“藏汉双语”教师专业发展若干问题研究

“藏汉双语”教师的专业发展对于提高广大藏区基础教育质量意义重大。研究从影响“藏汉双语”教师专业发展的问题入手,对“藏汉双语”教师的教学认知能力、人际交往倾向、职业发展动机、自我评价等方面进行系统分析,探索“藏汉双语”教师专业发展的环境调控和优化的策略。     

Write when hot — submit when not: seasonal bias in peer review or acceptance?

At a top psychology journal, Psychological Science (PS), submissions peak during the summer months. We tested whether this seasonal submission bias decreases the likelihood of a paper being accepted in that period. Month of submission data was obtained for all 575 publications in PS for the period 2003–2006. Whereas submissions to PS were higher in the summer, there was no evidence that most accepted publications were originally submitted in the summer. Thus, contributors submit to PS when the likelihood of acceptance is the lowest – creating their own entrance barrier. A similar seasonal pattern was not identified for Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, another top psychology journal. Using the Web of Knowledge database, we further assessed whether overcoming the seasonal entrance barrier influences the number of citations a paper receives in subsequent years. We discuss the possibility that the different rejections policies in the two journals, employing desk rejections or not, may explain this discrepancy, and explore a range of alternative hypotheses.     

Peirce and Aesthetic Education

Charles Sanders Peirce did not present a full account of a philosophy of education in his open‐ended conception of a philosophical system. However, he did have multiple and scattered reflections on the subject that can be used for addressing and criticising our conceptions of education. This article has been conceived as part of a broader project that aims to make a phenomenological approach to the subject of education and that tries to undercover the main features of how education can be undertaken and understood according to Peirce's categoriology. As I see it, this can be done by conceiving an education applied to Peirce´s normative sciences, aesthetics, ethics and logic. The present text will address the first part of this project, that is, the possibility of conceiving a pragmaticistic aesthetic education, which, in my point of view could and should work as base and framework of any kind of pedagogical endeavour.     

Center Stage: Performing a Needs Assessment of Campus Research Centers and Institutes

Outreach to research centers and institutes is often overlooked in academic libraries. This article discusses a needs assessment conducted by the Liaison Services Department at the University of Houston Libraries that reviewed library services to centers and institutes at the University of Houston's main campus. The assessment was conducted for two purposes: to build collaborations with centers and to determine how the libraries might create new services and/or market existing services to meet the centers and institutes' growing research needs.     

Inquiry-Based Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: The Personal Learning Plan Method

The purpose of this paper is to describe a Personal Learning Plan method used in undergraduate early childhood education courses as a specific case of learner-centered, inquiry-based instruction. A rationale for this approach to instruction, the instructional context in which the specific method was developed and used, the method framework (i.e., preliminary and final plans, activities, products, and reflections), and the evaluation process will be discussed. Finally, a discussion of the perceived benefits and challenges of the method as it has been implemented will be presented.     

Concerns based adoption model (CBAM): Basis for an elementary science methods course

This study assessed the effectiveness of conducting an elementary science methods course based on the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) upon the concerns and attitudes of pre-service elementary teachers (PSTs). PSTs were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. The three groups included a traditional science methods course, a course based on the theoretical development of concerns, and a course based on the actual measured concerns about teaching an elementary science methods course. Hypotheses were tested to determine if the traditional or either concerns based science methods course was more effective in improving attitudes or advancing PST concerns about teaching science. Two instruments—; The Stages of Concern Questionnaire and the Science Teacher Attitude Scales—; were used to gather pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest data. Analysis of study results indicated that PST attitude toward science and science teaching improved and concerns about teaching science shifted from lower to higher stages of concern in all three treatment groups as predicted by Concerns Theory. However, none of the methods courses proved superior in affecting concerns or attitudes of pre-service teachers. The study concludes that either one semester is too short a time to affect the desired shifts in attitudes and concerns, or that the diagnostic instruments currently available to measure concerns and attitudes are not sensitive or specific enough to measure subtle changes of interest in a research study. The author suggests that research instruments be developed specifically for preservice teachers for this purpose.     

Community‐ and hospital‐based early intervention team members' attitudes and perceptions of teamwork

Sixty early intervention team members (30 community‐based and 30 hospital‐based) were surveyed regarding their attitudes and perceptions of teamwork. Respondents were recruited using a purposive non‐probability sampling technique and completed a packet of questionnaires consisting of a detailed demographic survey, Attitudes About Teamwork Survey, Team Performance Screening Scale, and Team Process Perception Survey. Although both community‐ and hospital‐based team members had a relatively high regard for the team process and a relatively positive view of the performance of the teams on which they served, community‐based team members had an overall higher regard for teamwork than hospital‐based team members. Community‐based team members also were more likely than hospital‐based team members to provide higher ratings on a number of key variables including support for child/family involvement as team members, the development of goals within the team meetings, and ability to work within a team environment. In comparison, hospital‐based team members rated both the internal support of the team and the extent to which they value their own efforts that contribute to the team higher than community‐based team members. Respondent themes associated with benefits (discipline collaboration), limitations (time), supports (collaboration), and recommendations (time management, communication) regarding the team process are provided.