VERBAL JUSTIFICATION—IS IT A PROOF? SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS

According to reform documents, teachers are expected to teach proofs and proving in school mathematics. Research results indicate that high school students prefer verbal proofs to other formats. We found it interesting and important to examine the position of secondary school teachers with regard to verbal proofs. Fifty high school teachers were asked to prove various elementary number theory statements, to write correct and incorrect proofs that students may use, and to evaluate given justifications to statements from elementary number theory. While all the participants provided correct proofs to the statements, our findings indicate that teachers are not aware of students’ preference for verbal justifications. Also, about half of the teachers rejected correct verbal justifications. They claimed that these justifications lacked generality and are mere examples.     

Depersonalization or cynicism, efficacy or inefficacy: what are the dimensions of teacher burnout?

This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate on the dimensionality of the burnout syndrome. Specifically, its aims are: (1) to investigate the role of efficacy beliefs using negatively worded inefficacy items instead of positive ones and (2) to establish whether depersonalization and cynicism can be considered two different dimensions of the teacher burnout syndrome. The results show that, compared with efficacy beliefs, inefficacy beliefs relate more strongly to the other burnout dimensions considered by the study (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and cynicism). Moreover, using partial disaggregation method, a better fit is found for the four-factor model with separate depersonalization and cynicism dimensions than for the three-factor model in which depersonalization and cynicism are collapsed into one factor. The article concludes that future research on teacher burnout should: (1) use the inefficacy scale as the “third dimension” of burnout, rather than the efficacy scale, and (2) include the cynicism and depersonalization constructs.     

章鱼花园

我想潜到海里,躲在章鱼花园的绿阴下。"我和爸爸在起居室听着甲壳虫乐队的黑胶唱片播放《章鱼花园》这首歌。那时我大概只有六岁。那句歌词让我感到困惑。"海里怎么会有绿阴呢?"我问爸爸",海水下面并没有阴凉和日晒的区别啊!""     

Intercultural learning in graduate studies at an Israeli college of education: Attitudes toward multiculturalism among Jewish and Arab students

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the factors which affect attitudes towards multiculturalism among Jewish and Arab graduate students who experience intercultural learning in an Israeli-Jewish academic college of education. In Israeli society, it is in higher education institutions where young people from different ethnic groups first encounter the ‘others’. This is due to the structure of the Israeli elementary and secondary education system, which is divided into Jewish and Arab segregated sub-systems. In contrast, the country’s higher education institutions are open to everyone. The research population was composed of first and second year graduate students, all of whom were practicing teachers or involved in other educational work. Participants completed questionnaires and a smaller sample was also interviewed. All of the students are practicing teachers or involved in other educational work. Everyone perceived the college’s socio-cultural climate as an open and multicultural one in both years of study. However, these positive feelings characterized Jewish students to a larger extent than Arab students, while the socio-cultural aspect as well as the quality of the academic experience had a positive impact on multicultural attitudes primarily among Arab students. Thus, a multicultural climate is not enough to effect a positive change in entrenched attitudes toward multiculturalism. Multicultural education policy should also be reinforced through a formal academic curriculum, so as to set an example for ongoing social change which will further encourage graduate students—majority and minority alike—to implement their multicultural positive experiences in their own schools in the future.     

The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review

The number of children living in the United States who are learning two languages is increasing greatly. However, relatively little research has been conducted on the language and literacy development of dual language learners (DLLs), particularly during the early childhood years. To summarize the extant literature and guide future research, a critical analysis of the literature was conducted. A search of major databases for studies on young typically developing DLLs between 2000 and 2011 yielded 182 peer-reviewed articles.     

Developmentally Appropriate Technology Use and Early Childhood Teacher Education

Early childhood teacher education methods classes often emphasize the application of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). In today's digital age, it is important for teacher educators and their students to think about how to extend DAP to technology use. In this article, two contrasting classroom scenarios are provided to illustrate developmentally appropriate technology use (DATU), a new educational term coined by the authors. Briefly, DATU is defined as use that both respects the unique challenges presented by children's levels of development and capitalizes on children's natural desire to actively, collaboratively construct knowledge and solve problems. A five-element framework for guiding teachers toward DATU is explained.     

Accessing and Incorporating Visitors' Entrance Narratives in Guided Museum Tours

Abstract Museum visitors arrive at an exhibit or tour with their own individual experiences, memories and knowledge related to the subject — in a phrase, their “entrance narrative.” We tested what happens to participants in guided tours when the guide first accesses — by two different methods — the entrance narratives of their visitors, and then makes specific connections from these entrance narratives to the content of the tour. The subject of the tour was a guided tree walk at Hebrew University's open‐campus museum. Behavioral measures and questionnaires both indicated that accessing and incorporating participants' entrance narratives profoundly enhanced their experience. The enhancement was somewhat greater among visitors from the general public than among groups of university students. We suggest that guides could use the simple methods described here, in a wide variety of tour types, to enhance visitor experiences.     

我国基础教育现代化发展的根本转化

中国基础教育现代化发展是历史的必然。本文从基础教育战略地位、教育观念、教育体制、研究主题以及区域推进五个方面论述了中国基础教育现代转化的主要标志及特色 ,进而提出推进中国基础教育现代化发展理论范畴研究的几个问题。