Bridging the real and ideal: A comparison between learning community characteristics and a school-based case study

While a growing body of literature advocates the importance of school-based, collaborative action research, less attention has been focused on how these projects are developed and implemented in the early stages. This study, therefore, examines a small Canadian school's initial attempt at promoting a “learning community” approach and compares it to the ideals of collaborative teamwork set out by recent scholarship. Our findings suggest that collegiality holds promise for change in teachers' practice and meaningful professional development if the school's administrator accepts the learning community philosophy and is willing to take the lead in initiating the reform. As well, we found that all ideal characteristics set out in the literature need not be in place from the outset for a project of this sort to be successful.     

用内核级的噪声注入来刻画应用程序对操作系统干扰的敏感性

操作系统噪声是限制应用程序可扩展性的主要因素。很多研究试图采用用户层的机制来量化噪声的来源和影响。本篇论文描述了一种基于内核的噪声注入机制，并重点研究应用程序对各种噪声模式的敏感性。我们介绍了在Catamount轻载内核上噪声注入框架的实现，并展示了当节点数达到上万个时系统对应用程序产生的各类影响。我们的研究结果证明了噪声（不同频率和持续时间）产生原因的重要性，     

Changes in the basic ICT skills of freshmen between 2005 and 2009: Who’s catching up and who’s still behind?

In the last decade, ICT use has expanded enormously in most Western countries. In line with this development, we hypothesised that freshmen at university would not only have mastered more ICT skills, but would also use computers more often than their counterparts of 5 years previously. To compare students’ opinions and behaviour between 2005 and 2009, responses to two online questionnaires (N = 714 in 2005 and N = 1529 in 2009) offered at a large university were compared. The main variables of the Technology Acceptance Model (as well as facilitating factors, study motivation and some contextual variables) were used as predictors to explore the possible changes between 2005 and 2009 in the mastering of 19 ICT skills, and the frequency of the use of computers for six different tasks. The results of the study show that freshmen became more proficient in some ICT skills, while proficiency in other skills did not change or even dropped. Gender is still an important factor to predict ICT skills and the frequency of using computers, but it is shown that for some skills female students have caught up with their male counterparts.     

Mind, Brain, and Education: Building a Scientific Groundwork for Learning and Teaching1

ABSTRACT— The primary goal of the emerging field of Mind, Brain, and Education is to join biology, cognitive science, development, and education in order to create a sound grounding of education in research. The growing, worldwide movement needs to avoid the myths and distortions of popular conceptions of brain and genetics and build on the best integration of research with practice, creating a strong infrastructure that joins scientists with educators to study effective learning and teaching in educational settings. Science and practice together provide many potentially powerful tools to improve education. Neuroscience and genetics make possible analysis of the "black box" of biological processes that underpin learning. Understanding the biology of abilities and disabilities helps educators and parents to facilitate individual students' learning and development. Cognitive science provides analyses of the mental models/metaphors that pervade meaning making in human cultures, creating tools for avoiding unconscious distortions and crafting effective educational tools. Developmental and learning science produce tools to analyze learning pathways, including both shared patterns and learning differences. To reach the potential of grounding education effectively in research requires improving the infrastructure by creating (a) research schools where practice and science jointly shape educational research, (b) shared databases on learning and development, and (c) a new profession of educational engineers or translators to facilitate connecting research with practice and policy.     

Individual (Learning and Motivational) Needs versus Instructional Conditions of Gifted Education[1]

A decisive factor in the determination of effective Gifted Education is the fit between the individual cognitive and motivational pre‐conditions of the learning process and the instructional situation. This central thesis is based partly on the multidimensional talent and giftedness concepts and partly on the interaction between the individual learning needs and learning opportunities as found in the Aptitude‐Treatment‐Interaction Model (Corno & Snow, 1986). In a series of quasi‐experiments in a school setting, so‐called attributional retraining has proved to be an effective intervention method in reducing helplessness and similar unfavorable behavior patterns. This procedure works according to Weiner's causal attribution model (Weiner, 1986) and Dweck's model of achievement motivation (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). The possibilities of using this method in school settings are shown in this article and the method's contribution to the promotion of the gifted is discussed.