TransFormers in knowledge production: building science–practice collaborations

This article places action learning in the context of system innovation, as it studies the potential use of action learning for system change. In order to effect such system change, collaboration between actors from different institutional backgrounds is essential. To gain insight into if and how action learning can be applied for system change, we study three system change projects in Dutch agriculture. We focus specifically on the approaches developed by the project leaders for collaboration between the scientists and the entrepreneurs and analyse how the interaction between these two contributed to the learning process within the project. This article concludes with guiding concepts for action learning for system change in the field of sustainable development of agriculture and beyond.     

欧氏空间中线性变换的注记

就欧氏空间中线性变换的某些问题进行了探讨,获得了一些有意义的结论,从而揭示了线性变换的一些规律.     

高职院校扩招背景下学生学业现状及其辅导需求的实证分析

通过对扩招背景下高职学生的问卷调查,了解高职学生的学业适应、学业发展及学业情绪现状,在此基础上分析了高职学生学业适应、学业发展及学业情绪存在的问题及其产生的原因,并进一步分析学生对学业辅导的需求。在实证分析基础上指出了解高职学生的学业问题是学业辅导的前提。针对高职学生的学业辅导,要树立人人可教、皆可成才,精准辅导、各尽其才,三方联动、促进成才的辅导理念。制定高职学生的学业辅导方案要注意甄选辅导团队、优选辅导方式、精选辅导内容。     

Virtual Dissection: An Interactive Anatomy Learning Tool

The novelty of three-dimensional visualization technology (3DVT), such as virtual reality (VR), has captured the interest of many educational institutions. This study’s objectives were to (1) assess how VR and physical models impact anatomy learning, (2) determine the effect of visuospatial ability on anatomy learning from VR and physical models, and (3) evaluate the impact of a VR familiarization phase on learning. This within-subjects, crossover study recruited 78 undergraduate students who studied anatomical structures at both physical and VR models and were tested on their knowledge immediately and 48 hours after learning. There were no significant differences in test scores between the two modalities on both testing days. After grouping participants on visuospatial ability, low visuospatial ability learners performed significantly worse on anatomy knowledge tests compared to their high visuospatial ability counterparts when learning from VR immediately (P = 0.001, d = 1.515) and over the long-term (P = 0.003, d = 1.279). In contrast, both low and high visuospatial ability groups performed similarly well when learning from the physical model and tested immediately after learning (P = 0.067) and over the long-term (P = 0.107). These results differ from current literature which indicates that learners with low visuospatial ability are aided by 3DVT. Familiarizing participants with VR before the learning phase had no impact on learning (P = 0.967). This study demonstrated that VR may be detrimental to low visuospatial ability students, whereas physical models may allow all students, regardless of their visuospatial abilities, to learn similarly well.     

新手教师实践性知识生成机制研究——以"多对多"师徒结对为分析对象

如何充分发挥师徒结对在新手教师实践性知识生成中的作用是本研究关注的焦点问题.本研究采取质化研究中的个案研究取向,对这一焦点问题进行了考察.个案显示,受惠于"多对多"师徒结对这一媒介,将新手教师所遭遇的问题变成研究的课题,通过师徒共同体一起探索,逐步解决问题,最终形成了追求契合学生心理特征的课堂管理的实践性知识.基于研究可知,实践性知识是在具体的教育教学情境中,通过不断建构、不断应用和不断改进而动态生成的.呈现出螺旋上升的样态;师徒结对是促进教师实践性知识生成的重要途径,"多对多"师徒结对作为师徒结对的创新形式,不但给新手教师提供了更多交流与沟通的机会,尤其是非正式的交流与沟通机会,还天然具备了相互学习、互相借鉴的机制,在很多方面更有助于新手教师实践性知识生成.需要注意的是,在"多对多"师徒结对的具体落实过程中,尤为需要统筹"多对多"师徒结对中师傅之间的指导节奏,并关照"多对多"师徒结对中不同新手教师特定的发展需求.     

