A practice–theoretical account of privacy

This paper distinguishes between two main questions regarding the notion of privacy: “What is privacy?” and “Why do/should we value privacy?”. In developing a social-ontological recognitional model of privacy (SORM), it gives an answer to the first question. According to the SORM, Privacy is a second order quality of roles within social practices. It is a function of who is or should be recognized as a “standard authority”. Enjoying standard authority means to have the right to interpret and contest role behavior and role obligations within a specific practice (first level), as well as evaluate the normative structure, the fundamental practice norms as well as the roles and their status (second level). The SORM utilizes the concept of standard authority to explicate privacy with regard to two categories that capture the relevant phenomena of privacy: decisional and informational privacy. Within a practice, an actor is said to have decisional privacy if she as a BCR does not (or does not have to) recognize bearers of accidental roles as standard authorities. Vice versa, an actor is said to enjoy informational privacy if all other BCRs (and especially data collecting actors) recognize her as a standard authority. Additionally, the requirement of mutual recognition by the practice participants as standard authorities introduces a “weak normativity” into the theory, which can be used to identify deficient privacy arrangements within practices.     

Development of an instrument for exploring preservice technology teachers’ maker-based technological pedagogical content knowledge

With the development of the maker movement, more and more teachers are applying a broad range of technological tools in their pedagogy, instead of only information technology. This study details the development and validation of the Teachers Maker-based TPACK Survey Instrument (TMTSI), a revised model designed to measure technology teachers’ maker-based technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in utilizing maker-based tools to support their teaching. We recruited 165 preservice secondary technology teachers in Taiwan for this study and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to validate the instrument. Our findings suggest that TMTSI provided a valid and highly reliable research-based instrument that also serves as a professional development model to help scaffold the development of K-12 technology teachers. This paper details the theoretical foundations of TMTSI, reports on its reliability and validity, and discusses the application and implications of TMTSI for teacher education and professional development.     

The influence of social interaction on meaning construction in a virtual community

As proposed by social constructive theorists, meaningful learning and individual development were achieved through social interaction. To foster social interaction among students, this study formed an online learning community in which they played multiple roles as writers, editors and commentators. In playing different roles, they read peers' texts, edited peers' errors, evaluated peer editors' corrections and finally reconstructed their own texts. Results of this study showed that the multiple roles they played allowed them to have opportunities to view their own texts from others' perspectives. Based on these perspectives, they were more willing to acquire information from and contribute information to peers. All of this extensive information acquisition and contribution resulted in meaning construction of texts as active students improved their final drafts in both local revision (grammatical correction) and global revision (the style, organisation and development of a text) after receiving and evaluating feedback from peer editors. Their final drafts were very different from those of passive students whose first and final drafts were almost the same despite some grammatical revisions. This study suggests that, rather than relying only on an examination of students' final drafts, there may be benefits in teachers encouraging students to actively participate in social interaction by reading peers' texts, editing peers' errors and evaluating peer editors' corrections during text revisions.     

Relationship of creativity and critical thinking to pattern recognition among Singapore private school students

Abstract

Cognitive pattern recognition is known to be an important skill for academic subjects such as mathematics, science, languages, or even humanities. In this study, we investigate the relationships between creativity, critical thinking, and pattern recognition among 203 private school students in Singapore. The instruments used include a creativity test (modified Creativity Selected Elements Questionnaire), a Critical Thinking Test (modified Cornell Critical Thinking), and a pattern recognition test. The main data analysis is done using the SMART-PLS structural equation modeling software. The results of the study reveal that creativity is a weak predictor of pattern recognition (β?=?0.131, p?>?0.05, f² = 0.024) but critical thinking is a good predictor (β?=?0.517, p?<?0.05, f² = 0.374). An implication of the research outcome is that more training on critical thinking should be given to the students to improve their pattern recognition ability.     

High School Students’ Informal Reasoning Regarding a Socio‐scientific Issue,with Relation to Scientific Epistemological Beliefs and Cognitive Structures

This study investigated the relationship among 68 high school students’ scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs), cognitive structures regarding nuclear power usage, and their informal reasoning regarding this issue. Moreover, the ability of students’ SEBs as well as their cognitive structures for predicting their informal reasoning regarding this issue was also examined. The participants’ SEBs were assessed with a quantitative instrument; their cognitive structures were assessed through tape‐recorded interviews and were further analyzed with the ‘flow map method’; their reasoning regarding nuclear power usage was assessed with an open‐ended questionnaire; and, then, their responses were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. It was revealed that students’ beliefs about the justification of scientific knowledge (an aspect of the beliefs on the nature of knowing science) were significantly correlated with their reasoning quality; the extent and the richness of students’ cognitive structures as well as their usage of the information processing mode, ‘comparing,’ were positively correlated with their reasoning quality. A series of regression analyses further confirmed that students’ use of the information processing mode, ‘comparing,’ was the most significant factor for predicting reasoning quality, while their beliefs regarding the justification of scientific knowledge was the other important predictor.     

Modelling the determinants of school leaders' perceptions of beginning teachers' efficacy

The school and especially the school leader's perceptions of a teacher's efficacy have influence on aspects of teaching ratings and performance, and this may facilitate or hinder beginning teacher success. This study examines the school leaders' perceptions of their beginning teachers' efficacy. The study's scope of teacher efficacy is multidimensional to include the beginning teachers' Teaching Competencies, sense of Professionalism, and Professional Identity. Of interest is the interconnectedness of these variables that contribute to the school leaders' perception. A total of 256 school leaders responded to a survey on beginning teachers' efficacy. A hypothesized model was tested. According to the analysis, while Teaching Competencies and Professional Identity did not have a significant direct impact, they each did have a significant indirect effect on perceived efficacy.     

Factors associated with staff perceptions towards inclusive education in Singapore

In this study, we sought to examine the perceptions of teachers and other school professionals towards the inclusion of secondary school students with special educational needs (SEN), and the associated factors. The Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised scale (SACIE-R) was completed by 131 teachers and school professionals from two mainstream secondary schools in Singapore. The findings revealed an overall neutral attitude towards inclusion. Together, confidence in teaching students with SEN, the level of training SEN support, as well as experience teaching students with SEN account for a large proportion of the variance in ratings of inclusive perceptions. Further analyses revealed that confidence in teaching or supporting students with SEN was found to be a significant predictor of inclusive perceptions. The findings suggest that schools seeking to engage in inclusive practices should focus on ways to develop the confidence of personnel to support students with SEN. Professional development and mentorship were suggested as possible avenues.     

伞形科植物染色体数目报告

本文报道了伞形科15属24种和交种的染色体数，其中18个种和变种是首次报道。研     究表明， 我国天胡荽属 (Hydrocotyle L．)是伞形科多倍体比较普遍的类群。柴胡属(Bupleu-     rum L.)分别有4、6、7、8等基数，茴芹属(Pimpinella L.)的毛果组(Sect. Tragium)和光     果组(Sect．Tragoselinum)的代表种类的基数分别为9和10，因此，染色体基数可作为深入     研究某些属内种类演化的细胞学资料之一。思茅独活(Heracleum henryi Wolff)的花粉母细    胞在终变期时出现了4体环，说明结构杂合体可能是伞形科种类分化的一个因素。