What Preschool Classroom Experiences Are Associated With Whether Children Improve in Visuomotor Integration?

Research Findings: This study examined the contribution of several class-room experience measures (classroom characteristics, teacher characteristics, and teacher–child interactions) to preschoolers’ improvement in visuomotor integration. Children (N = 467) ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and were enrolled in 115 classrooms in 5 U.S. states. Children’s visuomotor integration was measured twice (on average 5.2 months apart) using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (visuomotor integration subtest). Hierarchical linear models controlling for background characteristics and inhibitory control showed that children improved more in visuomotor integration when they were in classrooms with fewer 3-year-olds, when their teacher had at least a bachelor’s degree, and when teachers demonstrated high quality in their interactions. Practice or Policy: Visuomotor integration, and specifically the ability to copy designs with a writing utensil, is a robust indicator of children’s school readiness and longitudinal achievement. U.S. preschoolers gained more on visuomotor integration in classrooms with fewer 3-year-old children that were taught by a college-educated teacher and when such classrooms provided high-quality organizational and instructional interactions. These results expand the outcomes linked to early childhood education experiences and emphasize the need for well-prepared early childhood teachers who interact with children effectively.     

Assessing mentor academy program effectiveness using mixed methods

The purpose of our study was to assess how an academic health center (AHC) mentor academy program affected mentor competence and optimized the mentor–mentee relationship. Mixed methods were used to assess the effectiveness of an AHC mentor program at a clinical translational science institute (CTSI). Twenty biomedical research faculty mentors took a validated survey and submitted reflective writings to discover if they corroborated or refuted statistically significant survey results. There was a significant improvement in participants’ confidence of mentor skills, integral mentoring quality, and the extent to which they fulfill mentees’ expectations. Males provided constructive feedback and helped mentees develop goal strategies more often compared to females. Reflective writings supported these findings yet refuted two survey findings. The use of a mixed methods approach offers novel insight into how mentoring programs benefit translational research mentoring capacity building and raises questions about the sole use of surveys as evidence of program effectiveness.     

浅谈新课程理念下我们怎样教学

新课程特别强调每个教师都必须拥有课程意识。课程意识是一种开放的、民主的、科学的意识。课程意识需要呼唤主体的教学自觉。教与学的过程是师生双方平等合作、追求主体间相互理解,获得解放和自由的过程。在这个过程中,教师和学生每时每刻都面临着复杂多变的事件与各种信息的刺激,需要充分调动双方的知识储备和智慧潜能,梳理原有的经验,通过创造性的教学活动,寻找有效的成长途径,建构具有个性的意义世界。一、以专业化发展促进教学20世纪80年代以来,教师专业化发展已成为教育研究的主题之一。所谓教师专业化发展是指作为专业人员的教师在整…     

Emergence,flexibility, and stabilization of language in a physics classroom

Learning physics is a complex phenomenon. In this article, we use concepts from the theory of nonlinear systems to study the development of language in classroom science in an experimental unit on chaos theory in a German 10th‐grade physics classroom. In ongoing activity, the explanations students developed for phenomena emerged through interactive stabilization and material constraints on the interpretive flexibility of material (artifacts) and discursive representations (talk). Interpretive flexibility both enables novel understandings and differences between private and common public use of these representations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 869–897, 2003     

Meaningful assessment activities

Planning and organizing the young child's curriculum and classroom environment is an essential component in the early childhood education program. Every fall in the USA millions of children begin and continue to participate in formal school settings. These children are all unique and differ in cognitive and social maturity.Jeffrey I. Gelfer is Program Manager of children's services of Easter Seal Society in Sarasota, Florida. Peggy G. Perkins is an Educational Consultant in Sarasota, Florida.     

"发现教学法”在高师体育专业教学中的应用研究

"发现教学法”是建立在美国教育家杜威的"从做中学”教学理论和布鲁纳的"问题--发现教学”模式的基础上,增设教师"发现讲授”内涵的新教学法."发现教学法”的研究对调动教师教学的积极性,增进强烈的事业心和高度的责任感,都将起着积极的推动作用."发现教学法”的研究与应用能调动学生学习的积极性,培养他们创造性思维能力,独立分析问题,解决问题的能力.总之,"发现教学法”的应用研究是实现学生"发现学习”到师生"发现教学”的突破.     

An examination of Chinese preservice and inservice early childhood teachers’ perspectives on the importance and feasibility of the implementation of key characteristics of quality inclusion

The Chinese Preschool Inclusion Survey, which is an adaptation of Odom et al. [2004. ‘Preschool inclusion in the United States: A review of research from an ecological systems perspective’. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 4 (1): 17–149] a list of the features of quality preschools, was given to 234 preservice teachers and 307 inservice teachers in a large Chinese province so as to examine whether early childhood education (ECE) teachers agree on the key characteristics of high quality inclusion in terms of importance and feasibility. One significant finding of the study is that both preservice and inservice teachers highly ranked the importance of the key characteristics of high quality inclusion in ECE settings, yet both ECE teachers ranked the feasibility of implementing the key characteristics lower. Additionally, two factors that influenced preservice teachers’ perceived importance and feasibility of inclusion were years of study and courses related to special education, and five factors that influenced inservice teachers’ perceived inclusion beliefs were bianzhi, certification, years of teaching, opportunities for professional development and degree. Teacher education reform is called upon to affect change in terms of creating positive beliefs regarding high quality inclusion services and implementation of effective practices in stronger, collaborative support systems for Chinese children with special needs and their families. Implications for policy, professional development, and teacher education reform are provided.     

Student views concerning evidence and the expert in reasoning a socio‐scientific issue and personal epistemology

This study investigated their views concerning evidence and expert opinion of 10th‐grade students, accessed by an open‐ended questionnaire in the context of a socio‐scientific issue: the cause of flood disasters, and personal epistemology identified by the Learning Environment Preference Questionnaire (LEP). Students' responses to the open‐ended questions showed that when thinking about the flood issue, most students rely heavily on direct and numerical data to draw their conclusions, while experts represented a source of conclusive information. The LEP scores indicated that, in terms of epistemological development, students were mostly at the stage of the ‘multiplicists’ in Perry's model. The statistical analysis suggested that view towards evidence and expert were associated with personal epistemology.     

Co‐Design Education Based on the Changing Designer's Role and Changing Creativity

The field of fashion design relies on the originality of fashion designers and information on design trends, and design education also focuses on the creative ideas of designers; in this field, design through co‐design is a very limited area. However, with the proliferation of participatory culture, the need to diversify fashion design education methods has also emerged. The purpose of this study is to present an educational framework and an instructional strategy for co‐design based on the changing role of the designer and to obtain educational insight through the implementation of an actual education prototype. To do this, we developed an educational prototype and implemented it with six undergraduate students. Through this study, the participants engaged in the process of design development with the consumer and analysed the instructional insight. As a result, this study redefines the roles and design methods of designers for co‐design and identifies creativity characteristics through the co‐design process. The results of this study can be used as basic data for co‐design education and can contribute to the expansion of fashion design educational methods.     

平面设计中文字的应用

在平面设计中，字的应用有着非常重要的作用。设计宜从字本身的个性流露、点线面空间层次的形成、视觉流动的引导以及字编排的情感表达等四个方面深刻把握，才能使平面设计中的字和字群更好地为整体效果服务。