Questioning the evidence for a claim in a socio‐scientific issue: an aspect of scientific literacy

Understanding the science in a ‘socio‐scientific issue’ is at the heart of the varied definitions of ‘scientific literacy’. Many consider that understanding evidence is necessary to participate in decision making and to challenge the science that affects people’s lives. A model is described that links practical work, argumentation and scientific literacy which is used as the basis of this research. If students are explicitly taught about evidence does this transfer to students asking questions in the context of a local socio‐scientific issue? What do they ask questions about? Sixty‐five primary teacher training students were given the pre‐test, before being taught the ‘concepts of evidence’ and applying them in an open‐ended investigation and were tested again 15 weeks later. Data were coded using Toulmin’s argument pattern (TAP) and the ‘concepts of evidence’. After the intervention it was found that, in relation to a socio‐scientific issue, they raised significantly more questions specifically about the evidence that lead to the scientists’ claims although questions explicitly targeting the quality of the data were still rare. This has implications for curricula that aim for scientific literacy.     

-ing Form Or Infinitive?

在“I enjoy____(read)story-books.”这个句子里是填reading还是填to read呢?此句中的enjoy是个关键词,它要求后面作宾语的动词用-ing形式。究竟哪些词需要后面的动词用-ing形式作宾语呢?现根据1—6册初中英语教科书的内容及大纲要求,从实用的角度对此类问题进行归纳整理,以期能对初三学生复习有所帮助。     

吴卓羲 Right Or Ron?

TVB40周年的台庆已经落下帷幕,但是对于很多人来说,10月31日那一夜更令人难以忘怀。第一次见吴卓羲,卸下电视剧中形形色色的角色面具,其实是个有些害羞的男生。内敛的采访话语中,仿佛还透露着难得的生涩,这并不是"不专业",更多的是一个专业演员私底下的返璞归真。     

What are we aiming for?—A Delphi study on the development of civic scientific literacy in Sweden

Based on the EU FP 7 project, PROFILES, this article presents our findings from a three-round Delphi study conducted in Sweden that aimed at establishing a consensus on how science education should be developed for citizens to enhance civic scientific literacy. A total of 100 stakeholders (9th graders, school teachers, scientists, and science education researchers) were involved in our Delphi study in 2012–2013. The results revealed that there were some highly ranked consensus ideas: environmental issues, inquiry skills, motivation/interest, and holistic comprehension. The conclusions of our research imply the importance of involving different stakeholders in the educational reconstruction process; we suggest that schoolteachers in particular should play a vital role.     

A Boy Or A Girl?

Nowadays a lot of boys and girls are wearing the samekinds of clothes,and many of them have long hair,so it isalways difficult to tell whether they are boys or girls. one day,an oId man went for a walk in a park.When he     

Who writes the recipes in science? Possibilities from four years of action research with students and their scientific literacy

This paper presents an action research study on student scientific literacy, which is analysed by two metaphors of learning, introduced by Sfard (1998), and adapted to fit the context. These metaphors are students working in science as if they follow recipes and students working in science as if they devise recipes. By looking at the relationship between the metaphors in each of four vignettes that represent the research, possibilities are considered for the usefulness of the metaphors as a framework that provides common ground for otherwise divergent views about scientific literacy. Issues of how to represent and legitimate some action research, and considerations for the need to tightly integrate reading, writing, conversing and experimenting tasks to facilitate scientific literacy are also prominent.     

What happened to literacy? Historical and conceptual perspectives on literacy in UNESCO

For more than six decades, UNESCO has dedicated itself to be the international agency leader in literacy, even though other aspects of educational development have received greater attention and resources by the broader international community. Resources for UNESCO's literacy work have not increased, and its programmatic activities have been increasingly debated when seen in relationship to the scope of literacy challenges across the globe. Moving forward in a time of restricted budgets will require UNESCO to strengthen itself as a professional innovator and thought leader.     

开裆裤，穿Or不穿?

