Empowering Learning: Using Student Exemplars in Teaching

Using student work as exemplars is a powerful component of a balanced pedagogy.     

一类2×2拟线性双曲守恒律组的奇性形成

本文在文[3]的基础上,进一步给出了包含均熵气体动力学方程组在内的一类2×2拟线性双曲守恒律组的奇性形成结果,证明了在“真正大初值”条件下,Lax定理仍然成立。     

The Effectiveness of Cooperative and Individualistic Approaches in Teaching Mathematics and English

This paper reports an experimental study into the effects of cooperative and individualistic approaches in teaching Mathematics and English. The study was conducted at a Vacation Learning Camp (VLC) which was held for two weeks in one of the secondary schools in Singapore. This VLC was targeted at Secondary One pupils who were classified as below average based on general ability streaming.

The individualistic teaching approach was assumed to contribute to individual efforts while the cooperative teaching approach was expected to produce cooperativeness among the subjects. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in performances in the main effects classified as the treatment groups and the sex groups in both Mathematics and English; in Mathematics, the individualistic teaching approach was more effective for the male pupils whereas the cooperative teaching approach was more effective with females. However, in English, the results were reversed.

The female pupils in the cooperative group seemed to have improved in their attitude towards learning Mathematics whereas the male pupils in the individualistic group seemed to have a more positive attitude towards learning English.     

Structure and Agency in Adolescents’ Expectations of Pursuing Post-secondary Education

Research in Higher Education - Past studies have supported the view that parent background and family socioeconomic status determine the post-secondary educational expectations of adolescents. They...     

Revamping the funding formula for special education programs in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to determine the services required by students in special education programs and to estimate the cost of adequately funding special education in Taiwan. Questionnaires were administered to 300 special education teachers at the elementary school level to identify the services required. Thereafter, two focus group interviews were organized to determine the service categories and their cost. The results show that the costs for special education programs vary significantly according to severity of disability, and the weighting for mildly, moderately, and severely disabled students was found to be 3.7, 4.5, and 5.2, respectively. The costs also vary significantly according to the category of disability, and the weighting was found to range from 3.6 for emotionally disabled students and to 5.9 for hearing impaired students. These findings suggest that the current special education funding formula in Taiwan, which ignores these cost differences, should be revamped.     

美国儿童博物馆的社会经济效益研究 —— 基于15家儿童博物馆的访谈调查

发源于美国的儿童博物馆至今已有一百多年的历史.采用分层随机抽样与典型抽样相结合的抽样方式,通过对美国15家儿童博物馆负责人的访谈研究发现,作为以教育儿童为目的的非营利性社会组织,美国儿童博物馆承担着服务促进社会发展的重要责任,其社会经济效益与教育功能一样不容忽视.其产生的社会经济效益主要包括:为家庭教育提供有利场所,传播和培养启发式、互动式和参与式的教育理念;注重对儿童文化欣赏力、多元文化包容力和跨文化交际能力的培养;整合社会资源服务社区,与当地学校、高校和其他社会机构保持紧密联系;关注社会弱势群体,促进当地经济文化发展.     

Effect of language of instruction on physics achievement

This study investigated the relationship between physics achievement and language of instruction in a situation where instruction was in the second language of both students and teachers. One hundred and seventy-six grade ten physics students (first language was Chinese) were selected from four classes of two secondary schools in Hong Kong. For three months (with four lessons per week), two classes of students learned the content material (light and sound) in Chinese and two classes learned the material in English. Group differences were controlled by using individual aptitude scores as covariates in the analysis. There were no differences in achievement, students' motivation, and effort spent in physics in that controlled teaching period. This was probably because the Anglo-Chinese group was sufficiently proficient in English so they did not encounter additional difficulty in learning physics when compared with the Chinese group.