ADAPT<Superscript>IT</Superscript>: Tools for training design and evaluation

This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merriënboer's 4C/ID^* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.     

A qualitative critique of teacher labor market studies

Qualitative studies of the teacher labor market suggest that problems and remedies generated by quantitative research fail to capture the most dynamic variables which are affecting the supply and demand of public school teachers. For example, quantitative research has not accounted for (1) the continual exiting and reentering of urban teachers, (2) the considerable bifurcation between urban and rural teacher labor markets as reflected in teacher mobility and cultural economic opportunities, (3) local definitions of labor market needs and teacher quality, and (4) the demanding and stressful working conditions of teaching, which are having a systemic and adverse effect on the occupation.     

韩礼德系统语法语言分析的模式

:语言可以从不同角度加以研究。该文从六个方面简单阐述了系统语法大师M .A .K .Halliday语言分析的模式 ,主要内容包括 :语言的层次 ,链轴和选择轴 ,语法结构 ,语法单位 ,语法的级阶和语法系统     

An adaptive strategy for controlling chaotic system

This paper presents an adaptive strategy for controlling chaotic systems. By employing the phase space reconstruction technique in nonlinear dynamical systems theory, the proposed strategy transforms the nonlinear system into canonical form, and employs a nonlinear observer to estimate the uncertainties and disturbances of the nonlinear system, and then establishes a state-error-like feedback law. The developed control scheme allows chaos control in spite of modeling errors and parametric variations. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been demonstrated through its applications to two well-known chaotic systems: Duffing oscillator and Rössler chaos.     

Examining Intermediate Omitted Levels in Hierarchical Designs via Latent Variable Modeling

This article outlines an interval estimation procedure that can be used in a 3-level setting to evaluate the proportion of outcome variance attributable to the second level of clustering. The method is useful for examining the necessity of including a possibly omitted intermediate level of nesting in analyses of data from a multilevel study, and represents an informative addendum to current statistical tests of second-level variance. The approach is developed within the framework of latent variable modeling and can be used as an aid in the process of choosing between 2-level and 3-level models in a hierarchical design. The discussed procedure is illustrated with an empirical example.     

The Role of Parents and Community in the Education of the Japanese Child

In Japan, there has been an increased concern about family and community participation in the childs education. Traditionally, the role of parents and community in Japan has been one of support and less one of active involvement in school learning. Since the government commenced education reforms in the last quarter of the 20th century, a more active role for parents and the community in education has been encouraged. These reforms have been inspired by the need to tackle various problems that had arisen, such as the perceived harmful elements of societys preoccupation with academic achievement and the problematic behavior of young people. In this paper, the following issues are examined: (1) education policy and reform measures with regard to parent and community involvement in the childs education; (2) the state of parent and community involvement at the eve of the 20th century.     

Disciplinary Literacies and Learning to Read for Understanding: A Conceptual Framework for Disciplinary Literacy

This article presents a framework and methodology for designing learning goals targeted at what students need to know and be able to do in order to attain high levels of literacy and achievement in three disciplinary areas—literature, science, and history. For each discipline, a team of researchers, teachers, and specialists in that discipline engaged in conceptual meta-analysis of theory and research on the reading, reasoning, and inquiry practices exhibited by disciplinary experts as contrasted with novices. Each team identified discipline-specific clusters of types of knowledge. Across teams, the clusters for each discipline were grouped into 5 higher order categories of core constructs: (a) epistemology; (b) inquiry practices/strategies of reasoning; (c) overarching concepts, themes, and frameworks; (d) forms of information representation/types of texts; and (e) discourse and language structures. The substance of the clusters gave rise to discipline-specific goals and tasks involved in reading across multiple texts, as well as reading, reasoning, and argumentation practices tailored to discipline-specific criteria for evidence-based knowledge claims. The framework of constructs and processes provides a valuable tool for researchers and classroom teachers' (re)conceptualizations of literacy and argumentation learning goals in their specific disciplines.