Relationship of creativity and critical thinking to pattern recognition among Singapore private school students

Abstract

Cognitive pattern recognition is known to be an important skill for academic subjects such as mathematics, science, languages, or even humanities. In this study, we investigate the relationships between creativity, critical thinking, and pattern recognition among 203 private school students in Singapore. The instruments used include a creativity test (modified Creativity Selected Elements Questionnaire), a Critical Thinking Test (modified Cornell Critical Thinking), and a pattern recognition test. The main data analysis is done using the SMART-PLS structural equation modeling software. The results of the study reveal that creativity is a weak predictor of pattern recognition (β?=?0.131, p?>?0.05, f² = 0.024) but critical thinking is a good predictor (β?=?0.517, p?<?0.05, f² = 0.374). An implication of the research outcome is that more training on critical thinking should be given to the students to improve their pattern recognition ability.     

族群政治、性别政治和阶级政治的三维空间--后殖民女性主义批评视角简析

后殖民女性主义以其强烈的批判性直指西方对东方的知识霸权。它揭露了西方知识霸权的生产机制,解构了西方女性主义的分析范畴———"妇女",质疑西方女性主义的方法论,揭示出帝国主义和父权制是相互勾结的。后殖民女性主义把西方女权主义惟一关注的"性别压迫"拓展到"性别、族群、阶级压迫"的三维空间,凸现出性别压迫与其他形式压迫的相互连锁关系。     

English,literacy, rhetoric: changing the project?

In this paper I begin to trace two movements in the curriculum history and cultural politics of English teaching: on the one hand, a shift from ‘literature’ to ‘literacy’, as organizing principles for the field, and on the other, from ‘language’ to ‘rhetoric’. I do so within a particular understanding of history, as embracing past present and future dimensions. My aim is two‐fold: to open up questions about the subject's historical legacy, and to draw attention to some of the emerging challenges and prospects for English teaching today and tomorrow.     

"承"有"闻"义补说

“承”有“闻”义，时贤多已论及。据本人调查，此义大约产生于东汉后期，魏晋南北朝用例多见，并沿用到唐五代北宋。“承”与“闻”虽是同义词，但两用法有别：“承”只能表“已然”，不能表“未然”。关于此义的得义之由，学界有“引申”说和“省缩”说两种意见。通过调查分析最初用例，以“引申”说符合实际。     

How Critical Events Rather Than Performance Trends Shape Public Evaluations of the Schools

This paper argues that critical events rather than performance trends affect the collective evaluation of public education because critical events are more likely to stimulate competition among political activists over the meaning attached to real-world happenings. This means, for example, that students' test score averages are not the proximate cause of public evaluations of public schools, but referenda, political interventions, or school shootings may be decisive, simply because such events provoke contests over meaning into which many attentive citizens are drawn. Moreover, racial differences in the assessment of public schools are more likely to result from critical events than from performance trends because racial spokespersons are more vigilant and outspoken in periods of dramatic encounter than in the face of everyday frustrations or pleasures. Public opinion surveys of Nashville–Davidson County, Tennessee, demonstrate episodic diminutions of public esteem for public schools attached to critical events, but not to performance trends. The Nashville case shows that political interventions by social movements or political elites seem especially likely to cause serious declines in the rating given the schools by the general public.     

约翰·希克"第五维度"思想述评

约翰·希克从超越任何一种具体宗教的立场肯定了作为人类内在灵性的"第五维度",他将"第五维度"界定为超范畴的"终极实在",并以"情景"中的"意向性结构"解释了"第五维度"发生作用的真实性和合理性.希克"第五维度"思想还有其双重方法论基础一是宗教文化学层面的"宗教多元论",二是哲学认识论层面的"批判实在论",两者的综合运用有效的解释了自然主义框架下科学与宗教对立的必然性,并最终提示了宗教生活在科学主义时代的价值意蕴.     

Conceptions and Expectations of Mentoring Relationships in a Teacher Education Reform Context

Researchers indicate that prior experience and beliefs about learning and teaching held by practicing and pre-service teachers contribute significantly in shaping their mentoring relationships and, more broadly, their career outlook and aspirations. While mentoring is commonly seen as a form of support for pre-service teachers, mentoring can be pivotal in the creation of enabling environments in which collaborative, professional dialogs are undertaken. Yet, there lies a tension between enculturation into the norms of schools and promoting self-belief, participation, and collaboration. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, in this study we focused on the conceptions and expectations of classroom mentoring within the context of a teacher reform initiative in Scotland. Findings indicated that participants in the study held a mixture of beliefs regarding mentoring practices. Implications for partnership arrangements in initial teacher education and teachers’ career development were discussed.     

物理参数对压力管道振动固有频率的影响

针对某压力管道结构,采用两端简支梁模型,进行了流固耦合振动计算,求得了结构的临界流速,探讨了物理参数对固有频率的影响。     

Bilingual Vine making: problematizing oppressive discourses in a secondary Chicanx/Latinx studies course

ABSTRACT

This article presents the critical digital literacy practices of Latinx bilingual youth in the United States enrolled in a secondary ethnic studies course. Despite the expansion of digital tools in classrooms, empirical studies on the pedagogical affordances of such tools, and how they enhance youth’s critical digital literacies and understandings of themselves remain scarce. The author relies on participant observation, interviews, and the analysis of writing within a unit that incorporated students’ twenty-first century language and literacy practices via Vine’s social media platform to explore issues of power and privilege within an exacerbated sociopolitical climate. Findings reveal the ways in which students drew on a range of fluid linguistic and literate practices to make meaning of themselves, problematize oppressive dominant discourses, and negotiate more desired identities and literacies. Attention to young people’s translanguaging and multimodal codemeshing practices on social media platforms can harvest critical insight about what constitutes twenty-first century critical digital literacies.