Transnational comparisons of teacher expectation of mathematical functional ability in early years and Key Stage 1 pupils – a study undertaken in Hong Kong and England

The dominance of Asian communities in international league tables such as those produced by The Program for International Student Assessment, which monitors competence in literacy and numeracy, has resulted in a policy discourse from the English government of failing schools, deficit curricular and ineffective teachers. This in turn has led to a re-defining of the National Curriculum framework for pupils educated in England with greater focus given in the Early Years curriculum to Mathematical functions particularly those associated with skills in counting; understanding and using number; calculating simple addition and subtraction problems and the understanding of shape, space and measure. Drawing on research carried out in Hong Kong and England this article offers a cross-cultural comparison of the expectations of Early Years Teachers in terms of the capabilities of early learners in achieving elements of number competency. The study of teachers’ expectation is a neglected field in research when applied to compare intercultural achievement. In identifying divergent national expectations, the current panic over what constitutes an appropriate maths curriculum is critiqued and recommendations made for further exploration into teachers’ expectations as to the age and stage at which elements of the maths curriculum are introduced in English schools.     

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.     

Prevention–Permission–Promotion: A Review of Approaches to Errors in Learning

Errors are often perceived as undesirable events to be avoided at all costs. However, a growing body of research suggests that making errors is, in fact, beneficial for learning. Building on human resource development literature, the present review proposes a 3P framework of approaches to errors during learning: prevention (avoiding or observing errors), permission (allowing errors), and promotion (inducing or guiding errors). This framework is applied to examine and integrate the empirical evidence on errors that have been commonly investigated in cognitive, educational, and applied psychology research. The psychological mechanisms of each error approach are discussed, and implications for education are considered. This review then concludes by highlighting the ways in which the various error approaches interact with learner characteristics and learning contexts, as well as discussing the role of feedback in error correction and proposing directions for future research toward understanding how errors can be optimized in learning.     

Conceptualizing and Measuring the Optimal Experience of the eLearning Environment*

Online learning (eLearning) has become a global phenomenon as many organizations and educational institutions worldwide have entered the field in an attempt to enhance the students' experience of learning. While numerous studies have focused on the effectiveness and benefits of eLearning, few have focused on understanding and measuring the user experience and relating this to the actual student usage of the eLearning system. This study addresses this gap by conceptualizing and measuring the eLearners' experience from two integrated perspectives: (1) the learners' affective perceptions using the flow model and (2) the learners' technology acceptance using the Technology Acceptance Model. The integrated perspective proposes that the users' acceptance and the affective responses toward a particular system are two important factors in determining the users' intentional and actual behaviors, which in turn, influence user participation and engagement with the system. The data was collected in 2004 directly from 964 students using a Web‐based eLearning system called CECIL ( http://www.cecil.edu ) at the University of Auckland. The conclusions drawn from the results of the study using a structural equation model support the use of the integrated model for investigating eLearner behavior. The research implications of our findings are discussed.     

Evaluating Radioactivity Remote Laboratory’s Effectiveness in Learning Radioactivity Concepts

Research in Science Education - This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using Radioactivity Remote Laboratory Activities (RRLAs) in enhancing Form Four (equivalent to Grade 10)...     

‘I’m good,but not that good’: digitally-skilled young people’s identity in computing

Computers and information technology are fast becoming a part of young people’s everyday life. However, there remains a difference between the majority who can use computers and the minority who are computer scientists or professionals. Drawing on 32 semi-structured interviews with digitally skilled young people (aged 13–19), we explore their views and aspirations in computing, with a focus on the identities and discourses that these youngsters articulate in relation to this field. Our findings suggest that, even among digitally skilled young people, traditional identities of computing as people who are clever but antisocial still prevail, which can be unattractive for youths, especially girls. Digitally skilled youths identify with computing in different ways and for different reasons. Most enjoy doing computing but few aspired to being a computer person. Implications of our findings for computing education are discussed especially the continued need to broaden identities in computing, even for the digitally skilled.     

Extending University Courses to Rural Communities via Satellite Television

This paper describes how the University of Saskatchewan attempted to deliver two introductory university courses to 13 rural communities via a combination of television lectures, on‐air interaction, independent learning materials and discussions led by community‐based facilitators. The context and rationale for this project, the teaching/learning model on which the delivery is based and some evaluation results are presented.     

Opening Remarks: Inaugural Dr Ruth Wong Memorial Lecture

I don't think that the late Dr Ruth Wong has really left us. Physically, yes. But, in spirit, she is very much with us, in the sense that many of us are still guided by some of her seminal ideas. Unfortunately, many of her ideas could not be implemented during her lifetime, for she was too far ahead of her time, but, with patience and perseverance, it might yet be possible to advance some of her valuable ideas.