Theory and Practice in Mathematics Teaching Development: Critical Inquiry as a Mode of Learning in Teaching

In this paper I address the challenge of developing theory in relation to the practices of mathematics teaching and its development. I do this by exploring a notion of ‘teaching as learning in practice’ through overt use of ‘inquiry’ in mathematics learning, mathematics teaching and the development of practices of teaching in communities involving teachers and educators. The roles and goals of mathematics teachers and educators in such communities are both distinct and deeply intertwined. I see an aim of inquiry in teaching to be the ‘critical alignment’ (Wenger, 1998) of teaching within the communities in which teaching takes place. Inquiry ‘as a tool’ and inquiry ‘as a way of being’ are important concepts in reflexive developmental processes in which inquiry practice leads to better understandings and development of theory.     

Faculty Liaisons: an embedded approach for enriching teaching and learning in higher education

This paper explores the experiences of a group of academic developers who support educational development work as Faculty Liaisons at a large, research-intensive university. These academic developers inhabit complex ‘third spaces’, providing support through an embedded partnership relationship that requires lateral movement across functional and organizational boundaries to create new professional spaces, knowledge, and relationships. The authors utilize narrative inquiry and auto-ethnographic approaches to present an interpretive qualitative analysis of their experiences supporting Faculty and University projects across complex and evolving organizational boundaries. From this analysis, they highlight key roles and responsibilities associated with their blended context and identify challenges that academic developers who occupy third spaces within academic organizations face as they negotiate competing interests, identities, and requirements associated with the diverse range of their projects and the blended experience of working in scholarly and administrative, central- and Faculty-based roles. The lessons they have learned from these experiences will be of particular interest to academic developers who are experiencing the flux of change within higher education settings that are impacting teaching and learning practices both for faculty in the classroom and for those across the institution who support them.     

The development of research-oriented learning in five european countries

The demand of research-oriented learning in higher education which was raised in various European countries at the end of the 1960s focused above all on institutional feasibilities. In this article a broader view on the subject is given. Research-oriented learning is examined both as part of students’ abilities and as a special learning style. The empirical data were gathered by means of a scale developed within an international longitudinal study on student socialisation. The findings show effects of selection as well as of socialisation. They indicate heterogeneity between main fields at the beginning of study and continuous development, throughout the course of time spent attending university. This trend is similar for four of the five countries studied — Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. The fifth country Yugoslavia proved to be an exception. But in all five countries the level reached by students remains unsatisfactory in view of the university’s objectives. The factors determining the development of a research-oriented learning style, in addition to the field of study, are motivation and gender. Throughout their studies women in all countries remain at a lower average level. This in particular, would have to be considered in a renewed discussion of the topic.     

Teacher self‐efficacy and successful intelligence among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong

This study assessed perceptions of self‐efficacy and successful intelligence among 220 Chinese prospective and in‐service secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Teacher self‐efficacy in six domains – teaching highly able learners, classroom management, guidance and counselling, student engagement, teaching to accommodate diversity, and teaching for enriched learning – was related to the three triarchic dimensions (analytical, creative, and practical) of successful intelligence. Each of the three triarchic abilities was found to contribute independently and in combination to the prediction of the six domains of teacher self‐efficacy. Practical abilities were the most significant predictor of self‐efficacy beliefs in five domains. Teaching teachers for successful intelligence, in strategies to enhance teacher self‐efficacy, is discussed.     

Relationships amongst cultural dimensions,educational expenditure and class size of different nations

Many studies have concentrated on investigating educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio to see how these two factors can influence the quality of education. This study chooses to examine these two educational factors from a different perspective. If educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio really have a significant impact on the quality of education as many studies have claimed, it is important to step back and understand why some regions choose to have high/low educational expenditure and high/low pupil–teacher ratios. This study found that culture has an important impact on these two educational factors. Hofstede's cultural dimensions, namely Power Distance and Individualism, were applied and results showed that these two cultural dimensions, when applied to 43 regions around the world, demonstrated a significant impact on educational expenditure and pupil–teacher ratio.