丹巴县高中阶段教育发展调研报告

丹巴县高中阶段教育现状可归纳为：经济地理限制,发展基础薄弱;校园占地面积狭小,无扩展空间;资金投入少,资源配置不足;优质教师外流,优质生源外流;高中阶段普及率低,高考上线率低;学校缺乏竞争力,师生向心力不强。     

A Critical Review of Students’ and Teachers’ Understandings of Nature of Science

Science & Education - There is widespread agreement that an adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy and a major goal in science...     

国家创新发展绩效格局分析方法与实证研究

创新发展已经成为世界潮流,全球创新发展绩效格局正在经历深刻变革,科学监测创新发展绩效格局演进方向是政府和学术界共同关注的问题。本文界定了“国家格局”、“格局分析方法”、“国家格局分析方法”等基本概念,研究提出了国家创新发展绩效格局二维分析方法,并选择40个国家创新发展指数和创新能力指数及其子指数排名进行了实证研究。本文主要得出三个结论：（1）基于国家创新能力和国家创新发展水平指数排名,采用K-均值聚类法将40个国家分为四类,即创新引领型国家、创新先进型国家、创新追赶型国家和非常规创新追赶型国家;（2）增加辅助特征量“人均GDP”以气泡图形式分析国家创新发展绩效格局的研究发现,经济发展水平（以人均GDP衡量）较高的国家,其创新发展指数与创新能力指数通常排名也较高,说明经济发展水平与国家创新发展绩效高度正相关;（3）分别增加辅助特征量“GDP”和“人均GDP”以气泡图形式分析国家创新能力格局的研究发现,经济规模（以GDP衡量）较大的国家,其创新实力指数排名通常较高,经济发展水平（以人均GDP衡量）较高的国家,其创新效力指数排名通常较高。     

Determinants of public engagement on municipal Facebook pages

Abstract

This article analyzes the determinants of public engagement on the Facebook pages of municipalities. The sample consists of 170 Italian and Spanish municipalities that used Facebook in 2014. The findings show that posting a lot of information on municipal Facebook pages does not increase the engagement of citizens. Also, frequent posting of information per se does not engage public engagement. However, if the posts are published when public can pay attention to them (e.g., off days), the likelihood of public engagement increases. Furthermore, the citizens’ engagement on municipal Facebook page depends on the level of citizens’ income – there is a negative relationship between citizens’ income and the level of participation.     

The evidence for the impact of policy on physical activity outcomes within the school setting: A systematic review

BackgroundDespite the well-established health benefits of physical activity (PA) for young people (aged 4–19 years), most do not meet PA guidelines. Policies that support PA in schools may be promising, but their impact on PA behavior is poorly understood. The aim of this systematic review was to ascertain the level and type of evidence reported in the international scientific literature for policies within the school setting that contribute directly or indirectly to increasing PA.MethodsThis systematic review is compliant with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Six databases were searched using key concepts of policy, school, evaluation, and PA. Following title and abstract screening of 2323 studies, 25 progressed to data synthesis. Methodological quality was assessed using standardized tools, and the strength of the evidence of policy impact was described based on pre-determined codes: positive, negative, inconclusive, or untested statistically.ResultsEvidence emerged for 9 policy areas that had a direct or indirect effect on PA within the school setting. These were whole school PA policy, physical education, sport/extracurricular PA, classroom-based PA, active breaks/recess, physical environment, shared use agreements, active school transport, and surveillance. The bulk of the evidence was significantly positive (54%), 27% was inconclusive, 9% was significantly negative, and 11% was untested (due to rounding, some numbers add to 99% or 101%). Frequency of evidence was highest in the primary setting (41%), 34% in the secondary setting, and 24% in primary/secondary combined school settings. By policy area, frequency of evidence was highest for sport/extracurricular PA (35%), 17% for physical education, and 12% for whole school PA policy, with evidence for shared use agreements between schools and local communities rarely reported (2%). Comparing relative strength of evidence, the evidence for shared use agreements, though sparse, was 100% positive, while 60% of the evidence for whole school PA policy, 59% of the evidence for sport/extracurricular PA, 57% of the evidence for physical education, 50% of the evidence for PA in classroom, and 50% of the evidence for active breaks/recess were positive.ConclusionThe current evidence base supports the effectiveness of PA policy actions within the school setting but cautions against a “one-size-fits-all” approach and emphasizes the need to examine policy implementation to maximize translation into practice. Greater clarity regarding terminology, measurement, and methods for evaluation of policy interventions is needed.     

Constructivist Approaches in a Dual-Language Classroom

Dual-language programs are becoming increasingly popular among educators and the public in general. In these programs, students aim at attaining full proficiency in English and another language while reaching an academic achievement at or above grade level. This article describes a series of pedagogical practices in the context of dual-language classrooms. We set the discussion across three defining characteristics of our constructivist perspective: learning as collaboration, teachers as facilitators, and language and culture as intertwined elements in schools. In sum, we postulate that dual-language programs bring equity to schools.     

The Impact of an Erasmus Placement in Students’ Perception of their Intercultural Communicative Competence

Pre- and post-questionnaires answered by UK Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Spain’s University of Salamanca (USAL) students on their placement abroad support a comparative analysis of its impact on their intercultural communicative competence, comprising the awareness, attitude, skills and knowledge dimensions. NTU students started their placements with better results in them all. Yet, while both groups completed their stay with a similarly increased awareness, the knowledge and skills of the USAL group matched the results of NTU students and, whereas the scores of the attitude dimension towards the host country of NTU students did not increase significantly, those of USAL students decreased.     

Measuring allocative efficiency in Cultural Economics: the case of “Fundación Princesa de Asturias” (The Princess of Asturias Foundation)

The literature on Cultural Economics provides us with some examples for the measurement of technical efficiency. However, there are few case studies dedicated to the analysis of allocative efficiency. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by incorporating a methodology that analyses both technical and allocative efficiency. We use the Shephard’s distance function, particularly suitable when affronted with non-profit-making firms or institutions that are not interested in cost minimization. As an empirical application, we analyse the efficiency of Fundación Princesa de Asturias (PAF), a Spanish non-governmental organization devoted to promoting the cultural, scientific and humanistic values of universal heritage, the period of study being 1988–2012. Our findings suggest that PAF could have used 7% less inputs to achieve the same level of output. On the other hand, we have found allocative inefficiency. Concretely, the input for other expenditures appears to have been over-utilized in relation to both the inputs for labour and current assets, with labour in turn being over-utilized in relation to current assets. Moreover, our results indicate that both technical and allocative efficiency have clearly improved during the period analysed. In summary, our empirical application shows how distance function methodology can be successfully implemented to measure allocative efficiency in cultural firms and institutions.