Figuring out the dome

The New Millennium Experience ‐ an exhibition on the theme of time sited in a fibre‐glass dome on the Greenwich Peninsula adjacent to the Prime Meridian ‐ was the centrepiece of Millennium celebrations in Britain. From its inception in the mid‐1990s ‘the Dome’ had been controversial for several reasons, not least of which was its financial viability were it not to prove very popular with the general public. Within weeks of opening, it emerged that the Dome was financially insecure to the point of possible bankruptcy. Largely funded by the National Lottery in the first place, four extra grants from that source were required in order to keep it open during the year 2000. The Dome was regarded widely as of dubious cultural value and a drain on public resources that might have been better spent elsewhere.

This chapter of Cultural Trends does not, strictly speaking, set out to confirm or refute these common criticisms of the Dome. Instead, it aims to establish the facts and figures concerning various aspects of the project as precisely as possible. This in itself is difficult to do since, for instance, the exact value of corporate sponsorship is impossible to ascertain due to commercial confidentiality, although it was quite a small proportion of the actual funding ‐ less than 20 per cent. Further complicating matters is polling evidence of high visitor approval for the Dome which must be set against its general damnation in the media.

In effect, the chapter traces a complex process whereby an ambitious cultural project was beset by a series of seemingly intractable problems from beginning to end, including eventual disposal and future use of the site. Whether the Dome is considered an abject failure or an under‐reported success, it certainly did not meet its official targets in terms of visiting, revenue and sponsorship.     

The intersection of cognitive and sociocultural factors in the development of reading comprehension among immigrant students

The present paper synthesizes the international research literature on the educational achievement of immigrant and minority language students by articulating three propositions for which there is strong empirical evidence: (a) print access and literacy engagement play a key role in promoting reading comprehension; (b) the development of bilingual students?? L1 proficiency plays a positive role in L2 academic development; and (c) societal power relations play a direct causal role in promoting school failure among students from subordinated communities. This interpretation of the empirical evidence is contrasted with the conclusions of recent North American and European reviews. For example, the comprehensive review of literacy development among minority students conducted in the United States by the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth acknowledged the legitimacy of bilingual education as a policy option but said very little about the role of literacy engagement in promoting reading comprehension. By contrast, various reports of the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighted the importance of reading engagement for reading achievement but discounted bilingual education as a feasible or realistic policy option. The instructional implications of the present review include the need for educators to promote print access and literacy engagement, teach for cross-lingual transfer, and affirm students?? identities in classroom interactions.     

体育舞蹈在高校素质教育中的作用

21世纪是高科技飞跃发展的知识经济社会，人才的竞争日趋激烈。因此推行素质教育是高等学校面向21世纪的重要任务。体育舞蹈是融体育、音乐、舞蹈为一体的新型体育课程，对全面培养大学生综合素质、增强大学生生理、心理健康、发展个性、审美能力的提高具有重要作用。     

Why do faculty members leave a university?

This paper uses the results of a survey of tenured faculty members who resigned from the University of Minnesota to analyze the factors that influenced their decisions to leave. The results indicate that the probability of accepting an outside offer is positively related to the expected salary gain, but that other general factors are also important determinants of faculty decision making in this area. However, even with the survey results, we know very little in any systematic sense about specific factors that influence individual faculty decisions, particularly about differences in these factors for those faculty who leave as opposed to those who remain. To analyze faculty retention more completely, we need additional information about the personal circumstances of faculty members who are and are not retention cases and more extensive information on why the retention cases made their eventual choices about staying at or leaving the institution.