Effects of active‐learning experiences on achievement,attitudes, and behaviors in high school biology

Active‐learning labs for two topics in high school biology were developed through the collaboration of high school teachers and university faculty and staff and were administered to 408 high school students in six classrooms. The content of instruction and testing was guided by State of Texas science objectives. Detailed teacher records describing daily classroom activities were used to operationalize two types of instruction: active learning, which used the labs; and traditional, which used the teaching resources ordinarily available to the teacher. Teacher records indicated that they used less independent work and fewer worksheets, and more collaborative and lab‐based activities, with active‐learning labs compared to traditional instruction. In‐class test data show that students gained significantly more content knowledge and knowledge of process skills using the labs compared to traditional instruction. Questionnaire data revealed that students perceived greater learning gains after completing the labs compared to covering the same content through traditional methods. An independent questionnaire administered to a larger sample of teachers who used the lab‐based curriculum indicated that they perceived changing their behaviors as intended by the student‐centered principles of the labs. The major implication of this study is that active‐learning–based laboratory units designed and developed collaboratively by high school teachers and university faculty, and then used by high school teachers in their classrooms, can lead to increased use of student‐centered instructional practices as well as enhanced content knowledge and process learning for students. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 960–979, 2007     

Looking back to the future: Māori and Pakeha mother-child birth stories.

Māori adults have earlier first memories than adults in any culture studied to date. To test the role of early memory socialization in this advantage, Māori (n= 15) and New Zealand European (or Pakeha, n= 17) mothers told birth stories and stories of shared past events to their children (3-4 or 7-8 years). Compared to Pakeha mothers, Māori mothers elaborated more in the birth stories, relative to their elaborations in stories about shared past events, and included more references to relational time and internal states in their birth stories. These data provide the first empirical evidence that Māori children experience a richer narrative environment than Pakeha children for significant events in their past.     

新时代我国体育强国建设的现实困境与突破路径

建设体育强国是实现中华民族伟大复兴中国梦的重要组成部分。运用文献资料、逻辑分析等方法,对新时代我国体育强国建设面临的困境进行分析及研究。结论:我国体育强国建设中存在群众体育基础不扎实、竞技体育发展失衡、体育产业整体实力不强、体育文化建设滞后、体育外交缺乏整体规划等问题。突破路径:夯实群众体育基础、均衡发展竞技体育、提升体育产业实力、加快推进体育文化建设、加强体育外交整体规划等。