Assessment Outcomes of Pre-service Teachers

As a response to the shortage of credentialed teachers in California, a four-year major called Urban Learning (ULRN), combining both the undergraduate and a teaching credential program was developed by professors at the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles. The assessment results of the program after its first two-year pilot period showed that ULRN students (N=153) exhibited higher motivation to learn and tended to take fuller course loads as compared to other undergraduate students at the university. This was attributed to faculty collaboration and cohort modeling of the program. Compared to students in the regular credential programs, ULRN students were more likely to remain enrolled in their program and more likely to complete the program and graduate sooner. This blended program as a whole including the assessment course appeared to have help pre-service teachers become competent as teachers. This blended program with its structure emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness was comparatively successful.     

Boys into Modern Languages: An investigation of the discrepancy in attitudes and performance between boys and girls in modern languages

It is widely acknowledged that girls outperform boys across the curriculum in the GCSE examinations which are taken at the end of five years' compulsory secondary education. However, the gap in performance between boys and girls in modern languages is very marked and may suggest a need to reassess patterns of teaching and learning. This paper examines the differences in attitudes between boys and girls in modern languages after five years' study in an attempt to give some explanation for the considerable discrepancy in performance. Although previous research findings relating to boys' and girls' attitudes to their studies were confirmed, the significance of teacher personality and classroom practices emerged clearly from pupil interviews with both sexes. The article recognises the changes in the nature of the modern languages curriculum brought about by the introduction of GCSE and the on-going implementation of the National Curriculum, but points to the limitations and frustrations posed by these new agendas. Drawing extensively on pupil interviews, factors are highlighted which significantly affect pupils' perspectives and attitudes towards modern languages, and tentative suggestions are made which could help to improve the performance of both boys and girls in this traditionally 'female' subject.     

Effects of Counselor Action Skills on Cognition

The authors explore the effects of counseling action skills on cognitive processing by female participants in an analog study. Reflection of feeling was found to elicit defensiveness.     

Effects of Helping Skills on Attitudes Toward Psychological Counseling

This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between acquisition of counseling skills and trainee attitude towards psychological counseling. Results are discussed within the context of a mediational approach to counselor development.     

A Collaborative Substance Abuse Model for Counselors in Training: Knowledge and Practicum Experiences

A school-based substance abuse training model for counselors was sponsored by a federal grant and designed by a counselor education department. The program was successful in training counselors to design and implement prevention and intervention programs in the school setting.     

Making journals accessible to the visually impaired: the future is near

The American Physical Society (APS) has been a leader in using markup languages for publishing. ViewPlus has led development of innovative technologies for graphical information accessibility by people with print disabilities. APS, ViewPlus, and other collaborators in the Enhanced Reading Project are working together to develop the necessary technology and infrastructure for APS to publish its journals in the DAISY (Digital Accessible Information SYstem) eXtended Markup Language (XML) format, in which all text, math, and figures would be accessible to people who are blind or have other print disabilities. The first APS DAISY XML publications are targeted for late 2010.     

Revisiting the Conceptualization,Measurement, and Generation of Interest

This article provides an overview of recent interest research, focusing on the conceptualization, measurement, and generation of interest. It includes work that reflects differing theoretical backgrounds, research traditions, domains, and participants. Research on interest needs to be theoretically grounded if it is to be generally applicable and inform practice. Investigators must consider their own research questions, including learners’ age and characteristics of the learning context, in relation to the range of conceptualizations in the field. Whereas researchers’ questions should drive research on interest, their conceptualization of interest should inform their choice of measures. In addition, research addressing the ways in which interest might be generated and/or supported to develop should be aligned with both the conceptualization and measurement(s) of interest.     

中国北方偏远地区农户作物的选择

遗传多样性保护对于全球农业发展至关重要,而有效的保护与农民对不同作物的种植选择关系密切.目前在中国北方偏远地区,农民仍以种植小杂粮为主,所采用品种多为具有广泛遗传多样性的地方品种.通过对该地区农民对不同品种小杂粮选择种植的调查,基于我们的作物选择模型,得出市场不完全和收入水平低是农民种植小杂粮作物的重要原因.建议政府在遗传多样性保护中发挥更重要的作用.     

Higher Education and Industrial Development in Ireland

In the structures of European society, the institutions of education, state, industry and others have always been quite autonomous and largely separate from each other. This contrasts with the USA and Japan, where the linkages between the university and industry sectors have always been very strong and cooperation between the two has been long established. This paper addresses itself to the situation in Ireland and reviews the many institutional structures for university industry cooperation. The specific developments in University College Dublin are described and the benefits which such cooperation bring to both the university and industrial sectors are summarised.