What Should High–Risk Operations Evaluate Relative To Safety And Safety Training

This article presents a concise argument for strategic planning for training effectiveness evaluation for high–risk operations including nuclear power training. The article looks at external criteria for such evaluation including considerations of: (1) the safety of the general population, (2) the safety of employees, and (3) the cost–effective delivery of the organization's products and services (e.g., the delivery of energy).     

Model‐based reasoning about energy: A fourth‐grade case study

We report a case study of model‐based reasoning in which a small group of fourth‐grade students analyzes the energy flow when a solar panel is used to power an electric motor that spins a propeller. In developing their explanation of energy flow, the students draw on a general model of energy developed collectively by their class in the course of an experimental classroom curriculum led by a trained teacher. They also construct a model‐based representation of the specific system under study. Their investigation and reasoning process exhibit all the features of authentic scientific model‐based inquiry, including the revision of their models to incorporate new information. In the course of their work the students recruit and seamlessly integrate nearly all of the practices of science designated in the Next Generation Science Standards. This case study provides an example of what modeling‐based teaching and learning can look like in an elementary school classroom. It also suggests that the study of energy offers a particularly promising context for developing students' use of science practices, especially the practice of developing and using models.     

Evolving patterns of working: do they matter?

We consider how changing attitudes to computer use may alter the habits of students in the use of location and times of the day. We discover for one community the extent to which they absent themselves from the physical university and see some trends. We suggest that this is a deep change of habit, influenced by the ‘digital generation’, and seek qualitative results on what determines the modern student's keyboard behaviour. We present early evidence that, while students are indeed absenting themselves from formal computer facilities, some understanding of the benefits of the physical university remains intact.     

Epistemological beliefs are standards for adaptive learning: a functional theory about epistemological beliefs and metacognition

Empirical studies reveal a close relationship between epistemological beliefs (EBs) and metacognition. For example, more ‘sophisticated’ beliefs are associated with more self-reported monitoring strategies. This relationship is also advocated theoretically. Nevertheless, exactly how and why EBs impact learning is still an open question. In accordance with others (for example Muis 2007; Muis and Franco 2009) we conceive the COPES Model (Winne and Hadwin 1998) as an appropriate answer to the how question. Within that model, epistemological beliefs are conceptualized as ‘internal conditions of learning’ and they are embedded into recursive processes of self- regulation. With regard to the why question, we assume that EBs function as general ideas about knowledge for the apprehension of the content to be learnt. Such apprehension allows for the calibration of learning to different learning tasks. We review two clusters of studies on the preparatory and the enactment stages of learning testing this apprehension and calibration hypothesis.     

继承发扬优良传统 精心打造精品课程——中国地质大学“岩石学”课程发展历程

本文回顾了中国地质大学“岩石学”课程自著名的岩石学家、教育家池际尚院士开创至今的59年光辉历程,包括“岩石学”课程开创和奠基（1950～1966）,“文化大革命”的破坏及其后的复苏（1966～1980）、“岩石学”课程全面发展（1981～1996）和面向21世纪“岩石学”课程的新变革、新发展（1997～）等四个阶段。重点叙述了第四阶段在全球化时代背景下,继续继承和发扬重教学、重实践、重改革的优良传统,进一步精心打造“岩石学”精品课程的变革和发展。