Metaphysics and learning

Is it possible to learn and simultaneously articulate the metaphysical basis of that learning? In my contribution to the forum I tell of how I came to recognise that bilingual Yoruba children could articulate the contrasting metaphysical framings of Yoruba and English numbering. The story introduces an arena I call 'ontics' that recognises the contingencies of metaphysical commitments in the present. My claim is that learning to recognise and strategically articulate ontics as enacted metaphysical commitments in the present is useful in cross-cultural and transdisciplinary learning and crucial in inquiring into learning.     

广告语言中的类异化与归化现象

在商品跨国销售的同时,随之出现的是广告语言的跨文化定位问题。广告的价值在于实现其呼唤功能,这一实现过程与目标人群的文化背景,民族情感密切相关。可用类似于翻译中的异化、归化方法来处理广告中的文化问题,不过这里的异化、归化具有更广泛的意义。     

概化理论在结构化面试评分误差中的应用研究

应用概化理论对结构化面试的评分误差的控制问题进行了研究。结果表明:结构化面试评分能够较好地反映出被试的真实能力水平,评分具有较高的信度;在保证较高的面试评分信度(0.80)的情况下,建议将考官人数减少至9名,以提高结构化面试的经济性和效率性。     

A cross-cultural investigation into how tasks influence seatwork activities in mathematics lessons

This study examined how types of tasks influenced student activities/thinking and defined the role of Seatwork in mathematics lessons. It used 60 lessons from the TIMSS videotaped Study. These data indicated that practice was the most prevalent form of tasks in the U.S. In Germany, students completed mathematical calculations after a complex problem-solving segment. In Japan, teachers combined practice of routine procedures in Seatwork with opportunities to prepare material, think about problems, and explore concepts. Findings expand our understanding of how tasks organize learning opportunities and effect how students come to understand mathematics.     

Measuring instructional practice in science using classroom artifacts: lessons learned from two validation studies

With growing interest in the role of teachers as the key mediators between educational policies and outcomes, the importance of developing good measures of classroom processes has become increasingly apparent. Yet, collecting reliable and valid information about a construct as complex as instruction poses important conceptual and technical challenges. This article summarizes the results of two studies that investigated the properties of measures of instruction based on a teacher‐generated instrument (the Scoop Notebook) that combines features of portfolios and self‐report. Classroom artifacts and teacher reflections were collected from samples of middle school science classrooms and rated along 10 dimensions of science instruction derived from the National Science Education Standards; ratings based on direct classroom observations were used as comparison. The results suggest that instruments that combine artifacts and self‐reports hold promise for measuring science instruction with reliability similar to, and sizeable correlations with, measures based on classroom observation. We discuss the implications and lessons learned from this work for the conceptualization, design, and use of artifact‐based instruments for measuring instructional practice in different contexts and for different purposes. Artifact‐based instruments may illuminate features of instruction not apparent even through direct classroom observation; moreover, the process of structured collection and reflection on artifacts may have value for professional development. However, their potential value and applicability on a larger scale depends on careful consideration of the match between the instrument and the model of instruction, the intended uses of the measures, and the aspects of classroom practice most amenable to reliable scoring through artifacts. We outline a research agenda for addressing unresolved questions and advancing theoretical and practical knowledge around the measurement of instructional practice. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 38–67, 2012     

国际商务环境下的西方跨文化管理理论评析

商业世界瞬息万变,商业往来使整个世界日益相互依赖。全球性思维模式要求管理者"思维全球化,行为当地化"。同时,企业预期目标的实现情况,在于能否利用文化的融合和能否消除文化差异带来的弊端。只有树立跨文化的思想路线,建立一种多元化、包容性的企业文化,才能使跨国企业的管理顺利进行。这是经济全球化环境下跨国企业面临的共同课题。在目前企业经营国际化的形势下,只有明确跨文化商务管理的理论根源,才能使跨国企业在激烈竞争的实践中立于不败之地。     

The Inter-relationship of Science and Religion: A typology of engagement

This study explores whether the religious background of students affects their opinions about and attitudes to engaging with scientific explanations of the origins of the universe and of life. The study took place in four English secondary schools representing three different contexts (Christian faith-based; non-faith with majority Muslim catchment; and non-faith, mixed catchment). It comprised questionnaires and focus groups with over 200 students aged 14–16, supplemented by teacher interviews. The analysis approach was informed by grounded theory and resulted in the development of an engagement typology, which has been set in the context of the cross-cultural border crossing literature. It divides students into categories depending on both the nature and amount of engagement they were prepared to have with the relationship between science and religion. The model takes into account where students sit on four dimensions. These assess whether a student's preferred knowledge base is belief-based or fact-based; their tolerance of uncertainty (do they have a need for resolution?); their open mindedness (are they unquestioning or inquiring?); and whether they conceptualise science and religion as being in conflict or harmony. Many Muslim students resisted engagement because of conflicting religious beliefs. Teachers did not always appreciate the extent to which this topic troubled some students who needed help to accommodate clashes between science and their religious beliefs. It is suggested that increased appreciation of the complexity represented by their students can guide a teacher towards an appropriate approach when covering potentially sensitive topics such as the theory of evolution.     

A cross-cultural comparison of numeracy skills using a written and an interactive arithmetic test

This study applied two arithmetic tests, one written and one one computer-based interactive, to samples of primary school children from two populations, one suburban non-Aboriginal and one rural Aboriginal. The results from the written test were significantly (p?&;lt;?0.001) better for the non-Aboriginal children than for the Aboriginal children. This was not the case with the results from the computer-based interactive test. The study used Rasch-based methodology to reduce the results from the two tests to a common scale, to ascertain whether the Aboriginal children performed better (in relation to the non-Aboriginal children) in the computer-based than in the written test. The study found that this was the case, and concluded that the results from the computer-based test exhibited less cultural bias against the Aboriginal children than the written test.     

从授受表达看跨文化意识在日语教学中的重要性

本文从中日对比角度对授受表达常见误用进行分析,发现由于学习者没有充分理解授受表达隐含的内外意识、恩惠意识及上下意识,从而受到母语的干扰,引起误用。因此笔者认为在日语教学和学习中,排除母语文化及思维意识的干扰,增强跨文化意识非常重要。     

Learning to know,be, do,and live together with in the cross-cultural experiences of immigrant teacher educators

This study examined three Afro-Caribbean immigrant teacher educators whose learning based on reflections about their experiences with teachers in the United States revealed how they developed knowledge beyond practice in their learning to know, do, be and live together with others. The educators' learning reflected the processes of observation, reflection, awareness, requesting student feedback in the moment, and the passing of time that resulted in adjustment to their body language, changes in their expectations of students, a modification in their communication, code-switching and sensitivity. Implications based on the study for the new kind of teacher educator are subsequently addressed.