穿开档裤是中国宝宝的特色,国外的宝宝可没机会体验。虽然穿开裆裤能方便宝宝大小便,但是越来越多的年轻家长认为开裆裤让宝宝的私处一览无遗,既不卫生,又有损孩子的自尊心。那么,究竟需不需要把小裤裆缝起来呢?     

Information literacy: innuendo or insight?

There is discussion about the definition of literacy in the Information Age and the nature of the experience, skills, knowledge and understanding that teachers will need to develop in continuing professional development. This paper discusses the context of policy and curriculum discussions; critiques an approach to information literacy; outlines the use of a framework of good practice in using information technology in the classroom and illustrates the reflection of these ideas in a research project. It proposes that information literacy for teachers is more than competence and capability in information retrieval and presentation, but requires awareness of the ideological, cultural, epistemological and pedagogical practices in which these capabilities are developed. © 1998 IFIP, published by Chapman & Hall Ltd     

手机进校园,Yes Or No?

90后出门蹦跶必带三件宝:手机、钥匙和钱包,可见是机不离身了。上学与出门蹦跶是两码事,作为中学生的你是否会带着手机上学校呢?     

Does whole-word multimedia software support literacy acquisition?

This study examined the extent to which multimedia features of typical literacy learning software provide added benefits for developing literacy skills compared with typical whole-class teaching methods. The effectiveness of the multimedia software Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) for Clicker in supporting early literacy acquisition was investigated through a classroom-based intervention study by comparing ORT for Clicker to traditional ORT Big Books. Sixty-one typically developing readers, aged 5–6 years, from four primary classes were each given the two interventions. Each intervention was delivered over five one-hour sessions over the course of 1 week. Performance on tasks of written word recognition, written word naming, and phonological awareness, was measured before and after each intervention. Significantly greater gains in word recognition, word naming, rhyme awareness, segmentation skill, and grapheme awareness were found after the ORT for Clicker compared to the traditional ORT Big Book intervention. This study shows that whole-word multimedia software can be more effective than traditional printed texts from the same reading scheme at supporting the development of early literacy skills.     

Health literacy and social capital: what role for adult literacy partnerships and pedagogy?

This paper makes the case for adult literacy (including numeracy) practitioners to play a greater role in health literacy initiatives in Australia. The paper draws on data from a national research project that investigated adult literacy partnerships and pedagogy viewed from a social capital perspective. The primary purpose of the project was to produce guidelines on how to deliver integrated adult literacy and numeracy programmes using a social capital approach. Prior experience of partnerships was explored through a review of the literature and an environmental scan of adult literacy providers using an email survey and follow-up interviews. An in-depth case study of a health literacy partnership was trialled using action research. Partnerships between adult literacy and health organisations in Australia were found to be largely ad hoc and rarely documented. To enable sustainable health literacy programmes, partnerships are needed across the three interlinked organisational levels – micro, meso and macro, and in particular the latter, which is currently almost completely absent. The conceptual frameworks outlined for health literacy partnerships and social capital pedagogy in this paper are new and potentially of value to policy makers, researchers and practitioners in the fields of health and literacy.     

Should Zoos Keep Large Animals Or Not?

LastSunday the elephantkeeper atLondon Zoo, Jim R obson, waskilled by one of the elephants he loved.This w as terrible,and it could bea big problem for the future of London Zoo——and m aybe for all ofBritain s city zoos.London Zoo said thatitw ould m ove its three elephantsto a wild anim al park outside London. Its director-general (总 经理),M ichael D ixon,said,“W e are sorry that the elephants are leaving;therehave been elephants atLondon Zoo since 1831.”O ne British new spaper sai…     

The End of Public Schools? Or a New Beginning?

Abstract

Public education is becoming increasingly privatized as private philanthropic organizations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and corporations, such as Pearson, dominate the policy-making process, and more students enroll in publicly funded but privately administered charter schools. The privatization of education results from the dominance of neoliberal ideals promoting market competition, individualism, and standardized testing. In response, we call for replacing neoliberalism with social democratic policies emphasizing community, trust, and democratic deliberation.     

Do creativity self-beliefs predict literacy achievement and motivation?

