Generating knowledge in a Learning Study – from the perspective of a teacher researcher

The purpose of this article is to discuss and describe how a clinical research method can be used to generate knowledge about teaching and learning. This will be addressed from a teacher researcher’s perspective, taking a conducted Learning Study as the departure. Learning Study is an interventionist, iterative and collaborative research approach, focusing on the teaching of an object of learning. The actual study was conducted by a teacher researcher leading a teacher research team in a study about story-writing in primary school. The research process and the results are discussed using four areas that are described as dichotomies by Labaree (Labaree, D.F. 2003. “The Peculiar Problems of Preparing Educational Researchers.” Educational Researcher 32 (4): 13–22). Labaree states that teacher researchers need to go from being normative, experimental, personal and particular to being analytical, theoretical, intellectual and universal. By using examples from the Learning Study, I argue that these areas do not have to be seen as dichotomies; instead they can be combined and intertwined. Thus, in a Learning Study, elements from both the teaching practice and the academic practice matter, thus enhancing the possibility that results are useful for practitioners.     

Learning subject content through a foreign language should not ignore human cognitive architecture: A cognitive load theory approach

Several widely implemented educational approaches aim to provide academic content in a foreign language. While Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) works because it focuses both on content and on foreign language learning, approaches aiming at transmitting academic content through a foreign language should not be implemented without explicit foreign language instructional support. Based on cognitive load theory, there are theoretical reasons to hypothesize that exposure to new content in a foreign language without any foreign language instructional support may interfere with rather than facilitate learning compared to learning language and content separately. In three experiments conducted in higher education, a text was presented to 294 students in three different conditions: native language, foreign language, and foreign language with a translation into the native language. We varied the foreign language (English, German) and the domain (Law, Computer Science). Our results indicated that reading in the foreign language was never the best condition to learn either language or academic content. We concluded that considerable care should be taken when transmitting academic content in a foreign language, without explicit foreign language instructional support.     

Improving students’ proportional thinking using schema-based instruction

This study investigated the effectiveness of an instructional program (schema-based instruction, SBI) designed to teach 7th graders how to comprehend and solve proportion problems involving ratios/rates, scale drawings, and percents. The SBI program emphasized the underlying mathematical structure of problems via schematic diagrams, focused on a 4-step procedure to support and monitor problem solving, and addressed the flexible use of alternative solution strategies based on the problem situation. Blocking by teacher at three middle schools, the authors randomly assigned the 21 classrooms to one of two conditions: SBI and control. Classroom teachers provided the instruction. Results of multilevel modeling used to test for treatment effects after accounting for pretests and other characteristics (gender, ethnicity) revealed the direct effects of SBI on mathematical problem solving at posttest. However, the improved problem solving skills were not maintained a month later when SBI was no longer in effect nor did the skills transfer to solving problems in new domain-level content.     

博物馆学课程实践教学体系建设的思考

博物馆学课程教学兼有理论教学与实践教学两方面内容,结合理论教学建立课堂实践、课外实践、校外实践相结合的课程实践教学体系,以丰富学生对博物馆工作的认识和体验。在课程实践教学中采用项目教学法,将教学内容设计成一项具体的、具有实际应用价值的项目任务,由学生自主完成,从而提高学生思考和解决问题的能力。通过课程实践教学,学生在实践中自主学习,以实践性的课程考核代替传统的试卷考核,在实践中检验学习成果,使学生在校学习期间能够较好地掌握从事博物馆工作的基本技能,实现高校博物馆学专业人才培养目标。     

社会文化理论与支架式语言教学概述

维果斯基的社会文化观自提出以来,对外语教学的观念和实践产生了巨大的冲击和影响。近年来,以社会文化观为理论基础和指导的外语教学方法层出不穷,其中支架式语言教学就是其中最具影响力的一类。本文将就支架式语言教学的来由、概念、步骤和注意事项做一介绍。     

关于将元认知训练纳入高中英语听力教学之探讨

本文主要探讨了将元认知训练纳入高中英语听力教学,从增强学生元认知意识和元认知知识水平、引导学生进行元认知体验、实践基于元认知策略的课堂听力教学这三个方面帮助学生提高听力理解能力、发展综合语言运用能力和自主学习能力。     

高职高专体育课程建设探析

通过分析制约目前高职高专体育课程建设的影响因素,提出高职高专体育课程应依据高职教育倡导的"能力本位"模式,以"强化职业技能掌握、职业体能储备和终身体育意识"为核心思想,构建符合高职教育特征的教材体系,优化课程体系,发展多种教学模式,实现高职高专体育课程建设的职业化、差异化。     

Teaching Grammar in a Communicative Framework in the Chinese EFL Context

Communicative language teaching(CLT) has been introduced to the English-as-a-foreign-language(EFL) context in China for four decades.One of the most significant remaining issues is related to whether this approach to grammar teaching is more effective and efficient than traditional ones.Based on an overview of trends in approaches to grammar instruction,discussion on both advantages of teaching grammar communicatively and the challenges posed by the Chinese EFL context are provided.It is proposed that grammar instruction should be integrated into a communicative framework and this would be the optimal approach to grammar teaching on condition that some constraints in the EFL context in China are dealt with carefully.Teaching implications conclude this paper.     

国学启蒙经典中的“阅读推广”——《三字经》蕴含的阅读方法与指导思想探析

《三字经》语言凝练、内涵丰富,为古代蒙学教育的经典读物,它根据蒙童学习特点集中推荐“经”“史”“子”类书目并指导阅读方法。《三字经》中针对阅读内容、阅读方法、阅读环境、思考能力培养和推荐书单制定等方面的阅读指导思想对于开展青少年阅读推广具有重要指导价值。     

高校会计制度改革辨析

近年来,由于我国经济的飞速发展,宏观经济体制和高等教育体制都发生了重大改革,教育经费来源趋于多元化,而政府投资、社会投入以及个人投入比例的变化使得高校会计核算呈现新的变化。2009年8月,财政部公布了《高等学校会计制度（征求意见稿）》,2010年提出了高校会计制度改革的任务。对此,文章从高校所处的社会时代背景和财务管理状况分析现今的高校会计制度的利弊,并针对这些方面提出改进的方法和建议。