Applying Quality Indicators to Single‐Case Research Designs Used in Special Education: A Systematic Review

This study examined how specific guidelines and heuristics have been used to identify methodological rigor associated with single‐case research designs based on quality indicators developed by Horner et al. Specifically, this article describes how literature reviews have applied Horner et al.'s quality indicators and evidence‐based criteria. Ten literature reviews were examined to ascertain how literature review teams (a) used the criteria recommended by Horner et al. as meeting the 5‐3‐20 evidence‐based practice (EBP) thresholds (five studies conducted across three different research teams that include a minimum of 20 participants) to assess single‐case methodological rigor; and (b) applied the 5‐3‐20 thresholds to determine whether the independent variables reviewed qualified as potential effective practices. The 10 literature reviews included 120 single‐case designs. This study found that 33% of the reviewed single‐case designs met Horner et al.'s quality indicator criteria. Three of the literature reviews concluded that examined practices met criteria to qualify as an EBP. Recommendations related to quality indicator criteria and EBP established by the literature review teams as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Using a Critical Service-Learning Approach to Facilitate Civic Identity Development

This article highlights elements of civic engagement programs that have the rich potential to facilitate civic identity development. Focusing on research with alumni, the study examines 3 civic engagement programs, the approaches of which are guided by critical service-learning. It explores elements of the experiences that alumni name as influential to their learning, development, and present commitments to understand the ways that civic engagement programs based in a critical service-learning approach can encourage them to develop commitments to active citizenship as exemplified by Knefelkamp's (2008) vision of a mature sense of civic identity.     

Cross-cultural Perspectives of Successful Aging: Young Turks and Europeans

Successful aging (SA) has been conceptualized in a number of ways. Despite increasing research into how laypersons define SA, few studies capturing lay perspectives of SA in younger cohorts and in non-English speaking countries have been undertaken. The current study examines cross-cultural perspectives of SA in young (aged 18–35), lay adults from a variety of continental European countries and Turkey. Participants were recruited via snowball sampling from social network sites and invited to participate in an online survey. Persons between 18–35 years from Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, or Turkey were included. Respondents (total: 390; Belgian: 32; Estonian: 96; German: 76; Romanian: 47; Swiss: 39; Dutch: 30; Turkish: 70), were primarily women (56.4%) and students (66.2%), with an average age of 24.1 years (SD 3.7). Personal resources, social and active engagement all emerged as dominant themes across countries, but were articulated in subtly different ways in the participant countries. Positive perspectives, desirable attributes and satisfaction themes were intertwined within themes of acceptance and engagement. The current study provides a first step in the inclusion of geographic and cultural diversity into the SA literature. These results suggest that layperson conceptualizations of SA have broad-sweeping similarities, but further research is required to articulate the nuance of cultural influences on SA.     

Comparing effects and side effects of different school inspection systems across Europe

In this article, different inspection models are compared in terms of their impact on school improvement and the mechanisms each of these models generates to have such an impact. Our theoretical framework was drawn from the programme theories of six countries’ school inspection systems (i.e. the Netherlands, England, Sweden, Ireland, the province of Styria in Austria and the Czech Republic). We describe how inspection models differ in the scheduling and frequency of visits (using a differentiated or cyclical approach), the evaluation of process and/or output standards, and the consequences of visits, and how these models lead to school improvement through the setting of expectations, the use of performance feedback and actions of the school's stakeholders. These assumptions were tested by means of a survey of principals in primary and secondary schools in these countries (n?=?2239). The data analysis followed a three-step approach: (1) confirmatory factor analyses, (2) path modelling and (3) fitting of multiple-indicator multiple-cause models. The results indicate that Inspectorates of Education that use a differentiated model (in addition to regular visits), in which they evaluate both educational practices and outcomes of schools and publicly report inspection findings of individual schools, are the most effective. These changes seem to be mediated by improvements in the schools’ self-evaluations and the schools' stakeholders’ awareness of the findings in the public inspection reports. However, differentiated inspections also lead to unintended consequences as principals report on narrowing the curriculum and on discouraging teachers from experimenting with new teaching methods.     

英语写作中语块使用的实证研究

提高英语写作技能是英语教学的目标之一,但怎样提高写作水平是英语教学亟待解决的难题。将语块理论引入写作教学,为其提供了新的视角。采用SPSS17．0对140名学习者在写作中使用语块的数据分析,发现其特征如下：从语块使用频度上看,语块使用较少,仅占全文的1/3;从语块使用重复率上看,其重复率较高,接近语块总数的1/3,这表明学习者语块使用不够多样化,种类不丰富;从语块类型上看,短语语块使用较多,句子语块使用较少;从学习者水平上看,高分组限制语块使用较多,低分组固定语块使用较多。     

西周园林：从娱神到娱人的美育思想

西周园林反映了我国先秦美学思想从娱神到娱人的转变,即从崇拜神到肯定人的主体性,这种转变深深地影响了此后中国人的精神气质。一方面中国人极其重视个人的德行修养,另一方面又将这种自我修养与入世精神相结合,既富有深情,又执着,但又不至于走向自我否定的极端境地;既有一种“天下”情怀,以天下事为己事,又有一种“悲天悯人”的情怀,始终不曾远离底层。这些都是先秦美育思想在这一时期转变的结果。     

Improved Appreciation of Mathematics Through an IBL Liberal Arts Mathematics Course

Abstract

The author has taught an inquiry-based liberal arts mathematics class using the text “The Heart of Mathematics: An Invitation to Effective Thinking” by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird a total of 20 times since Spring 2001. The students in this class have almost all been in non-technical majors and many started the semester with negative or ambivalent attitudes toward mathematics based on their prior experiences. The author has gathered responses from students in this class that illustrate significant changes in their attitudes towards mathematics during the course. In particular, the responses gathered at the end of the semester are often eloquent about understanding the great ideas of mathematics that students confronted in this course and about seeing many more and varied connections between mathematics and the “real world” than they had previously realized existed.     

Technologies and Reformed-Based Science Instruction: The Examination of a Professional Development Model Focused on Supporting Science Teaching and Learning with Technologies

Journal of Science Education and Technology - While access to computers, other technologies, and cyber-enabled resources that could be leveraged for enhancing student learning in science is...