Empowering visuo-spatial ability in primary school: results from a follow-up study

The current study was primarily aimed at verifying the effect of a combined computer-assisted and pencil-and-paper training that was developed to empower visuo-spatial abilities in primary school pupils. One hundred and twenty third grade (mean average: eight years old) and fourth grade (mean age: nine years old) students attending several Italian primary schools were presented with several tests of the Primary Mental Abilities (PMA) battery by Thurstone and Thurstone. Of these, 64 children underwent the training “Recovery in visuo-spatial abilities” developed by Fastame and Antonini for 15 weekly sessions. The remaining students were assigned to the control group. Post-test scores and a follow-up assessment after six months by the end of the training highlight the positive impact of the intervention in enhancing visuo-spatial abilities.     

Embedded creative workers and creative work in education

This article is concerned with the many connections between creative work and workers, and education work and industries. Employment in the education sector has long been recognised as a significant element in creative workers’ portfolio careers. Much has been written, for example, about the positive contribution of ‘artists in schools’ initiatives. Australian census analyses reveal that education is the most common industry sector into which creative workers are ‘embedded’, outside of the core creative industries. However, beyond case studies and some survey research into arts instruction and instructors, we know remarkably little about in which education roles and sectors creative workers are embedded, and the types of value that they add in those roles and sectors. This article reviews the extant literature on creative work and workers in education, and presents the findings of a survey of 916 graduates from creative undergraduate degrees in Australia. The findings suggest that education work is very common among creative graduates indeed, while there are a range of motivating factors for education work among creative graduates, on average they are satisfied with their careers, and that creative graduates add significant creative-cultural and creative-generic value add through their work.     

The careers of fine artists and the embedded creative

While there is a growing body of scholarship on the creative industries and on the career trajectories of graduates from creative industries programmes, there has to date only been a limited amount of research that examines in detail, the careers of fine arts graduates. Fine art is arguably the least ‘vocational’ of creative disciplines, in that there are relatively few employers that seek to employ fine artists as fine artists. If fine arts graduates are not employed in their chosen field – that is, in the ‘Creative Trident’ terminology, in a core creative occupation – how do their careers parallel or differ from those of other creative graduates? Do they find employment as ‘embedded creatives’, using or applying their experience and practice in sectors beyond the core creative industries, or as ‘support workers’, enabling and facilitating the creative work of others? Do they experience portfolio careers? And how do their artistic training and attitudes to creativity affect their working relationships and experiences? This article draws on rich qualitative data about the experiences of a small group of graduates (including the author) who all graduated from the same course at the same institution in the UK in 1994, to provide some insights into the career paths and trajectories of a sample of fine arts graduates.     

科技翻译中的灵活处理

科技翻译讲究准确、严谨、清晰、精炼。译者作为翻译这一创造性活动的主体,在尊重原文的前提下,充分而适度地发挥其主体性是高质量完成译作的保证。该文试以航空专业为例浅析译者如何在科技翻译中进行灵活处理,通过采取恰当的翻译措施和策略,加强与技术人员的沟通,大胆重写、勇于创新,实现科技翻译的“创造性忠实”。     

Mathematical language and mathematical abilities in preschool: A systematic literature review

It is well established that early general language during preschool is critical for children's mathematical abilities. In an attempt to further characterize this association between language and mathematics, an increasing number of studies show that one specific type of language, namely mathematical language or the key linguistic concepts that are required for performing mathematical activities, is even more critical to children's mathematical abilities. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence on mathematical language and mathematical abilities. We focus on preschool children as nearly all of the existing work has been done at this age. We first explain how mathematical language has been defined across studies, and report how it has been evaluated in studies in preschool. Next, we present the results of our systematic review. Following the PRISMA guidelines and after a critical appraisal, we ended with a set of 18 papers that were all of sufficient methodological quality. In these studies, mathematical language was defined as terms that are about numbers and operations on numbers (e.g., nine), but also included linguistic terms that do not directly refer to numbers, yet are important to understand mathematical concepts (i.e., quantitative and spatial terms such as fewest and middle, respectively). Some of these studies evaluated children's performance on mathematical language tasks, while others evaluated the mathematical language input provided to the child by their (educational) environment (teachers/parents/interventionists). Mathematical language correlated positively with children's mathematical abilities, concurrently and longitudinally. It also directly affected children's mathematical abilities, as was shown by intervention studies. We discuss potential directions for future research and highlight implications for education, arguing for more support for teachers and parents to improve the use of mathematical language in the classroom and in home settings.     

