Total thyroidectomy is safer with identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve

Objective: To investigate the effect of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) identification on the complications after total thyroidectomy and lobectomy. Methods: Total 134 consecutive patients undergoing total thyroidectomy or thyroid lobectomy from January 2003 to November 2004 were investigated retrospectively. Patients were divided into two groups: RLN identified (Group A) or not (Group B). The two groups were compared for RLN injury and hypocalcaemia. Results: The numbers of patients and nerves at risk were 71 and 129 in Group A, and 63 and 121 in Group B, respectively. RLN injury in Group A (0) was significantly lower than that in Group B (5[7.9%]) patients, 7 [5.8%] nerves) for the numbers of patients (P=-0.016) and nerves at risk (P=0.006). Temporary hypocalcaemia was significantly higher in Group A than in Group B (14 [24.1%] vs 6 [10.3%], P=0.049).Permanent complications in Group B were significantly higher than those in Group A (13 [20.6%] vs 4 [5.6%], P=0.009). Conclusion: RLN injury was prevented and permanent complications were decreased by identifying the whole course and branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerve during total thyroidectomy.     

Accomplishing the Visions for Teacher Education Programs Advocated in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">National Science Education Standards</Emphasis>

The purpose of this study was to investigate the advantages of an approach to instruction using current problems and issues as curriculum organizers and illustrating how teaching must change to accomplish real learning. The study sample consisted of 41 preservice science teachers (13 males and 28 females) in a model science teacher education program. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to determine success with science discipline-specific “Societal and Educational Applications” courses as one part of a total science teacher education program at a large Midwestern university. Students were involved with idea generation, consideration of multiple points of views, collaborative inquiries, and problem solving. All of these factors promoted grounded instruction using constructivist perspectives that situated science with actual experiences in the lives of students.     

Our Designs and the Social Agendas They Carry

Although the work of learning scientists and instructional designers has brought about countless curricula, designs, and theoretical claims, the community has been less active in communicating the explicit and implicit critical social agendas that result (or could result) from their work. It is our belief that the community of learning scientists is well positioned to build transformative models of what could be, to develop learning and teaching interventions that have impact, and to advance theory that will prove valuable to others. This potential, we argue, would be significantly heightened if we as a community embrace the critical agendas that are central to so many discussions in anthropology, philosophy, or even curriculum development more generally. Instead of simply building an artifact to help individuals accomplish a particular task, or to meet a specific standard, the focus of critical design work is to develop sociotechnical structures that facilitate individuals in critiquing and improving themselves and the societies in which they function, and then we use our understanding of participation with these structures to advance theory. As an example of critical design work, we describe the Quest Atlantis project and the methodology used in its creation.

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. (Karl Marx, 1845/1998)     

瑞典基础教育体育课程改革

一、瑞典义务教育瑞典有着稳定的经济体制、政治制度、完善的社会福利保障体系及九年义务免费教育。义务教育是国家通过法律形式规定所有的适龄儿童必须接受的一定年限的学校教育,同时,国家、社会、学校、家长必须予以保证的教育制度。瑞典王国19世纪就实施义务教育,1880年左右     

Contextual integrity’s decision heuristic and the tracking by social network sites

The findings of our experiments showed that social network sites (SNSs) such as Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter, have the ability to acquire knowledge about their users’ movements not only within SNSs but also beyond SNS boundaries, particularly among websites that embedded SNS widgets such as Google’s Plus One button, Facebook’s Like button, and Twitter’s Tweet button. In this paper, we analysed the privacy implication of such a practice from a moral perspective by applying Helen Nissenbaum’s decision heuristic derived from her contextual integrity framework in order to answer the question of whether or not an online user’s privacy is being violated by this practice.     

Burnout and teacher self-efficacy among teachers working in special education institutions in Turkey

The aim of this paper was to investigate the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and burnout among special education school teachers in Turkey. One hundred and eighteen teachers completed the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Teachers belonged to the psychological counselling and guidance programme, primary education, special education programme, programme in education of students with mental impairment, programme in education of students with hearing impairment, programme in education of students with visual impairment, music education and art education. Findings showed that there were significant relationships between teacher self-efficacy and burnout. Also, significant differences were found between genders and branches in terms of burnout and teacher self-efficacy. Indices of structural equation modelling indicated that domains of burnout were strongly predicted by self-efficacy. Findings highlight the importance of self-efficacy beliefs in special education staff’s level of emotional involvement, sense of accomplishment and engagement.