Teachers’ and principals’ reflections on student participation in a school science and technology competition

Background The European Union asks for renewed pedagogies in schools according to teaching strategies and necessary competences for the twenty-first century, instead of the often-used transmissive pedagogies. The national Swedish competition in science and technology for grade eight, The Technology Eight, provides an opportunity for teachers to work with instructional strategies in line with suggested pedagogies.

Purpose To investigate teachers’ and principals’ reflections on the competition in schools.

Sample Seventeen secondary school teachers and three principals from districts in the south-western part of Sweden participated in the study. All teachers had long experience of the competition, and their classes had reached at least the regional finals during the last year.

Design and methods Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then analysed using content analysis. Focus was put on why the teachers decided to participate, how the teachers integrated the competition in their education and roles of the principals.

Results There were various reasons for participating in the competition. Teachers reported development of twenty-first-century skills such as better cooperation between the students. They also noticed an increased interest in science and technology and how learning in the subjects was stimulated. Furthermore, the teachers found participation in the competition to be positive for them too. They integrated the competition in ordinary education and gained teaching ideas as well as found connections to the curriculum. Participating in the competition seemed to be a tradition in most of the schools. The principals’ role was to facilitate the organisation around the competition and to provide social support.

Conclusions Participation in a school competition was considered as an instructional strategy with several positive outcomes. Use of this strategy can be supported by earlier suggestions to use pedagogies that are opposite to transmissive methods, enhancing students’ development of important skills for the future.     

对我校办学定位的再思考

台州学院升格为普通全日制本科高校以后,确定了“地方性、应用性、综合性、高教性”的十二字办学定位,经过近五年来的实践,学校取得了健康快速发展。而全面有效落实办学定位,加快学校全面战略转型,要服务地方而不能自我封闭;重视应用,新扩五大专业而不同化于高职院校;综合全面发展,学科宽覆盖,专业设置要综合;高校在内涵提升上要强调大学精神与学术文化。“四性”有机结合,不可偏废,齐头并进,全面发展,为建设台州大学奠定基础。     

专家型幼儿教师成长的几点思考

专家型教师成长是目前国内教学研究的一个热点问题。1.职业的奖赏与回报是专家型幼儿教师成长的动力;2.专业知识和教学技能是专家型幼儿教师成长的内涵;3.教学反思和新手训练是专家型幼儿教师成长的主要途径;4.适应挑战、个人能力是专家型幼儿教师成长的条件。     

本科非统计专业统计学教学的几点思考

统计学是经济、管理类专业的核心课程,作为一门应用性很强的方法论学科,其适用范围越来越广泛,统计学本身也由于受计算机、信息论等现代科技的影响而迅速发展。因此,针对本科非统计专业统计学课程的教与学的探究就显得尤为重要,特别是教材选择、教学内容的设置、教学方法和教学手段改革等几方面。     

试论建国初期党对知识分子的认识及相关政策

知识分子是科学文化知识的载体，是推动社会进步的重要力量，新中国成立后，中国共产党为了巩固新生的人民政权，建立强大的社会主义国家，必须依靠知识分子作为社会主义建设的中坚力量，而知识分子阶层的复杂性，使中国共产党借鉴过去的经验，提出了适合新时期社会发展需要的“团结、教育、改造”等政策，为以后知识分子政策的完善提供了理论依据，但由于对知识分子阶级属性的错误认识，“有职、有权、有责”政策不到位，缺乏对知识分子人性化管理，从而造成政策上的一些偏差。     

关于幼童留美的当代反思

总结中国近代史上幼童留美的经验教训，可以为我们认识、分析当代的留学教育提供一个观察的角度。从宏观上讲，洋务派缺乏整体观念只进行零星教育改革以及留学政策制定上的随意性弊端，我们当引以为戒。从微观上讲，今天的少年留学生缺乏当年留美幼童的一些有利条件，对待留学当持谨慎态度。     

关于我国对外开放历程的思考

改革开放以来，在邓小平理论的指导下，我国始终坚持独立自主、自力更生与国际合作相结合的原则，通过全方位的对外开放，取得了丰硕的成果，经济生活发生了巨大的变化。这充分证明了只有坚持对外开放，取人之长，补己之短，才能居于世界民族之林，实现经济现代化。     

也谈国家示范性高等职业院校建设

国家示范性高等职业院校建设是我国高等职业教育发展的推动器,其总体目标是通过100所示范性高职院校的建设,引领和带动全国高等职业教育事业的健康发展。做好国家示范性高等职业院校建设工作,首先要解决思想认识问题,其次也要注意处理好相关问题,诸如示范性高职院校建设工作与日常工作的关系,与行政管理的关系等,尤其是要解决服务面向与标准制定问题。     

How do Teachers and Textbook Writers Model Scientific Ideas for Students?

Ten experienced science teachers were interviewed about their understandings of the analogical models they use to explain science to their students. The aim was to investigate the notion that teaching pedagogy is influenced by the textbooks commonly used in class. A previously developed typology of analogical models was used to classify each teacher's repertoire of models and the models found in the prescribed science textbooks. The classifications of teacher and textbook models were then compared to identify patterns, similarities and differences. In their interviews, eight of the 10 teachers volunteered that they regularly used models in their lessons. The claimed model use was least for chemistry teachers and highest for physics teachers. Textbook analysis showed that chemistry textbooks used the most models and physics textbooks the least with biology in between. Five teachers saw a need to negotiate with their students the shared and unshared attributes of teaching models and two consistently discussed the limitations of their models. Vignettes and extracts are used throughout the paper to explain how teachers and textbooks use and discuss models.     

对新公共管理的理性思考

以管理主义为取向的新公共管理以创新的公共理念对于西方国家的行政改革起到了十分重要的推动和指导作用。但新公共管理理论由于来自不同学科,缺乏系统梳理,存在内在矛盾与缺陷,使新公共管理缺乏成为范式所必需的基本特怔。正确看待新公共管理理论中出现的这些矛盾,将有助于我们深刻理解这场新公共管理运动的实质,使我们在借鉴此种模式时有更理性的把握。