Understanding turn commands in Logo: A cognitive perspective

When learning to program in Logo, many young children experience difficulties using the right and left turn commands. This paper looks at the spatial concepts required for the understanding and manipulation of these commands. We begin by providing an overview of research on children's Logo learning and point to specific problems children have with right and left commands and to related characteristics of standard Logo systems that seem to contribute to these problems. To shed further light on the source of these problems, the psychological-cognitive literature on the development of spatial concepts concerned with the use of frames of reference and obliques is reviewed. It is argued that in order for children to handle meaningful programming projects they need to master a set of prerequisite skills. These skills, involving the development of elaborated and explicated spatial concepts, include a distinction between right and left, the intentional reference to the Turtle as a frame of reference, the assignment of appropriate axes and the application of units of measurement for determining distance and angles. We conclude by suggesting that children need to be exposed to Logo programs designed to facilitate the development of spatial concepts which would enable the successful progression to more complex Turtle Geometry programming tasks.     

Principals’ Survival with Parental Involvement

This paper explores the dynamics of purposeful leadership and parental involvement, two central components of effective schools. The results of four cases studies are presented that consider the ways in which principals work with parents in schools that have a shared, consistent mission. The case studies reveal that principal‐parent interactions are the result of unique processes in each school and are negotiated and institutionalized over time.     

基于社会管理创新的社会稳定风险测定及预警建议——以西部民族地区为例

西部民族地区的稳定关系全国经济发展及人民生活,维护社会公正、和谐应成为政府工作的中心。由于社会稳定属于社会管理职能,本文从社会管理方面的风险出发,通过问卷调查法制定了民族地区社会稳定风险评估体系,并运用层次分析法,对西部民族地区社会稳定的风险进行测定。结果显示政治风险在二级指标中权重最大,政治风险中比重大的是腐败及对政策的满意度。最后,有针对性地提出了维护社会稳定的预警机制。     

From personal to conventional probabilities: from sample set to sample space

This article is a systematic reflection on a sequence of episodes related to teaching probability. Our central claim is that reducing problems to a consideration of the sample space, which consists of equiprobable outcomes, may not be in accord with learners’ initial ways of reasoning. We suggest a “desirable pedagogical approach” in which the solution builds on the set of outcomes as identified by learners and serves as a bridge towards mathematical convention. To explore prospective high school mathematics teachers’ ideas related to addressing a potential learner’s mistake and their reactions towards the suggested approach, we presented them with two tasks. In Task I, participants (n = 30) were asked to suggest a pedagogical remedy to a frequent mistake found in dealing with a standard probability problem, whereas in Task II, they were asked to solve a probabilistic problem, which they had not encountered previously. We discuss participants’ mathematical solutions to Task II in reference to their pedagogical approaches to Task I. The presented disparity serves in extending the convincing power of the suggested pedagogical approach.     

Partially correct constructs illuminate students’ inconsistent answers

We present a view of knowledge construction processes, focusing on partially correct constructs. Motivated by unexpected and seemingly inconsistent quantitative data based on the written reports of students working on an elementary probability task, we analyze in detail the knowledge construction processes of a representative student. We show how the nested epistemic actions model for abstraction in context facilitates following the emergence of a learner’s partially correct constructs (PaCCs). These PaCCs provide added insight into processes of knowledge construction. They are also used in order to analyze and explain students’ thinking in situations where some of the students’ answers were unexpected in light of their earlier answers or inconsistent with earlier answers. In particular, PaCCs are explanatory tools for correct answers based on (partially) faulty knowledge and for wrong answers based on largely correct knowledge.     

Teaching handwriting skills to children with intellectual disabilities using an adapted handwriting programme

Children with intellectual disabilities often struggle with handwriting, but there is very little research to inform intervention approaches. In this study, we developed a teaching manual based on Handwriting Without Tears®, a comprehensive handwriting programme designed for typically developing children. Three children with intellectual disabilities participated in the study and received handwriting instruction based on the manual three times a week over a 32‐week period. Our aims were to explore whether Handwriting Without Tears® can be used as a comprehensive handwriting curriculum for children with intellectual disabilities and to evaluate improvement in handwriting skills. We found that the intervention was successfully incorporated into small group teaching sessions within the child's regular classroom, and that all three children made improvements. Our data show promising results and support the need for larger evaluation studies.     

山东省高等体育院校武术教学现状与对策研究

本文采用文献资料法、问卷调查法、数理统计法、逻辑分析法等,通过实地考察,发放问卷等研究方法,对山东省高等体育院校武术的师资、武德、武术课程的安排和教学进行考察和分析,探明了制约山东省高等体育院校武术课发展的诸多问题,并就此提出了解决对策。     

新闻英语广播文体的语言特点

新闻英语是大众传播工具在报道英语新闻中使用的文体,有书面新闻和口头新闻两类。书面新闻可称报刊文体,口头新闻可称广播文体、是以声音的形式进行传播。由于其传播途径与报刊文体不同,广播文体的语言也与报刊文体有所不同,主要表现在句子、词汇、语法三方面。     

The Attitude of Faculty to Russian Immigrant Absorption in Israeli Colleges for the Training of Technicians and Practical Engineers

This article presents findings of a survey aimed at assessing the attitudes of faculty towards the absorption of immigrant students from the former Soviet Union. Data were collected from 33 lecturers in four colleges for the training of technicians and practical engineers in Israel. Responses range along a continuum between the view condoning assimilation (model 1) and the view advocating a gradual process of integration (model 2). These are pre‐existing models of sociological attitude towards immigrant absorption distinguished by Eisikovitz and Beck (1991, Studies in Education, 55/56, pp. 33‐50). According to model 1, all students should be granted equal attention and immigrant students should not be given special treatment. Model 2 recognizes the special status of the immigrant student and the intrinsic problems that accompany this status and, accordingly, the need to find appropriate solutions. Although there is general agreement regarding the main difficulties faced by the immigrants (namely, language problems, financial problems and cultural adjustment), most of the respondents seem to be closer to the perception expressed by model 1 and recommend that the academic requirements, teaching methods, timetable and curriculum be the same for the immigrants as for the veteran Israeli students. Nevertheless, attitudes conforming to model 2 were also expressed as revealed in the recommendation that immigrant students be offered special assistance in preparatory frameworks which should include courses to help acquaint them with the realities of Israeli society, and that they be provided with maintenance grants, textbooks, tutoring, etc. In general, different elements are adopted from each model in accordance with the special needs and circumstances of the immigrant population enrolled in the college.     

Maternal Working Models of Attachment, Marital Adjustment, and the Parent-Child Relationship

This study examined the connection between maternal working models, marital adjustment, and the parent-child relationship. Subjects were 45 mothers who were observed in problem-solving interactions with their 16–62-month-old children ( M = 33 months). Mothers also completed the Attachment Q-set, the Adult Attachment Interview, and a marital adjustment scale. As predicted, maternal working models were related to the quality of mother-child interactions and child security, and there was a significant relation between marital adjustment and child security. Maternal working models and marital adjustment were also associated interactively with child behavior and child security. Among children of insecure mothers, child security scores were higher when mothers reported high (vs. low) marital adjustment. No relation between child security scores and mothers' marital adjustment was found among children of secure mothers. These results suggest that maternal working models influence parenting and child adjustment well beyond infancy, to which period the few existing studies of adult attachment have been restricted. The results also suggest that interactions between maternal working models and the marital adjustment on child behavior and attachment security need to be more closely examined.