Understanding autonomous peer feedback practices among postgraduate students: a case study in a Chinese university

Academic writing is a social practice in which the writer interacts with both texts and people and uses the interaction as a learning resource. While academic interaction in the classroom setting has been extensively investigated, student interaction that takes place without teacher supervision remains largely unexplored. Since autonomy is a key component of academic interaction, autonomous peer feedback practices among postgraduate students may be of some interest. This paper reports on an exploratory case study of peer feedback among a small group of postgraduate students in a master’s programme in translation studies in a prestigious Chinese university. The findings offer insights into the role of peer feedback in advancing academic literacy and forming scholarly communities in an emerging discipline. The case study provides an opening into the research area of autonomous peer feedback and suggests avenues for further, more substantial research.     

"城市化意识教育"新理念下的职业教育

教育部部长周济指出：“职业教育就是就业教育。”就业，是民生之本，也是职业教育的立足之本。当前，我国正处于城市化高速发展的阶段，许多农村向城镇过渡，大中城市周边的乡镇正在迅速融人城市。在这种势不可挡的城市化进程中，农村职业技术学校如何适应社会发展的需要，培养城市所需要的新型人才，指导好学生择业、就业、创业，使农村劳动力有序、合理转移到城市，成为新一代合格的城市人，是当前面临的重大课题。在这种社会背景下，我校提出了“城市化意识教育”这种办学新理念，指导本校的职业教育工作。     

Determining the level of inquiry in teachers' questions

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if an instrument, originally designed to classify levels of teachers' questions on the basis of logical operations, could be utilized to measure the level of inquiry present in a classroom discussion and to determine if the inquiry questioning behavior of the teacher influenced student achievement. The results of the study show that the modified classification scheme could accurately and reliably measure the inquiry level of teachers' classroom questions. The data also indicated that teachers who ask a greater proportion of high inquiry questions cause a greater change in students as measured by an achievement examination.     

Child abuse: adolescent records vs. adult recall

In a follow-up study of incarcerated Connecticut youth, 69 subjects were interviewed during young adulthood. On follow-up, 26 gave histories of abuse discrepant with histories obtained from records and interviews conducted in adolescence. Eleven subjects agreed to an additional clarification interview, at which time they were apprised of the discrepancies. Of these, eight had adolescent records indicating that abuse had occurred but denied abuse during the adult follow-up interview. The remaining three had adolescent records indicating no abuse had ever occurred, but, on follow-up, reported having been abused. The additional clarification interviews revealed that all 11 subjects with discrepant histories had, in fact, been abused. Reasons for these discrepant data and strategies to enhance the investigator's ability to obtain accurate data regarding abuse are discussed.     

新世纪成人学习特点及教学原则

新世纪成人学习在客观上具有终身性、职业性、实践性的特点,在主观上具有目标的明确性和实用性、学习的自主性和选择性、方法的灵活性与多样性等特点。要适应成人学习的特点,教师在成人教学的过程中既要掌握普通教学的教学原则,又要掌握成人教学区别于普通教学的教学原则,并在实践中创造性地运用,以全面提高成人教学质量。     

民国时期湖南私立教育的特点与兴盛原因探析

民国时期湖南的私立教育曾走过了一条极不平坦的道路，在它的发展过程中，呈现了以下特点：私立学校，门类齐全，尤以小学与中学为盛；私立学校遍布三湘大地，但多集中在长沙与中小城市；历经风雨，经久不衰；办学中的相对独立性。私立教育发展的原因在于：一是有一批矢志教育，磨血兴学的办学中坚；二是有一批经严格挑选而有敬业精神的教师队伍；三是与国民政府及省政府的有关鼓励政策分不开；四是受到湖湘文化与新文化运动的深刻影响；五是得到了热心教育的人士与社团的资助。     

The effect of concept mapping on students' anxiety and achievement in biology

The results of recent studies into the use of the concept mapping heuristic seem to demonstrate that meaningful learning results through its use in science classrooms. While this underscores the need to use more effective instructional strategies in science teaching, the issue of the intervening variable of anxiety in learning and science achievement, and the possible use of a metacognitive strategy in anxiety reduction have not been addressed. This study, therefore, sought to find out if the metacognitive strategy of concept mapping reduces anxiety and thereby enhances achievement in biology. A total of 51 (30 boys, 21 girls) senior secondary one (grade 10) students participated in this experiment. Two instruments—the Zuckerman Affect Adjective Checklist and the Biology Achievement Test—were used in pre- and posttest administrations to measure the treatment effect on anxiety and achievement, respectively. Findings support the stand that concept mapping is significantly more effective than the traditional/expository teaching strategy in enhancing learning in biology. In addition, it apparently reduces students' anxiety towards the learning of biology. A significant reduction of anxiety was noticed for male subjects.     

Curriculum Design of a Flipped Classroom to Enhance Haematology Learning

A common trend in higher education is the “flipped” classroom, which facilitates active learning during class. The flipped approach to teaching was instituted in a haematology ‘major’ class and the students’ attitudes and preferences for the teaching materials were surveyed. The curriculum design was explicit and involved four major components (1) the preparation of the students; (2) the weekly pre-class work; (3) the in-class active learning strategies and (4) closing the learning loop using formative quizzes. Each of these components is discussed in detail and was informed by sound pedagogical strategies. Several different sources of information and several freely available software tools to engage the students are discussed. Two iterations are reported here, with improved pass rate for the final examination from 47 to 48 % in the traditional class to 56–65 % in the flipped classroom approach. The majority of students (93 and 89 %) came to the class prepared, after viewing the screencasts and engaged fully with the activities within the face-to-face time. The students perceived that solving case studies (93 %) was the most beneficial activity for their learning and this was closely followed by the production of essay plans (71 %). The majority of students recommended that this approach be repeated the following year (69 and 75 %).