Drawing on the variation theory to enhance students’ learning of Chinese characters

The variation theory of Ference Marton and his collaborators has widely been used as a framework for explaining what can possibly be learned in a particular classroom and what cannot. This paper reports on an experiment that put this theory to test in the context of students’ learning of the orthographic structures of Chinese characters. The experiment was carried out in the classrooms of two primary schools in Hong Kong. In each of the schools, two classes of students were taught differently, as informed by the theory, about the significance of the location of a component in the orthographic structure of a character in relation to whether the component provided a clue to the meaning of the character (called the part–part relations). The results of the experiment are consistent with the prediction of the theory that those students who were given the possibility to experience variation in the locations of components in the orthographic structures significantly outperformed those who were not. The results of the experiment demonstrate the power of the theory in guiding the design of teaching that affords students’ learning to happen.     

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

This is a short historical review showing how researchers in the early part of this century attempted to define and measure artistic ability and establish a relationship between such ability and general intelligence. The definition of artistic ability was a recurring difficulty which has not, indeed, been satisfactorily settled yet, although the inadequacy of some of the criteria put forward earlier in the century can now be clearly seen. Such criteria were often wholly convergent, requiring pupils to conform to pre‐established notions of ‘correctness’ which now seem inappropriate to the subject.     

浪费还是节约

父亲:噢,杰克,你又睡了一上午。难道你不知道这是在浪费时间吗?杰克:我知道,爸爸。可我还给您节省了一顿饭呢,是不是?Father:Oh,Jack,you have slept away the whole morning.     

Profile of abused and neglected American Indian children in the Southwest

From both knowledge gained working in Indian communities and a major data collection program, this article examines child abuse and neglect among the Indian tribes in a southwestern state. The period of study covers 1982 through 1985. The study sample consists of 53 children targeted by the local Indian Health Service Hospital Child Protection Team as being abused and/or neglected. In addition, information on the parents, grandparents and, in a number of cases, great-grandparents are examined. The study is a secondary data analysis of clinic and hospital records and interviews with local community health care providers and tribal officials. The results indicate that alcohol abuse was present in 85% of the neglect cases and in 63% of the abuse cases. In addition, child abuse and neglect occurred simultaneously in 65% of the sample. Child abuse and neglect are found to be part of a larger phenomenon of multiproblem families which raises the issue of intergenerational perpetuation of these problems. The results underscore the importance of interagency cooperation in surveillance, treatment, and prevention, as well as more careful and thorough documentation of record maintenance.     

Interview with Jake Berry,Editor of Outré, Artifact Collective Texts,Anomaly, The Experioddicist,and Currently 9th St. Laboratories

Alan May interviews the visionary poet Jake Berry, editor of Outré, Artifact Collective Texts, Anomaly, The Experioddicist, and currently 9th St. Laboratories. In the early 1990s, Berry saw the important role the Internet could play in the world of poetry, long before many well-known and award-winning poets began publishing poetry in blogs and e-zines. In this interview, May and Berry discuss the early days of e-mail and Internet literary publishing, and the art of poetry itself as it survives and thrives in the online era.     

Sex differences in social support in sororities and fraternities

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to assess differences between sorority and fraternity members with regard to the social support provided by the “sisters”; and “brothers”; with whom they live. Based on sex differences in communication in general, and the few findings of sex differences in social support, two research questions were posed: Do members of sororities and fraternities differ in the social support they provide? How do the various types of social support compare with each other within fraternities and within sororities?

Differences found in this study corroborate results of research on sex differences in communication that characterize women as using communication to connect with, support, and achieve closeness with others, and men using communication to accomplish some task and to assert their individuality. In general, differences were mostly confined to two of the eight types of social support studied: members of sororities, in comparison to members of fraternities, reported being more satisfied with the emotional support they receive and perceiving greater availability of listening support. If the goal of fraternities and sororities is to provide their members with the full range of social support, then findings indicate members of fraternities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to promote closeness and connection (e.g., emotional support and listening support); and members of sororities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to create distance and separation (e.g., technical challenge support and emotional challenge support).     

Conceptions of Biology and Approaches to Learning of First Year Biology Students: Introducing a technique for tracking changes in learner profiles over time

We surveyed first year students at the start and at the end of their first semester of university biology (n?=?285) as to their approaches to study (surface, deep) and their conceptions of biology (fragmented, cohesive). Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to group students who responded similarly to the survey; this resolved four Learner Profiles based on specific combinations of approach to study and conception of biology. By comparing cluster membership at the start and end of the semester we could assess whether students (1) maintained their incoming approach to study and conception of the discipline of biology, i.e. their ‘Learner Profile’ and (2) whether certain Learner Profiles were more persistent than others. Approximately half the student cohort did not alter their approach to study or conceptions of biology by semester's end. Students in the disengaged profile, i.e. who returned mostly negative responses to survey items, appeared the most resistant to changing their Learner Profile; while the greatest migration occurred towards less than desirable learning strategies (particularly to the disengaged profile). We were able to confirm the significant migration patterns by assessing the heterogeneity of each cluster at the start of semester clusters with respect to the students' approaches and conceptions at the end of semester. Thus we present a process to accurately track Learner Profile changes that may tell us more about how we can enhance students' learning and provide a means by which to gather the empirical data to support decisions relating to curriculum change.     

Pervasive and Non‐pervasive Conduct Problems in a Clinic Sample Aged 4–8 years: Child,family and day‐care/school factors

Differences between pervasive (home and day‐care/school) versus non‐pervasive (home only) conduct problems were examined in regard to various child, parent/family, and day‐care/school characteristics in an outpatient clinic sample of 120 children aged 4–8 years. All children scored above the 90th percentile on the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory for home problems and met the criteria for a possible or a confirmed diagnosis of oppositional defiant behaviours. The proportion of children with pervasive conduct problems was high, 83%. Teachers in day care and school reported children in the pervasive group to have significantly more attention and internalizing problems as well as lower social competence scores than those in the non‐pervasive group. Children in the pervasive group also showed consistently more problems in their relationships both with teachers and peers than those in the non‐pervasive group. The implications for assessment and treatment of children with conduct problems in these age‐groups are discussed.