Building Positive Learning Experiences through Pedagogical Research Guide Design

Abstract

Library research guides are traditionally designed in a pathfinder-style format by resource type. However, would a pedagogical-style guide, which moves students through the research process, better support the student learning experience? This study sought to answer the question: Which guide design best supports the student information literacy learning experience outside of a classroom setting? This article reports results of a usability study (n?=?22) of first-year to graduate students who interacted with either a pedagogical or pathfinder-style research guide through a simulated research assignment. Results indicate that, although there is no statistically significant performance difference between guide type, students using the pedagogical guide reported a more positive experience than those using the pathfinder guide. As a result, this led them to spend more time on, interact more with, and consult more resources on the research guide. Librarians who wish to enhance the usability of research guides may get greater student engagement by designing their guides pedagogically.     

Knowing the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject

This paper examines the fundamental yet largely neglected distinction between school subjects and academic disciplines in the discourse on teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. It analyses and critiques the curricular positions embedded in that discourse in the light of five possible relationships between school subjects and academic disciplines. Invoking Dewey’s logical‐psychological distinction and research findings, the paper argues that the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject instead of the subject matter of its parent academic discipline lies at the heart of secondary‐school science teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. Knowing such subject matter entails knowing five intersecting dimensions: the logical, the psychological, the pedagogical, the epistemological, and the sociocultural. Implications are drawn concerning theorizing about what secondary‐school science teachers need to know about the subject matter they are expected to teach, subject‐matter preparation for teaching, and the development of secondary‐school science curriculum materials.     

Students’ Choice: Recommendations for Environmental and Instructional Changes in School

This study investigated 134 middle school students’ suggestions concerning environmental and instructional changes based on their individual learning-style Inventories. The results of the study determined that students could suggest environmental and instructional changes that differed from the accustomed traditional environments and instruction encountered on a daily basis.     

Integration of school features into Taiwanese elementary school new English curriculum

Elementary school English activation curriculum, an additional two culture classes, has been implemented only in New Taipei City in Taiwan starting from 2010, so only a few studies focus on it. This is a case study of an English teacher's integration of a school's features into the activation curriculum in a rural elementary school. This study revealed students' positive attitude towards such curriculum, the students’ preference for the English teacher's use of a wide variety of activities and the implementation of alternative assessments; it also revealed the English teacher's expertise and pedagogical competence, developed in collaboration with other teachers.     

Examining primary schools' physical education coordinators' pedagogical content knowledge of games: are we just playing as this?

A detailed insight into how the current educational climate influences the pedagogical decisions made by primary school teachers when teaching games is limited. Studies examining the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teachers within physical education have revealed its close relationship with specific forms of subject knowledge. In recognition of this, Veal and MaKinster's framework of general, domain and topic-specific PCK was employed to examine 12 primary school teachers' PCK of games. It was concluded that when personal experiences of pedagogy and content knowledge are unchallenged and reinforced by teachers' training and continuing professional development (CPD) programmes, very narrow topic-specific PCK results. This PCK was characterised bythe inseparable paring of constricted pedagogical strategies and limited content knowledge. When teachers do not integrate this very narrow topic-specific PCK with other types of PCK, it has significant repercussions upon the planned curriculum and learning experiences offered to pupils.     

基础英语初级阶段教学中易忽视的问题

《新编英语教程》作为基础英语课程的教材,融合了各种技能和知识于其中。然而在实际教学中,不少教师或拘泥于教材本身的讲解,未能摆正着眼点,拓宽学生知识面;或停留于形式和表面．未领会教材编排旨意,致使教学表面化,教条化,未充分发挥该教材优势。     

古代教学语用学思想探析

古代是教学语用学思想的孕育和形成时期.在这一时期,教学语用学思想的雏形已基本形成,主要包括注重教学话语使用、强调教学话语理解、重视教师理解学生等方面的内涵,并为教学语用学在近代的发展奠定了坚实的基础.     

浅谈开封旅游形象的设计

在当今激烈的旅游市场竞争中,城市旅游形象的设计日益受到重视,成为竞争成败的一个关键因素。本文在分析开封历史文脉、旅游资源及旅游者对旅游地形象认知的基础上,提出了开封旅游区的理念形象、视觉形象、服务行为和居民形象设计的初步意见。     

如何运用卡片记录径赛运动员比赛前后的心理状态

运用卡片记录对径赛运动员比赛前后的心理状态进行了探讨,提出卡片记录运动员赛前心理同比赛成绩有一定的关系。     

An analysis of alterity in teachers’ inclusive pedagogical practices

This investigation contributes to understanding how teachers reflect on the other with a disability and on their own practices. Literature suggests that inclusion takes place when barriers are removed, allowing participation. However, scholars agree that teachers still struggle with pedagogical practices in inclusive classrooms. Hansen (Hansen, J. H. 2012. “Limits to Inclusion.” International Journal of Inclusive Education 16 (1): 89–98) contends that teachers establish limits to inclusion in order to manage the level of diversity, arguing that the limits depend on the teacher’s understanding of disability. This article examines German secondary school teachers, who reflect on inclusive pedagogical practices and their relationship to learners with disabilities. The analysis shows that most teachers add levels of complexity when constructing the disability’s identity. Teachers struggled with the notion of limitation associated with disability and with the discovery of the other, with new learning skills and abilities. Interactions with learners with a disability open new venues to practice inclusion and encourage participation, but this requires a change in practices; yet, not all teachers feel prepared to do that. Teachers offered various rationales on why they applied limits to inclusion; those rationales are rooted in how they interpret disability and their own roles as teachers.