Components of Conceptual Ecologies

The theory of conceptual change is criticized because it focuses only on supposed underlying logical structures and rational process processes, and lacks attention to affective aspects as well as motivational constructs in students’ learning science. This is a vast underestimation of the complexity and diversity of one’s change of conceptions. The notion of conceptual ecology provides a context for understanding individuals’ conceptual change learning, as it is the environment through which all information is interpreted. This research investigated how high school students’ statements, made in answering questions, reflect selected components of their conceptual ecologies. Data for this study was collected from six interviews in which seven students took part. The data also include the science teacher’s profiles of each student, the students’ personal journals, their assignments, and their examinations and answers in class. The analysis presented will here include only those components that were represented in the discourse of the seven high school students who were interviewed. When students were asked questions, there was evidence of the engagement of the various components of conceptual ecologies. These components include: epistemological commitments, metaphysical beliefs, the affective domain and emotional aspects, the nature of knowledge, the nature of learning, the nature of conceptions, and past experience. Evidence from this study suggests that these components might function as constraints to learning. This study contributes to the field by expanding our knowledge of the components of high school students’ conceptual ecologies through its definition of the categories and themes associated with those components. In examining across the range of components, the study illustrates the variety and sources of science conceptions within high school students’ conceptual ecologies.     

经济转型、制度变迁与转型经济学研究范式及内容拓展

本文认为,纯粹的计划制度与纯粹的市场制度都是人类社会经济制度演化的极端情况,经济转型具有一般性和更为丰富的内容;西方主流经济理论只能解释转型社会的部分经济现象和经济问题,具有局限性;转型经济学研究必须在对计划经济理论与市场经济理论进行比较与综合的基础上,突破西方主流经济理论和传统计划经济理论的固有缺陷和约束,进行创新性扩展和重构,其研究范式和研究内容必须不断拓展;任何教条化既有理论观点的态度和做法,都不利于转型经济学理论体系的改进和完善.     

王安石翻案诗的政治解读及其诗史意义

王安石好作翻案诗,早期的翻案诗多在立意上翻新,包括转移视点执其一端立论和推陈出新两种主要方式。这一类翻案诗多为咏史诗,"有所为而为"的写作态度使之精深峭拔,最见荆公襟怀,必须结合王安石的政治关怀和当时的政治背景来解读此类诗作,泥于字句很容易与原旨产生偏离。王安石晚期的翻案诗创作多为诗法翻新,主要包括反用前人诗意及典故、章法上的推倒扶起和句法上的前后反覆三个方面。此类诗为宋诗新变指出了一条新的门径,以往文学史研究多强调荆公体或半山体对唐诗的回归,对此多有忽略。     

Teachers’ perceptions of assessments of their mathematical knowledge in a professional development course

The purpose of the project reported in this article was to evaluate how assessing teachers’ mathematical knowledge within a professional development course impacted from the teachers’ perspective their learning and their experience with the course. The professional development course consisted of a 2-week summer institute and the content focus was geometry. We had decided to assess the mathematical learning of the teachers during this professional development course for various accountability reasons, but were concerned about possible negative by-products of this decision on the teachers and their participation. Thus, we worked to design assessment in ways that we hoped would minimize negative impacts and maintain a supportive learning environment. In addition, we undertook this evaluation to examine the impacts of the assessment, which included homework, quizzes, various projects, and an examination for program evaluation. Seventeen grade 5–9 teachers enrolled in the course participated in the study by completing written reflections and by describing their experiences in interviews. We learned that while our original intent was “to do no harm,” the teachers reported that their learning was enhanced by the assessment. The article concludes by describing the various properties of the assessments that the teachers identified as contributing to their learning of the geometry content, many of which align with current recommendations for assessing and evaluating grade K-16 mathematics students.

