Integrated learning systems: where does the management take place?

For the last four years of the UK national investigation into the effectiveness of integrated learning systems (ILSs) we have been monitoring the educational contexts within which ILSs are used. Management issues related to ILS use are a significant factor in that educational context. In this paper some of the key management issues related to the effective use of ILSs are outlined. These will include: styles and levels of management of the learning by the ILS; management of the ILS as a learning tool (models of ILS usage); partnership or subservience (‘who’ manages ‘who’ and does it matter?). For some schools, however, the introduction of an ILS has had more profound impacts than this, in that we have recorded changes in teachers' pedagogy. Where such profound changes have been reported then those factors and processes now clearly modelled in school effectiveness and improvement debates have been shown to be operating     

Headsprout® Early Reading for children with severe intellectual disabilities: a single blind randomised controlled trial

Research evaluating phonics reading programs for children with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited. The current study investigated whether using an online reading program (Headsprout^® Early Reading; HER) as supplementary reading instruction for children with a severe ID leads to improvements in reading skills as compared to children not receiving this additional instruction. Fifty-five children from a special school were randomly allocated into the HER group or a waiting list control group. For six months, children in the intervention group received HER as supplementary instruction, whereas children in the control group received only ‘reading as usual’ teaching. Pre- and post-intervention tests on standardised reading measures were conducted. Analysis of data from outcome measures indicated that the HER group made improvements at post-intervention in comparison with the control group, with medium effect sizes on two domains from the main outcome measure. These results support the case for a larger research trial of HER for children with severe ID.     

在金属表面络合网格状高分子膜实现滴状冷凝的MD模拟研究

提出了在铜表面络合上一种网格状高分子膜来实现水蒸汽滴状冷凝的新模型。预计这种单分子层的高分子膜可以被大片的配位键牢牢地粘附在金属表面上,并具有可自修复的特性,因而可望获得超长使用寿命和较高传热效率的滴状冷凝表面。根据相关的成膜或成滴的判据,用分子动力学模拟方法计算了水分子的内聚能和表面的吸附能。结果表明,在这种网格状高分子膜的表面上可以实现滴状冷凝。并且,通过观察粒子的平衡位型分布,可以看到网格状高分子中的大环结构可能起到核化中心位的作用。     

自编计算机实验室管理软件控制外网开关

设计和实现了Web方式的外网开关管理软件。以PowerTCP Telnet控件为核心、以ASP网页开发技术为工具,完成Windows server平台上的Web方式控制外网开关程序的设计与实现方法。任课教师具有外网开关的控制权,可以根据教学需要随时允许或拒绝学生机访问外网,并且可以保障网络安全。     

Book Reviews

This paper is about teaching and learning across the so‐called quantitative–qualitative divide in light of current debates in the US about the definition and quality of educational research. It draws on the author’s research and teaching experiences, her role in the redesign of qualitative methods coursework and participation in a school‐wide effort to improve doctoral training at Harvard Graduate School of Education. The paper explores institutional, cultural and psychological reasons for why the quantitative–qualitative divide persists, including researchers’ own anxieties. It is argued that epistemological tensions in educational research should be sustained and embraced rather than resolved in favor of one side over the other, as is too often the case. The author identifies how qualitative research departs from the quantitative model, placing distinct demands upon students who are learning the craft, and offers suggestions for what might help the process.     

