Towards a knowledge-sharing scaffolding environment based on learners' questions

This article describes a web‐based communicative space (a Dynamic Frequently Asked Questions environment—DFAQ) in which learners consult one another using questions, and in which both the flow of interaction and its artefacts become a resource available to a community of learners. Anecdotal evidence suggests that learners embarking on their first year of university study enter a world that is essentially text‐based and are inclined to view text as an authority, as something fixed that closes rather than opens up enquiry. Motivated by the need to scaffold learners’ engagement with academic text, we developed the DFAQ in which learners asked questions and other learners responded. The article discusses the learning activity that led to student consultation and provides a critical review of the environment based on student interviews. Our conclusion is that the environment provides learners with a unique ‘space’ in which to access questions and responses that they might not have generated themselves. Furthermore, given the environment's capacity to recruit, hold and focus attention as well as model appropriate questioning behaviour, we think that it does indeed provide a space that scaffolds learners’ engagement with the text.     

Motivational interviewing as a positive response to high‐school bullying

Intervention approaches to bullying are largely preventive in nature, and even these have been shown to be ineffective, if not iatrogenic, with adolescents. Responses to bullying are limited to traditional punitive approaches or “no‐blame” approaches aiming to restore the relationship between the targeted students. Neither of these approaches may effectively engage the perpetrator of bullying at a motivational level, and we propose motivational interviewing (MI) as a means of promoting meaningful behavioral change among youths who bully. We provide a narrative review of MI and map its core features onto the extant literature on self‐reported motivations for bullying, highlighting the ways that MI fits with bullying and could serve as a potent solution that could be deployed by school psychologists and other student support staff members. Qualitative preliminary feedback and initial competency in MI from trained practitioners are presented as preliminary data from a cluster‐randomized control trial, documenting school staff perspectives on the integration of MI into their approach to bullying with recommendations for integrating MI into school settings.     

Book reviews

Book Review

Book reviewsMichael Inbar and Clarice S. Stoll (editors) New York: The Free Press, 1972     

基于FPGA的TFT-LCD控制器IP核设计

伴随着嵌入式系统的迅速发展,TFT-LCD控制器IP成为SoC芯片中的一个重要部件。文章介绍了一种使用FPGA芯片设计TFT液晶显示屏控制器的方法。该方法加快了数据的处理速度,提高了系统的兼容性,节约了硬件成本。     

The Search for Solutions to Truancy and Other Forms of School Absenteeism

This article explores current thinking and practice on approaches to attendance and truancy in schools. The author argues that despite a wide and sometimes, innovative range of initiatives and approaches there is little evidence that attendance rates within a lot of individual schools are improving. He explores possible reasons for this and offers some ideas for consideration at a national level which might lead to even further and better practice within schools and, amongst the caring professions in order to reduce, combat and prevent truancy and other forms of non–attendance from their existing levels. He argues that this is a difficult and complex task but has some constructive recommendations to make for work at national and local level.     

“We've Got to Keep Meeting Like This”: A Pilot Study Comparing Academic Performance in Shifting-Membership Cooperative Groups Versus Stable-Membership Cooperative Groups in an Introductory-Level Lab

This study examined possible ways to increase student engagement in small sections of a large, introductory-level, required university course. Research shows that cooperative group learning boosts achievement through fostering better interpersonal relationships between students. Cooperative group learning is an evidence-based instructional practice engaging students in active learning. The present study investigated whether cooperative groups with sustained-membership functioned more effectively for boosting performance than shifting-membership cooperative groups. Findings indicated that the amount of class time spent in groups influenced the impact of shifting or sustained-membership. A significant difference in performance was found for sustained-group students when group activities were used the majority of the time during recitation.     

The determination of direction in landmark-based spatial search in pigeons: A further test of the vector sum model

In four experiments, pigeons were trained to find hidden food at a constant location with respect to one or two arrays of landmarks. On crucial tests, the birds were presented with conflicting cues associated with two different directions, which were 90° apart from the center of the search space at the same radial distance. The direction-averaging model predicts that the radial distance of search should not change on these tests, compared with radial distance of search on control tests without conflicting cues. The vector-averaging (vector sum) model predicts that when pigeons average the two conflicting cues, the radial distance of search should be shorter. Results support the direction-averaging model and suggest that distance and direction are independently computed in landmark-based search. Multiple sources are averaged by pigeons in determining direction.     

A pedagogy of larger concerns used as a lens to reflect on the design of student learning experiences

ABSTRACT

Although engineering educational endeavours are often described with regard to how well they prepare students to meet national or global engineering concerns, the purpose of this paper is to show how those efforts can also serve the larger educational goals of the educators themselves as they develop learning experiences for their students. This paper describes the reflections of four engineering educators who used a research-based ‘Pedagogy of Larger Concerns’ (PLC) as a conceptual lens for examining important aspects of their courses. A PLC is a set of teaching conceptions that was identified in a study exploring the thinking of outstanding professors in order to improve our understanding of the basis of their effectiveness.     

The struggle for legitimacy: language provision in two ‘residual’ comprehensive high schools in Australia

Despite the contemporary policy rhetoric of global citizenry and the importance of languages and intercultural capabilities, language learning in Australian schools struggles for recognition and support. The curriculum marginalisation of languages, however, is uneven, affecting some school sectors more than others. In this article, we examine the provision of languages in two government comprehensive high schools, both low socio-economic status, located in urban areas in New South Wales, Australia’s largest state. They are termed ‘residual’ high schools because they cater for the students remaining in the local schools while others attend either private or selective government high schools. We provide a qualitative picture of language provision in these two schools from the perspectives of key stakeholders – school principals, teachers, students and parents. We also draw on observational data of language classes. The aim is to provide, within a largely social class framework, an understanding of the state of language provision in these schools. We argue that currently students in these schools are experiencing unequal access to the linguistic and cultural capital associated with language learning relative to students in more privileged communities and schools.