A young child’s dialogic appropriation of programmable robots

This qualitative case study explores a 6-year-old boy’s dialogic appropriation of programmable robots. The study was conducted in two robotics education programs for children aged four to seven. Drawing on Bakhtin’s (1981) notion of appropriation, we found that the focal child actively engaged with the programmable robots by (1) transforming the given features of the robots, (2) hybridizing the programming practice with the ordinary practices of his peer culture and (3) constructing his own perspective on the agency of robots and the meaning of programming. We argue that the ways in which the focal child engaged with the programmable robots went beyond mere adoption of the robots but rather took the form of dialog.     

A study of race and gender bias in the punishment of handicapped school children

There is scant research concerned about punishment of handicapped, minority students in public schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate race and gender, types of rules violations, types of punishments, referral rates, referral frequencies, and follow-up activities to determine differences in treatment by race, sex, and handicapping condition. The sample consisted of 4,391 discipline files representing records from 9 schools in a district (K-12). All data were analyzed using the Chi Square statistic. It was demonstrated that racial bias existed in the administration of punishment, and that Black, male handicapped students were punished more severely than others for commission of the same offenses.     

Solution of a Scaled System via Chebyshev Polynomials

A new time-domain approach to the derivation of a Chebyshev scale matrix is presented. The derived Chebyshev scale matrix, together with the Chebyshev integration matrix, is used to analyze differential equations containing terms with a scaled argument. The results are expressed in terms of Chebyshev series. As illustrated in the included examples, the Chebyshev series solution converges faster than that represented in Laguerre series.     

The Effects of Trainee Characteristics on Training Effectiveness in Improving Organizational Performance

Despite the existence of many comprehensive and user‐friendly guides to evaluate training programs, most practitioners have had difficulty assessing training effects on corporate outcomes. Research revealed that trainees, organizational, and training‐related factors might influence the effectiveness of training in terms of organizational performance. The current study examines the effects of trainee characteristics among those factors, specifically what kind of trainee characteristics could affect training effectiveness in terms of job performance in a company. In addition, telephone surveys were conducted to aid in understanding of the reasons for leaving and high turnover of company personnel. The current and terminated employees who went through training programs in the company differed when considering previous sales experience in years and type of sales experience as trainee characteristics factors, with those still employed having a statistically higher average number of years and a higher rated type of sales experience. The current employees demonstrated higher job performance. The implications of these results on the attainment of training effectiveness as well as the selection decisions in the organization are discussed.     

Optoelectrofluidic field separation based on light-intensity gradients

Optoelectrofluidic field separation (OEFS) of particles under light -intensity gradient (LIG) is reported, where the LIG illumination on the photoconductive layer converts the short-ranged dielectrophoresis (DEP) force to the long-ranged one. The long-ranged DEP force can compete with the hydrodynamic force by alternating current electro-osmosis (ACEO) over the entire illumination area for realizing effective field separation of particles. In the OEFS system, the codirectional illumination and observation induce the levitation effect, compensating the attenuation of the DEP force under LIG illumination by slightly floating particles from the surface. Results of the field separation and concentration of diverse particle pairs (0.82–16 μm) are well demonstrated, and conditions determining the critical radius and effective particle manipulation are discussed. The OEFS with codirectional LIG strategy could be a promising particle manipulation method in many applications where a rapid manipulation of biological cells and particles over the entire working area are of interest.     

Evaluation of Corporate Training Programs: Perspectives and Issues for Further Research

Performance improvement interventions, including training, are investments that can yield identifiable payoffs for an organization in the form of better job performance. Evaluation is vital to continuous improvement of human performance in the workplace. Without measures of effectiveness, organizations do not know whether dollars are being spent wisely and, consequently, whether to continue, modify, or improve performance interventions. There are several approaches for the evaluation of training programs. Few adequately cover the broader perspective of performance improvement. Various schemes and terms are used to describe facets for evaluating training programs. However, sometimes different terms describe the same event. At other times, quite different training evaluation activities are discussed by different authors using the same terms. The present article reviews six overall evaluation perspectives of corporate training programs: Kirkpatrick's four‐level approach; the CIRO approach; Hamblin's five‐level approach; Florida State University approach; Indiana University approach; and Phillips' five‐level approach. And four research areas for further study are recommended: overall evaluation models, causal relationships between evaluation categories, systematic research on how to evaluate the various categories, and appropriate uses of the results of evaluations.     

Heterogeneous performances of conceptual dis/continuity: a dialectic reading of Brown and Kloser’s article

We review Brown and Kloser’s article, “Conceptual continuity and the science of baseball: using informal science literacy to promote students science learning” from a Vygotskian cultural-historical and dialectic perspective. Brown and Kloser interpret interview data with student baseball players and claim that students’ conceptual understanding articulated in vernacular genres involves continuities (similarities) with the canonical scientific explanations. In this commentary, we suggest that the authors’ approach presupposes the dichotomy of the formal and the informal, which brings the authors’ attention to continuity into the separation of cognition from language. We propose a Vygotskian approach that points out the problem of theorizing cognition (conceptual understanding) by depending on specific forms of representation (e.g., scientific terms). As alternative, we envision a Vygotskian cultural-historical approach to language, which considers different, irreducible modes of communication as an integrated whole and therefore allows theorizing cognition without dichotomizing it from the concrete ways by which human being communicates. We provide an exemplary analysis of a lecture talk in a university physics classroom and exemplify dialectic theories that explain the development of conceptual understanding. We discuss that this Vygotskian dialectic approach shows that people communicate scientific concepts through hybridization, which does not reproduce a genre self-identically; the continuity of conceptual understanding involves dis/continuity.     

In pursuit of the effective neighborhood information system: User-friendliness and training

The goal of this research is to address the effectiveness of Neighborhood Information Systems (NIS) as an Information Technology (IT) tool in assisting community development. NISs are hybrid applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and web technologies that provide demographic, social, and economic information to community stakeholders. Government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community organizations engage in decision-making process for community development, and NISs are designed to help information-sharing and effective and participatory decision-makings for community development stakeholders.     

Exploring the behavioral patterns of an online knowledge-sharing discussion activity among teachers with problem-solving strategy

The sharing of teaching-related knowledge may help teachers solve a variety of problems that they face, and the appropriate use of online knowledge-sharing activities is expected to assist teachers' knowledge-sharing. This study proposed an online knowledge-sharing discussion activity, integrated with a problem-solving strategy for teachers. Empirical observations are noted. The participants were 495 teachers, and quantitative content analysis, sequential analysis, and qualitative original protocol analysis were used to explore the content and patterns of teachers' discussion behavior. The study identified influences on and limitations of knowledge-sharing in the activity, from which suggestions were generated to be proposed to teacher educators.