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.     

The Project on Innovative Teaching Methods — An Overview

Over the past several years, the education system in Singapore has undergone very significant and far-reaching changes, especially in terms of the programmes and resources available to teachers and pupils. New textbooks and teaching materials have been introduced into the schools by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS). Within the Institute of Education (IE), teacher education programmes for pre-service trainees and in-service teachers have also undergone review and change to meet new needs and expectations.     

Simplification and improvement of prediction model for elastic modulus of particulate reinforced metal matrix composite

1 Introduction a Elastic modulus is an important index to reflect the resistance of a composite against deformation under an applied force. Elastic modulus measurement of a composite is restricted by some factors, for instance, test samples need to confor…     

“I am smart and I am not joking”: Aiming high in the middle years of schooling

In this paper, we draw on accounts from students to inform a Middle Schooling movement that has been variously described as “arrested”, “unfinished” and “exhausted”. We propose that if the Middle Schooling movement is to understand the changing worlds of students and develop new approaches in the middle years of schooling, then it is important to draw on the insights that individual students can provide by conducting research with “students-as-informants”. The early adolescent informants to this paper report high hopes for their futures (despite their lower socioeconomic surroundings), which reinforces the importance of supporting successful learner identities and highlights the role of schooling in the decline of adolescent student aspirations. However, their insights did not stop at the individual learner, with students also identifying cultural and structural constraints to reform. As such, we argue that students may be both an important resource for inquiry into individual school reform and for the Middle Schooling movement internationally.     

An examination of knowledge prioritisation in secondary physical education teacher education courses

A number of terms have been used to describe knowledge needed for teaching, one of which is subject knowledge. How knowledge for teaching is conceptualised in teacher education prioritises some knowledge bases over other knowledge bases. Further, knowledge prioritised by student teachers is influenced by socialisation prior to and during an initial teacher education course and priorities for student teachers as they develop as teachers. Previous research in physical education teacher education points to the pre-eminence of content knowledge above other knowledge bases. The purpose of this study was to look at what knowledge is prioritised by student teachers, school-based mentors and university tutors working on three secondary physical education initial teacher education courses in England. Results showed that content knowledge was seen as having greater importance for student teachers and mentors, but university tutors generally conceptualised subject knowledge more broadly, suggesting that it should be seen as covering a number of knowledge bases needed for teaching. These results are discussed in relation to socialisation processes in education and phases of development. Although there is a clear physical education focus to this work, it is possible that student teachers learning to teach other subjects may also focus excessively on subject content knowledge above other knowledge bases.     

Courseware development with animated pedagogical agents in learning system to improve learning motivation

The addition of animated pedagogical agents (APAs) in computer-assisted learning (CAL) systems could successfully enhance students' learning motivation and engagement in learning activities. Conventionally, the APA incorporated multimedia materials are constructed through the cooperation of teachers and software programmers. However, the thinking and technical gap between two roles, a concept/content provider (teacher) and an implementer (software programmer), may lead to the concept distortion and loss in the final teaching material implementations. This often results in preventing a teacher from preparing his or her own APA-based multimedia learning systems. This study aims to develop a courseware to facilitate the CAL through the combination of the two roles into a single one and then teachers can use it freely by themselves. The courseware can help teachers to develop appropriate multimedia instructional materials incorporating APAs, which attracts students' attention and enhances their interest in learning. Furthermore, in this study two separate trial experiments were conducted to measure the teachers' satisfaction with the courseware and students' learning motivation after using APA-based multimedia learning systems. The results show that the participating teachers were satisfied with the courseware and would like to apply it in their instruction. Moreover, the participating students were strongly motivated by the customized APA-based multimedia learning systems. Therefore, the proposed courseware could give teachers a good opportunity to add pedagogical value to the curriculum, so that students' learning interest and motivation could be enhanced.     

Parental involvement in literacy development: using media texts

This paper reports on a small‐scale project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three‐ and four‐year‐old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children’s literacy development. Children’s informal literacy practices at home were identified using literacy diaries, which 18 families completed over a four‐week period. These documented children’s reading of both printed and televisual texts. In addition, interviews were conducted with 15 parents and carers. The paper reports on the findings from this stage of the project, which indicate that much of children’s reading was focused on popular cultural and media texts. Media boxes were developed as a literacy resource for use by parents and children in the home. The use of these media boxes by three families was documented and the initial findings, which suggest that the use of such resources draws on families’ cultural capital, discussed.     

Creating a Business Strategy Evaluation Model for National Museums Based on the Views of Curators

The aim of this study is to find the critical factors that influence Taiwan's national museum business performance based on its curators’ views. The study explored the causal relationships among the criteria that emerged in the study and of each sub‐criteria. Since developing a business strategy is a multiple‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) problem, this study adopted the causal‐effect model of decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique. The DEMATEL technique simplifies and visualizes the interrelationships among decision‐making criteria. The study identified four core criteria – benefits, opportunity, costs, and risks, as key influencers in the national museum business performance. Each key criteria was supported by a set of sub‐criteria which, when considered together, produced an influential network relations map. The results of this study provided Taiwan's national museum curators with an idea‐based understanding of how to create business and marketing strategies that could enhance exhibition features, experience activities, and facilities that could be linked to satisfaction of visitors’ desires and offer a potentials strategy for assessing likelihood of return visits.     

Dynamic processes of conceptual change: Analysis of constructing mental models of chemical equilibrium

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' mental models of chemical equilibrium using dynamic science assessments. Research in chemical education has shown that students at various levels have misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. According to Chi's theory of conceptual change, the concept of chemical equilibrium has constraint‐based features (e.g., random, simultaneous, uniform activities) that might prevent students from deeply understanding the nature of the concept of chemical equilibrium. In this study, we examined how students learned and constructed their mental models of chemical equilibrium in a cognitive apprenticeship context. Thirty 10th‐grade students participated in the study: 10 in a control group and 20 in a treatment group. Both groups were presented with a series of hands‐on chemical experiments. The students in the treatment group were instructed based on the main features of cognitive apprenticeship (CA), such as coaching, modeling, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration. However, the students in the control group (non‐CA group) learned from the tutor without explicit CA support. The results revealed that the CA group significantly outperformed the non‐CA group. The students in the CA group were capable of constructing the mental models of chemical equilibrium—including dynamic, random activities of molecules and interactions between molecules in the microworld—whereas the students in the non‐CA group failed to construct similar correct mental models of chemical equilibrium. The study focuses on the process of constructing mental models, on dynamic changes, and on the actions of students (such as self‐monitoring/self‐correction) who are learning the concept of chemical equilibrium. Also, we discuss the implications for science education. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 688–712, 2002