Building preschool teachers’ capacity for teaching Chinese to ethnic minority children in Hong Kong: A qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Teaching Chinese to second language learners is a challenge for preschool teachers in Hong Kong so effective teacher professional development programmes are urgently needed to enhance their knowledge and skills. An Integrative Model Teacher Professional Development Programme which incorporates three theoretical underpinnings (i.e., culturally responsive teaching, meaningful and pleasurable learning, and effective teaching of Chinese as a second language) is designed to equip preschool teachers with knowledge, skills, and awareness in teaching Chinese to ethnic minority students. Through qualitative interviews with 15 in-service preschool teachers who joined the Programme, teachers’ perceptions and changes in three theoretical areas of teaching Chinese to ethnic minority students were explored. Particularly, teachers increased their awareness of ethnic minority cultures, developed empathy with ethnic minority children and their families, gained knowledge of implementing culturally responsive teaching and meaningful and pleasurable learning of Chinese. The role of teacher sharing in effective professional development was highlighted.     

Attitudes toward Family Obligations among American Adolescents with Asian, Latin American, and European Backgrounds

This study was designed to examine the attitudes toward family obligations among over 800 American tenth ( M age = 15.7 years) and twelfth ( M age = 17.7 years) grade students from Filipino, Chinese, Mexican, Central and South American, and European backgrounds. Asian and Latin American adolescents possessed stronger values and greater expectations regarding their duty to assist, respect, and support their families than their peers with European backgrounds. These differences tended to be large and were consistent across the youths' generation, gender, family composition, and socioeconomic background. Whereas an emphasis on family obligations tended to be associated with more positive family and peer relationships and academic motivation, adolescents who indicated the strongest endorsement of their obligations tended to receive school grades just as low as or even lower than those with the weakest endorsement. There was no evidence, however, that the ethnic variations in attitudes produced meaningful group differences in the adolescents' development. These findings suggest that even within a society that emphasizes adolescent autonomy and independence, youths from families with collectivistic traditions retain their parents' familistic values and that these values do not have a negative impact upon their development.     

How Sustainable Are In‐service Teacher‐training Courses?

The present research addressed the issue of ‘life after a course’. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of four in‐service teacher‐training courses at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in terms of their usefulness and relevance to the teachers’ needs on return to school. An end‐of‐course evaluation questionnaire and a follow‐up questionnaire were sent six months after the courses to see if there were any significant differences in the participants’ views on the effectiveness of a course at two different time points. Qualitative data collected from interviews between the tutors and participants six months after the courses were also analysed to find out which aspects of the courses were considered to be most useful to the teachers on their return to school, and why they were useful. The findings from the research give valuable insights into the design of teacher‐education courses.     

From Green to Red Tomatoes or Is there a Shortcut by which to Change the Conceptions of Teaching and Learning of College Teachers?

No general shift from a teaching to a learning paradigm in higher education is possible without a parallel change in the conceptions that college and university teachers have of teaching and learning‐‐from teaching, conceived as transmission and reception of knowledge, to teaching as facilitation of student learning. Staff development and action research can play a useful role in “defreezing” the existing conceptions and attitudes. But for a substantial change in teaching practices in the direction of learning of high quality to occur, more substantial changes in organization, curricula, funding, staff recruitment, and professional development policies are needed. The international academic community can play an important role in this paradigm shift by presenting models of good practice as well as exchanges of experiences and incentives. Such assistance is especially important for small countries in transition, like Slovenia.     

Release monitoring of single cells on a microfluidic device coupled with fluorescence microscopy and electrochemistry

A method for monitoring the biological exocytotic phenomena on a microfluidic system was proposed. A microfluidic device coupled with functionalities of fluorescence imaging and amperometric detection has been developed to enable the real-time monitoring of the exocytotic events. Exocytotic release of single SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells was studied. By staining the cells located on integrated microelectrodes with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde, punctuate fluorescence consistent with localization of neurotransmitters stored in vesicles was obtained. The stimulated exocytotic release was successfully observed at the surface of SH-SY5Y cells without refitting the commercial inverted fluorescence microscope. Spatially and temporally resolved exocytotic events from single cells on a microfluidic device were visualized in real time using fluorescence microscopy and were amperometrically recorded by the electrochemical system simultaneously. This coupled technique is simple and is hoped to provide new insights into the mechanisms responsible for the kinetics of exocytosis.     

Mixing enhancement in microfluidic channel with a constriction under periodic electro-osmotic flow

We present a new approach to enhance mixing in T-type micromixers by introducing a constriction in the microchannel under periodic electro-osmotic flow. Two sinusoidal ac electric fields with 180° phase difference and similar dc bias are applied at the two inlets. The out of phase ac electric field induces oscillation of fluid interface at the junction of the two inlet channels and the constriction. Due to the constriction introduced at the junction, fluids from these two inlets form alternative plugs at the constricted channel. These plugs of fluids radiate downstream from the constriction into the large channel and form alternate thin crescent-shaped layers of fluids. These crescent-shaped layers of fluids increase tremendously the contact surface area between the two streams of fluid and thus enhance significantly the mixing efficiency. Experimental results and mixing mechanism analysis show that amplitude and frequency of the ac electric field and the length of the constriction govern the mixing efficiency.     

喀斯特洞穴探险旅游的审美心理要素分析

旅游审美是旅游者在现实而具体的旅游活动中所进行的一种价值判断活动。与其他的审美活动一样,旅游审美活动也涉及审美心理的四大要素:审美知觉、审美想象、审美理解和审美情感。这四种审美心理要素的深入分析是解构审美活动全过程的关键。对喀斯特洞穴探险而言,其审美活动有其自身的独特性,它不仅能通过刺激游客的视觉和听觉器官来获取美感,而且能最大限度地通过体力和技术的挑战,刺激挑战者的心灵,达到更高层次的愉悦。本文通过对喀斯特洞穴探险旅游审美心理四要素进行分析以及对洞穴探险者的审美体验倾向进行调查,发现在洞穴探险旅游活动中,审美心理的四要素相互作用、彼此融合,产生不同层次的审美体验,洞穴探险者也具有不同的审美体验倾向和需求,对洞穴探险旅游开发具有一定的参考意义。     

高中阶段学生资助政策分析

本文从个人能力、家庭社会经济背景和学费水平等方面分析了影响高中学生资助的主要因素,提出政府应该参照中等职业学校学生资助政策,建立全国性的普通高中学生资助体系,同时区分竞争性的"奖优"资助和非竞争性的"扶贫"资助.     

浅谈《数学实验》课程中实验题材的取材原则

《数学实验》课程是高校培养应用型人才,推进数学课程体系改革的标志性成果。在《数学实验》课程的教学过程中,选取恰当的实验题材是保证和提高教学质量的重要支柱和基础。本文真对《数学实验》课程中实验题材的取材原则进行了探讨。