Addressing cognitive processes in e-learning： TSOI Hybrid Learning Model

The development of e-learning materials for teaching and learning often needs to be guided by appropriate educational theories or models. As such, this paper provides alternative e-learning design pedagogy, the TSOI Hybrid Learning Model as a pedagogic model for the design of e-learning cognitively in science and chemistry education. This model is hybridized from the Piagetian science learning cycle model and the Kolb＇s experiential learning cycle. The TSOI Hybrid Learning Model represents learning as a cyclical cognitive process of four phases： translating, sculpting, operationalizing and integrating. A major feature is to promote cognitive processing in the learner for active learning proceeding from inductive to deductive. Design specificity in science and chemistry education is illustrated in terms of instructional storyboarding for the developed research-based e-learning product. Learners＇ cognitive ability for example positive concept achievement will be addressed as part of the research data collected.     

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON OF PERCEPTIONS ON THE GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC LITERACY WITH AUSTRALIAN,CHINESE, AND KOREAN MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

In this study, we explored the extent to which Australian, Chinese, and Korean middle school students perceived themselves to have scientific literacy as global citizens and attempted to identify differences and/or commonalities in their perceptions. A total of 655 middle school students (8th and 9th grades; 358 girls and 297 boys) from the three countries participated in the study. We used Global Scientific Literacy Questionnaires (GSLQ) as a survey instrument to assess the students’ perceptions. The GSLQ was developed based on a conceptual framework of Scientific Literacy suggested by Choi, Kim, Lee, Mun, Choi, Krajcik & Shin (2011) and Choi, Lee, Shin, Kim & Krajcik (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(6), 670–697, 2011) for citizenship education in the 21st century. The results indicated that most of the students from the three countries showed a tendency toward higher scores for Science as human endeavor; the lowest scores were in Meta-cognition and self-direction. A pattern of gender difference was also examined among the three countries. We suggest future research questions based on a cross-cultural perspective in order to explore the reasons for the existence of these similarities and differences.     

American and Chinese Children's Evaluations of Personal Domain Events and Resistance to Parental Authority

A total of 267 five‐, seven‐, and ten‐year‐olds (M = 7.62), 147 in Hong Kong and 120 in the United States, evaluated hypothetical personal (and moral) events described as either essential or peripheral to actors' identity. Except for young Chinese in the peripheral condition, straightforward personal events were overwhelmingly evaluated as acceptable based on personal justifications. Children primarily endorsed compliance, but attributed negative emotions to actors when mothers forbade personal choices, especially when described as essential to identity. Conventional justifications declined among Chinese children and pragmatic justifications for these judgments increased with age for all children, as did judgments that personal events were up to the child. Rules were seen as more legitimate and events were seen as more up to mothers to decide for moral than personal events.     

Links Between Coping Strategies and Depressive Symptoms Among Girls and Boys During the Transition to Primary School

This longitudinal study examined the association between Chinese children’s coping strategies and depressive symptoms within the context of the transition from preschool to primary school in Hong Kong. Research Findings: Principal component analyses of children’s strategies for coping with stress during the transition to school revealed three factors: negative coping, positive coping, and distraction. Children’s strategies were moderately stable over time, but the relationship between coping and depressive symptoms differed for boys and girls. Girls’ positive coping strategies at Time 1 predicted fewer depressive symptoms at Time 2, whereas girls’ use of distraction positively predicted later depressive symptoms. Boys’ depressive symptoms at Time 1 predicted negative coping strategies at Time 2. The present findings show that distraction may not always be an effective way to help young children reduce depressive symptoms, and that coping strategies may have a greater impact on reducing later depression risk for girls than for boys. Practice or Policy: Implications for future studies and practices are discussed at the end of this paper. This study provides information for educators and government and non-government organizations in developing programs to help children with effective coping strategies during their first year at school.     

