一个工程系的创办和ABET评估认证:东卡罗来纳大学案例分享

从受评方的角度,总结了创办一个工程系和准备美国ABET工程技术专业认证的整个过程.首先对ABET和东卡罗来纳大学工程系进行必要的介绍,然后完整讲述了为准备ABET认证的组织协调,人员配置,评估计划书的制定,受评方与ABET的沟通,以及评估小组进校考察的前后过程.并且提供了课程-产出映射关系的具体实例.希望为中国工程教育同行今后准备此类认证工作提供实用的参考.     

Discontinuity of Reference Hinders Children's Learning of New Words

When referring to objects, adults package words, sentences, and gestures in ways that shape children's learning. Here, to understand how continuity of reference shapes word learning, an adult taught new words to 4-year-old children (N = 120) using either clusters of references to the same object or no sequential references to each object. In three experiments, the adult used a combination of labels and other object references, which provided informative discourse (e.g., This is small and green), neutral discourse (e.g., This is really great), or no verbal discourse. Switching verbal references from one object to another interfered with learning relative to providing clustered references to a particular object, revealing that discontinuity in discourse hinders children's encoding of new words.     

Impacts of an Early Childhood Mathematics and Science Intervention on Teaching Practices and Child Outcomes

abstract

This randomized controlled trial examined effects of the MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science intervention on the quality and quantity of teachers’ mathematics and science instruction, and children’s mathematics and science outcomes in 140 pre-kindergarten classrooms. Teachers participated in the intervention for two years with consecutive cohorts of children. Results from Year 1 are considered experimental, however due to high levels of attrition, results from Year 2 are considered quasi-experimental. Across both years, intervention teachers exhibited higher quality and quantity of instruction. In Year 1, there were no significant effects of the intervention on children’s outcomes. In Year 2, children in intervention classrooms made greater gains in teachers’ ratings of mathematics and science skills and performed better on a spring assessment of science skills. These results have implications for designing and evaluating professional development aimed at supporting children’s mathematics and science knowledge and skills.     

Preservice teachers’ views of global citizenship and implications for global citizenship education

Global citizenship (GC) is becoming increasingly significant as a desirable graduate attribute in the context of increasing globalisation and cultural diversity. However, both the means and ends of GC education are influenced by a divergent range of conceptualizations. The aim of this research project was to investigate preservice teachers’ understandings of global citizenship, with a particular focus on cultural diversity. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) participated in interviews, and findings indicated that they were uncertain about the idea of global citizenship, sought harmony and a desire for sameness in culturally diverse relationships, and held ethnocentric, paternalistic and salvationist views about the ‘Other’. Drawing on these findings, we present a framework incorporating technicist, humanistic and postcritical conceptions as a tool for analysis of GCE approaches, their means and ends.     

‘Make money,get money’: how two autonomous schools have commercialised their services

ABSTRACT

Using the stories of two autonomous public schools in Australia, this paper demonstrates how commercialisation can simultaneously position schools as both consumer and for-profit producer. Drawing on Foucault's articulation of discourse as that which constitutes and makes available what is possible to be said, done and imagined, the paper illustrates how the current marketised articulation of education is allowing for new possibilities of commercialisation in schools. Together these stories demonstrate that there are creative ways that these schools have embraced their autonomy, while relying on market solutions to acquire the resources they deem necessary for their students and their communities. However, it also shows how these resources and the attainment for them are inextricably constituted by the market orientation of education more broadly and how this presents potential dangers for what schools may be and become as a result.     

The evaluation of faculty development programs

This article reviews literature pertinent to the evaluation of faculty development programs and presents data from several studies conducted at two institutions. These data were consistent with those previously reported in that faculty participants consistently expressed satisfaction with development services. In addition, one study found that most faculty members voluntarily took some action to improve their instructional effectiveness, though only a minority pursued these efforts in depth. Volunteers who worked intensively with a faculty development consultant improved more on objective measures of effectiveness than did those who were only superficially involved in improvement efforts; those who received no consultative assistance failed to improve significantly. Evidence from a final study provided a control for faculty motivation and led to the conclusion that improvement was contingent both on faculty desire to improve and on the availability of professional assistance.     

Cognitive performance and mental ability: Implications for learning in the later years

Both cross sectional and longitudinal studies of change with age in mental ability and cross sectional studies of change with age in cognitive performance indicate that the ability to learn generally does not decline in adulthood but continues at a stable and responsive level well into the later years. This conclusion is not only supported by psychological research but also confirmed by the rapidly growing numbers of older persons who are returning to and succeeding in the pursuit of educational activities. If and when decline does occur, it is usually modest, often reversible, rarely extreme, and rarely if ever great enough to preclude the possibility of learning that may be highly meaningful to the older learner.Howard Y. McClusky is the charter President of the Adult Education Association of the U.S.A. and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He is currently active as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Adult and Continuing Education and Faculty Associate in the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.     

Does Fidelity of Implementation Account for Changes in Teacher–Child Interactions in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Banking Time?

This study examined fidelity of implementation in a randomized trial of Banking Time, a classroom-based intervention intended to improve children's behavior, specifically for those at risk for developing externalizing behavior problems, through improving the quality of teacher–child interactions. The study sample comes from a randomized controlled trial that took place over three years and included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children recruited across three sites. Results exploring fidelity of implementation indicated that Banking Time practices were present across treatment and nontreatment groups. In addition, the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices accounted for improvements in teacher–child interactions while Restricted Banking Time Practices showed inconsistent patterns, relating both to positive and negative teacher–child interactions. Further, random assignment to Banking Time resulted in the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices and fewer Restricted Banking Time Practices, which accounted for the improved teacher–child interactions. Thus, findings point to the critical need to better account for intervention fidelity across conditions in randomized trials, allowing for better understanding of the mechanism through which interventions lead to intended outcomes.     

Interstimulus interval determines whether ethanol produces conditioned place preference or aversion in mice

DBA/2J mice were exposed to a distinctive floor stimulus (CS+) and ethanol (2 g/kg) in a place conditioning paradigm. A different floor stimulus (CS?) was presented with saline. Mice injected just before or 30 min before CS exposure (Groups 0, ?30) showed conditioned place preference, whereas mice injected right after exposure to the CS (Group 5) displayed place aversion (Experiment 1). None of the other groups (?120, ?60, 15, 60) showed place conditioning. Handling and saline injection given just before or after CS exposure were unable to produce place conditioning (Experiment 2). However, there was a positive relationship between ethanol concentration (10% vs. 20%) and test performance, suggesting that peritoneal irritation influences place conditioning (Experiment 3). Overall, these findings support the suggestion that intraperitoneal injection of ethanol produces an initial short-duration aversive effect that is followed by a longer lasting positive motivational effect.