Understanding concepts in social science: towards an effective evaluation strategy

The understanding of concepts in social science was investigated by interviewing students studying two foundation courses in Social Science at the Open University. The investigation was carried out using the research paradigm of phenomenography (Marton, 1981) where the content of learning is seen as a quality rather than as a quantity. There were two aims of the research.

1. To discover the different understandings that students hold of particular important concepts in Social Science.
2. To use the method as a method of formative evaluation to influence the production of new course materials.

This paper concentrates on describing the results in terms of two evaluation strategies: Formative evaluation, where the students' understandings of the concept before the course were used to influence the teaching strategy of the remade course. Summative evaluation, where the students' answers before and after the course were compared to evaluate their learning on the course.     

Content analysis in empirical social research

An overview of the development of empirical content analysis is presented. Its development relevant to educational research from classical to computer-aided content analysis is traced. The history of hermeneutic text interpretation is included as well as the early developments in the analysis of manifest content of communication. The controversy between quantitative and qualitative schools of research is discussed. A theoretically grounded, practicable model of content analysis is introduced, which fulfills the criteria of empirical social research.     

浅析社会系统研究方法在社会工作领域的应用

社会工作专业作为一门社会科学,系统研究方法对于社会工作专业研究具有重要作用,其整体分析法、层次分析法、环境分析法、动态分析法以及结构法与社会工作的三大方法相互交融,相互影响,能够促进我国社会工作专业的研究发展。     

一个驱之不去的鬼魂和他的充满鬼魂的文学世界

As one of the most tragic figures in the history of American literature, Edgar Allan Poe created the themes of morbid love, omnipresent death, transient beauty, decadence and horror. Death always accompanies him in his poems and stories. His interest is mainly in the people‘s mind where he created a fancy and horrible world.     

Threshold concepts in research education and evidence of threshold crossing

Most work on threshold concepts has hitherto related to discipline‐specific undergraduate education, however, the idea of generic doctoral‐level threshold concepts appeared to us to provide a strong and useful framework to support research learning and teaching at the graduate level. The early work regarding research‐level threshold concepts is further developed and reported in this paper using research carried out with supervisors into their identification of threshold concepts and research students' crossing of these thresholds. The research was conducted in two stages involving 65 experienced research supervisors across six countries (Australia, England, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand and Trinidad) and across Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering and IT and the Sciences. The first stage involved written responses from 26 experienced supervisors related to the learning challenges experienced by research students and their supervisors. The second stage of the research involved in‐depth interviews with 39 supervisors regarding student learning challenges and successes at the research level. Responses were analysed, resulting in the identification of six possible generic research threshold concepts, which evidence themselves in the quality and level of the students' work at different stages in that work: argument; theorising; framework; knowledge creation; analysis and interpretation; and paradigm. The data analysis also suggests a number of indicators that signal when learners have crossed conceptual thresholds to gain, articulate and put into practice one or more of these threshold concepts in their research learning.     

Researching undergraduate social science research

The experience(s) of undergraduate research students in the social sciences is under-represented in the literature in comparison to the natural sciences or science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The strength of STEM undergraduate research learning environments is understood to be related to an apprenticeship-mode of learning supported by more experienced (post-graduate) peers, often through ongoing research projects. Studies of undergraduate research reveal that this is not typical in the social sciences, and students report facing specific challenges to the development of their identities as researchers that include fear, intellectual confusion and emotional unsettlement. This paper examines how a social science learning environment, designed as a research study itself, fostered beginning researchers communities of practice, realised a distinct mode of apprenticing based on peers’ similarly peripheral community membership, and enabled students to reframe emotional unsettlement. It argues that, effectively mediated, talk can powerfully improve undergraduate social science research students’ experiences.     

新疆农村社会组织发展状况研究

本文从动态的历史发展角度和现实农村社会变迁的角度对新疆当前农村社会组织的发展机遇、发展状况和一般特征进行概述。     

A review of recent research in the area of initial fraction concepts

This paper reviews recent research in the area of initial fraction concepts. The common goal of the empirical studies which are represented in this analysis was to assist children develop a meaningful understanding of the rational number construct, founded on durable fraction concepts. Two interpretations of findings were derived from the research. One group of researchers identified initial fraction concepts emerging from the application of intuitive mechanisms, in particular partitioning in either continuous or discrete contexts, and leading to unit identification and iteration of the unit. The other group of researchers identified ideas of ratio and proportion present in young children's early thoughts about fractions.By generating links between studies, integrated research is created and consensus regarding critical problems and future directions is reached. Concluding remarks pose questions for further investigation.     

坚持科学发展观创新科研促教学

正确认识教学科研的辩证关系,促进两者的协调与统一,是坚持科学发展观的本质要求,也是高校可持续发展的需要。我院在10多年的办学实践中,逐步理清思路、转变观念,充分认识教学科研相互促进的辩证关系,通过建立科研骨干与教学骨干培养并重的机制,以应用型科研为重的导向机制,健全科研保障与激励机制,将科研成果及时为教学服务的转化机制和学术交流机制,使教学内容不断更新,教学方法、教学手段不断改进,教学水平不断提高,学院办学定位逐渐明确,办学特色逐渐形成。     

科学发展观为高等教育科学研究注入活力

以科学发展观为指导,深入开展高等教育科学研究,需要教育工作者的广泛参与。浙江大学从三个层面开展高等教育科学研究:一是教育学院和高教所进行的专业研究;二是高教研究会围绕学校发展目标和中心任务开展的重点研究;三是广大教育工作者进行的群众性自发的管理研究、院校研究、课程研究和比较研究等,以教育科学研究促进学校的改革发展。     

教育研究引入经济学概念需要合理的谨慎

自从经济学成为显学后，用经济学概念分析、解释教育问题，成了一种强势学术潮流。引入其它学科的概念研究教育问题，增加了教育研究的手段和视角，从而可以丰富对教育现象的认识，但也会引起一些尴尬，陷入另一种局限。尤其当本学科的研究者对被引入的其它学科概念并未了解透彻的情况下，或者其它学科的研究者对新的研究领域缺乏丰富的感性认识的情况下，常会发生。例如，现在有的人很喜欢把教育当成一种产品或商品。这是一种经济学视角，适当运用，并无不可，也证明教育可以作为经济问题来分析；但由此反过来，认为教育可以完全用经济学把…     

神之源:中国原始时代社会观念的萌生及其发展

神的观念的出现,应当是早期人类开始形成了自己的主体观念,将人与自然初步区分开来以后的事情。《国语》所说的人神“杂糅”,与法国文化人类学家布留尔所说的人与自然的“互渗”,都是对于原始时代一定发展阶段的社会观念的概括。“杂糅”“互渗”是混沌初开、鸿蒙初判以后,才能够呈现出来的社会精神面貌。这种观念是上古时代神话的渊薮和古史传说的源头之一。人们脱离原始思维状态,具备“人”的自主意识,经历了一个漫长的发展过程。原始宗教观念和神灵世界的相继出现,为人走向神坛和英雄时代的降临创造了条件。