An exploration of EFL teachers’ attributions

The present study investigated English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ attributions of success and failure. It also set out to investigate whether these attributions vary by teachers’ age, teaching experience, gender and educational level. To do so, 200 EFL teachers were selected according to convenience sampling among EFL teachers teaching English in Language Institutes in Mashhad and Tehran, two cities in Iran. The participants completed the language teacher attribution scale measuring four attributions: teaching competency (TC), teacher effort (TE), student effort (SE) and institution supervision (IS). The present study yielded mixed results regarding English language teachers’ attributions of success and failure events. It was also found that these attributions vary by their age, teaching experience and educational level, but not by gender. The discussion and implications of the research are further presented with reference to the earlier findings.     

Teaching Evolution in New Zealand’s Schools—Reviewing Changes in the New Zealand Science Curriculum

New Zealand has had a national school science curriculum for more than 80 years. In the past the evolution content of this document has varied, and has at times been strongly influenced by creationist lobby groups. The ‘new’ science curriculum, to be fully implemented in 2010, places much greater emphasis than before on understanding evolution, and also on teaching the nature of science. Interplay between the two can potentially improve student understanding of the culture and processes of science in general and evolutionary theory in particular. While the explicit use of the word ‘evolution’ highlights its significance, it is necessary to provide both resources and pedagogical guidelines to support teachers in dealing with this important topic.     

Are New Zealand universities underperforming? An analysis of international enrolments in Australian and New Zealand universities

International education is widely recognised as providing a range of positive outcomes for students, universities, and both the source and destination countries. New Zealand politicians, however, see international education as a means of generating significant export earnings able to subsidise the local provision of university education. New Zealand universities have been criticised as underperforming in comparison to their Australian counterparts in attracting revenue from international students. This article explores the evidence of that observation by examining the patterns of enrolment by international students in New Zealand and Australian universities. The analysis identifies significant drivers of the international student enrolments in Australia and discusses potential strategic and policy implications for international education in New Zealand that respond to these drivers.     

Suffering old age? An exploration of May Sarton’s later life in writing

The American poet and novelist May Sarton has often been cited for her sympathetic portrayal of old age. In this paper, I explore the depictions she gives of old age and her journey through ageing in her journals. These are set in the context of her “official” biography. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the essential, and understandable, ambivalence toward old age that her life exemplified, both as a writer and as a human being. The tendency within age/cultural studies has been to mirror Sarton’s own preference for a cultural imaginary of old age that portrays it as an inherently enjoyable part of the journey through life. Age’s other, darker side—the experiences of illness, of pain, and suffering—are treated as impositions from without. In this paper, I set against this fictive imaginary of old age her equally real sufferings. This dilemma between the biographical and the autobiographical in later life reflects a much wider dialectic about the contradictory meanings of becoming or growing old. Narrative gerontology is as much party to such dilemmas as are any other approaches to ageing studies: arguably, in May Sarton’s writing life, this takes on an especially acute form.     

Curious play: children’s exploration of nature

This article explores the concept of ‘curious play’ as a theoretical framework to understand and communicate children’s experiences of free play in nature. The concept emerged interactively from three sources of inspiration: an ethnographically inspired study of children playing in nature; as a critique of the concept of ‘risky play’ being the dominant discourse on children’s play in natural environments; and from phenomenological and cultural-historical theories of children’s play and play environments. The article illustrates this interplay through an analysis of two empirical examples, and argues that curious play offers a comprehensive and existential approach to understanding the interplay of children playing in nature and children’s growth. Thus, children are conceptualized as active explorers and playful agents whilst embodying and creating knowledge, skills and understandings of themselves and their life-worlds.     

An exploration of primary to secondary school transition planning for children with Down’s syndrome

This study explores factors that influence decisions about transition and what works for children with Down’s syndrome transferring from primary to secondary school. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews to gain the views of support staff and parents of two children with Down’s syndrome. One parent had chosen mainstream secondary school and was negotiating the transition, whilst the other was making decisions around future placement. The Voice of the Child (VoC) was elicited using rating scales. Thematic analysis revealed practical and ideological insights into transition, highlighting the need for parental involvement, planned transition and recognition of the individual needs of the child. The educational and social implications of these findings are considered along with directions for future research.     