Analysis of streamwise conduction in forced convection of microchannels using fin approach

The effects induced by streamwise conduction on the thermal characteristics of forced convection for single-phase liquid flow in rectangular microchannel heat sinks under imposed constant wall temperature have been studied. By employing the fin approach in the first law of analysis, models with and without streamwise conduction term in the energy equation were developed for hydrodynamically and thermally fully-developed flow under local thermal non-equilibrium for the solid and fluid phases. These two models were solved to obtain closed form analytical solutions for the fluid and solid temperature distributions and the analysis emphasized details of the variations induced by the streamwise conduction on the fluid temperature distributions. The effects of the Peclet number, aspect ratio, and thermal conductivity ratio on the thermal characteristics of forced convection in microchannel heat sinks were analyzed and discussed. This study reveals the conditions under which the effect of streamwise conduction is significant and should not be neglected in the forced convective heat transfer analysis of microchannel heat sinks.     

Chinese children’s perceptions of aggression among peers at school

Recent research suggests that children may encounter aggressive behaviour during the transition from preschool to school. Yet, relatively few longitudinal studies have been conducted on children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour in the transition from preschool to school. This study aims to fill a major gap in the literature by exploring Chinese children’s perceptions and experiences of aggressive behaviour, and their ways of coping with aggression, at three points in time: during the last month at preschool (Time 1), the first three months of Year 1 at school (Time 2) and the last month of Year 1 (Time 3). The present study also examines the role gender plays in 79 Chinese children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour, as depicted in their drawings and accompanying narratives. The children mainly reported physical and verbal aggression rather than relational aggression. The findings provide robust data for understanding how children cope with aggression at school.     

‘Freer’ Forms of Organization and Financing and the Effects of Inequality in Latin American Educational Systems: two countries in comparison

The introduction of ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing into the Latin American educational systems about 20 years ago parallels similar developments in the contexts of neo‐liberal policies in the USA, Great Britain and, more recently, in Eastern Europe. This article will highlight the effects of ‘school autonomy’, decentralization, and privatization in the Latin American educational systems. In so doing, I will focus on the analysis of educational policy development in Chile and Argentina, based in part on my own research results. The results demonstrate that ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing have not proven to be positive for the progressive distribution of education, democratization and the consideration of diversity—and also not for the (difficult to measure) categories of ‘quality’ and ‘efficiency’ of education. These findings contribute to question whether the neo‐liberal forms of organization and financing of educational systems in Latin America are important factors in the realization of these goals.     

澳大利亚数学课程中七大通用能力的探析及启示——基于数学核心素养的视角

学生核心素养的发展是落实"立德树人"教育根本任务的重要途径,数学核心素养的研制是广大数学教育研究者们肩负的重任.澳大利亚数学课程中的七大通用能力包括:读写能力、运算能力、信息通信技术能力、批判性与创造性思维、个人与社会能力、道德理解、跨文化理解等7个方面,其价值取向与中国新近颁布的学生发展核心素养类似.作为澳大利亚数学课程的一大亮点,它的目标、内容和评价有诸多特色,对中国数学核心素养的研制有着重要的启示作用.     

An SEM Approach for the Evaluation of Intervention Effects Using Pre-Post-Post Designs

A directly applicable latent variable modeling procedure for classical item analysis is outlined. The method allows one to point and interval estimate item difficulty, item correlations, and item-total correlations for composites consisting of categorical items. The approach is readily employed in empirical research and as a by-product permits examining the latent structure of tentative versions of multiple-component measuring instruments. The discussed procedure is straightforwardly utilized with the increasingly popular latent variable modeling software Mplus, and is illustrated on a numerical example.     

Evaluation of adult literacy education in the United States: A review of methodological issues

This is a critical review of methodological issues in the evaluation of adult literacy education programs in the United States. It addresses the key research questions: What are the appropriate methods for evaluating these programs under given circumstances. It identifies 15 evaluation studies that are representative of a range of adult literacy contexts at various evaluation levels; and reviews each study regarding evaluation designs, data sources, learner assessment tools, and indicators of program effectiveness. It summarizes methodological lessons learned regarding the evaluation of adult literacy education and identifies areas for further research.