A long-term experiment to investigate the relationships between high school students’ perceptions of mobile learning and peer interaction and higher-order thinking tendencies

In this study, a one-year program was conducted to investigate the relationships between students’ perceptions of mobile learning and their tendencies of peer interaction and higher-order thinking in issue-based mobile learning activities. To achieve the research objective, a survey consisting of eight scales, namely, usability, continuity, adaptive content, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity, was developed. A total of 658 students from 38 high schools in Taiwan filled in the questionnaire after experiencing issue-based mobile learning activities. From the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, it was found that the questionnaire had high reliability and validity. The structural equation model further revealed that the provision of adaptive content in the mobile learning had positive impacts on the students’ tendency to interact with peers (i.e., collaboration and communication), which further affected their tendency to engage in higher-order thinking (i.e., problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity). The findings of this study provide a good reference for researchers and school teachers who intend to promote mobile learning in school settings.     

Job crafting by students who work and study

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - Informed by a self-regulatory perspective, we tested a model (N = 233) in which job (e.g., autonomy), person (e.g.,...     

集群式计算机系统在生物信息学中的应用

1　Introduction　SMP (symmetricmulti processing)andMPP (mas sivelyparallelprocessing)arethetwotypesofstruc tureofparallelcomputing .　Symmetricmulti processingsystemshavemultipleCPUsattachedtothesamebusandsharingRAM .Massivelyparallelprocessingisthecooperated pro cessingofaprogrambymultipleprocessorsthatworkondifferentpartsoftheprogram ,witheachprocessorusingitsownoperatingsystemandmemory .ThechoicebetweenSMPandMPPdependsonthenatureoftheproblembeingsolved .Iftheproblemcanbeeasilypartit…     

Picking the winners by consensus: Grant-giving practice in the Netherlands

The Netherlands form a consensus democracy. In such a society the legitimacy of decisions is of great concern to all. An elaborate system of checks and balances tends to exist and the pressure to join an emerging consensus at meetings is both subtle and tremendously powerful. In the Dutch system of higher education and research the manifestations of the consensus ideal are numerous. This paper highlights them where appropriate. It reviews the Dutch research effort in an international perspective and concludes that R&D expenditure in the Netherlands, measured as a proportion of GDP, is declining. Fairly radical changes in science policy orientation since the 1960s are reviewed and the current frameworks for policy formulation, academic foresight and the organisation of support are sketched. After discussing NWO's different funding instruments, the practices of picking the winners are described in some detail. Three different peer review models are then discussed with special attention to their strengths and weaknesses. The paper's final section is focussed on the evaluation practices in force.     

Theory to reality: a few issues in implementing problem-based learning

The success of an intervention depends not only upon its theoretical soundness, but also on proper implementation that reflects the guidelines derived from its theoretical conception. Debates surrounding the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) have focused on its theoretical conception and students’ learning outcomes, but implementation is seemingly absent from the picture. This paper attempts to describe what research evidence is needed to fill in this missing information and provide a clearer picture of PBL. The author examines current PBL implementation practices and identifies potentially confounding variables that may play a role in inconsistent or conflicting research results in PBL. For example, various models of PBL have been developed and implemented to afford the specific instructional needs of the institution or learner population. These PBL models are in fact quite different in terms of the nature of problem solving and the degrees of self-directed learning, which theoretically, should result in different types of learning outcomes. Without distinguishing the models used, the results of comparative PBL research could have been confounded. Furthermore, human factors are another set of confounding variables that could influence the students’ learning processes and consequently affect PBL implementations and research results. To remedy these problems and reach PBL’s full potential, as well as obtain a more accurate picture of PBL as an instructional method and its effects on students’ learning, some fundamental changes are needed.     

The Challenges Facing Early Childhood Care,Development and Education (ECCDE) in an Era of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria

Early childhood is a critical period of rapid physical, cognitive, and psycho-social development of a child. The quality of care and education which a child receives at this crucial age will determine to a great extent the level of his/her physical and cognitive development in the future. In Nigeria, Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE) is an aspect of Universal Basic Education which was introduced in 1999 to increase the access of children to basic education and improve the state of education in the country. While all hands are on deck to ensure successful implementation and achievement of the objectives of the scheme, it is unfortunate that ECCDE is facing some challenges thus making it unrecognized in Nigeria. This paper examines the challenges of early childhood education in Nigeria. To improve the situation, the following measures are recommended: establishment of more public crèche, kindergarten, and nursery schools by the government; enforcement of the use of mother tongue in the teaching of children; training more personnel in the field of early childhood education in tertiary institutions; and introducing unified curriculum as well as providing more infrastructures.     

