Possibilities and Limits of Integrating Science and Diversity Education in Preservice Elementary Teacher Preparation

In this paper we present findings from a project that documented the development of preservice teachers’ beliefs and practices in delivering science instruction that considers issues of language and culture. Teacher candidates in the intervention group (n = 65) received a science methods course and teaching practicum experience that provided guidance in teaching science in culturally and linguistically responsive ways. Comparisons between a control group of preservice teachers (n = 45) and those involved in the intervention yielded stronger beliefs about the efficacy in promoting collaboration in science teaching than the intervention group. Observations of these preservice teachers during their teaching practicum revealed differences in favor of the intervention group in: (a) implementing science instruction that addressed the language and literacy involved in science; (b) using questions that elicited higher order thinking and; (c) providing scaffolds (e.g., purposeful feedback, probing student background knowledge) when confronting abstract scientific concepts. Implications for preservice teacher education are addressed.     

Activities to Teaching Electric Field Based on Physics by Inquiry

We designed and used a series of activities （named activities to teaching electric field （ATEF）） based on the Physics by Inquiry （PBI） strategy to teaching the electric field concept with university students. We used a concentration factor tool to assess the effectiveness of those activities used during three weeks of instruction. Results indicate that students who had traditional teaching obtained a very tiny gain （less than 1%）; concentration factors indicate that most of their responses fall into a random area, which is not favorable. On the other hand, the experimental group using our activities had greater gains （〉 10%） than the control group. Concentration factors showed that after instruction, students＇ mental models changed toward a favorable pattern about comprehension of electric field concept and Coulomb＇s law. A hypothesis test of two samples indicated that there is a significant difference between both traditional teaching and ATEF based on PBI.     

第四代科学中心和科技博物馆:向参与性、变革和跨学科演变

本文分析了全球科学中心和科技博物馆漫长且充满挑战性的演变过程。第一代科技博物馆以收藏“历史珍宝”、科学仪器、原创机械制品和技术设备为主;第二代科学中心和科技博物馆同时注重被动接受及互动性;第三代科学中心和科技博物馆变得更加充满活力,侧重于以参观者为中心,倡导互动体验。正在逐渐发展起来的第四代科学中心和科技博物馆则注重参与性、变革、跨学科、虚实结合,融科技、生态、人文及艺术为一体,推崇在一个有主动意识、注重参与、博学多识并具有科学素养的社区中围绕展品进行创造性的探究、实验、创新、讨论、学习以及举办活动。     

Vertical ground reaction force responses to different head-out aquatic exercises performed in water and on dry land

The purpose was to analyse the vertical ground reaction forces (Fz) of head-out aquatic exercises [stationary running (SR), frontal kick (FK), cross-country skiing (CCS), jumping jacks (JJ), adductor hop (ADH) and abductor hop (ABH)] at two cadences in both aquatic and dry land environments. Twelve young women completed two sessions in each environment, each consisting of three exercises performed at two cadences (first and second ventilatory thresholds – C1 and C2, respectively). Two-way and three-way repeated measures analysis of variance were used to the statistical analysis. The results showed that the peak Fz and impulse were significantly lower in the aquatic environment, resulting in values from 28.2% to 58.5% and 60.4% to 72.8% from those obtained on dry land, respectively. In the aquatic environment, the peak Fz was lower and the impulse was higher at the C1 than at the C2. Furthermore, it was observed that SR and FK (0.9–1.1 BW) elicited a significantly higher peak Fz values compared to the ADH and JJ exercises (0.5–0.8 BW). It can be concluded that the aquatic environment reduces the Fz during head-out aquatic exercises. It should be noted that its magnitude is also dependent on the intensity and the identity of the exercise performed.     

Does formative feedback on search behaviour help students in answering comprehension questions from an available text? / ¿Ayuda la retroalimentación formativa sobre el comportamiento de búsqueda a contestar preguntas de comprensión en lecturas con texto disponible?

This study analyses the efficacy of formative feedback to boost students’ search behaviour when answering comprehension questions in a with-text reading situation, which is a common reading situation in instructional and assessment settings. In these reading situations search strategies play an important role to predict students’ performance. Sixty-five high school students read two texts and answered eight multiple-choice comprehension questions per text using the software Read&Answer, which recorded all the students’ actions. After answering each question, students received either global-search-feedback or specific-search-feedback, which differed in the specificity of their information, or no-feedback. Participants who received any feedback had a second chance to correct their wrong answers. Specific-search-feedback increased students’ search decisions and improved their use of relevant information to repair wrong answers over global-search-feedback. Consequently, specific-search-feedback improved students’ performance when they corrected wrong answers over global-search-feedback. These results have implications for the design and implementation of formative feedback in computer-based systems aimed at improving students’ performance and teaching reading literacy skills.     

Intellectual development beyond formal operations

Post‐formal operations as a stage of cognitive development beyond Piaget's formal operations state are discussed. It is argued that thinking abilities are of major importance for an adequate understanding of quantum‐mechanical and relativistic issues as they occur in modern science, especially physics. Some pedagogical consequences of the ‘fifth stage’ of cognitive development are discussed and proposals made about how post‐operational thinking abilities might be developed in students.     

La enseñanza de la Literatura en el ciclo 12–16

De la alfabetización a la competencia literaria media un tramo parecido al que va de la autoescuela a la participación en un rallye. Es obvio que la lectoescritura y la enseñanza de la literatura están relacionadas; pero reflexionar sobre esta relación y sobre la manera en que se ha enseñado, se enseña y se debe enseñar la literatura en la Reforma que viene, nos hace pasar de esa obviedad a un problema complejo en el que parece deseable una profunda renovación.     

Sources of productivity growth in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry (1994-2000)

The Spanish pharmaceutical industry underwent an important transformation during the 1990s. To survive under the new market conditions, labs had to refocus their competitive strategies towards increasing productive efficiency or reinforcing research and development (R&D) activities. This paper analyzes the evolution of the productive patterns in a sample of 80 pharmaceutical laboratories that operated in Spain from 1994 to 2000. We estimate Malmquist productivity indexes and decompose them into four sources of productivity change. The results suggest that pure technical efficiency change and the scale change of the technology explain most of the productivity growth observed during the period. The contribution of technical change to productivity growth is negligible, indicating a poor result from R&D activities at least in the groups of Small and Medium-sized labs.