中国文学中的婚丧风俗描写

《红高粱》、《老喜丧》、《红白喜事》等中国现代文学作品，从不同侧面给我们描绘了中国封建婚俗及传统丧葬的生动画面。以《红高粱》为代表的文学作品，一方面揭示了封建买卖婚姻的残酷无情的本质；另一方面也使我们了解了封建制度下人们的价值取迥等文化观念。而以《老喜良》为代表的描绘传统丧葬的文学作品，则使我们不仅了解中国丧俗的一般环节及形式，也使我们看到了老喜丧是悲与喜，生与死的悲喜剧。而这些同样也渗透着中国风俗文化的因素。     

Rocky Jones: Case study of a high‐achieving black male's motivation to participate in gifted classes

An increased body of research on the recruitment and retention of Black students in gifted programs provides guidance for educators to understand factors that impact Black male under representation in gifted programs. A common concern among high school educators is that schools cannot keep Black males interested in gifted programs. Even in culturally diverse high schools, gifted Black males often do not want to take advanced level classes because they are accused by peers of “acting White”. This case study reveals that while rare, it is not impossible. This article uses a Participation Motivation Expectancy‐Value Model (PMEVM) to explain the motivation of Rocky Jones, a gifted Black male, and his choice to participate in his school's gifted program. Findings from interview and archival data are reported that inform Rocky's participation choice, and implications are drawn to enhance teachers’ efforts to increase Black males’ motivation and representation in gifted education.     

Qualified Satisfaction: First‐Year Architecture Student Perceptions of Teamwork

Across disciplines, skills associated with collaboration are now ubiquitously considered requisite graduate attributes. Despite decades of studies on the various dimensions of academic teamwork, challenges for both students and staff remain. For this year‐long study at a UK school of architecture, we considered teamwork as a thread woven through the first‐year curriculum, traversing course modules and project types. The primary aim of the study was to evaluate the collective impact of teamwork activities on the incoming cohort of 200+ undergraduate students and how the structuring and coordination of such activities might improve the holistic student experience. Across two rounds of online questionnaires and focus group sessions, student participants articulated the benefits of collaboration for learning, socialisation and professional development. However, resentment towards teamwork increased throughout the year, as frustration with disengaged cohort mates grew, and student sought greater structure and oversight from tutors. On the other hand, when given the chance to reflect on the multidimensional nature of teamwork in focus group discussions, many students adopted a productively nuanced perspective toward the topic. This implies that, whether students like or dislike certain aspect of collaborative projects, opportunities for critical conversation can promote or prompt an appreciation for the educational value of including teamwork projects in curricula. The results of this study should be relevant to educators seeking to improve the implementation and effectiveness of team‐based learning, particularly those in design‐based fields and those in higher and professional education contexts.     

The Role of Preventive Conservation in Designing King Tutankhamun Galleries in the Grand Egyptian Museum

ABSTRACT

It was decided to display the whole collection of King Tutankhamun in the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). The collection comprises approx. 5640 objects different in material and state of conservation. The conservation centre in the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM-CC) bears the responsibility of conserving GEM collection, and contributing to the exhibition production processes to ensure the optimal preservation for the collection on display. In this paper, a survey of the collection's materials and condition was undertaken to evaluate the risks and corresponding deterioration occurred in the former location which should be mitigated in the new one. It also reports on the parameters which were fulfilled in the designs of King Tutankhamun galleries to guarantee implementing preventive conservation programmes in order to preserve the collection for future generations.     

Desert-Based Muslim Religious Education: Mahdara as a Model

As one of the oldest surviving educational religious models in the history of Muslim education, Mahdara remains a poorly studied desert-based religious institution of traditional learning. In its Bedouin context, the Mahdara produced religious scholars no less competent in the mastery of religious Islamic sciences than graduates of other reputable Islamic learning institutions. This article explores the historical development of the Mahdara, its academic program, social system, and contribution to the Mauritanian community while highlighting the major problems modernity poses to it in its struggle to preserve its sociohistorical position in society.     

Decomposing inequalities in performance scores: the role of student background, peer effects and school characteristics

This paper analyses the mechanisms of stratification and inequalities in educational achievements. The main objective is to determine how stratification leads to unequal educational outcomes and how inequalities are channelled through student characteristics, school characteristics and peer effects. This analysis is undertaken in five countries differentiated by their schooling systems. The countries are Japan, Finland, Germany, Italy and the UK, and the dataset used is PISA 2003. The analysis consists of a multilevel econometric model used to explain variations in performance scores. The explanatory variables are student, school and peer characteristics. The institutional context of each education system is used to interpret the results and to describe how inequalities arise. In the last section, policy implications, based on the regression results, are derived.     

Transferability of norms and its implication in cross-cultural gifted education: norming Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) in the Philippine public schools

This is a normative study to investigate the transferability of norms from western-based intelligence tests to Filipino students. More than 2,700 Filipino sixth graders were sampled across the country and administered the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT). Scores were then compared to the US normative sample. The results showed no significant differences in mean scores and the standardized mean difference is small when scaled scores are used in comparison. However, in situations where the test needs to be used for specific portions of the population such as in the context of gifted education, further analysis revealed that the distribution of scores for the Philippine sample differed significantly from the expected values based on the US norms, particularly in the tail ends of the distribution. In these cases, it may not be valid to transfer the US norms directly to Filipino students without any modification.     

Quality assurance and accreditation of engineering education in Jordan

This paper provides a study of the quality assurance and accreditation in the Jordanian higher education sector and focuses mainly on engineering education. It presents engineering education, accreditation and quality assurance in Jordan and considers the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) for a case study. The study highlights the efforts undertaken by the faculty of engineering at JUST concerning quality assurance and accreditation. Three engineering departments were accorded substantial equivalency status by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology in 2009. Various measures of quality improvement, including curricula development, laboratories improvement, computer facilities, e-learning, and other supporting services are also discussed. Further assessment of the current situation is made through two surveys, targeting engineering instructors and students. Finally, the paper draws conclusions and proposes recommendations to enhance the quality of engineering education at JUST and other Jordanian educational institutions.     

The CourseMarker CBA System: Improvements over Ceilidh

This document reports on the results of re-designing and re-implementing the Ceilidh courseware system. It highlights the limitations identified in the thirteen years of Ceilidh's use at the University of Nottingham. It also illustrates how most of these limitations have been resolved by re-designing Ceilidh's architecture and improving various aspects of the marking and administrating processes. The new system, entitled CourseMarker, offers enhanced functionality by adding useful features that have long been needed by Ceilidh's community. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the changes and a brief report on the experience of CourseMarker's use over the last three years. Finally, recent developments and future directions are discussed.