Social Use of the School Library: the colonisation and regulation of educational space

The existing literature on school libraries has been dominated by a view of them as ‘learning laboratories’ which should allow students opportunities for reading and conducting research into small scale projects. From this perspective, resource issues and helping students become knowledgeable users of library facilities are the major problems facing school librarians. This study breaks from the traditional research by focusing on the social use of the school library. Data are used from two case‐studies of school libraries to analyse student colonisation and teacher regulation of library space, and the processes by which students come to associate or dissociate themselves from using the library during the school day. The paper concludes by arguing that social factors form, an integral part of the context in which school libraries stand or fall as arenas which facilitate student learning, and that the spatial dimensions of social interaction should become central to analyses of educational differentiation.     

Factors influencing research performance of university academic staff

The application of performance based criteria in the allocation of resources and the targeting of substantial research funds to topics of national priority are two major features of the new research funding climate in Australian higher education. Successful competition for such funds will depend on universities developing and implementing appropriate research management plans and on the overall research performance of their academic staff. This paper reports the views of academic staff from one Australian university on such issues as the determinants of research performance and the importance of individual autonomy in the selection of research topics. One of the main findings is that research activity is highly variable and influenced by a number of factors including, personal characteristics; differences in research styles, methods and strategies both within and between disciplines; and dependence on funding. The findings show that academics firmly believe in freedom of inquiry in the choice of research topic.     

以表演活动带动大学英语教学的互动过程

本文以课堂戏剧表演的形式，探讨在大学英语教学中创设一个生动的学习环境，使学生积极、自然地习得英语。文章介绍了在《新编大学英语》主题式的教学模式下，运用已有教学素材，在学生经过阅读、听、说训练并获得一定量的语言输入的基础上，指导学生开展更高层次的角色扮演(mleplay)，在表演中巩固所学知识，从而达到运用英语进行交际的最终目的，同时也带动了互动式的大学英语课堂教学。     

基于多种通讯机制下的网络教学模式的研究

网络环境是一种集丰富资源及多种通讯工具的多媒体环境 ,该文分析了网络教学中常采用的通讯工具 ,从通讯机制的角度探讨了适用于网络教学的多种教学模式。     

An international study of the gendered nature of academic work: Some cross-cultural explorations

This study explores the gendered nature of academic work based onthe Carnegie Foundations International Survey of the Academic Profession.Characterisation of related yet discrete aspects of academic work describescommonalities between men and women, and in particular, highlights theaspects that discriminate between them. Responses by men and women fromAustralia, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, Sweden, UK and USA wereanalysed within following themes: working conditions; professionalactivities of teaching, research, and service; issues of governance andmanagement, and the international dimensions of academic work.     

试论美国华裔文学阅读视角问题

美国华裔文学。由于其特殊文化地位以及复杂的文化渊源，既是国内学术界文学研究的热点，同时也是文学阅读和接受中的盲点之一。本文结合当代后殖民及文化研究理论，试图从探讨国内外学者阅读视角问题出发，重新考虑美国华裔文学的定位及其意义：美国华裔文学，作为一种杂体文化的文学形式，是华裔作家坚持自我身份认同、表征自我杂体文化以及抵抗中关两种文化压力的有效途径。     

Scaffolding the Appropriation of Self-regulatory Activity: A Socio-cultural Analysis of Changes in Teacher–student Discourse about a Graduate Research Portfolio

This study informs the design and development of pedagogical agents that can flexibly support self-regulation by calibrating guidance to specific phases and facets of self-regulated learning (SRL) as individuals encounter challenges and develop more sophisticated understandings of the task and content. From a socio-cultural perspective of self-regulation, we examine the transition of self-regulatory control from teacher to graduate student during naturalistic instructional conferences. Three goals included (a) examining teacher–student dialogue about a complex task to see if fading actually occurs, (b) examining whether support and fading of support are calibrated to specific phases of the self-regulatory process at a given point in time, and (c) examining techniques used for scaffolding and fading scaffolding directed toward specific phases and facets (behavioral, cognitive, metacognitive and motivational) of the self-regulatory cycle. Findings support a socio-cultural perspective of SRL demonstrating a transition from teacher to student regulation across phases and facets of SRL. The paper concludes with an examination of how our findings can inform the design of computer-based scaffolds that can support SRL.     

A case study of scientific reasoning

Concern is increasingly being expressed about the teaching of higher order thinking skills in schools and the levels of understanding of scientific concepts by students. Metaphors for the improvement of science education have included science as exploration and science as process skills for experimentation. As a result of a series of studies on how children relate evidence to their theories or beliefs, Kuhn (1993a) has suggested that changing the metaphor to science as argument may be a fruitful way to increase the development of higher order thinking skills and understanding in science instruction. This report is of a case study into the coordination of evidence and theories by a grade 7 primary school student. This student was not able to coordinate these elements in a way that would enable her to rationally consider evidence in relation to her theories. It appeared that the thinking skills associated with science as argument were similar for her in different domains of knowledge and context. Specializations: science learning, scientific reasoning, learning environments, science teacher education. Specializations: cognition, reasoning in science and mathermatics.