Motivation beliefs of secondary school teachers in Canada and Singapore: A mixed methods study

A mixed methods approach was used to explore secondary teachers’ motivation beliefs in Canada and Singapore. Results from Study 1 revealed that socio-economic status (SES) was the strongest predictor of school climate in Canada, and that collective efficacy mediated the effect of SES on school climate in Singapore, but not in Canada. In Study 2, interviews were conducted with 10 teachers in Canada and 14 teachers in Singapore. Teachers in both settings discussed students’ social and behavior problems, but the range of the social problems was greater in Canada than in Singapore, and had a stronger impact on teachers’ motivation beliefs.     

清晨

小猫长大了。 有一天,猫妈妈把小猫叫来,说：“你已经长大了,三天之后就不能再喝妈妈的奶了,要自己去找东西吃。” 小猫惶惑地问妈妈：“妈妈,那我该吃什么东西呢？”     

Critical Literacy Practices Within Problem-Based Learning Projects in Science

Interchange - Digital technologies are part of many children’s everyday lives. They use them for entertainment, information seeking and connecting with friends on social media. These shifts...     

基于元搜索的聚类挖掘引擎

针对目前搜索引擎返回结果的海量性和无结构性，构建一个基于元搜索的聚类挖掘引擎，旨在利用元搜索引擎返回的结果，提高搜索结果聚类效率，快速有效地为用户提供一个搜索结果结构视图，从而进行进一步的知识发现。介绍了搜索引擎和挖掘引擎的主要功能及差别，应用向量空间模型对元搜索结果进行处理。介绍当前主要的聚类算法-K—means划分法和层次凝聚聚类法，并在此基础上提出基于元搜索结果将两种聚类算法相结合的聚类方法。     

Using feedback to promote student participation in online learning programs: evidence from a quasi-experimental study

Educational technology research and development - How should learner analytics and different media be used to optimize feedback to increase students’ motivation and sense of learning...     

Pedagogy of the Spirit: Comparing Evangelical and Latter-day Saint Youth Self-Reported In-Class Spiritual Experiences

This study statistically analyzes data from 756 evangelical and Latter-day Saint youth regarding their perceived in-class spiritual experiences of twenty items related to Christian theology. The data indicates similar spiritual outcomes between the two groups, with no statistically significant differences between eleven of the twenty spiritual experience items. However, evangelical participants most highly reported affective spiritual outcomes and least commonly reported action-oriented spiritual outcomes, while Latter-day Saint youth most highly reported action-oriented spiritual outcomes and least commonly reported cognitive spiritual outcomes. Action-oriented spiritual outcomes constitute the greatest difference between the two groups. We explore how the differences between evangelical and Latter-day Saint pedagogy and theology might account for these differences.     

The effects of the use of activities of sapa on the oral communication skills of disadvantaged kindergarten children

The study investigated the effects of participation in the activities of Science-A Process Approach (SAPA) on the oral communication skills of disadvantaged kindergarten children. Experimental-control group, pretest-posttest research design was employed. The investigator designed the Test of Oral Communication Skills (TOCS) to measure students' oral communication skills. Two experimental groups (one morning and one afternoon, N = 52) and two control groups (one morning and one afternoon, N = 48) were randomly assigned from two kindergarten classrooms (morning and afternoon classes in each) in an inner-city school in Columbus, Ohio. The investigator provided the science instruction to all students. Experimental subjects received 22 half-hour lessons from exercises a through k of Part A, SAPA. Control subjects received 22 lessons from Springboards to Science, a teacher demonstration, class discussion type of kindergarten curricuoum used in the school system. The treatment period spanned 12 academic weeks. Analysis of variance of TOCS pretest scores showed no significant differences among any of the means of the four groups. Analysis of covariance of TOCS posttest scores revealed differences significant at .05 or beyond in the mean scores of the experimental groups and control groups for total oral and total receiving skills and for six of the eight subskills measured by TOCS. Application of the Tukey (b) test revealed that experimental group mean scores exceeded control group mean scores in every TOCS skill and subskill area and that in total oral transmitting subskills both experimental group mean scores were significantly greater at .05 level or beyond than corresponding mean scores for both control groups. Within the parameters of this study, it may be concluded that when the activities and teaching strategies of SAPA curriculum are presented to disadvantaged kindergarten children, their oral communication skills, especially the transmitting (speaking) skills, are clearly enhanced.     

Effectiveness of an Intensive Learning Skills Course for University Students on Restricted Enrolment

Prior to the commencement of the 1994 academic year, University of Auckland students who had failed one‐half or more of their papers in the previous year were invited to attend a four‐day intensive learning skills course conducted by the Student Learning Centre of the University. The course covered various topics such as effective time management and study organisation, preparing for and taking tests and exams, memory and concentration, and writing skills. A total of 74 students attended the course. After final examinations, the results of these students were analysed. As a group these students significantly improved on their previous year's pass rates. Furthermore, their pass rates were significantly better than those of a randomly selected group of students who were in a similar situation with regard to their previous year's academic performance, but who did not attend the course.     

Moving from a Personal to a Social Constructivist View of Learning: Implications for Support in the Student Teaching Experience 1

Recently, the school and co‐operating teachers have an increasingly important role, by offering stronger support during the teaching practice. Being congruent with similar developments in teacher education programmes in other countries, this development in Hong Kong is strengthened by research studies examining the process of learning to teach. By arguing that the process of learning to teach can be examined from a personal constructivist view of learning, this paper examines the experience from the student‐teachers’ perspective. The finding reports on the problems perceived by the student‐teachers during the student teaching practice and the support provided by the co‐operating teachers. The problems encountered and the support obtained were compared and contrasted to reveal the possible roles of the co‐operating teachers. The process of learning to teach is extended from a personal view to include support from the social milieu. This paper proposes to consider the process from a social constructivist view of learning. Drawing on the findings, it concludes with implications on how the school and the teacher education institute can collaborate and support the student‐teachers from a social constructivist view of learning.