School‐based Management — pointing directions for twenty‐first century elementary and middle school principals

As man rushes to the dawn of the twenty‐first century, his society and our own system of education are engulfed in widespread changes. One of these provocative changes is the new move to the site‐based management concept whereby principals become the chief school officers of their own school site. The school principal, in essence, is to have complete control and responsibility over his/her school — the superintendent does not dictate, but rather, negotiates all school business with his principals. In light of this new movement, these two authors draw a parallel between past and present expectations of building principals and submit a planning model for on‐site managerial administrators to inspect, study and implement in accordance with their own needs. The reader is provided with an array of perspectives with which on‐site administrators must deal if total assumption of school‐site business and school programming becomes a reality in the USA and universally.     

Hyperbolic discounting of delayed social interaction

The temporal discounting literature has demonstrated that the loss in value for delayed outcomes is most accurately modeled using a hyperbolic discounting equation. The hyperbolic-shaped function not only describes the shape of discounting for monetary outcomes, but also for other tangibles, such as alcohol, candy, CDs, erotica, cigarettes, cocaine, books, and DVDs. Furthermore, this hyperbolic shape has important theoretical implications. Despite the broad list of outcomes that are hyperbolically discounted, one class of outcomes has only recently received attention: social interactions. For the present study, we used standard binary-choice discounting procedures to explore the function that most accurately describes the change in value of delayed social interactions. The results from the present study suggest that, for 93 participants, the same equations (exponential, hyperbolic, and hyperboloid) used to describe the discounting of nonsocial commodities also describe the relation between delay and the value of social interaction. Similar to previous findings for nonsocial outcomes, the hyperbolic-shaped models provide a fit to the data superior to that of the exponential model.     

Effects of an aerobic fitness test on short- and long-term memory in elementary-aged children

ABSTRACT

Meta-analytic evidence supports that exercise has benefits for short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). However, only three studies with children have tested the differential effects of exercise on STM and LTM. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an aerobic fitness test on STM and LTM and to consider the moderating effects of grade level. Children (7–13 years of age) were randomly assigned to either perform an aerobic fitness test before (exercise prior) or after (exercise post) performing the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) to assess memory. Memory was tested again after approximately 24 hours. There were significant differences in memory performance as a function of grade with 4^th and 6^th graders consistently outperforming 2^nd graders. For learning, Day 1 Retention, 24-hr recall, and Day 2 Retention, the exercise prior group performed better than the exercise post group. It is concluded that an aerobic fitness test performed prior to a declarative memory test benefits LTM as compared to when the aerobic fitness test is performed after the memory test.     

动态在线讨论：交互式学习环境中的深层学习

本文阐述了在远程教育中进行面向深层学习的动态在线讨论的一个框架。该框架建立在信息、方法和认知等三个普遍性过程的基础上。在本框架中进行动态讨论的结构包括三种在线讨论的类型,即灵活的同伴、结构化的主题和协作性任务讨论。该框架在一门有关教学多媒体设计的在线研究生课程中使用过两个学期。创建动态讨论的策略是为了促进不同学习者之间的在线交互,并有助于设计能实现有效交互的任务。学生通过设计的任务产生了接受性学习,在此基础上促进了适应性学习,并且激发了他们促进深层学习的认知能力。该框架及动态讨论的策略提供了一个在线学习环境,在这样的环境中学生的学习超越了既定的课程目标。     

Therapeutic effect of methane and its mechanism in disease treatment

Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B - Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It is abundant in marsh gas, livestock rumination, and...     

原发性开角型青光眼黄斑区视网膜内层结构和功能的关系

目的:探讨原发性开角型青光眼(POAG)患者黄斑区视网膜内层结构和功能的关系。创新点:POAG的潜在原因是视网膜神经节细胞(RGC)的丢失。虽然在传统上我们可以通过测量视网膜后极部约30°的结构和功能来评估青光眼性视神经损害,但是50%的RGC存在于黄斑区4.5 mm范围内。本研究关注黄斑区约10°范围视网膜结构和功能的关系,有助于更早地监测到青光眼性视神经损害。方法:本研究纳入了78例POAG患者及58例健康对照者,其中POAG分为早期青光眼(EG)和中晚期青光眼(AG)。所有受试者均进行了以下检测:分离格栅视觉诱发电位(icVEP)、标准自动视野计(SAP)及光学相干断层扫描(OCT)。icVEP检测时给予8%、14%、22%及32%对比度刺激,采集相应的信躁比(SNR)。黄斑区视野敏感度(mMS)通过计算黄斑中心12点的敏感度平均值获得。OCT扫描包括视网膜神经节细胞层+内丛状层的平均厚度(GCL+IPLT)及视盘周围神经纤维层平均厚度(pRNFLT)。我们比较了各组间SNR、mMS、GCL+IPLT及pRNFLT值,并分析了结构性指标和功能性指标之间的相关性。结论:POAG组患者的SNR、mMS、GCL+IPLT及pRNFLT均较正常对照组显著下降(所有P值<0.001)。在早期青光眼中,SNR及mMS均与视网膜内层厚度呈中度相关;而在中晚期青光眼中,mMS与视网膜内层厚度呈高度相关。     

Assessment of general education at Clayton State College

This article is an excerpt from a report issued by Clayton State College and from an article by B. R. Rice and E. W. McElroy, “General Education at Clayton State College” in Outcomes: The Quarterly Journal of the Network for Outcome-Based Schools, 10 (1), Spring 1991.