A model for making decisions about ethical dilemmas in student assessment

In this mixed-methods study we investigated the development of a generalized ethics decision-making model that can be applied in considering ethical dilemmas related to student assessment. For the study, we developed five scenarios that describe ethical dilemmas associated with student assessment. Survey participants (i.e., educators) completed an online survey to express their decision-making process when faced with ethical dilemmas relating to student assessment. Based on the literature and the educators’ written responses to the scenarios, elements to consider in an ethics decision-making model related to student assessment include the following: (1) the critical incident giving rise to the ethical dilemma; (2) identification of the conflict elements; (3) decisions about the ethicality of the elements; (4) justification of the decisions; (5) implications; and (6) alternative suggestions. This model offers guidance to educators in considering the dimensions of an ethical dilemma in assessment prior to making a decision.     

多媒体在远程教育中的运用

远程开放教育的实施离不开现代教育技术的应用。其中,教学媒体的选用起着重要的作用。一些当前在我国被人小看的教学媒体,如文字教材、录音带、录像带,在西方发达国家却大行其道,究其原因,无论多么高科技的教学媒体,如果没有跟与之掌握的技能相吻合,没有人享用,它的价值都必然大打折扣。     

Audiogenic seizures in mice: Asymmetries of the preconvulsive running pattern and subsequent seizure

Asymmetries in the progression of unilaterally and bilaterally induced audiogenic seizures were examined in DBA/2J and SJL/J mice. Both strains were found to exhibit consistent asymmetries in direction(s) of running as well as in the side of fall during a convulsion. This correspondence suggests that the bursts of running are an integral part of an audiogenic seizure. The incorporation of information on asymmetries of the locomotor prelude in future studies should prove valuable for understanding the physiological mechanisms of audiogenic seizure.     

A longitudinal study of attitudes of students and parents coincident with court-ordered school desegregation

Attitudinal data were collected for a sample of 492 parents and public school children before implementation of a metropolitan desegregation plan and for 2 years after implementation. The variables measured included racial attitudes, feelings out desegregation, and school-related attitudes. There were small but significant changes on 7 of the 11 measures, with most of the changes occurring during the first year. There were race and grade-level differences on some of the variables before desegregation, but race and grade level were generally not related to changes over time.This research has been supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Division of Social Sciences.     

Working and Playing Together: Prediction of Preschool Social-Emotional Competence from Mother-Child Interaction

The impact of mother-child interaction on preschoolers' social-emotional competence was evaluated. Twenty-five girls and 23 boys (mean age = 44 mos) and their mothers were videotaped performing four play/teaching tasks. Preschool teachers completed the Baumrind Preschool Behavior Q-Sort and the Behar Problem Behavior Questionnaire. Mother-child interaction aggregates represented task orientation, positive emotion, and allowance of autonomy/reliance on mother. Results indicated that specific maternal interaction aggregates coherently predicted the children's Positive Social Behavior, Assertiveness, and Sadness in the preschool setting. Child aggregates were less effective predictors of teachers' ratings. Several gender differences in the prediction of social-emotional competence were found (e.g., maternal allowance of autonomy predicted girls' sadness, but boys' sadness was predicted by their own negative emotion). These findings' contributions to the parent-child literature are discussed.     

Play as the Leading Activity of the Preschool Period: Insights from Vygotsky, Leont'ev, and Bakhtin

Cultural-historical psychology identifies play as the leading activity in preschool development. Vygotsky's (1967, 1978) seminal work outlined two categories of leading influences: play makes a foundational contribution to the development of semiotic mediation, and it involves active appropriation of social roles and rules and other integral aspects of social organization. Leont'ev's (1981) concept of appropriation and Bakhtin's (1981) concepts of heteroglossia and ideological becoming are used to elaborate and extend Vygotsky's original work, particularly with regard to creativity in preschool play. The paper concludes with a consideration of the pedagogical implications of the cultural-historical view on play, including the use of play to cultivate understanding of the arbitrary nature of signs and the appropriation of the social roles and organizational patterns of society.