The Concept of “Best Practice”: A brief overview of its meanings,scope, uses,and shortcomings

“Best practice” has multiple meanings and particular connotations. We examine the origin of the term “best practice” and related terms and concepts and provide some examples of its use in disability fields. We identify some reasons why its use should be more judicious, if not curtailed altogether. We also suggest two complementary options to address our concerns.     

The Role of Epiphanies in Moral Reflection and Narrative Thinking: Connectedness and Good Teaching

In this paper I will explore the implications of an analysis of two kinds of knowledge, the exercise of practical wisdom and the insights associated with narrative knowing, for connected teaching. My aim is to show that both kinds of thinking share important similarities insofar as they include the experience of openness and surprise of epiphanies. Epiphanic experience involves a creative process of discovery that occurs with the emotional recognition of the connection between hitherto separate aspects of experience. In the case of practical wisdom the experience of a general sense of value infuses the perception of the particular situation; in the case of narrative knowing we experience the integration of diverse elements of the plot expressing the meaning of a concatenation of events.     

中美体育教学评价比较

通过对中美体育教学在评价目标、评价方法、评价内容方面的比较研究,阐述我国体育教学评价的一些做法有违于素质教育应使全体学生获得发展的宗旨。因此,应借鉴美国体育教学评价的一些做法,进行体育教学评价体制的改革。     

新、旧最佳铅球投掷角度公式的实践检验

为了验证新、旧最佳投掷角度公式的真实性,运用最佳出手角度标志线,对新、旧公式进行了抽样检验.结论:新公式与实践相吻合,传统公式则严重偏离实践;新公式的标志线可使运动员准确、直观地掌握适合于自己的最佳出手角度.建议:将田径教材中的传统最佳投掷角度公式换成新公式.     

中国古代考试规范的现实法律思考

中国古代科举考试的条规和监督措施以及对舞弊的惩治非常严格。批判继承古代考试的监督、防范和惩治措施，建立《考试法》，追究舞弊的行政、民事乃至刑事责任，树立公平竞争、诚实信用的新考风，具有重大的现实意义。     

读者服务工作实行承诺制之探索

读者服务工作实行承诺制之探索蔡金钟ＡＢＳＴＲＡＣＴＴｈｅｐｒｏｍｉｓｅｓｙｓｔｅｍｉｎｒｅａｄｅｒｓｅｒｖｉｃｅｓｉｓａｎｅｆｅｃｔｉｖｅｓｙｓｔｅｍｆｏｒｉｎｔｅｇｒａｔｉｎｇｌｉｂｒａｒｉａｎ＇ｓｄｉｓｃｉｐｌｉｎｅａｎｄｓｅｌｆ－ｄｉｓｃｉｐｌ...     

Community Knowledge,Beliefs, Attitudes,and Practices towards Children with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus in Uganda

This article describes the findings of a qualitative study on knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices towards children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in four regions of Uganda. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were held with parents of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, policy-makers, and service providers. Our findings describe how negative knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices create barriers to treatment and inclusion of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their parents in Uganda. The findings show how knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices evolve over time, are both similar and differ in the various regions, and become more conducive towards accessing treatment and achieving inclusion. Sensitisation and early intervention including parents and service providers in dissemination of knowledge, rehabilitative care to set the trend for positive change and support, as well as longitudinal studies of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their parents are recommended.     

The value of literacy practices

The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, ‘which literacy practices do people most value?’ has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to recognise locally valued literacy practices. In this paper we argue that measuring preferences and weighting of literacy practices provides an empirical and democratic basis for decisions in literacy assessment and curriculum development and could inform rapid educational adaptation to changes in the literacy environment. The paper examines the methodological basis for investigating literacy values and its potential to inform cross-cultural literacy assessments. The argument is illustrated with primary data from Mozambique. The correlation between individual values and respondents’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics is explored.     

基于固定码本的分形图像编码算法

传统的分形图像编码根据图像内部的跨尺度自相似性,求解压缩仿射变换,完成图像编码,这种来自于自身的编码码本不一定是最佳的,而且编码时间通常较长。根据图像之间存在着相似性,构造一个适应性更强的固定编码码本,其它任何图像分形编码的值域块只在这个固定码本中搜索其最佳匹配块,并且省去等距变换,此外,解码也无需迭代。实验结果表明,在图像质量略有下降情况下,该算法较基本分形图像编码算法显著地提高了编码和解码的速度,而且算法简单,容易实现。如果对这种固定码本加以更好的适应性改造,将会进一步提高解码图像的质量。     

Scientific sensemaking supports science content learning across disciplines and instructional contexts

Science consists of a body of knowledge and a set of processes by which the knowledge is produced. Although these have traditionally been treated separately in science instruction, there has been a shift to an integration of knowledge and processes, or set of practices, in how science should be taught and assessed. We explore whether a general overall mastery of the processes drives learning in new science content areas and if this overall mastery can be improved through engaged science learning. Through a review of literature, the paper conceptualizes this general process mastery as scientific sensemaking, defines the sub-dimensions, and presents a new measure of the construct centered in scenarios of general interest to young adolescents. Using a dataset involving over 2500 6th and 8th grade students, the paper shows that scientific sensemaking scores can predict content learning gains and that this relationship is consistent across student characteristics, content of instruction, and classroom environment. Further, students who are behaviorally and cognitively engaged during science classroom activities show greater growth in scientific sensemaking, showing a reciprocal relationship between sensemaking ability and effective science instruction. Findings from this work support early instruction on sensemaking activities to better position students to learn new scientific content.