Export restrictions,tax incentives and the national artistic patrimony

This paper analyses the main forms of government intervention used in the UK to protect the national artistic patrimony. It examines the two most common policy measures used in the art market ‐ export regulation and tax incentives ‐ and reports their use over an eight‐year period from 1990 to 1998. It also reviews the UK's collective obligations to patrimony internationally and specifically as a member of the European Union. This is the first time that these related topics have been considered as a whole.     

Mela: festival scenes in South Asian cinema

This article examines a recurrent film motif across a number of South Asian films, mostly called Mela. It also offers some observations on melas, actual and allegorical, as represented in films but often seeming to exceed their containment in context so as to say more about the conviviality of life, where this is at issue, where life is at a juncture in need of resolution within the cycle of becoming. The issues of violence, loss, national identity, politics of interpretation and repetition in ideology are canvassed. While the essay is focused upon Mela films themselves, and South Asian film more broadly, it has of course been important to note work by scholars such as M. Madhava Prasad, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Anjali Gera Roy, Tejaswini Niranjana, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and the help of my students, some of whom are named below.     

Matching teaching to learners: A review of a decade of research

Thirty-five studies relating to D. E. Hunt's notion of matching environments to learners were reviewed. The studies were grouped according to their outcome measures into affective, behavioral, and achievement outcomes. Empirical support for the matching principle was found for all three outcomes, but varied from strong support for affective and behavioral criteria to moderate support for achievement. The article discusses these differences, and advocates that future research studies give greater attention to the conceptualization and measurement of teaching environments. It concludes that there is empirical validation for the matching principle, and that matching is a meaningful way of describing the process of adapting instructional approaches to student differences.     

Metacognition as a Basis for Learning Support Software

In order to understand the task of instructional designers who produce learning support software, this paper reviews the influence of learning theory on instructional design, recent developments in computer technology, and the evolving role of the instructor as a facilitator of higher-order thinking. Constructivist principles of learning and an appreciation for the fact that the learner must become more independent and skilled in metacognitive self-assessment and self-management are fundamental to this changing role. Two cognitive tools that provide learner/user support for personal construction of knowledge systems are “MindMap” and “Learning FourMat Processor.” These tools are examined in the light of current learning theory and a recent study comparing the work of novice and expert writers using different forms of performance support. Recommendations are made for the development of a more complete set of cognitive tools that enables users to construct their own multimedia knowledge systems based on higher-order thinking and problem solving.     

建构性的后现代主义

柯布(John B.cobb,Jr.)教授是世界著名过程思想家,建构性后现代主义理论代表人物之一,现任美国过程研究中心创会主任,美国中国后现代发展研究院院长,美国克莱蒙研究生院终身教授。他1952年毕业于芝加哥大学,获哲学博士学位。柯布教授多年来一直从事过程哲学、可持续经济的研究与应用,是一位具有世界影响的学者。已发表著作数十部,代表作有《后现代公共政策》、《建构性后现代哲学的奠基者》、《后现代科学》、《后现代精神》、《为了共同的福祉——面向共同体、环境和可持续未来的经济》等。他应邀于2005年10月28至31日到我校讲学,作了题为“Constructive Postmodernism”的精彩学术报告,以西方哲学话语对建构的后现代主义作了一番梳理,其中不乏独到、精辟之论,受到广大师生的热烈欢迎。这次报告的汉语翻译是我校柏敬泽教授。应师生要求柏教授将全文译成中文并注释,以便读者准确、深入地理解柯布教授的学术报告内容。现把两位学者的共同劳动成果刊登出来,以飨读者,一为庆祝“广西师范大学后现代文化研究中心”的成立,二使更多的人了解柯布教授的学术观点,增进国际、校际之间的学术交流。     

Teachers in regular classrooms: An applied setting for successful behavior programming

An operant-based program was established to study the effectiveness of regular classroom teachers as mediators for behavior change in regular classroom settings. Fifty-nine first and second graders were matched on several measures and randomly assigned to an experimental condition or a control condition. Experimental children were addressed through teacher-generatedlconsultant-supported behavior intervention strategies. Changes in behavior were examined by assessing differences from initial baseline and from first to second administration of the Child Behavior Checklist. In- class behavior change was significantly greater for the experimental condition than for the control condition, although behavior change from first to second administration of the Child Behavior Checklist was significant for all groups. A moderate to high rate of compliance to the intervention program was maintained by teachers, and moderate to high ratings of satisfaction were obtained for the program from all participants. The effectiveness, feasibility, and applicability of the program are discussed.     

Social skills interventions across school settings: Case study reviews of students with mild disabilities

This study investigates the efficacy of a social skills training program with seven mildly handicapped students across three school settings: regular classroom, special education resource room, and recess. It was found that social skills training generated improvement on both pre-post measures and behavior ratings. Improvements were maintained 2 weeks after treatment was discontinued for seven students. All students' performance generalized from resource room to regular classroom settings; only four students' performance generalized to the recess setting.     

IQ and achievement: 1930s to 1980s

One hundred thirty-eight fifth-grade students from three upstate New York school districts were administered a 1930s version of the Pintner General Ability Tests: Verbal Series. Scores from this test were compared and correlated with scores from current IQ and achievement tests. The Pintner means were similar to those of the current IQ tests; the correlations of the Pintner with the other tests were of the same order as those typically reported among contemporary measures; and item difficulty, as indicated by rank order, appeared similar for the current sample and the 1930s norm groups. The findings are discussed with reference to research that has shown sharp increases in IQs of Americans since the 1930s and questions concerning changes in mental ability measures.