A case example of assessment and evaluation: Building capability in a corporate university

One corporate university makes measurement a priority by dedicating resources and assigning responsibilities to a centralized analytics function: the assessment, measurement, and evaluation team. As more measurement became a focus for learning and business leaders alike, the more the team became motivated to take a critical look at how it was approaching assessment, measurement, and evaluation activities and how it could leverage its capabilities, technology, and processes to have a greater reach across the organization.     

Parental responses to sibling conflict: the effects of development and parent gender

Mothers' and fathers' responses to their children's spontaneous sibling conflicts were observed using a wireless microphone system. Eighty-eight two-child, two-parent families participated in three home observations. Secondborn children were 3 to 5 years of age and firstborn children were 2 to 4 years older. Associations between parents' enactment of three categories of conflict management strategies (passive nonintervention, child-centered management, and parental control) and sibling interaction quality varied according to children's ages, gender of the monitoring parent, and type of strategy used. Passive nonintervention was highly associated with the occurrence of subsequent conflict. Younger sibling dyads, in particular, behaved more antagonistically when their parents did not intervene. In contrast, older sibling dyads were less involved and less close when their mothers intervened in any way. Results suggest that relatively younger sibling dyads may benefit more than older dyads from parental intervention.     

Reflective lesson planning in refresher training programs for experienced physics teachers

This paper reports on some aspects of a refresher training program for experienced physics teachers that is based on Dewey's idea of reflective teaching. The program introduces experienced teachers to a reflective lesson planning model, and a more constructivist approach to physics teaching, and provides them with the opportunity to develop and experience their own strategies during micro-teaching sessions. Three instructional strategies developed by participants in the program and the corresponding suggestions/comments made by their peers in follow-up discussions are presented and analyzed in this paper. The authors, who have coordinated or taught the course, are convinced that the program provides considerable impetus for experienced teachers to redevelop their innovative capacity.     

ENHANCING STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE SCIENCE CLASSROOM THROUGH SOCIOSCIENTIFIC ISSUES

Communication skills are one of the most important competencies for 21st century global citizens. Our guiding presupposition was that socioscientific issues (SSIs) could be used as an effective pedagogical tool for promoting students’ communication skills by increasing peer interactions, stimulating students’ reasoning, and in constructing shared social knowledge. We implemented a SSI program on gene modification (GM) technology to 132 9th graders in South Korea and investigated to what extent this SSI instruction contributed to enhancing students’ communication skills. Data sources included pre- and post-scores on the Communication Skills Questionnaire (CSQ), semi-structured interviews with the students and instructor, and classroom observations. The results demonstrated that SSI instruction could bring about a moderately large impact on students’ ability to understand the key ideas of others and to value others’ perspectives, as well as a marginal positive effect on developing active assertions. However, SSI instruction appeared to have a lesser impact on students’ ability to develop shared understanding. Overall, this research indicates the potential that even a limited SSI classroom could have in terms of promoting students’ communication skills in the context of their regular science class.     

香港教师专业发展策略:从不足模式走向互动模式

在全球性的教育改革中,各地十分重视教师教育工作,推出了很多促进教师专业发展的措施。Clark&Hollingsworth提出的互动模式(interconnected model)注意到教师专业发展个人化的本质,强调教师实践领域的重要,促使政策制定者在制定在职培训课程时认识到教师专业发展的复杂性。本文以香港教师专业发展策略为例,指出香港的教师专业发展策略发生范式的转移,从不足模式(deficit model)转向互动模式,着重从多个网络、途径来增加教师学习机会,是一个进步。但是基于教育改革整个系统的复杂性,特别是在问责主义的政策脉络下,如何让教师有多一些时间与空间进行专业成长,仍是深化教育改革急需考虑的问题。     

Orthographic skills important to Chinese literacy development: the role of radical representation and orthographic memory of radicals

A 3-year longitudinal study among 239 Chinese students in Grades 2–4 was conducted to investigate the relationships between orthographic skills (including positional and functional knowledge of semantic radicals and phonetic radicals, and orthographic memory of radicals) and Chinese literacy skills (word reading, word spelling, reading comprehension and written composition). Phonetic radical knowledge was the only significant longitudinal predictor of word reading, whereas all orthographic skills examined were significant longitudinal predictors of word spelling. Reading comprehension was uniquely predicted by semantic radical knowledge. A model showing the relationships between orthographic skills and literacy skills was postulated.     

Effective Use of Hanyu Pinyin and English Translations as Extra Stimulus Prompts on Learning of Chinese Characters

Previous research has shown that the learning of second language words in the simultaneous presence of pictures or first language translation equivalents interferes with their acquisition. The purpose of this study was to investigate variables associated with the learning of Chinese characters as second language stimuli (L2). Acquisition for both naming of English translations and pronunciations was shown to proceed more rapidly under conditions in which each character was presented 5 s prior to its pinyin and English word equivalent, in contrast to simultaneous presentation conditions. These data were interpreted in terms of (a) interference, which can occur when students attend to multiple input simultaneously, and (b) the beneficial effects of attending to L2 stimuli prior to their associations in language learning contexts. It was concluded that the presentation of a character first, and the provision of its associated pinyin and English translation after a short delay is recommended when teaching characters for non-native speakers of Chinese at the early stage.