“三个代表”重要思想的理论和实践

学习“三个代表”的重要思想 ,必须坚持理论联系实际的马克思主义学风。要深入把握“三个代表”重要思想的理论根据和实践根据 ,更要研究怎样切实有效地实践“三个代表”。     

Operationalizing and validating disciplinary literacy in secondary education

The goal of this study was to define the construct and establish the validity of disciplinary literacy, which has recently gained attention from the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers in Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects [PDF]. Authors, Washington, DC, 2010). After defining disciplinary literacy in the four core disciplines of English language arts, science, history and social studies, and mathematics, scales were developed and administered to a snowball sample of professionals nationwide, with 857 respondents. The data showed evidence of disciplinary literacy as a multidimensional construct with three related factors: source literacy, analytic literacy, and expressive literacy. Based on EFA and CFA results, we can conclude that there are at least three types of literacy in operation among the four core disciplines. The three factors of literacy varied significantly by the four core disciplines of English/language arts (ELA), science, history and social studies, and mathematics, supporting the notion that each discipline uses literacy uniquely. This is the first study of its kind to attempt to define, quantify, and validate the construct of disciplinary literacy.     

教师专业化与教师应对教育改革的能力

本文论述的是中国教育改革发展变化过程中的教师专业化问题,所以提出这一问题的背景,是联合国教科文组织讨论了“全民教育”的各项活动和中国教育改革.当前教育改革的目的,在于提高个体和全民发展的能力.因此,教育质量成为人们日益关注的重要问题.教师的工作职能是要推动教育改革的各项措施得到实施.本文认为,“信息时代”的要求和“知识经济”的兴起,使人们对人才的特点有了新的理解,也证实了在教育儿童和青少年成为未来工作者和公民方面存在的不足.综观中国教育改革,它是一个被迫出现的过程,导致学校对教育改革的反应不灵敏.教师作为专业人员,应该支持改革,但是他们的效能还是存在一定的问题.本文进一步认为,中国教师当前面临的主要问题是不具备应对改革的能力.有关研究表明,教师工作的本质及其关注的问题与教育改革的预期大相径庭.这一问题即使通过行政命令、在职培训、或者投入更多的教育资源也难以解决.本文认为,进行全面改革的同时,要改革学生评价和选拔制度,从文化和社会层面上来思考教师职业,树立新的教师专业发展理念.     

Field-study science classrooms as positive and enjoyable learning environments

We investigated differences between field-study classrooms and traditional science classrooms in terms of the learning environment and students’ attitudes to science, as well as the differential effectiveness of field-study classrooms for students differing in sex and English proficiency. A modified version of selected scales from the What Is Happening In this Class? questionnaire was used to assess the learning environment, whereas students’ attitudes were assessed with a shortened version of a scale from the Test of Science Related Attitudes. A sample of 765 grade 5 students from 17 schools responded to the learning environment and attitude scales in terms of both their traditional science classrooms and classrooms at a field-study centre in Florida. Large effect sizes supported the effectiveness of the field-studies classroom in terms of both the learning environment and student attitudes. Relative to the home school science class, the field-study class was considerably more effective for students with limited English proficiency than for native English speakers.     

Should Science be Taught in Early Childhood?

This essay considers the question of why we should teach science to K-2. After initial consideration of two traditional reasons for studying science, six assertions supporting the idea that even small children should be exposed to science are given. These are, in order: (1) Children naturally enjoy observing and thinking about nature. (2) Exposing students to science develops positive attitudes towards science. (3) Early exposure to scientific phenomena leads to better understanding of the scientific concepts studied later in a formal way. (4) The use of scientifically informed language at an early age influences the eventual development of scientific concepts. (5) Children can understand scientific concepts and reason scientifically. (6) Science is an efficient means for developing scientific thinking. Concrete illustrations of some of the ideas discussed in this essay, particularly, how language and prior knowledge may influence the development of scientific concepts, are then provided. The essay concludes by emphasizing that there is a window of opportunity that educators should exploit by presenting science as part of the curriculum in both kindergarten and the first years of primary school.     

ADAPT<Superscript>IT</Superscript>: Tools for training design and evaluation

This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merriënboer's 4C/ID^* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.