To Drink or Dine?

Tea,coffee and chocolate(cocoa)are probably the most popular beverages in the world.Butwhen it comes to vintage,tea leaps ahead by millenniums.Which other beverage actually has agod devoted to its cultivation and culture and an almost evangelistic spread throughout the world?(这段生词不少,我们通读后先留个印象,知道段落提及了茶、咖啡和可可,还简要的对他们加以区别。)     

Attitudes to reading: what can stories tell us?

Children’s attitudes to reading clearly influence their success in it and, while teachers have known this for some while, they have lacked easy ways of establishing what these attitudes are. Here Pauline Davis suggests one approach to this through story-telling.     

Curriculum Design Strategies in Emergent Literacy: The Role of Developmentally Appropriate Literature Selections

Literature-rich interactions provide strategies that help emergent readers to develop knowledge about print, including the production and recognition of letters, and generate familiarity with the basic purposes and mechanisms of reading. Yet teacher understanding of these multiple dimensions of emergent literacy does not ensure that a child will break the code and learn to read. Effective teachers, administrators, and curriculum specialists integrate a variety of information to formulate design principles and develop and implement developmentally appropriate curriculum and concomitant teaching strategies. Gunn and colleagues in the National Center to Improve the Tools of Education Report (1995) suggest this may include conspicuous strategies, scaffolding, strategic integration, primed background knowledge, and thoughtful review. The relationship among these four curriculum design strategies and developmentally appropriate literature selections are discussed. Twelve current children’s books are suggested for consideration when implementing various curriculum strategies with emergent literacy learners.     

Content analysis of selective dissemination of information service (SDI) adoption by academics: The experience at redeemer’s university

ABSTRACT

The increase in information explosion has left information users with the option of adopting the best means to access and make ethical use of the right information. The role information plays in the society cannot be overemphasized. Information is required for individual, institution and societal development. Hence, efforts must be expended to acquire the right information in a world where information is being produced exponentially with almost no control. Accessing the right information is vital for any form of development hence the academic libraries’ role in ensuring an effective delivery of the right information to their users. Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) service is one of the means through which libraries achieve this. The study investigates SDI service adoption and use by academics at Redeemer’s University, Nigeria. Statistics kept in the Reference Unit of the library were used to elicit information used for analysis. Sixty-sis (66) out of a total of 135 academics working in the institution at the time the statistics were taken were used for analysis. The study reveals that majority of the academics who sought SDI service were staff of the college of Management Sciences. The study reveals that majority of the academics sought SDI service for the purpose of research. Comments of users from records kept in the unit shows that users’ information needs were adequately satisfied. Users’ comments also reveal areas of improvement on the service. Recommendations geared towards the improvement of SDI service in the university library were given based on the conclusion drawn.     

Parental or policy maker misunderstandings? Contextual dilemmas of pre-schooling for poverty reduction in Malawi

With the move towards achieving universal primary education, focus is increasingly shifting towards early childhood development. Within this, debates are apparent between those who view education at this stage holistically, with concern that it should not be directly linked with primary schooling, and those who view it more explicitly as contributing towards achieving universal primary completion by ensuring that children will be appropriately prepared for studying at this level. Moreover, it is apparent that views of different stakeholders vary. Evidence from Malawi indicates that national policies are closely linked with the international agenda, with a focus on holistic approaches. However, parents view pre-schooling in a narrower way, as an important step towards preparing their children for studying successfully at the primary level. Rather than considering this as parental ‘misunderstanding’, we argue that this perspective shows a greater awareness of local realities and is, therefore, more likely to support an escape from poverty.     

New books

Parliamentary Procedure. BY ROLLO L. LYMAN AND FRANK W. DIGNAN, Chicago: LaSalle Extension University, 1917, Paper, pp, 30. $0.25.

Argumentation and Debate. BY JAMES MILTON O'NEILL, Craven Laycock and Robert Leighton Scales. New York, MacMillan Co., 1917. Pp. 495 XVI. Cloth $1.50.

The Fundamentals of Oral Expression. BY GLENN NEWTON MERRY, Iowa City, 1917, Published by the Author. Paper, pp. 90. $0.80.     

The Examination of the Classification of Students into Performance Categories by Two Different Equating Methods

This study investigates the comparability of two item response theory based equating methods: true score equating (TSE), and estimated true equating (ETE). Additionally, six scaling methods were implemented within each equating method: mean-sigma, mean-mean, two versions of fixed common item parameter, Stocking and Lord, and Haebara. Empirical test data were examined to investigate the consistency of scores resulting from the two equating methods, as well as the consistency of the scaling methods both within equating methods and across equating methods. Results indicate that although the degree of correlation among the equated scores was quite high, regardless of equating method/scaling method combination, non-trivial differences in equated scores existed in several cases. These differences would likely accumulate across examinees making group-level differences greater. Systematic differences in the classification of examinees into performance categories were observed across the various conditions: ETE tended to place lower ability examinees into higher performance categories than TSE, while the opposite was observed for high ability examinees. Because the study was based on one set of operational data, the generalizability of the findings is limited and further study is warranted.     

Enhancing Social Work Practice with Older Adults: The Role of Infusing Gerontology Content into the Master of Social Work Foundation Curriculum

Based on a geriatric enrichment (GeroRich) effort, this study examines outcomes of infusing aging content across the master of social work (MSW) foundation curriculum. In a longitudinal research design tracking one class, there were no significant changes observed in students' levels of experience and interest in gerontological social work. Significant increases were observed in self-rated levels of gerontological knowledge and practice skills—clinical and macro. Full-time status, less gerontological experience, and higher knowledge predicted greater practice skills at the follow-up. Implications for educating the next generation of social workers to better meet the needs of older adults and their families are discussed.     

Lifelong Learning in Social Work Education: A Review of the Literature and Implications for the Future

Social workers practice in rapidly changing and complex environments where they encounter challenges that include increasing evidence-based practice requirements, a shifting information landscape, and diminishing workplace resources. To address these challenges, social workers need to engage in lifelong learning. The purpose of this article is to explore conceptual elements and assumptions underlying lifelong learning; propose social work specific approaches to lifelong learning; present a conceptual model to orient social work educators to the possibilities inherent in lifelong learning for practice, with inclusion of suggested practice behavior; and offer a research agenda for practice.