Integrating Creative Thinking Skills Pedagogies into a Higher Education Visual Arts Course

Although there has been increasing international emphasis on creativity in education, many creativity training programmes have focused on enhancing students' creative thinking skills with few studies on how these skills can be integrated into the teaching of subject disciplines. As a member of a Community of Practice project that ran from spring 2021 to summer 2022 at my university, I worked with ten university teachers from multiple disciplines to develop and implement instructional strategies to foster students' creative thinking skills. The paper documented the development, implementation and evaluation of creative thinking skills teaching strategies for a higher education course in visual arts. Both the development of the teaching strategies and the measurement of the impact on student learning have undergone vigorous research procedures and made reference to the existing literature. The effectiveness of the activities was assessed using multiple methods including the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, a self-report inventory, and a focus group interview. The results indicated the new learning activities enhanced students' creative thinking skills. They also showed that creativity can be developed through teaching while revealing that playfulness, freedom and structure, group interactions, and problem-solving activities are beneficial for the development of creative thinking skills. Readers may better understand the different ways in which creative thinking skills instruction materials can be developed and incorporated into teaching of visual arts by making reference to the strategies suggested and the process of development in the paper.     

Effect of binocular disparity on learning anatomy with stereoscopic augmented reality visualization: A double center randomized controlled trial

Binocular disparity provides one of the important depth cues within stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) visualization technology. However, there is limited research on its effect on learning within a 3D augmented reality (AR) environment. This study evaluated the effect of binocular disparity on the acquisition of anatomical knowledge and perceived cognitive load in relation to visual-spatial abilities. In a double-center randomized controlled trial, first-year (bio)medical undergraduates studied lower extremity anatomy in an interactive 3D AR environment either with a stereoscopic 3D view (n = 32) or monoscopic 3D view (n = 34). Visual-spatial abilities were tested with a mental rotation test. Anatomical knowledge was assessed by a validated 30-item written test and 30-item specimen test. Cognitive load was measured by the NASA-TLX questionnaire. Students in the stereoscopic 3D and monoscopic 3D groups performed equally well in terms of percentage correct answers (written test: 47.9 ± 15.8 vs. 49.1 ± 18.3; P = 0.635; specimen test: 43.0 ± 17.9 vs. 46.3 ± 15.1; P = 0.429), and perceived cognitive load scores (6.2 ± 1.0 vs. 6.2 ± 1.3; P = 0.992). Regardless of intervention, visual-spatial abilities were positively associated with the specimen test scores (η² = 0.13, P = 0.003), perceived representativeness of the anatomy test questions (P = 0.010) and subjective improvement in anatomy knowledge (P < 0.001). In conclusion, binocular disparity does not improve learning anatomy. Motion parallax should be considered as another important depth cue that contributes to depth perception during learning in a stereoscopic 3D AR environment.     

基于CAS的创新人才的培养机制及对策研究：协同创新的视角

目前我国大力倡导的协同创新是一种新兴的创新合作方式,以此为平台进行创新人才的培养具有很强的探索价值。协同创新是一个复杂的过程,创新主体通过激活创新要素、共享创新资源与优化资源配置来获得创新成果效用的最大化,其本质就是损益与共的企业与学研机构之间的互利合作模式。在这种合作模式中,合作双方在追求各自利益最大化的同时共同创造了一个有利于创新人才培养的协同创新环境,并能够保持连续有效的培养效果,是一种超越传统产学研合作的更加优越的新型人才培养模式。结合复杂适应系统理论,从动因机制、目标机制等六个方面构建协同创新下创新人才的培养机制;利用Netlogo仿真平台,通过多主体建模仿真证明了该机制的正确性;最后从利益协同、人才聚集、信任分派、知识共享和建立国际化的协同创新平台五个方面提出提升协同创新下创新人才培养的对策建议。     

中日创意产品贸易国际竞争力比较分析--基于国际分工视角

本文主要运用国际市场占有率指数、贸易竞争力指数和显示性比较优势指数对中日两国1996-2010年间的创意产品贸易进行了对比分析,结果表明：我国创意产品有着很强的国际竞争力,且远大于日本。通过进一步的行业分工分析发现,我国的竞争优势主要集中在工艺品、设计等创意和技术含量较低的劳动力密集型行业中,视听、音乐等创意元素较多的行业的竞争力并不高,且多个行业的竞争力正在下降;而日本除了少数几个创意产品外,各行业的竞争力均较弱。最后,从加快集聚区建设、引进和培养人才、加大科技投入、树立创意品牌等方面提出了提高中国创意产品贸易竞争力的对策。     

Address by H. E. LI Keqiang Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China At the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Global Research Council

<正>Beijing,27 May 2014Friends from the international science community,Ladies and Gentlemen,I am delighted to attend the 2014 annual meeting of the Global Research Council in Beijing.Established in 2012,the council is a young international science organization but has strong vitality and unlimited future.The council held its fi rst annual meeting in a developed country and is holding this year’s meeting in a developing one.This shows its global vision and dedication to openness and cooperation.The theme of this meeting,"Open Access and Shaping the Future",meets practical needs and reflects future trends.