Yup’ik Cosmology to School Mathematics: The Power of Symmetry and Proportional Measuring

This article shows how Yup’ik cosmology, epistemology, and everyday practice have implications for the teaching of school mathematics. Math in a Cultural Context (MCC) has a long–term collaborative relationship with Yup’ik elders and experienced Yup’ik teachers. Because of this long–term ethnographically–oriented relationship, the authors – both insiders and an outsider – have been able to understand the mathematical implications of everyday Yup’ik practice. As the article demonstrates, body proportional measuring and symmetry/splitting are two generative solution strategies used by Yup’ik elders in solving everyday problems. We argue that proportional measuring coupled with symmetry/splitting can provide school mathematics with an alternative pathway to the teaching of some aspects of geometry and rational number reasoning.     

Best performances by men and women open-water swimmers during the 'English Channel Swim' from 1900 to 2010

Abstract Little research has examined ultra-endurance swimming performances. The 'English Channel Swim', where swimmers have to cover a distance of 32?km between England and France represents a unique long-distance, open-water, sea-swimming challenge, and each year swimmers from all over the world try to succeed in this challenge. The best times in minutes and the nationality of successful men and women swimmers were analysed from 1900 to 2010. A total of 1,533 swimmers (455 women and 1,078 men) from more than 40 countries have successfully completed the 'English Channel Swim'. Great Britain was the country most represented, with 38% of the total, followed by the United States with 20%. Swim speed has increased progressively for both sexes (P??0.05). The results suggest that the performance of women open-water ultra-distance swimmers may be similar to that of men. Further studies investigating anthropometrical and physiological characteristics of open-water ultra-swimmers are needed to compare men's and women's open-water ultra-swim performances.     

Exploring Questions of Social Justice in Bilingual/Bicultural Teacher Education: Towards a Parity of Participation

This qualitative study examined the development of bilingual and bicultural preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about social justice and its role in the education of language minority children. Fraser’s in Redistribution or recognition: a political-philosophical exchange. Verso, New York, (2003) perspectival dualist framework, which calls for the consideration of both the distribution of resources and the recognition of cultural identity, was applied to the investigation of participants’ social justice claims. In addition to observing these preservice teachers in their courses and conducting interviews, the researchers also analyzed the teaching practices of their bilingual-bicultural professors. Findings indicate that bilingual teacher candidates need to have space and support for reflecting upon the conflicting meanings they might ascribe to experiences and insights gained through the occupation of different identity positions. Bilingual-bicultural university professors’ ability to recognize and legitimate the experiences and perspectives of bilingual/bicultural teacher candidates was significant and empowering.     

转型期我国中小学类型的多样化及其制度安排

社会转型引发公共教育权力的转移,政府职能转变和市场机制的发展成为影响我国中小学学校制度变迁的关键性因素。在教育领域,政府职能转变和市场机制的发展也促使中小学类型的多样化。当前,应该把学校分类管理作为学校制度安排的基本选择,通过建立以完善的学校法人制度为核心的现代学校制度,实施对各种类型学校的有效的分类管理。     

From explorers to evangelists: Archivists, recordkeeping, and remembering in the pacific islands

With a central focus on thecultural contexts of Pacific island societies,this essay examines the entanglement ofcolonial power relations in local recordkeepingpractices. These cultural contexts include theon-going exchange between oral and literatecultures, the aftermath of colonialdisempowerment and reassertion of indigenousrights and identities, the difficulty ofmaintaining full archival systems in isolated,resource-poor micro-states, and the drivinginfluence of development theory. The essayopens with a discussion of concepts ofexploration and evangelism in cross-culturalanalysis as metaphors for archival endeavour. It then explores the cultural exchanges betweenoral memory and written records, orality, andliteracy, as means of keeping evidence andremembering. After discussing the relation ofrecords to processes of political and economicdisempowerment, and the reclaiming of rightsand identities, it returns to the patterns ofarchival development in the Pacific region toconsider how archives can better integrate intotheir cultural and political contexts, with theaim of becoming more valued parts of theircommunities.     

Supporting the development of the bilingual lexicon through translanguaging: a realist review integrating psycholinguistics with educational sciences

European Journal of Psychology of Education - In this review, we evaluate the claim that translanguaging in the classroom supports the development of the bilingual lexicon by enhancing...