The role of scaling up research in designing for and evaluating robustness

One of the great strengths of Jim Kaput’s research program was his relentless drive towards scaling up his innovative approach to teaching the mathematics of change and variation. The SimCalc mission, “democratizing access to the mathematics of change,” was enacted by deliberate efforts to reach an increasing number of teachers and students each year. Further, Kaput asked: What can we learn from research at the next level of scale (e.g., beyond a few classrooms at a time) that we cannot learn from other sources? In this article, we develop an argument that scaling up research can contribute important new knowledge by focusing researchers’ attention on the robustness of an innovation when used by varied students, teachers, classrooms, schools, and regions. The concept of robustness requires additional discipline both in the design process and in the conduct of valid research. By examining a progression of three studies in the Scaling Up SimCalc program, we articulate how scaling up research can contribute to designing for and evaluating robustness.     

Understanding and describing mathematical knowledge for teaching: knowledge about proof for engaging students in the activity of proving

This article is situated in the research domain that investigates what mathematical knowledge is useful for, and usable in, mathematics teaching. Specifically, the article contributes to the issue of understanding and describing what knowledge about proof is likely to be important for teachers to have as they engage students in the activity of proving. We explain that existing research informs the knowledge about the logico-linguistic aspects of proof that teachers might need, and we argue that this knowledge should be complemented by what we call knowledge of situations for proving. This form of knowledge is essential as teachers mobilize proving opportunities for their students in mathematics classrooms. We identify two sub-components of the knowledge of situations for proving: knowledge of different kinds of proving tasks and knowledge of the relationship between proving tasks and proving activity. In order to promote understanding of the former type of knowledge, we develop and illustrate a classification of proving tasks based on two mathematical criteria: (1) the number of cases involved in a task (a single case, multiple but finitely many cases, or infinitely many cases), and (2) the purpose of the task (to verify or to refute statements). In order to promote understanding of the latter type of knowledge, we develop a framework for the relationship between different proving tasks and anticipated proving activity when these tasks are implemented in classrooms, and we exemplify the components of the framework using data from third grade. We also discuss possible directions for future research into teachers’ knowledge about proof.

高职营销策划专业“四阶循环”培养模式研究

工学结合是提高高等职业教育质量的有效途径,校企合作又是开展工学结合的有效路径。开展以"校企互动,工学结合,分段导入,逐层契合,四阶推进,全程循环"为特征的人才培养模式是一种有益的探索与实践。     

高校图书馆的校园文化引领功能与社会责任

我国正步入经济、政治、文化、社会以及生态文明等五大建设的关键时期,凸现了提高全民科学文化素质的紧迫性,对推进高校校园文化建设提出了新要求。作者认为要充分发挥高校图书馆的文化引领功能,更好地承担社会责任,就要做到:一要准确定位图书馆文化引领功能;二要牢固树立"三个贴近"的服务理念;三要科学搭建师生互动的交流平台;四要提高馆员一岗多能的服务质量;五要不断完善图书馆内部管理制度。     

Core–periphery structures in national higher education systems. A cross-country analysis using interlinking data

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the structure of national higher education networks in six European countries using interlinking data. We show that national HE systems display a common core–periphery structure, which we explain by the lasting reputational differences in science, as well as the process of expansion and integration of HE systems. Furthermore, we demonstrate that centrality in national networks (coreness) is associated with organizational characteristics, reflecting that interlinking is motivated by access to resources and the status of the organizations concerned, and that national policies impact network structures by influencing the level of inequality in the distribution of resources and status. Finally, we show that, as an outcome of the core–periphery structure, the strength of ties between two HEIs is largely determined by their individual coreness, while the impact of distance is too small-scale to alter the network structure generated by organizational attributes.     

复旦大学各类学生年度人均培养成本研究

定量测算人均教育成本，是教育经济学研究的一大难点。本文在实证研究的基础上，运用有关方法，初步测算了复旦大学博士生、硕士生、本科生和专科生的年度人均培养成本，并根据某些经验系数，对所得结果进行了校正，校正后的各类学生年度人均培养成本分别为：博士生42756．95元、硕士生35630．79元、本科生23170．02—23753．86元、专科生19003．09—19107．40元、网络学院学生7126．16元。     

Leveraging Philanthropy in Higher Education

Looking at potential sources of funding for education reform, Frederic Fransen outlines the dynamics in play as a pragmatist might calculate the worthiness of a cause for his philanthropy. Preeminent is bang for the buck, of course. And though the way to reinvigorate the insatiable blob of higher education isn't readily apparent to Dr. Fransen, still, he writes, if you're a reformer seeking financial help, you'd better come up with something comprehensive and attractive to put before today's results-driven donor.     

对分课堂：大学课堂教学改革的新探索

针对当前高校课堂存在的主要问题,结合讲授式课堂与讨论式课堂的优点,提出了名为"对分课堂"的课堂教学改革新模式。其核心理念是分配一半课堂时间给教师讲授,另一半给学生讨论,并把讲授和讨论时间错开,让学生在课后有一周时间自主安排学习,进行个性化的内化吸收。对应的考核方法强调过程性评价,并关注不同的学习需求。试点教学表明,对分课堂有效增强了学生学习的主动性,教学效果良好。对分课堂有可能是一种适合中国国情的高校课堂教学模式,值得进一步尝试和推广。     

寓时代意识培养于高职语文教学之中

文章从培养竞争意识、树立主体意识、发展创新意识、将创新意识的培养贯注于课堂4方面探讨了在高职语文教学中强化学生的时代意识的策略.     

Professional knowledge or motivation? Investigating the role of teachers’ expertise on the quality of technology-enhanced lesson plans

In an expertise study with 94 mathematics teachers varying in their relative teacher expertise (i.e., student teachers, trainee teachers, in-service teachers), we examined effects of teachers' professional knowledge and motivational beliefs on their ability to integrate technology within a lesson plan scenario. Therefore, we assessed teachers' professional knowledge (i.e., content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological knowledge), and their motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy, utility-value). Furthermore, teachers were asked to develop a lesson plan for introducing the Pythagorean theorem to secondary students. Lesson plans by advanced teachers (i.e., trainee teachers, in-service teachers) comprised higher levels of instructional quality and technology exploitation than the ones of novice teachers (i.e., pre-service teachers). The effect of expertise was mediated by teachers' perceived utility-value of educational technology, but not by their professional knowledge. These findings suggest that teachers’ motivational beliefs play a crucial role for effectively applying technology in mathematics instruction.