Students ’ perceptions of science classes in the Philippines

This study used a modified version of the Perception of Science Classes Survey (Kardash & Wallace, 2001) to survey 7,885 grade school and high school students in different provinces in the Philippines regarding their perceptions of their science classes. Factor analysis revealed five dimensions of the students ’ perceptions that relate to different aspects of the teacher ’s pedagogy and the learning environment created by the teachers: (a) Learner-Centered Pedagogy, (b) Science Inquiry Activities, (c) Positive Affect and Attitudes, (d) Grades as Feedback, and (e) Support for Self-Learning and Effort. Factor scores were compared across grade levels and genders. The results indicate a decrease in science inquiry activities and the use of grades as feedback in the higher grades, but an increase in support for self-learning and effort, and also positive affects and attitudes. These trends were discussed in relation to possible problems related to teacher practices that may contribute to low student achievement levels in science. This research was part of a research project commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency-Philippines.     

试论陆葇《逃人行》的写作背景

逃人问题是顺治与康熙前期的一个重大社会问题,然而涉及这一社会问题的文学作品却寥寥无几,且内容简略。陆葇的诗歌《逃人行》是久遭埋没的详细描述这一社会问题的重要作品。陆葇之所以敢于触及如此敏感的题材,一是和康熙帝逐步修订逃人的政策,放宽了有关法令相关;二是和陆葇本人幼时曾遭清兵俘获的痛苦经历以及他过人的胆识相关。     

Comprehension and content: planning literacy in low socioeconomic and culturally diverse schools

This article defines comprehension as a pragmatic social and intellectual practice. It reviews literature on current approaches to reading instruction for linguistically and culturally diverse and low socioeconomic students, noting the current policy emphasis on the teaching of comprehension as autonomous skills and strategies. The Four Resources model (Freebody and Luke 1990) is used to frame comprehension instruction with an emphasis on student cultural and community knowledge, and substantive intellectual and sociocultural content in elementary and middle school curricula. Illustrations are drawn from research underway on the teaching of literacy in low socioeconomic schools.     

How much of a difference do principals make? An analysis of between-schools variation in academic achievement in Hong Kong public secondary schools

This article aims to explain the role principals play in the variation in academic achievement between secondary schools in Hong Kong. The article draws on survey data from 179 key staff and 2,037 students from 42 schools. The study uses 2 analytical approaches. First, it employs classification and regression tree analysis (CART). This was used to sort out the most significant leadership practices associated with student achievement. Second, based on first-stage analysis, the study further explores the effects of leadership practices on academic achievement using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). Results indicate that transparent and efficient communication structures as managed by principals explained approximately 12% of between-schools variation in academic achievement. Leadership practices related to quality assurance and accountability and resource management also contributed to explaining between-schools variation in academic achievement, yet they had negative effects on student achievement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Fostering Learning Communities in Classrooms: A Case Study of Hong Kong Schools

Over the past few years, curriculum innovation has been regarded as an essential strategy for educational reform throughout the era of educational change. Because of the changing nature of the knowledge age, students need to develop ways of dealing with complex issues and problems that require different kinds of skills and knowledge they have ever learned. Given the advancement of information and communications technologies (ICT), a number of cases of building learning communities in classrooms have been developed in recent years. Realizing the impact of this new learning culture, six primary schools in Hong Kong participated in the implementation of building learning communities through science project works. During the project, students from different schools engaged in the discussion and knowledge construction using a computer mediated communication (CMC) platform called Knowledge Forum. The aim of this case study is to explore the role of ICT in building learning communities and the conditions are essential to building learning communities from the different ways that students and teachers experienced the processes of community and knowledge construction using Knowledge Forum. Through the analysis of the interviews of students and teachers, conditions that support learning community building were emerged in three major themes, namely, conceptions of learning, knowledge construction processes, and development of social processes. Les communautés d’apprentissage dans les classes: une étude de cas. Durant les années passées, l’innovation dans les curricula a été considérée comme une stratégie essentielle pour toute réforme éducative dans cette période de changement éducatif. A cause de la nature changeante des connaissances, les étudiants doivent développer des moyens de traiter les issues et les problèmes complexes qui requièrent des compétences et des savoirs qu’ils n’ont jamais eus. Etant donné l’avancement des technologies de l’information et de la communication (ICT-TIC), de nombreux cas de création de communautés d’apprentissage dans les classes ont été observés pendant les années récentes. Réalisant l’impact de cette nouvelle culture d’enseignement, 6 écoles primaires de Hong Kong ont participé À la mise en oeuvre de communautés d’apprentissage À l’occasion d’un projet en sciences. Pendant ce projet les élèves des différentes écoles se sont engagés dans la discussion et la construction du savoir en utilisant une plateforme de CMC appelé Forum de Savoir. Le but de cette étude de cas est d’explorer le rÔle des (ICT-TIC) dans la construction de ces communautés d’apprentissage et les

conditions essentielles pour les construire À partir de la facon dont maîtres et élèves ont expérimenté les processus impliqués dans ce Forum. GrÂce À l’analyse des interviews des élèves et des maîtres, les conditions qui supportent la construction de cette communauté sont apparues sous forme de 3 thèmes majeurs: les conceptions de l’apprentissage, la connaissance des processus de construction et le développement des processus sociaux. Lerngemeinschaften im Klassenzimmer: Eine Fallstudie. In den letzten Jahren ist die Curriculum-Erneuerung als eine wesentliche Strategie für Bildungsreformen in Zeiten des Wandels in der Erziehung betrachtet worden. Wegen der änderungen im Wissensalter müssen Studenten Handlungsweisen für den Umgang mit komplexen Sachverhalten und Problemen entwickeln, die andere Arten von Fähigkeiten und anderes Wissen erfordern, als sie jemals gelernt haben. Auf Grund der Fortschritte in den Informations- und kommunikationstechnologien (ICT) haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren eine Reihe von Lerngemeinschaften innerhalb von Schulungsräumen entwickelt. Unter dem Eindruck der Auswirkungen dieser neuen Lernkultur wurden sechs

Grundschulen von Hongkong durch wissenschaftliche Projektarbeiten in den Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften mit einbezogen. Während der Projektarbeiten haben sich Studenten verschiedener anderer Schulen mit Hilfe einer Computer gestützen Kommunikationssoftware ,,Knowledge Forum’ (CMC) in die Diskussionen und Sacherarbeitungen beteiligt. Diese

Fallstudie soll die Rolle von ICT beim Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften sowie die wesentlichen Bedingungen, die den Aufbau von Lerngemeinschaften fördern, erforschen. Dabei sollen auch die unterschiedlichen Wege, die Studenten und Lehrer bei der Arbeit mit Knowledge Forum eingeschlagen haben, untersucht werden. Durch die Analyse der Interviews von Studenten und Lehrern zeichneten sich drei Hauptthemen, die die Bildung von Lerngemeinschaften fördern, ab: die Lernkonzeption, der Wissensaufbau und die Entwicklung der sozialen Prozesse.