初中生学习动机的调查与分析

学习动机对学生学习行为的影响很大。本文对初中生的学习动机进行了调查分析。结果表明,总体而言初中生的学习动机中深层型动机较强,其次是成就型动机,最后是表面型动机;农村初中生与城市初中生比较,农村学生的深层型动机更强,而城市学生的表面型动机更强（p〈0.001）;从发展上看,高年级的初中生的深层型动机得分低于低年级的初中生（p〈0.001）。     

Oral Presentation——Opportunity or Suffering

This paper is about a reflective practice happened in the author’ s College English teaching.Since 2005,a 5-minute oral-presentation was required for all the students in turn,in order to raise opportunities for them to practice oral English.But the students’ responses were always disappointing since they only took the task as a burden.After the teacher lift the limits on presentation time,form,sequence,partner,etc.,better learning outcomes were achieved.When reflecting on this change,Biggs’3P Models of "constructive alignment" is taken into account.Any teaching and learning activity (TLA) cannot put the students’ and the teacher’ s presage aside since the students’ ability,interests,motivation as well as the teacher’ s objective,assessment approach and so on are co-determinants of a successful TLA.Further suggestions are given based on this reflection at the end of the paper.     

Blended teaching and learning: a two-way systems approach

A first-year tertiary-student structural equation modelling approach builds understanding of blended learning. The Biggs' 3P teaching-and-learning-systems model displays significant two-way interactions between each of its presage, process and product constructs. This study validates the Biggs' approach as a dynamic interactive learning system. The student learning processes occur through teacher contributions, mixed with learning interactions and feedback systems. Greater learning, knowledge and skills transfer is possible when students are suitably pre-prepared/pre-skilled for their ensuing learning experiences and for the varieties of teaching/learning interactions that they encounter.     

A critical comparison of transformation and deep approach theories of learning

This paper reports a critical comparative analysis of two popular and significant theories of adult learning: the transformation and the deep approach theories of learning. These theories are operative in different educational sectors, are significant, respectively, in each, and they may be seen as both touching on similar concerns with learning that is profound in its nature and impact on the learner—hence the case for a critical comparison. The critical analysis focused on similarities and differences between the two theories on a set of general criteria. It found that, while there are unacknowledged similarities, the differences are complementary, each theory suggesting a different way of considering the same territory, without excluding the other theory. The analysis strongly suggests the imperative for research findings from each theory to be used to inform practice and research through the other, although the literature reveals a lack of such cross-fertilization.     

A critique of the deep and surface approaches to learning model

This paper is a critical analysis of Biggs's deep and surface approaches to learning model, which is prominent in the higher education and tertiary learning fields. The paper reflects on the model's origins and the contextual pressures of the educational landscape extant at that time. It is argued that these pressures have led to a demonstrable lack of serious critique of the model, which has truncated the model's development, leaving it underdeveloped. There are significant problems with the model in the areas of supporting evidence, imprecise conceptualisation, ambiguous language, circularity, and a lack of definition of the underlying structure of deep and surface approaches to learning.     

Educology: The theory of educational practice

The relationship between psychology and education may be expressed in terms of two general models: the traditional hierarchical model, according to which psychology is the “parent” discipline; and a parallel model, in which the relationship between “pure” theory and its application is metaphoric rather than paradigmatic. The hierarchical model, however, does not hold even for such a “tight” area as behavior modification, let alone for educational practice in general.Educational practice, as a professional enterprise, should be guided by a consistent set of constructs taken from the practitioner's universe of discourse. The professionalization of education has been delayed because of attempts, mostly vain, to guide practice by applying constructs derived from other disciplines. Other disciplines, notably psychology, can be useful for education but in a metaphoric sense only. “Educology” is suggested as a convenient term for the set of constructs that should give coherence to educational decision-making.