The Effect of Metacognitive Scaffolds on Low Achievers’ Laboratory Learning

This study explored the influence of experimental goal setting and planning on the attitudes toward science, self-efficacy, inquiry performance, and achievement of students with low academic performance. A total of 71 students aged 16–18 were randomly divided into a treatment group (with goal setting and planning) and a control group (without goal setting and planning). A microcomputer-based laboratory focused on Boyle’s Law, coupled with an inquiry worksheet, was assigned. Based on Winne and Hadwin’s model of self-regulated learning, scaffolding was offered to the treatment group to promote goal setting and planning. Data were collected from the worksheet, the Attitudes toward Science Scale, the Self-efficacy of Scientific Inquiry scale, and the Boyle’s Law Conceptual Test. The results showed that both the treatment and control groups improved significantly from the pre- to post-conceptual tests. In the treatment group, the male students gained significantly more conceptual knowledge than the female students. Regarding attitudes toward science, the male students’ scores on the post-test were higher than those of the females. It is concluded that the male students were more positive regarding goal setting and planning in the inquiry activity, whereas the female students did not benefit as much.     

Predicting self-efficacy in test preparation: Gender,value, anxiety,test performance,and strategies

Considerable evidence indicates that self-efficacy, task value, anxiety, and the use of language learning strategies are related. However, there is currently an insufficient understanding about their relations in high-stakes testing contexts. The author aimed to investigate how well social factors, test value, anxiety, test performance, and learning strategies predict high school students' self-efficacy in preparing for the English listening test as part of the University Entrance Examination in Taiwan. This research involved a large-scale questionnaire survey and a collection of students' English test scores. The participants were 636 students in Grade 12 of high school in Taiwan. A quantitative analysis of the questionnaire was conducted via hierarchical regression analysis. The results show that students' recent English test performance and test anxiety were two strong predictors of self-efficacy in preparing for the high-stakes test. In addition, resource management and metacognitive listening strategies had better predictive power over prior English level and test value.     

Interactivity and interactive functions in web-based learning systems: a technical framework for designers

The concept of interactivity and its implications for Web-based learning system design is re-examined. The author reviews the literature on the interactivity concept from the perspectives of communication, computer-assisted instruction, distance education, and interactive dimensions and functions for Web systems. A proposal is then made for a technical framework for including such dimensions and functions in Web-based learning systems. To enhance the framework's ease-of-use and overall effectiveness, each interactive function was submitted to two panels of experts for assessment and evaluation in terms of instructional necessity and programming difficulty. A discussion of the panels’ feedback and the potential for future research concludes the article.     

Doing feminist difference differently: intersectional pedagogical practices in the context of the neoliberal diversity regime

At present there is a small, albeit growing, body of literature on pedagogical strategies and reflections which addresses the ways educators attempt to challenge the effects of neoliberalism on higher education. In this article, we reflect upon our pedagogical practices in higher education in this moment of neoliberal transformation wherein, as Sirma Bilge notes, intersectionality is being ‘undone’ in academic feminism. As graduate students teaching in Toronto, Canada, we describe how our commitment to social justice pedagogy works against this ‘undoing’ of intersectionality by embracing vulnerability, discomfort and the possibility of conflict in classrooms that do not simply accommodate, celebrate or include difference. Given that neoliberal renderings of diversity obscure and reinforce unequal relations of power, we demonstrate how we attend to these power relations, particularly racism which is salient to our teaching context, by employing intersectionality as a pedagogical practice and a political intervention to advance social justice.     

阮籍的生存困境及其解脱方式

阮籍是魏晋玄学人士中具有代表性的人物之一。他早年具有济世之志,但魏晋乱世并未给他提供实现理想的机会。在政治上,他处于一种失意状态。他企图用醉酒昏酣来摆脱这种生存困境,但终究无法解脱。强烈的孤独感、紧迫的时间感、命运的无常感又使他处于个体的生存困境之中。他想通过游仙、隐逸的方式来解脱,但最终还是失败。他的82首咏怀诗表现的正是他在生存困境中所产生的生命忧患感。     

普通高校大学生体育课学习兴趣的调查研究

文对我国普通高校学生进行了体育课学习的问卷调查,旨在得知我国普通 高校学生的体育课学习兴趣及其存在的问题,同时为体育教育改革提供有 力的理论依据．     

Regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback PID control systems

This paper proposes a time domain approach to deal with the regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness analysis problem of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control systems. The robust regional eigenvalue-clustering analysis problem of linear uncertain multivariable output feedback PID control systems is converted to the regional eigenvalue-clustering robustness analysis problem of linear uncertain singular systems with static output feedback controller. Based on some essential properties of matrix measures, a new sufficient condition is proposed for ensuring that the closed-loop singular system with both structured and mixed quadratically-coupled parameter uncertainties is regular and impulse-free, and has all its finite eigenvalues retained inside the same specified region as the nominal closed-loop singular system does. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the application of the presented sufficient condition.     

State space model identification of multirate processes with time-delay using the expectation maximization

This paper presents the problems of state space model identification of multirate processes with unknown time delay. The aim is to identify a multirate state space model to approximate the parameter-varying time-delay system. The identification problems are formulated under the framework of the expectation maximization algorithm. Through introducing two hidden variables, a new expectation maximization algorithm is derived to estimate the unknown model parameters and the time-delays simultaneously. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated by a simulation example.     

江西省体育系统体育场地设施建设现状与发展趋势研究——兼谈体育场地设施管理

结合当前江西省社会经济文化发展的实际情况,运用文献资料、调查访问等研究方法,对江西省体育系统场地建设问题进行了研究,结果表明:江西省各城市之间体育系统的场地数量与质量发展极不平衡;场馆管理方法陈旧,在一定程度上阻碍了江西省体育事业的发展.指出:各场地尽快实行企业化管理方式;在设施建设上要借鉴国际模式;在发展趋势上要以可持续发展原则为目标,突出场(馆)平时的使用效率.旨在为政府和决策部门在制定新政策时,提供相应的参考性建议.