An Analysis of Hamlet’s Soliloquy

Hamlet’s soliloquy shows the inner studying of the idealist hero to the most extent, the inner contradiction is derived to the summit in this soliloquy, and also these inner characteristics eventually ...     

An Analysis of Dimmesdale’s Characteristics

The Scarlet Letter is a tragedy itself.Dimmesdale,the number one hero in the tragedy,is doomed to be a tragic character.He commits adultery with Hester,which should be punished by law.But because of his cowardice and selfishness and Hester’ protection,he escaped from the punishment of the law.Because he is selfish,cowardly,hypocitical,and lonely,he has hidden his sin for seven years.And because he is kind,he finally stands up actively and takes the responsibility,which belongs to him.At that time,he dies an honest true man.Through the analysis of Dimmesdale’ s characteristics,we can know his inner world,and we will be more sympathetic to him.     

An Analysis of Hamlet’s Soliloquy

Hamlet’s soliloquy shows the inner studying of the idealist hero to the most extent, the inner contradiction is derived to the summit in this soliloquy, and also these inner characteristics eventually cause the sad ending of the hero. It embodies the everlasting subject of human society—the conflicts between person and destiny, and the thinking of individual during puzzle Dom.     

An ecological exploration of young children’s digital play: framing children’s social experiences with technologies in early childhood

Abstract

This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children’s social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis, children’s interactions with 24 technological resources were examined over a nine-month period and across three phases. Findings reveal that children played in clusters, exhibiting a multitude of social behaviours and interactions and varied degrees of social participation, and assumed various social status roles and technological positions. These behaviours formed part of a Digital Play System, which in turn was influenced by the Preschool System, which comprises children and practitioners as active agents, technological affordances, and the cultural systems, routines and practices of the early childhood setting. Ultimately, children’s social experiences during digital play cannot be determined by any single element of the ecological system.     

Influences on children’s environmental cognition: a comparative analysis of New Zealand and Mexico

This paper investigates Mexican and New Zealand children’s conception of the environment and their understandings of environmental issues, focusing on how personal experiences, culture and school-based environmental education (EE) programmes influence their perspectives. Sixty Year 5 children (age 9–11) from three schools in Dunedin (New Zealand) and three schools from Ensenada (Mexico), their teachers and school principals were interviewed. The study found that children from both cities had limited opportunities for contact with nature. Most children understood the environment as nature, and did not typically link environmental problems to human activities or social causes. Rarely were children critical of the effect of socio-economic structure on the environment. The analysis shows that children’s understandings of the environment are connected to their personal experiences and mediated by culture. Children from Ensenada had a more global perspective on environmental issues but a more passive attitude towards their local environment, participating in fewer environmental activities than children from Dunedin. In both countries, children from schools with an EE programme did translate environmental practices learnt at school into environmental practices at home. Based on our results, EE could be improved by considering the cultural context, enhancing children’s contact with nature, encouraging critical thinking and more environmental activities.     

‘It’s not fair’: policy discourses and students’ understandings of plagiarism in a New Zealand university

Plagiarism is a concept that is difficult to define. Although most higher education institutions have policies aimed at minimising and addressing student plagiarism, little research has examined the ways in which plagiarism is discursively constructed in university policy documents, or the connections and disconnections between institutional and student understandings of plagiarism in higher education. This article reports on a study that explored students’ understandings of plagiarism in relation to institutional plagiarism discourses at a New Zealand university. The qualitative study involved interviews with 21 undergraduate students, and analysis of University plagiarism policy documents. The University policy documents revealed moral and regulatory discourses. In the interviews, students predominantly drew on ethico-legal discourses, which reflected the discourses in the policy documents. However, the students also drew on (un)fairness discourses, confusion discourses, and, to a lesser extent, learning discourses. Notably, learning discourses were absent in the University policy. Our findings revealed tensions between the ways plagiarism was framed in institutional policy documents, and students’ understandings of plagiarism and academic writing. We suggest that, in order to support students’ acquisition of academic writing skills, plagiarism should be framed in relation to ‘learning to write’, rather than as a moral issue.     