Young Voices on Climate Change: The Paul F-Brandwein 2010 NSTA Lecture

Lynne Cherry Brandwein Lecture March 2010 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference, Philadelphia, PA. Young Voices on Climate Change: Inspired and Empowered Youth Tackle Climate Science and Find Climate Solutions. As a child, Lynne Cherry was profoundly connected to the natural world and a special place. She watched the destruction of her world. Now, through her Young Voices on Climate Change project, she is trying to give teachers and young people the tools to prevent planetary meltdown on a greater scale. Global climate change is upon us and the need for education and action is immediate. Outreach, visual storytelling, and scientific understanding are especially necessary in light of the recent polls that show that the public is becoming more confused and less concerned about climate change. Cherry’s climate book, co-authored with photojournalist Gary Braasch, and her Young Voices on Climate Change films feature climate solutions. They’re about win–win—save the environment, protect human health, reduce global warming gases, demonstrate youth making a difference with practical tools, motivate engagement in climate science, take pride in increased science literacy, reach young people through their hearts as well as their minds, and save money. Although young people can help their parents, peers and communities understand climate science, they can also show them that reducing CO₂ is in their economic interest, and spur them to take action. School carbon reduction initiatives are spilling over into communities yielding measurable results in both global warming gas reductions and significant monetary savings.     

Reclaiming Kindergarten: Part II: Questions About Policy

Part II of “Reclaiming Kindergarten” continues the discussion related to responding to the crisis in today’s kindergarten. In Part II, two policy questions are posed, the answers to which seek to respond to this continuing crisis. The questions center on issues related to engaging families in kindergarten and the need to consider a new early childhood paradigm where kindergarten is part of a continuous and seamless educational experience spanning prekindergarten through third grade. As in Part I, examples of classroom practice are used to illustrate the effective implementation of these principles in a kindergarten classroom.     

Facing multiculturalism’s challenges in Korean education and society

Multicultural policy in South Korea faces variants of challenges endemic to multiculturalism. These challenges are “dilemmas of difference,” “variable terms of inclusion,” and “legitimacy.” In Korea, these challenges arise in a setting in which ethnic diversity is of relatively recent origin, an ideology of ethnic homogeneity is prevalent, and official multicultural policy is limited in its reach to those who are designated as “multicultural families,” that is families in which one spouse is Korean and the other an immigrant, usually the wife, and their offspring. The exclusion of migrant workers and their families from Korea’s multicultural framework poses a core contradiction in Korean multicultural policies. This contradiction must be resolved if multiculturalism in education and other spheres is to promote equality and provide a foundation for national integration on terms that are equitable to the diverse constituents of Korean society. Inevitably, this will require a redefinition of what it means to “be Korean.” Even if multicultural policies fall short in their immediate effects on those toward whom they are directed, multiculturalism represents a significant shift in the discourse of Korean identity and will be terrain on which the status of diverse groups in Korea will be contested.     

The building of weak expertise: the work of global university rankers

University rankers are the subject of much criticism, and yet they remain influential in the field of higher education. Drawing from a two-year field study of university ranking organizations, interviews with key correspondents in the sector, and an analysis of related documents, I introduce the concept of weak expertise. This kind of expertise is the result of a constantly negotiated balance between the relevance, reliability, and robustness of rankers’ data and their relationships with their key readers and audiences. Building this expertise entails collecting robust data, presenting it in ways that are relevant to audiences, and engaging with critics. I show how one ranking organization, the Times Higher Education (THE), sought to maintain its legitimacy in the face of opposition from important stakeholders and how it sought to introduce a new “Innovation and Impact” ranking. The paper analyzes the strategies, methods, and particular practices that university rankers undertake to legitimate their knowledge—and is the first work to do so using insights gathered alongside the operations of one of the ranking agencies as well as from the rankings’ conference circuit. Rather than assuming that all of these trust-building mechanisms have solidified the hold of the THE over its audience, they can be seen as signs of a constant struggle for influence over a skeptical audience.