Adopting an active learning approach to teaching in a research-intensive higher education context transformed staff teaching attitudes and behaviours

The conventional lecture has significant limitations in the higher education context, often leading to a passive learning experience for students. This paper reports a process of transforming teaching and learning with active learning strategies in a research-intensive educational context across a faculty of 45 academic staff and more than 1000 students. A phased approach was used, involving nine staff in a pilot phase during which a common vision and principles were developed. In short, our approach was to mandate a move away from didactic lectures to classes that involved students interacting with content, with each other and with instructors in order to attain domain-specific learning outcomes and generic skills. After refinement, an implementation phase commenced within all first-year subjects, involving 12 staff including three from the pilot group. The staff use of active learning methods in classes increased by sixfold and sevenfold in the pilot and implementation phases, respectively. An analysis of implementation phase exam questions indicated that staff increased their use of questions addressing higher order cognitive skills by 51%. Results of a staff survey indicated that this change in practice was caused by the involvement of staff in the active learning approach. Fifty-six percent of staff respondents indicated that they had maintained constructive alignment as they introduced active learning. After the pilot, only three out of nine staff agreed that they understood what makes for an effective active learning exercise. This rose to seven out of nine staff at the completion of the implementation phase. The development of a common approach with explicit vision and principles and the evaluation and refinement of active learning were effective elements of our transformational change management strategy. Future efforts will focus on ensuring that all staff have the time, skills and pedagogical understanding required to embed constructively aligned active learning within the approach.     

A Study of Rubisco through Western Blotting and Tissue Printing Techniques

We describe a laboratory exercise developed for a cell biology course for second-year undergraduate biology majors. It was designed to introduce undergraduates to the basic molecular biology techniques of Western blotting and immunodetection coupled with the technique of tissue printing in detecting the presence, relative abundance, and distribution of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in various plant materials. Pre- and postlab surveys indicated significant postlab gains in student understanding of all three lab techniques and relevant lecture topics. Additional postlab survey questions on student perception of the lab modules suggested that the laboratory exercises successfully met a series of pedagogical goals set by the instructors. The combination of these techniques provided a basis for quantitative and qualitative (visual) analysis of a biologically important enzyme and can be applied or modified readily to study other proteins and biological molecules in lab exercises for an introductory cell biology course or molecular biology course.     

The influence of racial socialization practices on the cognitive and behavioral competence of African American preschoolers

The association between parent racial socialization and child competence was examined in a socioeconomically diverse sample of African American preschoolers living in an urban setting. Interviews were conducted in the homes of 200 families. Racial socialization was assessed by parent report as well as by observation of the sociocultural context of the home, and child outcomes were assessed using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that African American parents who provided homes that were rich in African American culture had preschool children who had greater amounts of factual knowledge and better developed problem-solving skills. African American parents who socialized their preschool children to be proud of their heritage reported fewer problem behaviors.     

农村民间图书馆众筹项目社交媒体应用对其成功的影响——适应性结构化理论视角

[目的/意义]农村民间图书馆众筹项目应用社交媒体可有效提高其成功率。[方法/过程]基于适应性结构化理论构建了社交媒体对农村民间图书馆众筹项目成功影响的框架,以典型农村民间图书馆众筹项目为例对构建的框架进行了验证和诠释。[结果/结论]本文提出的应用框架丰富并完善了农村民间图书馆众筹项目社交媒体应用理论,能有效指导农村民间图书馆众筹项目社交媒体的应用实践。     

The Meaning of Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities in South Korea

This study sets out to examine and understand the meaning of social inclusion for people with disabilities, as constructed by people with disabilities themselves. Focus group interviews with 34 people who have physical impairments, cerebral palsy, or hearing or visual impairments were conducted for the study. Using the data obtained from these interviews, the interviewees’ various definitions and perceptions of social inclusion were analysed and four meaning categories for social inclusion were identified: excluded/segregated, present, participating, and actively participating. The findings of this research can be used as foundational material in the development of disability policies and the improvement of social services to better enable full social participation and social inclusion for people with disabilities.     

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM: THE UNDERGRADUATE GERONTOLOGY INTERNSHIP

This article describes an undergraduate gerontology internship program that provides an intermediary level of involvement between a service-learning activity and a pre-professional graduate school internship, presents a case study of a student's learning experience, and suggests a teaching and learning structure that may be scaffolded to fit individual student needs and goals. A humanistic teaching orientation is discussed as a method to facilitate learning and a deeper understanding of internship experiences.     

丁尼生诗歌的悲情元素

维多利亚时代的宗教信仰危机的一个最大焦虑便是死亡。作为那个时代的代言人,丁尼生将这种焦虑深深地根植在他的诗作之中,表达了自己对生与死、怀疑与信仰的深邃思考,使其大部分诗作蒙上一层悲剧色彩。他所处的时代背景及其生活经历奠定了他诗歌的悲情基调,信仰危机及死亡意象构成了丁尼生诗中的主要悲情元素。     

Comparisons among Designs for Equating Mixed-Format Tests in Large-Scale Assessments

In this study we examined variations of the nonequivalent groups equating design for tests containing both multiple-choice (MC) and constructed-response (CR) items to determine which design was most effective in producing equivalent scores across the two tests to be equated. Using data from a large-scale exam, this study investigated the use of anchor CR item rescoring (known as trend scoring) in the context of classical equating methods. Four linking designs were examined: an anchor with only MC items, a mixed-format anchor test containing both MC and CR items; a mixed-format anchor test incorporating common CR item rescoring; and an equivalent groups (EG) design with CR item rescoring, thereby avoiding the need for an anchor test. Designs using either MC items alone or a mixed anchor without CR item rescoring resulted in much larger bias than the other two designs. The EG design with trend scoring resulted in the smallest bias, leading to the smallest root mean squared error value.     

基于改进BESO算法的集材绞盘机卷筒优化设计

通过修正材料插值模型和引入应力均方差作为性能收敛指标,改进了基于von Mises应力的双向渐进结构拓扑优化(Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization, BESO)方法,并结合Abaqus有限元软件及MATLAB语言编程实现了该算法;在此基础上,优化设计了集材绞盘机摩擦卷筒,得到不同材料体积分数、不同旋转周期数时,摩擦卷筒的最优拓扑结构,在减轻质量的同时,降低了应力集中水平。优化结果对实现集材绞盘机摩擦卷筒轻量化设计具有工程指导意义。