Systematic Mentoring for New Faculty Teachers and Graduate Teaching Assistants

This study reports on the development and assessment of two mentoring programs, one for new faculty and one for new graduate teaching assistants. The first program was an externally funded, elaborate program; and it suggested the centrality of factors such as sustained, involving relationships for best outcomes with protégés. The second project, with newcomers to graduate study, demonstrated that a simpler program focusing on involvement within the pair and group meetings produces promising results. From both these projects, we developed a replicable model of systematic mentoring; and we obtained a clear picture of the styles and skills of exemplary mentors.Peg Boyle: Graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brooknow resides in Boone, North Carolina     

Learning to Teach About Ideas and Evidence in Science: The Student Teacher as Change Agent

A collaborative curriculum development project was set up to address the lack of good examples of teaching about ideas and evidence and the nature of science encountered by student teachers training to teach in the age range 11–16 in schools in England. Student and teacher-mentor pairs devised, taught and evaluated novel lessons and approaches. The project design required increasing levels of critique through cycles of teaching, evaluation and revision of lessons. Data were gathered from interviews and students’ reports to assess the impact of the project on student teachers and to what extent any influences survived when they gained their first teaching posts. A significant outcome was the perception of teaching shifting from the delivery of standard lessons in prescribed ways to endeavours demanding creativity and decision-making. Although school-based factors limited newly qualified teachers’ chances to use new lessons and approaches and therefore act as change-agents in schools, the ability to critique curriculum materials and the recognition of the need to create space for professional dialogue were durable gains.     

前行、攀升与飞翔——与朱永新对话教师专业发展

教师专业水平的高低决定其教学效果的优劣,影响教师专业水平高低的因素一是师范教育的质量,二是教师的继续教育与提高。而面对教师队伍现状,后者显得更为重要。作为已经进入教师队伍的教师,可以从三个方面去提高自己的专业素养和专业水平:专业阅读——站在大师的肩膀上前行;专业写作——站在自己的肩膀上攀升;专业发展共同体——站在集体的肩膀上飞翔。     

均衡发展:我国义务教育发展的战略选择

新中国建立后,共和国就把提高民族素质、普及义务教育当做崇高而神圣的责任。从把义务教育作为教育工作的重中之重,到把农村义务教育作为教育工作的重中之重,再到把均衡发展作为义务教育的重中之重,是教育思想的升华、教育工作重点的转变。均衡发展是我国义务教育发展历史和现实的双重选择。在整个国家教育体系和教育战略布局中,必须始终把义务教育作为教育改革发展的重中之重,把均衡发展作为义务教育的重中之重。积极推进县(市、区)域内率先实现义务教育均衡发展,依法保证每个适龄儿童接受义务教育的基本权利和享有均等的受教育机会,着力统筹地区、城乡、学校、群体教育均衡发展,构建教育均衡发展制度机制。     

Explaining attendance through the brand community triad: Integrating network theory and team identification

In this study, the authors empirically test a model of sport behaviour that integrates both team identification and a network theory approach to understand attendance at intercollegiate ice hockey games. Grounded within the brand community triad, ego network data were collected among attendees to measure the fan-to-fan connections that constitute the horizontal relationships of brand community participants. Additionally, a multidimensional team identification measure was used to illustrate the vertical relationship between individual and team. Both measures were included in a structural equation model to test how both fan-to-fan and fan-team relationships explain attendance. The results from the model support the salience of both dimensions of the brand community triad, suggesting that understanding sport fan behaviour necessitates including both psychological and structural elements of behaviour. Future suggestions for extending the study of sport fans through structural networks are discussed.