Social marking of cognitive operations. The effect of different social rules

The present study is concerned with assessing whether social marking (i.e. the correspondence between the correct solution of a task and some known social rule) is a mechanism of cognitive progress which depends on specific forms of rule represented in the task material. Results of an experiment on a spatial transformation task (N=sixty-four non-conserving 5–6-year-olds) showed no significantly different levels of cognitive progress for subjects who transformed the spatial arrangement of a classroom or of a theatre. Significant difference emerged only when a deviation from the normally regulated arrangement were represented. In the condition where the deviation concerned the theatre subjects showed the lower level of progress. It was concluded that the beneficial effect of social marking may depend on the form of rule represented. Results were discussed with respect to children’s knowledge of the relative alterability of different types of rules.     

英语非生物主语句探析

英语中有一个不同于汉语的语言现象，即用非生物名词作主语，使句子简洁生动。可以用于非生物主主事句中的名词一般为表示时间或自然现象的名词、表示情感的名词、表示情景的名词以及其它抽象名词。     

Facebook group dynamics: an ethnographic study of the teaching and learning potential for secondary school teachers

ABSTRACT

This study examines the role of social networking sites on the learning processes, teaching practices and professional development of secondary school teachers. By conducting observations and in-depth interviews with active participants, we present an ethnographic study of the Facebook group Teaching ideas secondary education [author’s translation], which is hosted and primarily employed by Flemish teachers. By drawing parallels between the study findings and the theory of affinity spaces we aim to gain greater insight into emerging group dynamics and social informal learning processes. According to respondents, the Facebook group has the potential to address teachers’ needs with respect to the exchange of teaching ideas, experiences and materials. The findings point to a number of emerging developments in the educational landscape, highlighting that social media environments present a new source of inspiration, and combined with a collaborative atmosphere are able to stimulate cross-fertilization, social informal learning processes and self-management and -reflection. We hold these findings up to the light of current education discourses.     

Explaining effects and side effects of school inspections: a path analysis

There are large differences between schools with regard to how they are affected by a school inspection. This study provides quantitative evidence about the extent to which perceived effects and side effects of an inspection are related to the inspection’s judgement on the school, to features of the inspection, and to school features. This study draws on quantitative data collected from 2,202 teachers in Flemish primary and secondary schools that had recently been inspected. Using path analysis, it investigates the existence and strength of relationships between the perceived effects and side effects of inspection, on the one hand, and the perceived inspection quality, the perceived school’s policy-making capacities, and the inspection judgement, on the other hand. The analysis reveals that most effects and several side effects are predominantly explained by the perceived inspection quality. Emotional side effects during inspection are best predicted by the school’s policy-making capacities.     

高等职业技术教育的探索与实践

结合高等职业技术教育的实践，对高等职业技术教育的办学模式、管理模式等问题进行了总结和分析，着重介绍并探讨了“统一核算型、二级办学实体型、联合办学规范约束型”三种管理模式。     

Brain Processes in Mothers and Nulliparous Women in Response to Cry in Different Situational Contexts: A Default Mode Network Study

SYNOPSIS

Objective: In everyday life, parents must respond to and interact with children while in different situational contexts. How situational contexts influence parents’ responses has not been systematically studied. Here we investigated mothers’ versus nonmothers’ neural responses to infant vocalizations in different situations with different task demands. Design: Using fMRI in 21 women (10 mothers), we explored the effects of being distracted by self-oriented (self-referential decisions about personality adjectives) versus goal-oriented (syllabic counting of personality adjectives) tasks while listening to infant cry in comparison with other emotional sounds (infant laughing, adult crying) on the activity of two medial nodes of the Default Mode Network (DMN): the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Results: In the self-oriented task while listening to infant cry, both mothers and nulliparas showed (weak) activation of the DMN; this response likely reflects a shift of attention from the task to the cry. In the goal-oriented task, mothers, not nulliparas, showed (weak) activation of the DMN; this result is compatible with interference of emotional sounds while attending to a goal-oriented task, an activity that deactivates the DMN. Conclusions: Mothers are prone to process infant cry and emotional sounds and are less distracted from doing so by situational contexts, demonstrating their greater sensitivity to emotional sounds such as cry. By contrast, situational context influenced brain responses to infant sounds in nulliparas.     

Teaching computer programming with PRIMM: a sociocultural perspective

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Vygotsky's sociocultural theory emphasises the importance of language, mediation, and the transfer of skills and knowledge from the social into the cognitive plane. This perspective has influenced the development of PRIMM (Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify, Make), a structured approach to teaching programming.

Objective: The objective of the study was to find out if using PRIMM to teach programming had an impact on learner attainment in secondary school, and the extent to which it was valuable for teachers.

Method: We evaluated the use of PRIMM in 13 schools with 493 students aged 11-14 alongside a control group, using a mixed-methods approach. Teachers delivered programming lessons using the PRIMM approach for 8-12 weeks. Data were collected via a combination of a baseline test, a post-test to compare control and experimental groups, and teacher interviews.

Findings: Learners performed better in the post test than the control group. Teachers reported several benefits of the PRIMM approach, including that PRIMM helped them to teach effectively in mixed-ability classes, enabling all learners to make progress.

Implications: PRIMM makes a contribution to programming education research by building on previous work in effective pedagogy for teachers, and encouraging the use of language and dialogue to facilitate understanding.     

一组相关联的结构模型

中学课本列举的一些常见分子及典型晶体的晶胞之间，往往有相互关联的结构相似性，恰当运用这些联系，对教师的教学有积极的帮助，有利于学生深刻的理解和掌握知识。     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Conceptual Framework on the Ozone Layer Depletion. Exploring the Associative Meanings of a Global Environmental Issue

This paper reports on a study conducted among Greek kindergarten teachers aiming to explore their conceptual frameworks on a major environmental issue of our times: the ozone layer depletion. The choice of this particular issue was premised on its novelty, complexity and abstractness which present teachers with difficulties in its teaching. A free word association task was employed to identify the associative meaning of the issue among the participant teachers. The study’s results revealed the existence of a simplistic, linear, cause-and-effect scheme in the teachers’ conceptual frameworks, the two poles of which are “solar radiation” and “its harmful results for human health”. Some of the well-known misconceptions and misunderstandings already emerged in previous research also arise in this study. Prominent among them are the deeply rooted confusion between the “ozone hole” and “greenhouse effect”, a general fusion of ideas concerning all environmental problems and an overemphasis on the harmful consequences of the ozone depletion on human health. Implications for kindergarten teacher education are also discussed.The present study is part of a research project that is co-funded by the European Social Fund and National Resources – (EPEAEK II) PYTHAGORAS II.