Influences of developmental contexts and gender differences on school performance of children and adolescents

This study investigated children and adolescents’ school performance over time focusing on two variables that may influence it: developmental context and gender. The sample comprised 627 participants (M_age?=?11.13, SD?=?1.8), 51% of them female, from grade one to eight, living either with family (n?=?474) or in care institutions (n?=?153). Participants answered individually the Teste de Desempenho Escolar (School Performance Test) and the Structured PRONEX Interview. Findings indicated a main effect of time on school performance (i.e., writing, reading and arithmetic). Furthermore this main effect was further qualified by a time and developmental context interaction and by a time and gender interaction. Interactions revealed that the participants from care institutions attained more significant increases in writing and reading than participants living within a family context; and that girls attained more significant increases in writing than boys. Therefore, school performance progress appears as affected by developmental contexts and gender. The findings reveal how school performance needs to be observed as a multidimensional variable, affected by individual characteristics but also by external ones.     

An analysis of the effectiveness of feedback to students on assessed work

This paper presents the views of students, from a range of schools and disciplines, on the effectiveness of current assessment feedback practices at Flinders University. We also report on a workshop on feedback with teachers. Overall, individual written comments were found to be the most useful form of feedback. However, there was significant variation with the level of satisfaction with feedback and the relative usefulness of different forms of feedback across the different schools and disciplines. This research suggests both the need to improve the effectiveness of such feedback and to tailor the forms of feedback offered to students according to the distinctive teaching and learning environments in different schools and disciplines. To that end, innovation and further research on feedback are justified, and some suggestions are offered.     

Planning a competence-based curriculum: the case of four secondary schools in England

Despite the belief that schools tend to be resistant to change, it is possible to find secondary schools in the UK which are investing in the design of an innovative curriculum for their Year 7 (11-year-old students). This article focuses on four of these schools and discusses some of the challenges they face in planning and implementing their competence-based curricula (CBC). Such curricula tend to be based on the rationale that they better prepare all students for the constant changes of human knowledge and understanding. They develop transferable skills rather than subject-specific content, which are considered necessary requirements for learners as future productive members of society in the twenty-first century. Advocates of CBC argue that such curricula are more inclusive and emancipatory than traditional curricula, although this view is contested. Employing Bernstein's concepts of framing and classification of the curriculum, this article describes the challenges and constraints encountered by four schools which have endeavoured to develop a competence-based curriculum.     

Efficiency analysis of forestry journals: Suggestions for improving journals’ quality

In this paper we attempt to assess the impact of journals in the field of forestry, in terms of bibliometric data, by providing an evaluation of forestry journals based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). In addition, based on the results of the conducted analysis, we provide suggestions for improving the impact of the journals in terms of widely accepted measures of journal citation impact, such as the journal impact factor (IF) and the journal h-index. More specifically, by modifying certain inputs associated with the productivity of forestry journals, we have illustrated how this method could be utilized to raise their efficiency, which in terms of research impact can then be translated into an increase of their bibliometric indices, such as the h-index, IF or eigenfactor score.     

Problem posing based on investigation activities by university students

This paper reports a classroom-based study involving investigation activities in a university numerical analysis course. The study aims to analyse students' mathematical processes and to understand how these activities provide opportunities for problem posing. The investigations were intended to stimulate students in asking questions, to trigger their thinking processes, to promote their ability to investigate and to support them in learning numerical analysis' concepts and procedures. The results show that the investigations provided opportunities for students to experience mathematical processes, including posing questions, formulating and testing conjectures and, to some extent, proving results. They also provide some understanding about the role of problem posing in these processes. Posing questions occurred mainly in an implicit way, in the interpretation of tasks and in identifying regularities, analysing graphs and testing cases. The conjectures were often based on pattern identification or data manipulation, and the students tended to accept them without testing or proving. The students also proposed alternative formulations for the initial questions and posed new problems from their explorations and attempts to refine previous conjectures.     

Science and engineering students’ use of diagrams during note taking versus explanation

The use of diagrams in learning and communication is generally considered efficacious and an important skill to cultivate, especially among science students. At the same time, previous research has revealed many problems in student diagram use, including a lack of spontaneity in such use, but the extent to which these problems persist into the tertiary level had not been investigated. The present study examined science and engineering university students’ use of diagrams in note taking to learn information from a written passage, and in a subsequent task of constructing an explanation of that information for another person. The results showed that the students used significantly fewer diagrams in explaining compared to when they were note taking, suggesting that many students may lack awareness of the usefulness of diagrams in effectively communicating information to others. The results also revealed that the students used significantly more diagrams in taking notes from and explaining a passage with higher imageability (i.e. easier to visually imagine) compared to one with lower imageability. Educational implications of the findings are discussed.     

A comparative study on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients with and without diabetes

The study was conducted to find out the extent of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients (ISPs) with and without diabetes. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was studied as a marker of lipid peroxidation. Glutathione (GSH), uric acid and ceruloplasmin were estimated to study the antioxidant potential of ISPs. Significantly higher levels of MDA were found in both the groups of ISPs and the increase in MDA was more in ISPs without diabetes. GSH levels were decreased significantly in both the groups of ISPs and maximum decline was found in ISPs with diabetes. Uric acid levels were significantly increased in both the groups of ISPs. Ceruloplasmin levels were increased significantly in ISPs without diabetes, whereas its levels were slightly decreased in ISPs with diabetes. A negative correlation was found between MDA and the antioxidants GSH, uric acid and ceruloplasmin in ISPs with diabetes. This study suggests that there is an association between ischemic stroke and increased oxidative stress and the antioxidant potential is impaired in both the groups of ISPs with and without diabetes.     

《光明之城》的真伪问题刍议

章首先对《光明之城》的真伪问题提出鉴别标准,认为在英译未能提供原件作科学鉴定的情况下,仅以书中有某些符合历史的事例证其“不是伪书”是不可靠的,只有通过反向求证,考察书中是有不符合史实的事例才是更有效的鉴别方法。章随后对书听若干问题逐一考证,认为它们在着明显的错误和偏差。把它看作“伪书”是比较慎重的。     

巨尾桉叶片水提液对小麦幼苗生长的影响

巨尾桉是华南地区重要的人工林树种。研究表明,其叶片水抽提物对小麦 生长有显著抑制作用,对种子萌发亦有显著影响．     

THE POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL METHACRYLATE WITH A NEW TIN-BRIDGED YTTROCENE/Al(i-Bu)_3

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