Demand for private supplementary tutoring: conceptual considerations, and socio-economic patterns in Hong Kong

Despite the fact that in some parts of the world private supplementary tutoring is a huge industry with far-reaching economic, social and educational implications, the topic has been neglected by educational researchers. This paper focuses on the nature and determinants of demand for private supplementary tutoring. It first draws on literature from a wide range of countries to identify some conceptual considerations, and then presents data on socio-economic patterns of demand for tutoring in Hong Kong. It highlights the complexity of the topic, and calls for further detailed research in multiple settings.     

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.     

Effects of hydraulic pressure on cardiomyoblasts in a microfluidic device

We employed a microfluidic device to study the effects of hydraulic pressure on cardiomyoblast H9c2. The 170 mm Hg pressure increased the cellular area and the expression of atrial natriuretic peptide. With the same device, we demonstrated that the effects of hydraulic pressure on the cardiomyoblast could be reduced by the inhibitor of focal adhesion kinase. This mechanical–chemical antagonism could lead to a potential therapeutic strategy of hypertension-induced cardiac hypertrophy.     

Flip channel: A microfluidic device for uniform-sized embryoid body formation and differentiation

This paper reports a two-layered polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device—Flip channel, capable of forming uniform-sized embryoid bodies (EBs) and performing stem cell differentiation within the same device after flipping the microfluidic channel. The size of EBs can be well controlled by designing the device geometries, and EBs with multiple sizes can be formed within a single device to study EB size-dependent stem cell differentiation. During operation of the device, cells are positioned in the designed positions. As a result, observation and monitoring specific population of cells can be achieved for further analysis. In addition, after flipping the microfluidic channel, stem cell differentiation from the EBs can be performed on an unconfined flat surface that is desired for various differentiation processes. In the experiments, murine embryonic stem cells (ES-D3) are cultured and formed EBs inside the developed device. The size of EBs is well controlled inside the device, and the neural differentiation is performed on the formed EBs after flipping the channel. The EB size-dependent stem cell differentiation is studied using the device to demonstrate its functions. The device provides a useful tool to study stem cell differentiation without complicated device fabrication and tedious cell handling under better-controlled microenvironments.     

Examining the Rule of Thumb of Not Using Multilevel Modeling: The “Design Effect Smaller Than Two” Rule

Educational researchers commonly use the rule of thumb of “design effect smaller than 2” as the justification of not accounting for the multilevel or clustered structure in their data. The rule, however, has not yet been systematically studied in previous research. In the present study, we generated data from three different models (which differ in the location of the clustering effect). With a 3 (design effect) × 5 (cluster size) × 4 (number of clusters) Monte Carlo simulation study we found that the rule should not be applied when researchers: (a) are interested in the effects of higher-level predictors, or (b) have a cluster size less than 10. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Novice teacher vertical professional development? Exploring teachers’ and coaches’ beliefs throughout a two-year induction program

Learning Environments Research - The pedagogical beliefs of novice teachers and their coaches throughout a two-year induction program and how those beliefs impact their induction experiences were...     

How teachers experience assessment tension and its effect on formative assessment practices

Formative assessment (FA) has been a popular discourse in education, but its potential benefit is fundamentally dependent on teachers’ willingness to make changes to their classroom practices. These changes bring about much assessment tension (AT). This paper argues that how well teachers experience and manage AT determines the efficacy of their FA practices. Past studies have warned that AT experienced by teachers is complex and problematic. Therefore, it would be useful to investigate the variation of AT experienced by teachers, and how well they are dealing with these tensions. This phenomenographic research examines the use of FA in the context of different ways that AT is experienced. Findings on teachers’ conceptions of AT are presented, and each is then discussed for insights into teachers’ meanings and practices of assessment. In particular, instances of how AT hindered or helped FA are identified to highlight more productive ways of understanding and using assessment to support students’ learning. Implications of the research findings for the Singapore Teaching Practice (STP) will be discussed.

     

From shanzhai chic to Gangnam style: seven practices of cultural-economic mediation in China and Korea

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the social construction of ‘fashionability’ – namely, what is ‘desirable’ and ‘fashionable’ – with reference to the concept ‘cultural mediators’ that foregrounds agency, negotiation and the contested practices of market actors in cultural production. It zeroes in on the cultural mediators’ attitudes and positions in the two markets by drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with industry veterans. It shows that the mediators in South Korea and China increasingly occupy hybrid occupational roles and social positions across industries and sectors yet achieve limited success in countering the status quo of Western fashion through mediation. The analysis contributes to the literature with a categorisation of seven mediation practices that shape the valuation of fashion products (i.e. ‘fashionability’) in two ways. Empirically, this categorisation illuminates how cultural mediators make reference habitually to the broader social and cultural contexts to co-construct cultural-aesthetic objects. Theoretically, it advances a cultural-economic approach to the understanding of cultural mediation and challenges the reductionist viewpoint of actor–network theory through the notion of a matrix of cultural-economic agency.