FORM AND STRUCTURE OF CHINESE CHARACTERS AND CHILDREN��S UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

The written representation in Chinese can be considered as a pictorial or a symbolic representation which is very different from English where the pronunciation is related to how the word is spelt. Students face challenges of a very different nature when science is learnt in Chinese compared with English. In Hong Kong, students are making translations between the language they use in their daily lives, the science concepts and the scientific terms. The research team designed an interview protocol for primary school pupils in order to identify the pupils’ alternative concepts of science and if these alternative concepts are related to the structure of the Chinese language. The findings suggest that there are alternative conceptions related to (a) the form of the Chinese character—for example, the Chinese character for crocodile includes a radical meaning fish, and so pupils may take it that a crocodile is a fish; (b) the meaning of the Chinese character—for example, an electronic buzzer is a device used to attract bees as in Chinese, the character contains the word meaning “bees producing sound”. The findings provide important data for future endeavours aiming to compare the learning of science using different languages and on ways in which primary teachers may better facilitate their pupils in learning science.     

An Instructional Development Model for Global Organizations: The GOaL model

While there is a great demand to share training programs globally, there are few methodologies to implement effective instructional development processes in multicultural organizations. Based on lessons learned from a Fortune 500 company, this article presents an instructional development model for global organizations. Three main gaps are identified in a practice of instructional design (ID) model for international settings: language, culture, and needs gaps at local sites. In order to solve these problems, the proposed model includes a decentralized process and collaborative efforts between the originating site and local sites. The virtues of the proposed model are just-in-time training, flexibility, and adequateness. The current situations in global organizations are ill-structured and require the sharing of multiple perspectives through collaboration in order to accomplish social consensus. The characteristics in the presently proposed model are that a) there is limited predetermined content, b) there is a sharing of multiple perspectives, c) there is needs negotiation, and d) learning is occurring within a context.     

Kindergarten screenings in New York state: Tests,purposes, and recommendations

Three hundred and fifty-nine school districts in New York State were surveyed about tests that they used in kindergarten screenings, the purposes of the screenings, and recommendations made based on the screening results. The 260 respondents (a 72% return) indicated tremendous variability in response to all three questions. Thirty- four different tests were used in the screenings. The main purposes of the screenings were to identify handicapped and gifted students, group students in kindergarten classes, make school readiness placements, and plan and individualize instruction. Recommendations based on the screening results included referrals for further evaluation and multiple levels of placement decisions. Based on these results, it seems that tests are being used for purposes for which they were not designed. The need to avoid making placement recommendations based on the results of a screening test, as is often done with extra-year school readiness programs, is emphasized.     

Ninth Graders’ Learning Interests, Life Experiences and Attitudes Towards Science & Technology

Students’ learning interests and attitudes toward science have both been studied for decades. However, the connection between them with students’ life experiences about science and technology has not been addressed much. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ learning interests and life experiences about science and technology, and also their attitudes toward technology. A total of 942 urban ninth graders in Taiwan were invited to participate in this study. A Likert scale questionnaire, which was developed from an international project, ROSE, was adapted to collect students’ ideas. The results indicated that boys showed higher learning interests in sustainability issues and scientific topics than girls. However, girls recalled more life experiences about science and technology in life than boys. The data also presented high values of Pearson correlation about learning interests and life experiences related to science and technology, and in the perspective on attitudes towards technology. Ways to promote girls’ learning interests about science and technology and the implications of teaching and research are discussed as well.     

The e-balanced scorecard (e-BSC) for measuring academic staff performance excellence

This research paper is a pilot study that investigated the suitability of adopting an automated balanced scorecard for managing and measuring the performance excellence of academic staffs in the higher education setting. A comprehensive study of related literature with requirements elicited from the target population in a selected premier university in Malaysia through document analysis, interviews and survey questionnaires provided the foundation for the system development. By adopting the balanced scorecard, the proposed system provided a means for top down alignment of organisational objectives while creating a medium of communication between the lecturers and management. Though the method suggested in this study primarily focuses on the academic staff, it addresses the lack of a representative form of performance measurement for lecturers that accommodates the complexities of the profession while providing the potential adoption of an unconventional method to encourage excellence and development amongst all levels of employees in the industry.     

Diet and Pregnancy: Health-Care Providers and Patient Behaviors

In this study, associations between health-care providers (HCPs) discussing diet with their pregnant patients and patient dietary behavior were assessed in addition to factors related to HCPs discussing diet with their patients. Questionnaires were completed by 237 pregnant women and 31 HCPs at 12 obstetrics–gynecology clinics across the United States. Patients provided versus those not provided dietary counseling by their HCP were more likely (OR = 2.17, 95%; CI = 0.75–6.25) to engage in healthy dietary practices. HCPs that discussed multiple health behaviors were nearly four times more likely to discuss diet with their pregnant patients compared with HCP who did not discuss other health behaviors (OR = 3.67, 95%; CI = 1.10–12.28). This study indicates that HCP education can positively impact dietary behaviors of their pregnant patients.