一位美国老教师的生活与工作美国老师给编辑部的一封来信(三)

Virginia Hurt Bailey(美国) 阅读课第二部分是专题阅读。在这段时间里,学生阅读学术文章,读后用自己的话进行复述。阅读课的第三部分是文学精粹选读。10点40分-10点50分是课间休息。星期二和星期三,在这段时间里,我要在操场上值班,以防学生在活动时出问题。     

Sustainable development,higher education and pedagogy: a study of lecturers' beliefs and attitudes

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is playing an increasing role in the higher education curriculum. However, little previous research exists on lecturers' understanding of and attitudes towards sustainable development. This study used an online questionnaire to investigate lecturers' views of sustainable development and its contribution to the higher education curriculum. The questionnaire asks lecturers from a variety of different disciplines about their views on appropriate pedagogy for ESD, and gives insights into the potential opportunities for and barriers to the incorporation of ESD into higher education. The findings of this survey reveal a wide range of understandings of sustainable development within this institution—and a high level of critical debate about the concept itself. In common with some previous research, there are indications that many lecturers find the language of ESD inaccessible. Despite this, a fairly high level of support for sustainable development is expressed across all discipline areas and a range of suggestions about appropriate pedagogies for ESD are raised. However, the extent to which this enthusiasm can be translated into practical changes to the higher education curriculum remains less certain.     

Disrupting neoliberal discourse in critical sustainability education: a qualitative analysis of intentional language framing

While education for sustainability is a critical task that is gaining ground in a plethora of educational contexts, it is frequently rendered ineffective in the face of neoliberal practice and discourse. Here we examine the pervasive impacts of neoliberalism on education for sustainability, looking specifically at discursive formations that shape our understandings of humans in and as nature. Throughout ecological texts, root metaphors carry forward specific cultural histories that serve neoliberal agendas by positioning nature as commodity and humans as consumers. We sought to systematically understand how manipulating a root metaphor in the creation of instructional texts might disrupt neoliberal discourse and foster critical sustainability. Using a thought-listing technique to explore student response patterns qualitatively allowed for insights into the power of discourse in educational contexts. Data support the notion that intentional framing may be a powerful tool in education for sustainability. We argue that language and discourse are necessary and effective grounds for change if sustainability is to take root.     

Technological development and political stability: Patenting in Latin America and the Caribbean

We examine the effect of national political institutions on patent application rates. The expected future value of a patent, like any other form of property, depends at least partially on certainty about the future. In circumstances where policy stability is greatest, and hence political uncertainty least, one should expect more aggressive pursuit of intellectual property rights. We test these ideas using a 27 year panel of Latin American and Caribbean nations, estimating US patent applications and domestic patent applications by local inventors for each observation, and holding other economic and technological inputs to innovation constant. Our principal finding is that political stability matters to patenting. For US patent applications institutional system tenure, regardless of system type, increases patent applications. For domestic patent applications, institutional stability has either a weakly negative or insignificant effect, a result we attribute to generally escalating local patenting standards over time. The type of government influences both US and domestic patent applications rates, with a veto-players institutional coding better predicting marginal patenting rates than regime type.     

The Effects of Interactive Reading Homework and Parent Involvement on Children's Inference Responses

This study examined the effects of (a) interactive reading homework, and (b) parent involvement with children during homework on students' responses to inference questions. Interactive reading homework refers to homework designed to involve both parents and children and to facilitate student reasoning. The participants were 84 parents and 84 second grade students from three Alabama elementary schools. Data were gathered using pre- and post student inference tests, parent behavior checklists, and parent homework questionnaires. The results indicated that interactive reading homework increased both parental involvement during the completion of reading homework assignments and students' ability to draw inferences.     

Analysis of Propagation Plans in NSF-Funded Education Development Projects

Increasing adoption and adaptation of promising instructional strategies and materials has been identified as a critical component needed to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper examines typical propagation practices and resulting outcomes of proposals written by developers of educational innovations. These proposals were analyzed using the Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument (DSAAI), an instrument developed to evaluate propagation plans, and the results used to predict the likelihood that a successful project would result in adoption by others. We found that few education developers propose strong propagation plans. Afterwards, a follow-up analysis was conducted to see which propagation strategies developers actually used to help develop, disseminate, and support their innovations. A web search and interviews with principal investigators were used to determine the degree to which propagation plans were actually implemented and to estimate adoption of the innovations. In this study, we analyzed 71 education development proposals funded by the National Science Foundation and predicted that 80% would be unsuccessful in propagating their innovations. Follow-up data collection with a subset of these suggests that the predictions were reasonably accurate.     

The assertive-aggressive distinction and the cross-cultural perspective

Are assertive and aggressive behaviors distinguishable from each other across different cultures? A limited amount of research, reviewed here, indicates that they are. It seems that, across cultures, assertive and aggresive behaviors are identifiable as different constructs and that they vary independently from each other. Other variables that mediate differences on assertiveness between cultures such as individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity are considered. Finally, recommendations regarding research methodology for the study of assertive behaviors across cultures are presented.