conditions did not experience such negative effects. Qualitative analyses suggest that all teachers tended to focus on personal challenges within the course, but teachers who had access to conference and reflective writing supports benefited from the availability of emotional outlets and/or opportunities for feedback     

‘In the hands of the Receivers’: The Politics of Literacy in The Savage by David Almond and Dave McKean

David Almond and Dave McKean??s The Savage is a hybrid prose and graphic novel which tells the story of one young man??s maturation through literacy. The protagonist learns to deal with the death of his father and his own ??savage?? self by writing a graphic novel. This article reads The Savage in the context of earlier, ??Northern?? literacy narratives??particularly Tony Harrison??s poem ??Them & [uz]?? and Barry Hines?? Kes??through the discourse of neoliberalism and the notion of the reluctant boy reader. It is suggested that Almond and McKean are influenced by currently dominant ideologies of gender and literacy.     

EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS IN SCIENCE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF LEBANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EPISTEMOLOGIES

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing have been investigated extensively in educational and developmental psychology research. Hofer??s framework on personal epistemology is adopted in the present study for assessing Lebanese university students?? epistemologies of science. Participants were 213 students in their first year of science-related studies at a private university in Beirut. Two instruments were used for data collection: The science-focused epistemological beliefs questionnaire (Hofer, 2000) and an 8-item instrument adapted from the modified version of the ??Views on Science?CTechnology?CSociety?? (Dogan & Abd-El-Khalick, 2008), and an additional item developed by the authors. Thirty students were purposively selected for completing the second instrument followed by a semi-structured interview. Data analysis yielded the following assertions regarding students?? epistemologies of science: (1) Scientific knowledge is liable to change; (2) the source of scientists?? knowledge is inherent to human??s construction, whereas the source of personal knowledge is independent from human subjectivity and based on external authority; (3) scientific knowledge is proven and validated through the concerted effort of scientists; and (4) absolute truth cannot be attained because of the lack of means to access knowledge. Findings highlighted the need to foster an academic culture that promotes students?? epistemologies and explicitly addresses the nature and processes of science in curricula and instruction.     

The learning environment associated with information technology education in Taiwan: Combining psychosocial and physical aspects

This study investigated perceptions of senior high school students towards the Taiwanese information technology (IT) classroom with the What Is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) survey and explored the physical learning environment of the IT classroom using the Computerised Classroom Environment Inventory (CCEI). The participants included 2,869 students from 80 classes of senior high schools, vocational high schools and comprehensive high schools in Taiwan. This study had a mixed-method design in which both quantitative (WIHIC and CCEI scales) and qualitative (classroom observations and interview) methods were used. In order to have a cross-cultural perspective, the results of this study were also compared with the earlier findings of Zandvliet and Straker (Ergonomics 44:838?C857, 2001) and Zandvliet and Fraser (Learn Environ Res 8:1?C17, 2005), which involved Canadian and Australian students in IT settings. Further, we attempted to understand the influence of different gender compositions (all boys, all girls and mixed-gender classes) on students?? perceptions of the IT learning environment and students?? satisfaction with the IT course. Both the ??Spatial environment?? of physical environments and ??Autonomy/Independence?? of psychosocial environments were found to be indicators of students?? satisfaction with learning in IT courses, but physical variables as measured with the CCEI scales were not able to predict students?? perceptions of the psychosocial environment. Furthermore, relationships among students?? satisfaction, psychosocial environment and physical environment were quite different among students from classes with different gender compositions.