Declining quality of Nigerian university graduates： Revitalizing quality assurance through foreign agencies＇ support

Increasing and uninterrupted supply of high-level manpower has become a fundamental pre-requisite for social and economic development of any nation. Hence, the direction of the university education in Nigeria is intensifying and diversifying its programmes for the development of high-level manpower within the context of the needs of the nation. To achieve this, the government of Nigeria initiated higher education policy reforms that intended to bring its university system more in line with international good practices. It is however disheartening to note that the quality of university graduates in Nigeria has continued to decline due to inadequate funding. The focus of this paper is to examine how foreign agencies＇ support would help to increase the quality of Nigerian university graduates.     

Magic Women on the Margins: Ec-centric Models in Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz

This paper offers a comparative analysis of two characters belonging to the tradition of empowered “spinster” in children’s fiction, namely Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz, from the perspective of gender politics and child/adult interactions. A distinction is made between the figure portrayed in P. L. Travers’ texts and the Disney film starring Julie Andrews, which turned the magic nanny into a cultural icon. These two renderings of the powerful, single woman, in turn, are contrasted with Terence Blacker’s postmodern depiction of the good witch in the “Ms Wiz” series, with a view to tracing the evolution of the ostracised female wizard, a character inherited from folklore that has its origin in the Great Mother archetype. As is demonstrated, each representation of the supernatural woman modifies the manner in which the feminine influences the patriarchal order.     

Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Using Video Games to Enhance Science Instruction

Science education video game research points toward promising, but inconclusive results in both student learning outcomes and attitudes. However, student-level variables other than gender have been largely absent from this research. This study examined how students’ reading ability level and disability status are related to their video game-playing behaviors outside of school and their perceptions about the use of science video games during school. Thirty-four teachers and 876 sixth- through ninth-grade students from 14 states participated in the study. All student groups reported that they would prefer to learn science from a video game rather than from traditional text, laboratory-based, or Internet environments. Chi-square analyses indicated a significant association between reading ability level, disability status, and key areas of interest including students’ use of video games outside of school, their perceptions of their scientific abilities, and whether they would pursue a career in the sciences. Implications of these findings and areas for future research are identified.     

Weekday Religious Education in Connection with the Public School

In sympathizing with a program of “release time” for religious education, I am perhaps opening myself to a torrent of attack. I shall take it, because what 1 state here is my own personal opinion

May I indulge the hope, however, that the discussions which this article may arouse, concern themselves with a realistic and logical treatment of what I have to say, rather than rhetorical invectives. The world has changed profoundly in the spiritual realm during the past quarter century. The cry goes up from our pulpits and pews for a new appreciation of religion. Yet in so many places, there is no recognition of the new demands in terms of an adjustment of positions which, formerly sound and tenable, now are quite the opposite

This statement is submitted in an open‐minded manner in the hope of stimulating frank discussion on one of today's most important problems     

Upper and lower body responses to repeated cyclical sprints

Purpose: To compare the physiological and perceptual responses of the upper and lower body to all-out cyclical sprints with short or long rest periods between sprints.

Methods: Ten recreationally trained males completed four 10?×?10?s sprint protocols in a randomized order: upper body with 30?s and 180?s of rest between sprints, and lower body with 30?s and 180?s of rest between sprints. Additionally, maximum voluntary contractions (MVC) were measured at pre-sprint and post-sprints 5 and 10. Normalized (% of first sprint) peak power, MVC, heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were compared between upper and lower body within the same recovery period, and absolute values (Watts, bpm, RPE scores) were compared within the same body part and between recovery periods.

Results: Trivial differences were identified in normalized peak power, HR and RPE values between the upper and lower body in both recovery conditions (<2%, d?≤?0.1), but MVC forces were better maintained with the upper body (～9.5%, d?=?1.0) in both recovery conditions. Absolute peak power was lower (～147?Watts, d?=?1.3), and HR was higher (～10?bpm, d?=?0.73) in the 30?s compared to 180?s condition in both the upper and lower body whereas RPE scores were similar (<0.6?RPE units, d?≤?0.1). Despite the reductions in peak power, MVC forces were better maintained in the 30?s condition in both upper (2.5?kg, d?=?0.4) and lower (7.5?kg, d?=?0.7) body.

Conclusions: Completing a commonly used repeated sprint protocol with the upper and lower body results in comparable normalized physiological and perceptual responses.     

Assessing collaborative computing: development of the Collaborative-Computing Observation Instrument (C-COI)

This paper describes the development, validation, and uses of the Collaborative Computing Observation Instrument (C-COI), a web-based analysis instrument that classifies individual and/or collaborative behaviors of students during computing problem-solving (e.g. coding, programming). The C-COI analyzes data gathered through video and audio screen recording software that captures students’ computer screens as they program, and their conversations with their peers or adults. The instrument allows researchers to organize and quantify these data to track behavioral patterns that could be further analyzed for deeper understanding of persistence and/or collaborative interactions. The article provides a rationale for the C-COI including the development of a theoretical framework for measuring collaborative interactions in computer-mediated environments. This theoretical framework relied on the computer-supported collaborative learning literature related to adaptive help seeking, the joint problem-solving space in which collaborative computing occurs, and conversations related to outcomes and products of computational activities. Instrument development and validation also included ongoing advisory board feedback from experts in computer science, collaborative learning, and K-12 computing as well as classroom observations to test out the constructs in the C-COI. These processes resulted in an instrument with rigorous validation procedures and a high inter-rater reliability.     

Yee和Lan的爱情故事

为何一个人爱恋对方时会送戒指呢？这个凄美而浪漫的传说娓娓诉说了这“爱的光环”的由来。 Once upon a time,in a solar system that is so,so far away from here that you wouldn't believe me if I told you, were two planets. Their names were Yee and Lan,and they loved each other very much. Every time they saw each other they would whisper planet secrets,or share wisps of atmosphere, or tell silly jokes. But they were a little sad.because it was so long between times that they got to be near each other,what with orbital mechanics being what