Virtual and Dynamic Hierarchical Architecture: an overlay network topology for discovering grid services with high performance

This paper presents an overlay network topology called Virtual and Dynamic Hierarchical Architecture (VDHA) for discovering Grid services with high performance. Service discovery based on VDHA has scalable, autonomous, efficient, reliable and quick responsive. We propose two service discovery algorithms. Full Search Query and Discovery Protocol (FSQDP) discovers the nodes that match the request message from all N nodes, which has time complexity O(logN), space complexity O(nvg) (nvg being node numbers of each virtual group), and message-cost O(N), and Domain-Specific Query and Discovery Protocol (DSQDP) searches nodes in only specific domains with time complexity O(nvg), space complexity O(nvg), and message-cost O(nvg). In this paper, we also describe VDHA, its formal definition, and Grid Group Management Protocol.     

Permission-seeking as an agentive tool for transgressive teaching: An ethnographic study of teachers organizing for curricular change

This study describes how a group of teachers in a US public school developed and used permission-seeking moves as strategic and agentic tools to change their school curriculum and challenge norms of teaching. Although the notion of asking permission is typically considered disempowering in educational contexts, this study demonstrates that certain forms of permission-seeking (and giving) can foster collaboration and teacher agency across multiple constituent groups in a school community. This 2-year ethnographic study occurred within a context of a test-driven teaching environment with shifting student racial and economic demographics. Our research offers a reconceptualized theory of permission within a teacher agency framework and new possibilities for practitioners to engage in transgressive teaching with diverse learners in hyper-standardized teaching contexts.     

Neo-institutional analysis on response patterns of pilot schools

This study examines response patterns of pilot schools in the neo-institutional perspective to make improvements on the pilot school systematic framework. In order to achieve this goal, in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative data. The results show that pilot schools either (a) actively adopt or (b) ceremonially adopt an education policy through the process of implementation and internalization. Among the sampled schools, only one school showed active adoption, and the other three schools pursued ceremonial adoption. Each school’s response varies according to the internalization level, technical core focus, institutional pressure, and reception of legitimacy. The findings of this study suggest that in order to operate the pilot school ‘as a policy school,’ the school members should truly understand the concept of the policy and actively practice the internalized value through various activities and programs. Furthermore, this study calls for a greater attention to the institutional factors and local contexts.     

Akademisches versus schulbezogenes Fachwissen – ein differenzierteres Modell des fachspezifischen Professionswissens von angehenden Mathematiklehrkräften der Sekundarstufe

Educational research has introduced different models for the professional knowledge of (pre-service) teachers. Existing studies show major differences regarding the construct of content knowledge, which is often conceptualized based on school subject knowledge and varies with respect to academic content knowledge. The latter indicates that the question of what content knowledge teachers need has yet to be resolved. This question is particularly relevant from the perspective of teacher education at universities, since pre-service teachers for secondary schools are usually taught academic content knowledge. In this article we suggest a model of the discipline-specific teacher knowledge that includes pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) alongside two constructs of content knowledge: academic content knowledge (CK) and school-related content knowledge (SRCK). Findings from two studies for the subject area mathematics confirm that the components are empirically separable and that the three-dimensional model is superior to the two-dimensional model (CK, PCK). Moreover, the new construct SRCK holds potential for the investigation of the knowledge of pre-service teachers.     

Teaching for Creativity by Science Teachers in Grades 5–10

This classroom observation study explored how science teachers (N = 22) teach for creativity in grades 5–10 in Oman. We designed an observation form with 4 main categories that targeted the instructional practices related to teaching for creativity: questioning strategy, teacher’s responses to students’ ideas, classroom activities to support creativity, and whole-lesson methods that foster creativity. An open-ended survey was also designed to explore participants’ justifications for their instructional decisions and practices. The findings indicate that the overall level of teaching for creativity was low and that participants’ performance was the highest for teacher’s responses to students’ ideas category and the lowest for classroom activities to support creativity category. We observed that a teacher-centered approach with instructional practices geared toward preparing students for examinations was dominant and that these science teachers were bound to the textbook, following cookbook-style activities. Participants believed that they did not have enough time to cover the content and teach for creativity and that they were not prepared to teach for creativity. Based on these findings, we recommend that programs be developed to prepare science teachers to teach for creativity.     

Weighing designs to detect a single counterfeit coin

In this article, we discuss at length a combinatorial problem which has been of historic interest. It has appeared as a puzzle in several different versions with varying degrees of difficulty. It can be simply stated as follows: We are given a number of coins which are otherwise identical except that there may be at most one fake coin among them which is either slightly heavier or slightly lighter than the other genuine coins. Using only a two-pan weighing balance, we must devise a weighing scheme to identify the counterfeit coin and determine whether it is heavier or lighter (or declare that all coins are normal). We construct both sequential and non-sequential (that is, simultaneously declared) weighing plans for any given number of coins containing at most one fake coin using the minimum number of weighings needed.     

Progressive treatment and self-assessment: effects on students’ automatisation of grammatical spelling and self-efficacy beliefs

The production of grammatical markers takes a long time to master. Even when students know the rules, they do not systematically apply them. However, few studies have demonstrated the efficacy of interventions to improve this competence, and no study has addressed the issue at the cognitive and motivational levels jointly. Our study demonstrates the effect of combining progressive treatment, based on cognitive cost and self-assessment, on grammatical spelling and on self-efficacy beliefs. Over 8 weekly 50-minute lessons, four groups of 18, 20, 18 and 21 ninth graders received, respectively, progressive treatment alone, coupled with self-assessment, coupled with feedback, or coupled with self-assessment and feedback. These intervention groups were compared with a control group of 36 students receiving standard spelling instruction. The interventions focussed on past participle inflections, which are particularly difficult to learn for French-speaking students. The results indicated that (a) students who received progressive treatment made more progress than the control group students in spelling past participle inflections, presenting a transfer and a first degree of automatisation of the rules. The results also indicated that (b) students who participated in progressive treatment with self-assessment improved even more on the spelling tests, including free text production, and in their self-efficacy beliefs, demonstrating a deeper automatisation of the grammatical rules combined with an increase in perceived efficacy. This research shows that learning benefits from instructional practices that provide both cognitive cost and motivational support.     

Minority Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education: Policy Reforms and Practice among the Korean and Mongol Ethnic Groups

The purpose of this study is to compare Korean and Mongol minorities in the People’s Republic of China in terms of their native language preservation and educational experiences at the higher education level, and to investigate differences and similarities between Korean and Mongol minorities’ language issues. Content area experts on Chinese minority education from China, South Korea, and the United States were interviewed for this study. Findings include suggestions for helping to formulate government educational policies regarding issues related to language in Chinese minority education at the higher education level. This information is helpful to better understand and educate others in school and home settings where Chinese ethnic minority students reside. The advancement of Chinese minority education knowledge related to higher education will significantly strengthen and empower individuals, families, and communities throughout the People’s Republic of China.