历史学功用论研究

历史学家有关历史学功用的论述,一般集中于“求用”和“求真”两个方面。“求用”指政治借鉴,教育民众;“求真”即探究史实真相,揭示历史规律。现实社会中运用历史规律,因脱离了具体的历史背景,历史规律往往与现实不符,“求用”功用面临困境。以过去为研究对象的历史学,因时空差异,无法全面揭示真相,“求真”功用饱受质疑。因此,考察历史学的功用应脱离具体的实用层面,转向探究其超现实价值——“历史思维”和“求真精神”。     

论媒介素养教育与思想政治教育的有效结合

媒介素养教育与思想政治教育的对象的相同性、目的的一致性、内容的关联性、方法的相通性、途径的相似性为两者的结合提供了极大的可能性,而且素质教育的要求、思想政治教育自身发展的要求、媒介素养教育在中国本土化的发展要求使两者的结合非常有必要.将媒介素养教育纳入思想政治教育体系,用思想政治教育的内容来引导媒介素养教育,是对两者有效结合路径的思考,其教育过程大致分为理论学习、思考辨析和实践操作三个阶段.     

高校社团与城中村小学第二课堂的教育融合路径研究

高校社团是非常活跃的教育力量,是锻炼大学生社会实践能力的阵地。针对城中村小学生源结构多元、生源质量偏弱、专业教师缺乏等不足,高校社团应发挥自身积极优势,从提供师资、活动资源等方面参与并服务城中村小学第二课堂活动。     

Latina Professor Revitalizing Historical Memory: Resistance Politics and Transformation within Teacher Education

This study focuses on how a Chicana/Latina professor contributed to the development of social consciousness with Spanish bilingual credential candidates in a Teacher Education Multiple Subject Credential Program, in California, USA. As a teacher educator, my goals were to look deeply at my teaching approach and to evaluate what the students and I were learning from the structure and contents of this course that emphasized issues on Latinos in the USA. The aims for evaluating my teaching both on theoretical and practice levels were to provide insights into the potential tensions in teaching a highly political course within Teacher Education, to explore implications for faculty in Teacher Education, and to investigate how bilingual Teacher Education programs can prepare future teachers to question and challenge inequities in school settings.     

Student teachers’ perceptions of their mentors as internal triggers for learning

This study used responses of 20 student teachers to describe the different ways in which student teachers perceive the practice of their mentors as internal triggers for learning in their practicum experiences in the schools. Reported observations from pedagogical journals of student teachers were described according to various kinds of teaching knowledge and skills and were further categorized as providing either support or challenge to student teachers’ perceptions of learning to teach. The student teachers identified support and challenge in each one of the categories of teaching knowledge and skills, thereby supplying evidence for different kinds of emotional and cognitive triggers for learning. Based on the findings, we make some recommendations for supervision of mentoring relationships.     

MAGIS: mobile augmented-reality games for instructional support

ABSTRACT

We present Mobile Augmented-Reality Games for Instructional Support (MAGIS), a framework for the development of mobile augmented-reality (AR) games for education. The framework supports off-the-shelf, state-of-the-art technologies that enable AR tracking and rendering on consumer-level mobile devices, and integrates these technologies with content-generation tools that simplify the development of educational AR games, especially those that extensively use narrative-based game design and player-location tracking such as location-based historical or museum adventure games. We use Igpaw: Intramuros, a proof-of-concept game developed using MAGIS, to help describe the current state of the framework and to show its efficacy for implementing outdoor location-based educational games, and we briefly outline future development plans to improve MAGIS’ AR support (especially those involving indoor scenarios) as well as to improve the instructional design and authoring phases of AR applications written using this framework.     

The Comparative Effects of Prediction/Discussion‐Based Learning Cycle,Conceptual Change Text,and Traditional Instructions on Student Understanding of Genetics

The present study examined the comparative effects of a prediction/discussion‐based learning cycle, conceptual change text (CCT), and traditional instructions on students' understanding of genetics concepts. A quasi‐experimental research design of the pre‐test–post‐test non‐equivalent control group was adopted. The three intact classes, taught by the same science teacher, were randomly assigned as prediction/discussion‐based learning cycle class (N = 30), CCT class (N = 25), and traditional class (N = 26). Participants completed the genetics concept test as pre‐test, post‐test, and delayed post‐test to examine the effects of instructional strategies on their genetics understanding and retention. While the dependent variable of this study was students' understanding of genetics, the independent variables were time (Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3) and mode of instruction. The mixed between‐within subjects analysis of variance revealed that students in both prediction/discussion‐based learning cycle and CCT groups understood the genetics concepts and retained their knowledge significantly better than students in the traditional instruction group.     

Biology Teachers Designing Context-Based Lessons for Their Classroom Practice—The importance of rules-of-thumb

In science education in the Netherlands new, context‐based, curricula are being developed. As in any innovation, the outcome will largely depend on the teachers who design and implement lessons. Central to the study presented here is the idea that teachers, when designing lessons, use rules‐of‐thumb: notions of what a lesson should look like if certain classroom outcomes are to be reached. Our study aimed at (1) identifying the rules‐of‐thumb biology teachers use when designing context‐based lessons for their own classroom practice, and (2) assessing how these personal rules‐of‐thumb relate to formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. Six biology teachers with varying backgrounds designed and implemented a lesson or series of lessons for their own practice, while thinking aloud. We interviewed the teachers and observed their lessons. Our results suggest that rules‐of‐thumb, which differed substantially among the teachers, indeed to a great extent guide the decisions teachers make when designing (innovative) lessons. These rules‐of‐thumb were often strongly associated with intended lesson outcomes. Also, teachers’ personal rules‐of‐thumb were more powerful in determining the lesson design than formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. The results of this study encourage more research into how rules‐of‐thumb reflect teachers’ practical knowledge, for which suggestions are made.     

Analysing the integration of engineering in science lessons with the Engineering-Infused Lesson Rubric

ABSTRACT

Science teachers are being called on to incorporate engineering practices into their classrooms. This study explores whether the Engineering-Infused Lesson Rubric, a new rubric designed to target best practices in engineering education, could be used to evaluate the extent to which engineering is infused into online science lessons. Eighty lessons were selected at random from three online repositories, and coded with the rubric. Overall results documented the strengths of existing lessons, as well as many components that teachers might strengthen. In addition, a subset of characteristics was found to distinguish lessons with the highest level of engineering infusion. Findings are discussed in relation to the potential of the rubric to help teachers use research evidence-informed practice generally, and in relation to the new content demands of the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards, in particular.