Exploring Teachers’ Meta-Cognitive Skills in Mathematics Classes in Selected Rural Primary Schools in Eastern Cape,South Africa

Undoubtedly the acquisition of mathematical skills for problem solving is critically important in today’s sophisticated technological world. There is growing evidence that meta-cognition application is an important component of academic success in general and impacts on mathematical achievement in particular. Teachers’ application of meta-cognition therefore directs and reflects their teaching-practice behaviour which influences their learners’ learning with understanding in problem-solving. The purpose of the study reported on in this article was to explore teachers’ available meta-cognitive skills in class with the intention of supporting learners’ development of mathematics in problem-solving in some selected rural primary schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The participants were three teachers purposefully selected from three primary schools. Interviews were conducted with the three teachers and three lessons were observed. The interviews, as an extension of observation, focused on the teachers’ knowledge or understanding of available meta-cognitive skills and how they used these skills in helping their learners’ development of mathematics problem-solving. The findings included a detailed exploration of the teachers’ acquisition and use of specific metacognitive skills, either consciously or unconsciously, during teaching and learning processes in order to develop their mathematics learners’ meta-cognitive skills as well as in solving mathematical problems. The results of the observation showed that there was evidence of teachers applying meta-cognitive skills unconsciously in assisting their learners in problemsolving in class. The interviews confirmed this evidence of available meta-cognitive skills which the teachers usually applied in assisting their learners in problem-solving in class. Recommendations have been made regarding teachers’ methods of teaching to improve the development of such skills in the lives of their mathematics learners through problemsolving.     

Podcasts and Productivity: A Qualitative Uses and Gratifications Study

Through analysis of five focus groups with people who “usually (more often than not) listened to at least one podcast episode a week” in the last two months, this uses and gratifications (U&G) study uncovers several prominent themes among podcast listener experiences. In an effort to integrate old and new media use typologies within U&G research, our results are presented in two parts: emerging typologies and expansions of existing typologies. The emerging section includes reasons for podcast displacement of other media, customizable experiences, and multitasking (which involves both temptation bundling and feeding the brain). The expansion builds on the existing typologies of companionship and interaction by analyzing avenues for parasocial relationship formation and identifying social opportunities as well as social frustrations surrounding podcasts. We ultimately conclude that podcasts offer an endless supply of engaging content that travels with listeners, allowing them to be “productive” in various physical and mind-expanding ways. The enjoyment is facilitated in part by forging connections with hosts and other listeners.     

世界是一张全息图

如果你问别人物理世界是由什么构成的,他很可能告诉你是"物质和能量".但只要我们学过一点工程、生物和物理的话,就知道信息同样是一个不可或缺的组成部分.     

Teacher tensions: expectations in a professional development institute

The purpose of this study was to better understand teacher tensions in professional development. The population under study was practicing mathematics teachers engaged in a week-long professional development institute. Data sources included observations, interviews, and teacher products (such as registration forms, surveys, journals, and notebooks). The data were analyzed to determine what tensions were evident in the institute and how those tensions arose. In this paper, we examine participants’ tensions in a professional development situation when their expectations did not match reality. We have done so by presenting a theoretical model of professional development based on an instructional rhombus that illuminates the actual and applicatory aspects of teachers’ professional development experiences. The main tensions expressed by the teachers were related to the content and pedagogy of the institute. This study points toward the importance of teachers’ expectations in professional development.     

Entrepreneurial transformations in the Swedish University system: the case of Chalmers University of Technology

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Sweden has been transforming its national research policy into policy for innovation. One of the bottom up responses to this top d initiative has been an attempt on the part of some Swedish universities to transform themselves into entrepreneurial institutions. This paper uses a case study of one particular Swedish University; Chalmers University of Technology’s transformation process to reflect on the new research policy. Chalmers’ journey is examined against the backdrop of the changing national climate for universities as well as local factors within the university itself.The case confirms existing knowledge in that it shows that creating an entrepreneurial university takes several years as both infrastructural and cultural changes are necessary to achieve success. The case also shows that despite the long history of public-private in Sweden, the new emphasis on commercialisation and commodification of knowledge creates some degree of role uncertainty for universities. The paper concludes that one of the elements required for Swedish innovation policy is macro (policy vision and implementation) and micro (university organisation) level flexibility and diversity.     

Antisemitism in a City Without Jews: Crime,Print and a Used-Clothes Dealer in Early Modern Paris

Seventeenth-century Paris had not had a Jewish community for centuries, yet Parisians created and circulated textual, and occasionally visual, anti-Jewish representations. Parisians made these concrete by projecting them onto a group of Christians, the used-garment dealers. Parisians were able to avoid questioning their society’s moral and Christian identity by associating theft, deceit and murder with the supposedly non-Christian dealers. The article examines the historical background to this, analyzes the representations and, through one dealer and her family, suggests their social and legal impact. This contributes to our understanding of early modern anti-Jewish representations, views of crime, identity and marginalization.     

The accuracy of teacher predictions of student reward preferences

This study investigated the accuracy of teacher predictions of student reward preferences on the Children's Reinforcement Survey Schedules. Student-participants were 49 5th and 6th graders. Correlation coefficients calculated for each student-teacher pair indicated that teachers were only moderately successful in selecting rein-forcers consistent with individual student self-selections. Teachers as a group predicted the reward preferences of students as a group with a high degree of accuracy, however. The correlation between teacher selections and the reward preferences of girls was higher than that between teacher selections and the preferences of boys as a group. Comparison of teacher and student choices suggested that teachers tended to overrate the popularity of certain classroom-related rewards. Findings suggest that students need to be involved in selecting their own rewards when planning behavioral interventions, and that for some students, particularly boys, rewards available outside the classroom may be most effective in changing behavior.     

Performance Appraisal System Impact on University Academic Staff Job Satisfaction and Productivity

The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) introduced a performance appraisal system (PAS) designed to improve performance indicators across the board in Public Service including academic/faculty staff at the University of Zimbabwe as part of a nation wide strategy. The Public service is a body responsible for all civil workers including academic staff, whose responsibility is to lecture to students, provide university to the community and conduct research activities. The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of five years of PAS on productivity and job satisfaction of academic staff. A random sample of academic staff was studied using questionnaires and interviews. Job satisfaction and some indices of productivity decreased by half following introduction of PAS. A possible contributory factor for the decline in job satisfaction was that PAS was introduced without adequate preparation and when the socio‐cultural environment was not conducive to its implementation. This study underpins the importance of community ownership of interventions targeted at performance management improvement prior to their implementation.