Computer‐based learning: Interleaving whole and sectional representation of neuroanatomy

The large volume of material to be learned in biomedical disciplines requires optimizing the efficiency of instruction. In prior work with computer‐based instruction of neuroanatomy, it was relatively efficient for learners to master whole anatomy and then transfer to learning sectional anatomy. It may, however, be more efficient to continuously integrate learning of whole and sectional anatomy. A study of computer‐based learning of neuroanatomy was conducted to compare a basic transfer paradigm for learning whole and sectional neuroanatomy with a method in which the two forms of representation were interleaved (alternated). For all experimental groups, interactive computer programs supported an approach to instruction called adaptive exploration. Each learning trial consisted of time‐limited exploration of neuroanatomy, self‐timed testing, and graphical feedback. The primary result of this study was that interleaved learning of whole and sectional neuroanatomy was more efficient than the basic transfer method, without cost to long‐term retention or generalization of knowledge to recognizing new images (Visible Human and MRI). Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

A Collaborative-Comparative Approach to Learning Qualitative Data Analysis

ABSTRACT

The literature on qualitative research offers the novice two strategies for learning analysis: (1) “trust” that you will “somehow” make sense out of qualitative material, or (2) follow a predetermined set of analytic steps and stages. A problem with the first approach is that it does not take into account the wide variety of qualitative analysis projects researchers undertake or differences in how individuals approach the interpretation of qualitative material. A problem with the second approach is that it does not maximize the learning potential possible from making explicit and sharpening the learner's own interpretive framework. In this paper we describe a third alternative: a collaborative-comparative approach to analyzing qualitative materials. This approach uses a group-based model of learning and explicitly capitalizes upon differences in group member interpretive styles to enhance learning qualitative methods of research.     

The effects of computer technology in assisting the development of literacy in young struggling readers and spellers

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of MultiFunk, a computer program designed to assist reading, on the reading and spelling proficiency of struggling readers. Fifty‐two below‐average readers and spellers, in grades 5, 6 and 7, were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups (N?=?26?+?26). In addition, 114 classmates, who read normally, were included to compare changes in basic literacy development during the intervention. A pre‐test, intervention, post‐test, control‐group design was used to evaluate the effects of the software, using texts to suit the pupils’ own choices and interests. The findings indicate that computerized assistive reading has the potential to aid and support the development of basic literacy skills in a broad group of struggling readers and spellers. Issues concerning the MultiFunk text‐to‐speech technology are discussed.     

The Impact of Internet Access on Designs for Internet Training

ABSTRACT

In recent years, two Massachusetts‐based organizations, a state university and a non‐government service agency, have collaborated to provide inservice and preservice assistance to teachers seeking to integrate Internet access into their curricula. Such assistance has ranged from simple workshops to full scale graduate level courses. Over time, the workshops and courses have been reshaped in the light of participant feedback and the escalating changes in the nature of Internet access. From an ‘early era’ (1993) of command and text‐based Internet exploration, workshops and courses have moved almost completely toward an examination of graphic user interface (GUI) tools such as MOSAIC and Netscape. Such a shift has created the conflict, however, of how to reconcile the constricted, low bandwidth Internet access of many schools with the need to examine state‐of‐the‐art tools and resources for teachers. This article examines how two educational organizations have addressed this dilemma, accompanied by a discussion of the importance of leadership and co‐ordination among diverse kinds of agencies serving the professional development needs of technology adopting elementary and secondary schools.     

3D analysis for pit evolution and pit-to-crack transition during corrosion fatigue

This paper presents a deterministic model to predict the pit evolving morphology and crack initiation life of corrosion fatigue. Based on the semi-ellipsoidal pit assumption, the thermodynamic potential including elastic energy, surface energy and electrochemical energy of the cyclically stressed solid with an evolving pit is established, from which specific parameters that control the pit evolution are introduced and their influence on the pit evolution are evaluated. The critical pit size for crack nucleation is obtained from stress intensity factor criterion and the crack nucleation life is evaluated by Faraday’s law. Meanwhile, this paper presents a numerical example to verify the proposed model and investigate the influence of cyclic load on the corrosion fatigue crack nucleation life. The corrosion pit appears approximately as a hemisphere in its early formation, and it gradually transits from semicircle to ellipsoid. The strain energy accelerates the morphology evolution of the pit, while the surface energy decelerates it. The higher the stress amplitude is, the smaller the critical pit size is and the shorter the crack initiation life is.