The ‘Civic-minded’ Professional? An exploration through Hannah Arendt’s ‘vita activa’

Recent reform initiatives calling for ‘civic’ (‘public-good’ or ‘democratic’) professionalism can be seen as a response to the widely reported decline in public trust in the professions and an attempt to partially remedy this problem through a more publically engaged professionalism. The author draws on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, identifying the strong, albeit in the professionalism literature rarely acknowledged, affinities between civic professionalism and her concept of action as (collective) freedom through public deliberation. Using the three modalities of the active life that Arendt discusses in The Human Condition (labour, work and action) as analytical tools, the author suggests that changing conditions in the public sector have led to professional life increasingly taking on the forms of labour and work, at the expense of action. The implications of these developments are highlighted before the author proceeds to show that a professional life oriented strongly towards action is consistent with ‘civic’ professionalism based on community engagement. Some of the main approaches traditionally taken to promote a civic orientation among university students are noted; the article concludes with a discussion of how the specific concepts underlying Arendtian action can be put to work in university pedagogies to intentionally promote the public ‘civic-minded professional’.     

Moderating New Zealand’s National Standards: teacher learning and assessment outcomes

Across the globe, standards-based assessment systems are increasingly promoted as a means of improving student outcomes and fulfilling accountability requirements. Within such systems, social moderation is presented as a mechanism for improving the dependability and utility of assessment information. Research emphasises that social moderation processes provide professional learning opportunities; yet this learning tends to be perceived as a by-product rather than a goal of moderation. Situated within the context of New Zealand’s recently implemented National Standards, this article reviews the literature and presents an alternative configuration of the role of social moderation. It foregrounds the professional learning that will be required if these moderation processes are to improve the dependability of National Standards assessment information and contends that reconfiguring teacher professional learning as a goal rather than a by-product of moderation should not only improve dependability and strengthen teacher assessment capability but also assist with lifting student outcomes.     

On Montrose’s Perception of New Historicism

Louis Adrian Montrose has addressed literary,historical,and theoretical topics and issues concerned with New Historicism.He elegantly demonstrated how language and literary imagination shape cultural value;belief,and understanding;social distinction and interaction;and political control and contestation,thus significantly shaped contemporary studies of poetics and politics of culture.He refuted the oversimplified polarization of language and society of J.Hillis Miller and Edward Pechter’s misunderstandings about "New Historicism" and stated his own understanding and expectations of New Historicism.From a detailed analysis of his ideas,the author points out the weakness in his arguments and advises researchers in this field to dialectically view the school of New Historicism.     

An exploration of the interactions among the components of an experienced elementary science teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge

This study had two purposes: to explore the components of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of an experienced elementary science teacher and to reveal the presumed interactions among these components. A naturalistic inquiry was conducted as a single case study in which in-depth qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interview questions. After the theory-based and data-driven analysis of the qualitative data, the verbal communication was quantitated into numerical data for the enumerative analysis. The results revealed that the teacher’s knowledge of students’ understanding and difficulties, knowledge of the elementary science curriculum and knowledge of instructional strategies and representations were found to be mostly intersected PCK components, whereas orientations towards teaching science and knowledge of assessment in science had limited connections to the other components. Further discussions and context-based suggestions are given regarding professional development programmes.     

An epitome of K Venkataraman’s chemistry

Conclusion Krishnaswami Venkataraman’s contribution to the chemistry of flavones and other natural products, and his work on dyes is not limited to the examples very briefly recorded here. His work covered also the dyes developed for colouring cements, dyemetal complexes, health concerns in case of food colourants, and many other aspects. He put his heart, soul and brainpower for the growth and promotion of his chosen field of research, a good part of which is important even today.     

‘Success’ and ‘Failure’ in the Education Marketplace: An Example from New Zealand

This paper details the impact of market policies in New Zealand on one low socio-economic school, raising questions about the underlyingassumptions of the programmes designed to turn around so called failing schools. The impact of macro policies on disadvantaged schoolsin the market place is documented, as is recent evidence on the impactof schools entering a spiral of decline on their examination outcomes.It is argued that school success and failure cannot be understood inisolation but needs to be placed in the wider context of stateeducational policy. Consequently, change strategies which ignore thewider policy settings risk failure.