UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN THEIR FUTURE

We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we use data from two groups of students studying mathematics: those who participated in an in-depth interview and those who completed an open-ended questionnaire. We found that their responses could be grouped into four categories: don’t know; procedural skills; conceptual skills; and professional skills. Although some students held clear ideas about the role of mathematics, many were not able to articulate how it would be used in their future. This has implications for their approach to learning and our approach to teaching.     

Killing a culture softly: Corporate partnership with a Russian museum

Information communications technology provides a way on the World Wide Web for national museums to represent the cultural artefacts they house. Framed by the notion of cybercolonization, a colonizing of cultures and cultural institutions by computing ideas, this on-site case study of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia examines computing ideas shaping information communications technology developments within the museum and, particularly, its current IBM sponsored website 〈http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/〉. The paper will illuminate subtle cybercolonizing influences by Global IBM evident in the website structure, design, targeting, esthetic choices, cultural content realignment, IBM corporate e-business underlay, and American English branding. The notion of cyberglocalization, an adapting of global cyber processes to local circumstances, is offered as an avenue to address colonization present in the Hermitage-IBM website. The case study offers museum professionals an illustration of the underlying assumptions about information communications technology (ICT) ideas, interaction, and appearance in the development of museum websites.     

The Web's rich tapestry

The Web has evolved as a hypertext environment whose value is derived from a simple ability to link resources together. The advanced linking features of some early hypertext systems might be implemented in the Web in various ways. The Semantic Web is one aspect of the continuing evolution of the Web which may be of value to the evolution of scholarly publishing and research, and may enable publishers to justify investment in the future. The key advantages are the ability to unlock value from the existing scholarly literature by enabling innovation in research tools; further encouraging the creation of a marketplace of services of value to the publishing industry; and ensuring that websites and content are well integrated into the Web as it exists now and in the future.     

深深根植于大学与社会之中的图书馆与情报学院

以伊利诺伊大学图书馆与情报学研究生院为例,揭示过去15年来美国图书馆与情报学（以下简称为LIS）学院发生的内在的战略性变化。1985年,美国几乎所有的大学都把LIS学院视作大学的一个边缘组织--这与玛瑞恩·巴瑞斯（Marion Paris）的研究结果相同。传播与计算机技术等外部因素的发展以及人们对信息内容管理的重视,改变了公众对图书情报学知识价值的看法。交叉学科的研究、教学、向社区外的延伸以及其它活动,不仅提高了LIS学院的知名度,而且使其深深植根于大学之中。同时,注重质量以及增强校方对质量的认识也提高了LIS学院的地位。     

Intervention Selection: An Examination of Evidence and Changes in Belief During the Decision‐Making Process

This study examines what sources of evidence are used in intervention selection and what changes in belief occur when performance improvement professionals make these decisions. Sixty‐one certified performance technologists completed a dynamic, web‐delivered questionnaire in which they provided a general assessment of intervention success (Pr₁), then responded to 12 performance improvement scenarios by selecting an intervention, providing a prior probability, receiving additional evidence, giving a posterior probability (Pr₃), indicating whether the initial intervention was still preferred, and making a subsequent choice if not. Findings bolster the long‐standing concern about the technical nature of performance improvement, and practitioners are strongly encouraged to approach intervention selection as a decision, where their intervention preferences and beliefs of likely success are carefully adjudicated on the basis of the evidence they obtain. Future research with other types of performance improvement practitioners, replication studies, longitudinal, structural equation modeling, externally verifiable probabilities, and natural environments are recommended.     

Children's thinking about diversity of belief in the early school years: judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons

Children's thinking about diversity of belief in 4 realms--morality, taste, facts, and ambiguous facts--was examined. Ninety-six participants (ages 5, 7, and 9) were interviewed about beliefs different from their own that were endorsed by characters with different status; their judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons were assessed. Five-year-olds made fewer relative and tolerant judgments than 7- and 9-year-olds. Nevertheless, participants of all ages organized their judgments according to the realm of diversity, thought that some beliefs are relative and some are nonrelative, and made tolerant judgments of some divergent beliefs (and their proponents) but not of others. The findings suggest that, in the early school years, children have multiple and well-differentiated perspectives on belief diversity.     

Pre-service teacher planning for differentiation of instruction in mathematics classrooms

This study investigated how 46 pre-service teachers (PSTs) planned for differentiation of instruction in mathematics. Content analysis was utilized to explore the differentiation strategies included and student characteristics considered in PST plans and how PSTs used differentiation strategies and student characteristics to differentiate lesson content, process, product, and environment. In addition, a rubric was designed and utilized to analyze the level of detail PSTs provided in their plans. Results indicated that overall, PSTs were developing in their planning for differentiation of instruction, using general terms to describe the modifications they would make to meet student needs. Moreover, results revealed that PSTs included strategies to differentiate lesson content and environment most often in their plans and frequently considered student readiness levels when planning for differentiation. Findings also revealed that PSTs need support in learning how to plan for differentiation based on student cultural backgrounds. Implications for mathematics teacher preparation are discussed.