As ‘process’ as it can get: students' understanding of biological processes

Students' understanding of biological phenomena are analysed via the ontological categories of processes and matter. The analysis is based on tenth graders' explanations regarding biological phenomena such as photosynthesis, energy resources, temperature regulation and interrelations between living/nonliving worlds. This direction of analysis is an attempt to flow with the more meaningful trend of biological research and thought, that emphasizes the importance and fruitfulness of the process approach. Some implications regarding biology learning and teaching are suggested.     

DNA microarray wet lab simulation brings genomics into the high school curriculum

We have developed a wet lab DNA microarray simulation as part of a complete DNA microarray module for high school students. The wet lab simulation has been field tested with high school students in Illinois and Maryland as well as in workshops with high school teachers from across the nation. Instead of using DNA, our simulation is based on pH indicators, which offer many ideal teaching characteristics. The simulation requires no specialized equipment, is very inexpensive, is very reliable, and takes very little preparation time. Student and teacher assessment data indicate the simulation is popular with both groups, and students show significant learning gains. We include many resources with this publication, including all prelab introductory materials (e.g., a paper microarray activity), the student handouts, teachers notes, and pre- and postassessment tools. We did not test the simulation on other student populations, but based on teacher feedback, the simulation also may fit well in community college and in introductory and nonmajors' college biology curricula.     

Affordances of teacher professional learning in secondary schools

It is commonly understood that teachers in secondary school should develop throughout their career in order to stay as an essential factor in student learning. Schools can offer opportunities to link teachers’ professional learning to their school practice with a positive impact on teachers’ motivation to learn and the effectiveness of their learning. In this field study, teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, educational consultants and educational scholars were asked for their perceptions of conditions for teacher learning in school and of interventions in school to enhance teacher professional learning. These conditions and interventions were understood as affordances in schools that enable and support teacher professional learning. The main affordance in school these stakeholders mentioned was an open, but critical way in which teachers share their practices, collaborate and reflect upon their teaching practice. Collaborative practices seem to stimulate many interventions of teacher professional learning in school. Two implications of this finding are discussed. First, we suggest that the maximum teaching time should be reduced, team teaching should be more implemented or classes should be scheduled in such a way that teachers can meet. Second, distributed leadership approaches match with our findings about the role of school leaders in teacher professional learning.     

SURVEY OF JEWISH EDUCATION IN NEW YORK CITY

This case study examines the contours of culturally relevant pedagogy in an undergraduate preservice teacher education program for Jewish women. The case describes how the assigned reading of Albarelli’s (2000) narrative of teaching in a Hasidic Jewish school, Teacha! Stories from a Yeshiva, disrupts the classroom community, diminishes student engagement with the course, and undermines student confidence in the instructor. This research explores what happens when “respect for” challenges “reflection about.” The study finds that differential cultural understandings surrounding the concept of “respect” mediate the discourse. The author raises questions about the ethics of social justice in religious teacher education, probes the poverty of educational reform in a landscape of nondiscussables, and offers strategies for navigating this tender terrain.     

Bundled or unbundled? A multi-text corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the relationship between teaching and research in UK universities

Creating and disseminating knowledge through research and teaching has long been regarded as the hallmark of the modern university. However, new university business models have called into question the ‘bundling’ of teaching and research, and sustained research on the relationship between teaching and research has found little evidence of an insoluble connection between the two activities. In this article, we explore the relationship between teaching and research from the perspective of universities’ institutional discourse. We use corpus-assisted discourse analysis to examine the relationship between research and teaching as presented in two sets of institutional texts currently influential in UK Higher Education: Research Excellence Framework environment statements and Teaching Excellence Framework provider submissions (a total of 2143 documents and 12,492,071 words). Our findings show that, while universities emphasise the value of research to their teaching, they do not always emphasise (or sometimes even decry) the influence of teaching on their research. We empirically evidence that, according to what universities themselves write in institutional texts, teaching and research are not always in a mutually beneficial entanglement, but often rather a one-way relationship in which research expertise and institutional prestige are used to bolster claims of teaching excellence. This has implications for the communication of both the vision and the purpose of a university in regulatory exercises and wider policy, but also speaks to the broader idea and practice of being a university in the twenty-first century.     

Does STES‐Oriented Science Education Promote 10th‐Grade Students’ Decision‐Making Capability?

Today’s society is continuously coping with sustainability‐related complex issues in the Science‐Technology‐Environment‐Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students’ higher‐order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question‐asking, critical‐thinking, problem‐solving and decision‐making capabilities within science teaching have been argued by several science educators for decades. Three main objectives guided this study: (1) to establish “base lines” for HOCS capabilities of 10th grade students (n = 264) in the Israeli educational system; (2) to delineate within this population, two different groups with respect to their decision‐making capability, science‐oriented (n = 142) and non‐science (n = 122) students, Groups A and B, respectively; and (3) to assess the pre‐post development/change of students’ decision‐making capabilities via STES‐oriented HOCS‐promoting curricular modules entitled Science, Technology and Environment in Modern Society (STEMS). A specially developed and validated decision‐making questionnaire was used for obtaining a research‐based response to the guiding research questions. Our findings suggest that a long‐term persistent application of purposed decision‐making, promoting teaching strategies, is needed in order to succeed in affecting, positively, high‐school students’ decision‐making ability. The need for science teachers’ involvement in the development of their students’ HOCS capabilities is thus apparent.     

Improving Risk Education in Grades 6–12: A Needs Assessment of Michigan,Ohio, and Wisconsin Science Teachers

Abstract

If formal educators are to play a role in preparing future citizens for making decisions about health and environmental risks, then they must be willing and able to incorporate risk education. This article presents 10 goals for risk education. It also describes current risk education practices, future interests, and perceived barriers to risk education of Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin Grades 6–12 science teachers. Data were collected through a mail questionnaire (1,336 surveys were returned, adjusted return rate = 80%) and in-depth telephone interviews (completed with 45 teachers, return rate = 90%). Many teachers had covered some aspect of risk education and were interested in enhancing their efforts. Results also suggest that teachers need to be made aware of risk education resources and provided with training, particularly regarding psychological influences on risk decisions.     

REPORT OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTORS CONFERENCE*

This article examines the psychoanalytic concepts of object-relations theorist Christopher Bollas, applying them to a view of the Bible as “transformational object.” Emphasizing the connection between psychological process and religious experience, this article suggests that each person's innate ability to choose and use objects is a key factor in their ability to appropriate the Bible for constructive use. By offering religious objects with psychological awareness, religious educators may come to appreciate that silence, empathy, and open-ended lesson plans are important incubators of transformation; and that aggression has a potentially positive role in the healthy development of worship communities.     

Low frequency oscillatory flow in a rotating curved pipe

INTRODUCTIONThemotionoftheflowinarotatingcurvedpipeisafundamentalproblem ,whosesolutionhaspotentialapplicationsingasturbines ,elec tricgenerators ,electricmotorsandsomeequip mentsusedinseparationprocesses.Itisimpor tanttoknowtheflowstructurecharacteristic…     

计算机专业学员应具备什么特征

本文提出了海军计算机专业毕业学员应该具备的业务素质、能力与技能 ,指出如何应对该学科的飞速发展 ,给出了 3个层次的检验标准以说明 2 1世纪计算机专业学员应该具备的特征