Reclaiming the self: how Korean housewives make meaning of their experience of re‐entering higher education

Well‐educated Korean women are returning to higher education in unprecedented numbers with the motivation of recovering their personal identity. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the ways in which this experience is meaningful to these re‐entry women. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 13 Korean full‐time housewives aged 25 to 45 who already had a bachelor’s degree but enrolled at university. The constant comparative method was employed for data analysis. The major findings of this study were that the re‐entry experiences were meaningful for the participants in that they re‐established themselves as independent individuals, dispelled a sense of isolation, obtained a sense of accomplishment, gained recognition and structured their everyday lives. These experiences are perceived as meaningful because attending university addressed the sources of discontent in their lives.     

An Analysis of the Actual Processes of Physicists’ Research and the Implications for Teaching Scientific Inquiry in School

Investigation of scientists’ actual processes of conducting research can provide us with more realistic aspects of scientific inquiry. This study was performed to identify three aspects of scientists’ actual research: their motivations for scientific inquiry, the scientific inquiry skills they used, and the main types of results obtained from their research. To do this, we interviewed six prominent physicists about why and how they researched and what they obtained from their research results. We also analyzed their published papers. In the previous part of this study, types and features of the physicists’ research motivations were identified (Park and Jang, Journal of the Korean Physical Society, 47(3), 401–408, 2005). In this article, as the second part of the study, it was found: (1) Various inquiry skills including theoretical as well as experimental research skills and the social skills of scientific inquiry were used in physicists’ research. (2) New inventions, articulation of, and falsification of the previous findings were regarded as important research results. (3) Physicists’ research processes were often non-linear and cyclical. For each of these findings, implications for teaching scientific inquiry in schools were developed. Finally, we proposed a model of scientific inquiry process consisting of research motives, scientific inquiry skills, and results of inquiry.

Modeling and control of a piezoelectric actuator driven system with asymmetric hysteresis

This study describes the high-precision positioning control of a system with asymmetric hysteresis. A switching system concept is adopted to describe the Preisach-type hysteresis, and a systematic modeling procedure is established to obtain the parameters of the system. A piezoelectric actuator system driven by a voltage amplifier is used to verify the modeling accuracy. A control structure, comprising a feedforward controller and a PD-type feedback controller, is used to realize the high-precision positioning control of the piezoelectric actuator driven stage. To enhance tracking control, a high-frequency modified term is incorporated into the hysteresis model. The experimental results confirm that the addition of this modified term reduces the tracking error and prevents the controlling energy from being saturated.     

地方师范院校“数字逻辑”实验课的革新与研究

地方师范院校的"数字逻辑"实验课教学存在诸多问题.通过建立多层次的实验教学内容,更新实验教学理念,创新实验教学手段,改革考核方式等一系列措施,使得实验教学效果非常显著.     

Reconsidering human performance technology

This article discusses three perceived challenges in the field of human performance technology: a missing link from training to performance, limitations in gap analysis and cause analysis, and a lack of attention to business and organization performance. It then provides possible alternatives for each issue, such as instructional system development frameworks for organizational learning, a soft performance technology framework, and a proposed framework for four levels of performance.     

Satisfying psychological needs on the high seas: explaining increases self-esteem following an Adventure Education Programme

A number of recent studies have revealed that taking part in a sail-training-based Adventure Education Programme elevates youths’ self-esteem. Across two studies, we sought to examine the extent to which youths’ sense of belonging contributed to this increase in self-esteem. Study 1 revealed that participants who completed the voyage showed an increase in self-esteem from the first to the last day of the voyage. Partial correlation revealed that group belonging made a unique contribution to this change. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and, further, demonstrated that the relationship between group belonging and self-esteem was not a function of self-efficacy or group esteem. Such findings suggest that an important contributing factor to the benefits of sail-training interventions is their potential to satisfy psychological needs, in this case the need to belong.