Cultural capital,habitus and reading futures: middle-class adolescent students’ cultivation of reading dispositions in Singapore

Abstract

The acquisition of cultural capital can only be understood in the light of the formation of habitus, including the socialisation process, and in the context of the field in which any such capital has value. Yet, the relation between cultural capital and habitus is seldom discussed in research. Drawing on the data from focus groups with 96 students and a survey of 5,779 students from six Singapore secondary schools, we analyze how reading as a form of cultural capital is distributed among High-SES, Mid-SES and Low-SES students in Singapore. We show how middle-class practices of intensive immersion in school-valued reading practices is a form of habitus that prepare some students better than others for engaged reading. The findings highlight how reading as a form of cultural capital is operationalized through students’ familial habitus and argues that making visible familial habitus provides insights for transforming institutional habitus for students’ reading futures.     

Documenting Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through PaP-eRs

This paper examines science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and ways in which that knowledge might be captured, articulated and portrayed to others. The research from which this paper is drawn has involved interviews with experienced science teachers in an attempt to make the tacit nature of their practice explicit. Initially, case methodology was envisaged as being a way of documenting these teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. However, over time, the form of knowledge and information that we were gathering and attempting to portray extended beyond that which could reasonably be described as being case-based. Hence we have developed an approach to articulation and portrayal based on what we call the CoRe (Content Representation) – which represents the particular content/topic of the science teaching – and PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional experience Repertoire) – which help to illuminate specific aspects of the CoRe and therefore offer insights into pedagogical content knowledge itself. The results of this study offer new ways of conceptualising what pedagogical content knowledge is and how it might be captured, documented and disseminated.     

Using the Internet in teaching: the views of practitioners (A survey of the views of secondary school teachers in Sheffield, UK)

A questionnaire was generated from the results of a series of interviews at The City School one of the 27 state secondary schools in Sheffield. In October 2002, it was sent out to 499 Heads of Department at the remaining 26 state secondary schools. Responses were received from 188 teachers, ranging in age from 24 to 60 years old. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gain information about teachers’ views of the Internet and its usefulness as an educational tool. Nearly 85% of teachers acquired their Internet skills informally (self‐taught, learned from friends/colleagues, etc), rather than on a taught course. Despite this, most of the respondents were confident of their ability to use the Internet, with the most confident users being young teachers of technical subjects. However, there was a widespread perception (particularly amongst women teachers) that students are more competent users of the Internet than are teachers. Older teachers were more likely to feel under pressure to use the Internet than their younger colleagues. Only about a third of teachers agreed with the statement “I often use the Internet with classes.” Responses varied significantly according to school and subject. There was strong support, however, for the suggestion that the Internet is a valuable source of learning and teaching materials.     

Structural and physiological changes of the human body upon SARS-CoV-2 infection

Since December 2019, the novel coronavirus(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)) has spread to many countries around the world, developing into a global pandemic with increasing numbers of deaths reported worldwide. To data, although some vaccines have been developed, there are no ideal drugs to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia(coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)). By examining the structure of the coronavirus and briefly describing its possible pathogenesis based on recent autopsy reports conducted by various teams worldwide, this review analyzes the possible structural and functional changes of the human body upon infection with SARS-CoV-2. We observed that the most prominent pathological changes in COVID-19 patients are diffuse alveolar damage(DAD) of the lungs and microthrombus formation,resulting in an imbalance of the ventilation/perfusion ratio and respiratory failure. Although direct evidence of viral infection can also be found in other organs and tissues, the viral load is relatively small. The conclusion that the injuries of the extrapulmonary organs are directly caused by the virus needs further investigation.     

白芷的核型研究及其分类意义

The present paper deals mainly with the karyotype analysis of five materials in Angelica dahurica collected in Yanbian of Jilin, Anguo of Hebei, Yuxian of Henan, Hangzhou of Zhejiang and Suining of Sichuan.  They are under the names “Dongbeidahuo”, “Qibaizhi”, “Yubaizhi”, ”Hangbaizhi” and “Chuanbaizhi” respe- ctively.  Among then “Dongbeidahuo” is a wild plant, which occurs in  northeastern China, and the others are cultivated as important crude drugs in some provinces. “Qi- Baizhi” and “Yubaizhi” have been identified as conspecific with the wild Baizhi-“Do- Ngbeidahuo” (A. dahurica) according to the external morphological features, whereas the other cultivated ones, “Hangbaizhi” and “Chuanbaizhi”, treated as a variety (A. dahu- rica var. formosana).      The results of karyotype analysis are shown in Plate 1, 2, with the formula 2n=22 =12 m+2 mSAT+4sm+4st. The karyotypes described here are constantly characterized by satellites attached to the fourth pair of metacentric chromosomes and differ from the pu- blished reports on the other species of the genus.  It is reasonable to say that the five materials collectively named “Baizhi” are taxonomically closely related to each other and could be regarded as conspecific.  Since the second chromosome pair is submetacen- tric in “Dongbeidahuo”, it may be justifiable to separate the wild plant from the cul- tivated ones and treat them as two separate varieties.     