Previous work has suggested that creativity self-beliefs show only small relations with academic achievement and may only be related to intrinsic, not extrinsic motivation. We set out to re-examine these relationships accounting for the multifaceted and process embedded nature of creativity self-beliefs and the full domain range of extrinsic motivation. One hundred and twenty-two secondary school pupils completed self-report measures of creativity self-beliefs and motivation and were administered as test of fluid intelligence. Creativity self-beliefs were positively related to teacher assessed literacy attainment, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and also inversely related to amotivation. Creativity self-beliefs accounted for a significant additional proportion of variance in both literacy achievement and in motivational measures, beyond that already accounted for by fluid intelligence. These findings suggest that it is important to attend to the multifaceted nature of creative self-beliefs and the full domain range of extrinsic motivation.     

Is the environmental literacy of university students measurable?

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution’s adoption of EL as a graduate attribute (or in a US context, a general-education learning outcome, and something to be fostered throughout a student’s education). The instrument and associated processes were designed to fit within conventional institutional mechanisms that manage student feedback on the quality of teaching. The instrument was tested with more than 600 students from more than eight programmes over the course of a year and its use stressed that students were anonymous within the survey. We conclude that evaluating (or in a US context, assessing) the extent to which students acquire EL is an achievable objective and is a reasonable expectation for any higher education institution that claims to foster this attribute.     

Can earlier literacy skills have a negative impact on future home literacy activities? Evidence from Japanese

We examined the cross‐lagged relations between the home literacy environment and literacy skills in Japanese, and whether child's gender, parents' education and child's level of literacy performance moderate the relations. One hundred forty‐two Japanese children were followed from Grades 1 to 2 and assessed on character knowledge, reading fluency and spelling. Their parents responded to a questionnaire assessing the frequency of their teaching and shared reading. Results showed that parent teaching increased and shared reading decreased from Grades 1 to 2. Cross‐lagged path analysis indicated that the literacy skills in Grade 1 were negatively associated with parent teaching in Grade 2. The results further suggested that more educated parents of higher performing children, particularly boys, adjusted their involvement to their children's literacy skills, while less educated parents of lower performing children did not. These findings indicate the importance of parents' sensitivity to their child's performance. What is already known about this topic

• Home literacy environment (HLE) plays an important role in children's literacy acquisition in Western and some East Asian contexts.
• Children's early reading skills can have an impact on later HLE.
• The direction of the relationship between HLE and children's reading skills may change from positive in Kindergarten to negative in Grade 1.

What this paper adds

• In line with the findings of previous studies in other languages, Japanese parents adaptively adjust their home literacy activities to their child's literacy skills.
• The effect of children's literacy skills on later shared reading is stronger among boys than among girls.
• More educated parents of higher performing children adjust their involvement to their child's literacy skills, while less educated parents with lower performing children do not.

Implications for theory, policy or practice

• We should encourage parents to be sensitive to their child's literacy skills to help them build a foundation that will boost future literacy development.
• This can be particularly true of less educated parents with poorly performing children.
• We should encourage educators to communicate the children's literacy achievement to their parents and also suggest the means by which HLE could be beneficial for their children's literacy development.

     

Can media literacy education increase digital engagement in politics?

ABSTRACT

Online environments are now central to political life, especially for young people. They are prominent contexts for activities that include: fundraising, political debate, sharing political perspectives, mobilizing individuals and groups to act, and applying pressure to governments, corporations, and nonprofits. Much of this online politically focused activity occurs within a broader media ecology that can be characterized as a participatory culture (Jenkins, H., R. Purushotma, K. Clinton, M. Weigel, and A. J. Robison. [2009]. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning. Chicago: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation). Many have argued that media literacy efforts are needed for youth to fully leverage these digital opportunities, but rigorous studies of such educational efforts are just beginning to emerge. Drawing on an original panel survey, this paper examines whether efforts to promote digital engagement literacies increase youth online engagement in politics. We find that they do. Educators’ efforts to foster digital engagement literacies increase youth engagement in participatory politics and in applying targeted political pressure to government, corporations, and nonprofits.