Dynamics of change: decentralised centralism of education in Singapore

Many countries are introducing major educational changes to prepare their students to meet the challenges in a knowledge economy and enhance the country’s competitive edge. This paper discusses recent educational changes in Singapore using the framework of decentralised centralism proposed by Karlsen (2000). The paper explores the dynamics of change in the initiation, content, levels and simultaneity of the decentralisation process in Singapore since 1997. The paper further analyses the ideological roots of the decentralisation policy through a discussion of the tension between the functionalist and liberal forms of education in the Singapore context. The discussion adds to existing literature on the tensions and challenges faced by countries in their attempts to introduce educational changes in their countries.     

Do reading practices make a difference? Evidence from PIRLS data for Hong Kong and Taiwan primary school Grade 4 students

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9301 students (4712 from Hong Kong and 4589 from Taiwan) revealed that independent reading in school made a distinctive contribution to the reading performance of Hong Kong and Taiwan students after controlling for the effects of students’ and parents’ reading attitudes, the availability of supportive home educational resources and student engagement in a range of reading practices. Out-of-school informational reading was found to be negatively associated with students’ reading attainment for both Hong Kong and Taiwan students. There was evidence that reading aloud in class in Taiwan classrooms significantly contributed to the Taiwan students’ poor reading performance.     

萎叶提取物增强5-氟尿嘧啶对结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116的生长抑制作用

研究目的：探讨萎叶（PB）提取物对5-氟尿嘧啶（5-FU）抑制结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116生长的影响。研究方法：HT29和HCT116细胞分别给予PB、5-FU以及两种药物联合治疗24小时,应用等效线图法分析PB和5-FU的药效学相互作用,AnnexinV／PI染色法检测HT29和HCT116细胞的凋丁L=情况,高效液相色谱法排除PB和5-FU间任何可能的相互化学作用。重要结论：联合PB,低剂量5-FU可以在短时间内起到细胞毒作用,而单独应用PB或5-FU治疗较联合治疗可以诱导更多细胞发生凋亡。进一步采用等效线图法分析显示PB和5-Fu的联合作用在抑制结肠癌细胞HT29和HCT116的生长中分别体现出协同和拮抗作用。因此可以认为在HT29细胞中,PB使得较低剂量5-FU发挥最大抑制结肠癌细胞生长效果,然而在HCT116细胞中,PB没有显著降低5-FU的药物浓度,说明PB和5-FU的相互作用不仅仅体现在诱导细胞凋亡方面。     

A randomized trial comparing cadaveric dissection and examination of prosections as applied surgical anatomy teaching pedagogies

Anatomy is an important component in the vertical integration of basic science and clinical practice. Two common pedagogies are cadaveric dissection and examination of prosected specimens. Comparative studies mostly evaluate their immediate effectiveness. A randomized controlled trial design was employed to compare both the immediate and long-term effectiveness of dissection and prosection. Eighty third-year medical students undergoing their surgical rotation from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine were randomized into two groups: dissection and prosection. Each participated in a one-day hands-on course following a similar outline that demonstrated surgical anatomy in the context of its clinical relevance. A pre-course test was conducted to establish baseline knowledge. A post-course test was conducted immediately after and at a one-year interval to evaluate learner outcome and knowledge retention. A post-course survey was conducted to assess participant perception. Thirty-nine and thirty-eight participants for the dissection and prosection groups, respectively, were included for analysis. There was no significant difference between mean pre-course test scores between the dissection and prosection groups [12.6 (3.47) vs. 12.7 (3.16), P > 0.05]. Both the mean immediate [27.9 (4.30) vs. 24.9 (4.25), P < 0.05] and 1 year [23.9 (4.15) vs. 19.9 (4.05), P < 0.05] post-course test scores were significantly higher in the dissection group. However, when adjusted for course duration [dissection group took longer than prosection group (mean 411 vs. 265 min)], these findings were negated. There is no conclusive evidence of either pedagogy being superior in teaching surgical anatomy. Based on learner surveys, dissection provides a greater learner experience.     

Effects of an Ancient Chinese Mathematics Enrichment Programme on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Mathematics

Ancient Chinese mathematics has been the focus of many research studies and scholarly works from a historical perspective. However, no move has been made to investigate its role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. This pilot study examined the effects of an Ancient Chinese Mathematics Enrichment Programme (ACMEP) on the academic achievement of second year students from a secondary school in Singapore—a strand of a principal study which had the intent of investigating possible roles of ancient Chinese mathematics in the Singapore secondary school mathematics curriculum. Analysis of covariance was used to examine the difference in mean scores on a variety of formal assessments in mathematics between students who participated in the ACMEP and those who did not. In addition, scores on formal assessments of other relevant subjects were analyzed to further investigate ACMEP’s scope of influence.     

Multicultural Discussion as a Moderator of Counseling Supervision-Related Constructs

International students’ needs and experiences in counseling training and supervision has been an area of interest for several decades; however, there is a lack of research regarding effective approaches for supervising international students. Previous studies concerning the international counseling student population have mainly utilized bivariate analysis, and inconsistent results have been observed among studies examining the same relations, which makes applied implications questionable. More complex analysis to determine the relationships among constructs, which will assist in applied implications, are long needed. Thus, this study was a response to the need to determine if a moderation effect could be observed among key counseling supervision-related variables. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether international counseling supervisees’ perceptions regarding the degree to which the construct of multicultural discussion occurring in their university supervision moderated the relationship among key supervision-related variables, including acculturation, counselor self-efficacy, supervisory working alliance, and role ambiguity in supervision.     

Multiple graphs clustering by gradient flow method

The core issue of multiple graphs clustering is to find clusters of vertices from graphs such that these clusters are well-separated in each graph and clusters are consistent across different graphs. The problem can be formulated as a multiple orthogonality constrained optimization model which can be shown to be a relaxation of a multiple graphs cut problem. The resulting optimization problem can be solved by a gradient flow iterative method. The convergence of the proposed iterative scheme can be established. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for solving multiple graphs clustering problems in terms of clustering accuracy and computational efficiency.