Measuring innovative performance: is there an advantage in using multiple indicators?

The innovative performance of companies has been studied quite extensively and for a long period of time. However, the results of many studies have not yet led to a generally accepted indicator of innovative performance or a common set of indicators. So far the variety in terms of constructs, measurements, samples, industries and countries has been substantial. This paper studies the innovative performance of a large international sample of nearly 1200 companies in four high-tech industries, using a variety of indicators. These indicators range from R&D inputs, patent counts and patent citations to new product announcements. The study establishes that a composite construct based on these four indicators clearly catches a latent variable ‘innovative performance’. However, our findings also suggest that the statistical overlap between these indicators is that strong that future research might also consider using any of these indicators to measure the innovative performance of companies in high-tech industries.     

Using Research Based Assessment Tools in Professional Development in Current Electricity

We present a practical way of adapting and using four research-based assessments for different purposes in an electricity and magnetism course for K-8 science teachers. The course is designed to accomplish conceptual change toward accepted scientific conceptions as well as introducing teachers to materials and activities appropriate for their classrooms. Our data support that using the research-based tests to identify alternative conceptions and discuss test results with teachers is a promising way to use the knowledge of alternative conceptions in professional development. We also identify some mismatches between the research of conceptual change and its use in programs of professional development.

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Focus-on-form instructional methods promote deaf college students' improvement in English grammar

Focus-on-form English teaching methods are designed to facilitate second-language learners' noticing of target language input, where "noticing" is an acquisitional prerequisite for the comprehension, processing, and eventual integration of new grammatical knowledge. While primarily designed for teaching hearing second-language learners, many focus-on-form methods lend themselves to visual presentation. This article reports the results of classroom research on the visually based implementation of focus-on-form methods with deaf college students learning English. Two of 3 groups of deaf students received focus-on-form instruction during a 10-week remedial grammar course; a third control group received grammatical instruction that did not involve focus-on-form methods. The 2 experimental groups exhibited significantly greater improvement in English grammatical knowledge relative to the control group. These results validate the efficacy of visually based focus-on-form English instruction for deaf students of English and set the stage for the continual search for innovative and effective English teaching methodologies.     

怎样教科学

科学教育的主要目的是为学生进行更高层次的科学学习奠定基础;有助于学生成为社会劳动力、寻求就业机会和谋求个人发展;为学生成为具有良好科学素养的社会公民奠定基础。为此,科学教学应坚持如下原则:教学应成为促进学生学习的工具;教学要专注于核心科学思想;教学要帮助学生加深对科学的理解;教学要充分考虑学习的复杂性;教学应有助于学生主动建构科学知识;教学应将科学内容和发展学生的兴趣相结合;教师要对所有学生的学习都寄予积极的期望;教学要注重减轻学生的焦虑。这八项教学原则及其教学实践建议,为改进科学教育提供了新的视角及可资借鉴的实践策略。     

Engaging Urban Ninth Graders in Math: A Complementary Mixed-Methods Study of Teacher Behavior

This mixed-methods study examines engaging teaching at one racially and ethnically diverse public school using the self-system process model of student engagement. As theorized, multilevel analyses of student survey data (N?=?580) reveal that student perceptions of structure, autonomy support, and involvement differentiate highly, moderately, and weakly engaging teachers. Classroom observations (N?=?12) and student interviews (N?=?17) suggest that the behavior of autonomy supportive and involved teachers is friendly, helpful, and emphasizes student agency. Although few racial or ethnic differences are observed, autonomy supportive and involved teacher behavior appears particularly critical to the behavioral engagement of Black and Latinx students. Helpfulness may also moderate stereotype threat. Implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers are discussed.

     

Backward design as a mobile application development strategy

Backward design is a well-established design strategy that has been used to produce educational curriculum for decades. While traditionally used to plan and create classroom-based curriculum, in this paper we explore the use of backward design as a design strategy for the development of an educational mobile application, BiblioTech? “CityHacks: In Search of Sleep.” We discuss the process from initial conception to launch and updates, as well as plans for future research.