A specific benefit of retrieval-based concept mapping to enhance learning from texts

Instructional Science - Research has shown that retrieval activities, that is, actively recalling previously studied information, may substantially contribute to learning from complex educational...     

程控低噪声宽带直流放大器设计

为解决小信号易受干扰、难以实现线性放大的问题,以MSP430F247单片机为控制核心,采用压控可变增益宽带放大器VCA820作为程控增益放大器,设计了一个低噪声宽直流放大器.系统能对直流到20MHz的信号,实现增益从0dB到80dB范围内以1dB为步进的程控放大,带内增益起伏小于0.5dB,50负载时输出信号峰-峰值高达30V.系统的零点漂移小,工作带宽高,驱动能力强,性能稳定,可广泛应用于传感器网络和通信设备等电路中.     

大众传媒组织文化的结构与功能分析——基于沙因组织文化模型的探讨

对于普通组织而言,组织文化是控制组织的重要因素之一;对于大众传媒组织而言,组织文化不仅仅是控制组织的重要因素,它植根于大众传媒的信息传播活动之中,潜藏在大众传媒生产的文化产品之内,它是影响社会主流文化构建的关键因素。沙因的组织文化模型自提出以来即被管理界奉为经典,更是学界进行组织文化研究的有力工具。沙因的组织文化模型同样适用于大众传媒组织文化的研究,运用这一模型探讨大众传媒组织文化的结构与功能是认识大众传媒组织文化实质的有效途径。     

Fostering partnerships with families: academic service-learning in the Little Village

ABSTRACT

Strong family-teacher partnerships increase family engagement, promoting positive outcomes for children. Early childhood educators need knowledge, skills, and dispositions for establishing strong, meaningful partnerships with diverse families. This research investigated the impact of academic service-learning (ASL) on undergraduate students’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for partnering with culturally and linguistically diverse families to promote young children’s early academic learning. Participants included nine undergraduates in an early childhood teacher preparation course, ten culturally and linguistically diverse families, and thirteen 2- to 5-year-old children. In this mixed-methods study, written student ASL reflections, pre- and post-ASL student surveys, and parent evaluations were analyzed. Three themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Students entered the ASL experience with excitement and a mostly positive approach; (2) Early to mid-semester, students articulated a high degree of nervousness and discomfort as well as challenges to partnership-building, yet also noted family interest and engagement; and (3) Mid- to late semester, most students expressed their growing confidence in their own skills for relating to diverse families, and identified family strengths. Our findings support ASL as an effective teacher-preparation pedagogy to help students build family-teacher partnerships.     

Moving beyond the predictable failure of Ed-Tech initiatives

ABSTRACT

The development of Information and Communication Technology has created waves of excitement about its power to fix educational problems and improve learning results, prompting a succession of policy efforts to integrate digital technology into education. Educators, schools and corporations are increasingly driving these initiatives. This article makes the argument that a narrow vision of digital technology, which both ignores the complexity of education and wastes valuable public resources, is becoming an obstacle to significant improvement and transformation in education. Utilising our research and experience in the field of educational technology, this paper problematises the common elision of ‘technology’ and ‘digital technology’. From this basis, we then critically reflect on various common approaches to introducing digital technology in education under the guise of promoting equality and digital inclusion. These include national government-led programmes, more recent trends for local school-led initiatives, and the role of non-formal education initiatives led by corporations/foundations. Amidst the varying surface-level ‘failure’ and/or ‘success’ of these approaches, we point to limited underpinning ‘information and knowledge society’ logics in framing the application of digital technology to education. As such we conclude by considering the educational challenges for future Ed-Tech initiatives.     

The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse: A continuation of Finkelhor (1994)

ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper was to compare the prevalence rates of child sexual abuse reported by [Finkelhor, D. (1994). The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18 (5), 409–417] with those found in recent publications in order to confirm the widespread prevalence of child sexual abuse.MethodsRelevant articles about prevalence of child sexual abuse were identified through searches of computerized databases and a handsearch of Child Abuse & Neglect and the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse.ResultsThirty-eight independent articles were identified, corresponding to 39 prevalence studies; these articles report the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse in 21 different countries, ranging from 0 to 53% for women and 0 to 60% for men.ConclusionsComparison of the present study with that of [Finkelhor, D. (1994). The international epidemiology of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18 (5), 409–417] shows a similarity between prevalence distributions; there appears to be a general pattern that remains more or less constant over the years, especially in women.Practice implicationsTwelve years after the first revision study about the international prevalence of child sexual abuse, there is still a need for new data about this topic. The present study shows child sexual abuse is still a widespread problem in the society. In this research, carried out on 38 independent studies, there is new data for 21 countries over the world, being especially relevant the results obtained from other countries different from those pertaining to North America or Europe. It is important to point out the high prevalence found in most of the countries, so this information could be a new warning to make society and governments aware of this problem and undertake actions to prevent sexual abuse in childhood.     

Beginning Statistics with Cuisenaire Rods

Cuisenaire Rods provide a concrete embodiment for teaching mean, median, and mode to middle schoolers. These statistical concepts are traditionally only taught abstractly, but may be better understood via manipulatives.