服务型乡镇政府的行政资源配置探析

随着中央"一号文件"的贯彻落实和农村税费改革的深入,特别是"工业反哺农业,城市反哺农村"方针的实施,农业与农村工作形势发生了巨大变化。在新形势下,如何促进乡镇政府转型,满足社会主义新农村对社会管理与公共服务的需求,是摆在我们面前的一个重大课题,而只有以服务型乡镇政府为视角重塑乡镇职能,并围绕职能的转变促进乡镇行政资源的优化配置,才可以从根本上解决阻碍服务型乡镇政府建设的瓶颈问题,从而促进新一轮乡镇机构改革与城乡经济社会的协调发展。     

环渤海区域土地利用景观格局变化分析

利用环渤海区域1985年、1995年和2000年3期TM卫星遥感解译数据,在GIS和景观格局分析软件支持下,对该区域1985年~2000年的土地利用景观格局及其变化进行了模拟分析。结果表明: 耕地是区域主导的景观类型,1985年、1995年和2000年耕地分别占景观类型总面积的55.96%、53.70%和55.64%;林地、建设用地是区域优势景观类型,林地分别占景观类型总面积的21.12%、22.13%和20.95%,建设用地分别占景观类型总面积的10.48%、11.83%和11.70%;1985年~1995年、1995年~2000年两个时期,林地和建设用地景观的变化趋势是先增加后减少,与耕地景观变化趋势正好相反,在一定程度上反映了耕地与林地、建设用地景观类型之间的互动转换关系;两个时段土地利用景观斑块数、斑块密度、边界密度、多样性指数、聚集度和均匀度指数的变化表现为先增后减的过程,分维数、蔓延度指数和分离度的变化呈现出先减后增的过程。1985年~2000年土地利用景观斑块数、分维数、多样性指数、分离度和均匀度指数处于降低趋势,而斑块密度、边界密度、蔓延度和聚集度指数呈现出增大趋势,反映了该区域内土地利用景观类型之间存在较大差异,各组分的复杂性降低,大斑块增多,各景观之间的不均匀性增大,不稳定性增强。     

陆军军官院校课程体系的变革与创新——中外陆军院校长论坛综述

2013年在陆军军官学院召开的“中外陆军院校长论坛”邀请了6所外军院校和4所解放军院校的院校长就“陆军军官院校课程体系的变革与创新”进行了研讨交流。本文主要就军官培养面临的挑战与军官培养模式改革、军官学校的科学文化课程变革、军官学校的军事与体育课程变革等主要议题,梳理中外院校长所阐发的观点和各国的实践。     

迎接数字化校园的挑战-教育变革模型及其应用

数字化校园会改变学校的很多方面。如何应对诸多教育变革、有序高效地发挥数字化校园的威力,是很多学校都关心的问题。本文介绍了国外有关教育变革的研究成果,这些研究可以用来指导学校更好地制订相关政策、设计教师培训、推动技术应用。     

Is academic tracking related to gains in learning competence? Using propensity score matching and differential item change functioning analysis for better understanding of tracking implications

This study analyzes gains in cognitive components of learning competence with respect to cohorts based on ability tracking in a Czech longitudinal study. Propensity score matching is used to form parallelized samples of academic and non-academic track students and to eliminate the effect of selective school intake. We applied regression models on the total scores to test for the overall track effect. Furthermore, we analyze scores and gains on the subscores and check for differential item functioning in Grade 6 and in change to Grade 9. While after 3 years, no significant difference between the two tracks was apparent in the total learning competence score, we did, however, find significant differences in some subscores and in the functioning of some items. We argue that item-level analysis is important for deeper understanding of the tracking implications and may provide the basis for more precise evidence-based decisions regarding the tracking policy.     

Mature students’ journey into higher education in the UK: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

ABSTRACT

This article reports on issues of diversity in the context of widening participation in global higher education (HE). Mature students represent a third of the HE student population in Australia, Canada, UK and the USA. More research is needed to understand factors that can facilitate or hinder access to HE for this group. The aim of this study was to examine factors that a small group of mature students perceived influenced them as they made the decision to take up HE. Six undergraduate students at a British university who were on track to finish their studies took part in semi-structured interviews. All participants were white and from families with no previous experience of HE. Mean age was 42.7 years (range 35–51), and 50% were female. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Through using phenomenological analysis to analyse perceptions of changing motivation and goals during the decision-making process to take up HE, a detailed understanding of the complexity of these change processes was obtained. The analysis offers evidence that mature students experience far-reaching personal and social changes related to their decision to enter HE and adds a novel understanding of these identity-changes. This new insight is of fundamental importance to the field because the novel understanding of mature students’ meaning-making could be used to tailor interventions to facilitate access to HE for mature students.