Analyzing hierarchical relationships among modes of cognitive reasoning and integrated science process skills

The purpose of this research was to search for a learning hierarchy among skills comprising formal operations and the integrated science processes. Ordering theoretic and probabilistic latent structure methods were used to analyze data on five process skills and six logical thinking skills collected from 700 science students. Both linear and branching hierarchical relationships were identified within and across the two sets of skills. Most of them fit the logical hierarchies which have guided curriculum development and classroom practices in the past. But a few run counter to our present logic and understanding of these skills.     

Exploring high school students' and teachers' preferences toward the constructivist Internet‐based learning environments in Taiwan

This paper explores high school students' and teachers' preferences towards constructivist Internet‐based learning environments. The study proposes a framework, including two dimensions and five aspects, to illustrate the features of the Internet‐based learning environments. Based upon this framework, the Constructivist Internet‐based learning environment survey improvement (CILESI) was developed, which includes the scales of ease of use, multiple sources, student negotiation, reflective thinking, critical judgement and epistemological awareness. Questionnaire responses gathered from 630 high school students in Taiwan suggested that the CILESI showed adequate reliability in assessing students' preferences. Male students placed more emphasis on the student negotiation, critical judgement and epistemological awareness enhanced by the Internet‐based learning environments than female students did. In addition, the teachers of the sampled students (n?=?78) were also surveyed by CILESI. The teachers tended to express stronger preferences on the ease of use of the Internet‐based learning environments than did their students. However, students, when compared with their teachers, seemed to express more preferences towards the features of student negotiation, reflective thinking, critical judgement and epistemological awareness of Internet‐based learning environments.     

伞形科植物染色体数目报告

本文报道了伞形科15属24种和交种的染色体数，其中18个种和变种是首次报道。研     究表明， 我国天胡荽属 (Hydrocotyle L．)是伞形科多倍体比较普遍的类群。柴胡属(Bupleu-     rum L.)分别有4、6、7、8等基数，茴芹属(Pimpinella L.)的毛果组(Sect. Tragium)和光     果组(Sect．Tragoselinum)的代表种类的基数分别为9和10，因此，染色体基数可作为深入     研究某些属内种类演化的细胞学资料之一。思茅独活(Heracleum henryi Wolff)的花粉母细    胞在终变期时出现了4体环，说明结构杂合体可能是伞形科种类分化的一个因素。     

Sports,physical practice,and the female body, 1980–1989: women’s emancipation in Romania under communism

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the promotion and practice of physical exercise and sport in relation to social class and the shifting roles of women in communist-governed Romania during the 1980s. Since sport played a central role in communist ideology, especially as a means of maintaining a healthy and growing workforce, the government encouraged physical activity through gymnastics at work (in the form of “production gymnastics”), in public wellness centers, and at home. In this study, the authors trace societal shifts related to changing policies and laws through corresponding shifts in the representation of female bodies engaged in sport and exercise by the media. Content analysis of Romanian magazine and newspaper articles published during the 1980s reveals how group physical exercises, such as maintenance gymnastics, were promoted to working-class women and how images of women became increasingly feminized and sexualized, thereby reinforcing new norms of feminine beauty.     

Student engagement: students' and teachers' perceptions

This article addresses the question: To what extent do tertiary teachers and students have similar understandings of what engages students in classroom settings? It employs data from a funded research project in Aotearoa New Zealand that draws on selected questions from two surveys. One survey asked students how important nine selected teacher behaviours were in engaging them in learning, the other asked teachers what priority they put on these behaviours and how important they thought they were to students. The selected questions were drawn from an extensive research literature identifying teacher behaviours that engaged students. The article reports that teachers and students had some similar but more dissimilar perceptions about what engages students. Suggested reasons for the differences are discussed.