‘Teaching’ the path towards university: understanding student access through storied-futures and meritocratic grand narratives

The notion that the stories of our lives shape dispositions towards imagined futures is another lens through which university underrepresentation should be viewed. A storied lens attends to how futures, like university attendance, are storied during childhood to the extent that some youth imagine, and therefore plan, these futures as natural progression. Such was the case for study participants, indicating that childhood stories contain answers for mitigating social reproduction connected to parental education and cultural forces within the home. Examining social mobility through the underexplored storied-futures grand narrative presents unique solutions that lay hidden within the dominant meritocratic grand narrative.     

巧用概念图开展小学数学教学研究

概念图是小学课堂中重要的教学手段,它可以通过图片的形式,将数学知识点之间的联系表达出来,有利于培养学生的数学学科综合素养。本次研究根据小学生的特点,帮助学生培养运用概念图的习惯,以期获得良好的小学数学教学效果。     

Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

Parents’ son preference,childhood adverse experience and mental health in old age: Evidence from China

BackgroundSon preference is an enduring phenomenon in China and may often be related to childhood adverse experiences. According to a life-course perspective, adverse experiences during a childhood period may have a long-term effect on mental health in later age. However, little is known about this relationship between parents’ son preference, childhood adverse experiences and adulthood mental health in China.ObjectiveThe study aims to evaluate the association of parents’ son preference and individual mental health in old age in China. The mediating role of childhood adverse experiences was also estimated.Participants and settingThe China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2015 combined with CHARLS life history survey was analyzed (N = 11,666).MethodsMental health was measured by a shortened modification of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale including seven items, and higher scores indicated worse mental health status. A four-step mediating model was applied.ResultsRespondents growing in families with son preference had on average 0.75 (P < 0.001) points higher on the mental health scale than their counterparts, and the effects were consistent for both males and females. Childhood adverse experiences measured by physical maltreatment, emotional adverse experiences and witnesses of inter-parent violence mediated the relationship between parents’ son preference and individual adulthood mental health by 47.87%. For females, physical maltreatment and emotional adverse experiences explained the most parts of health effects of parents’ son preference, whereas witnesses of inter-parent violence was the most influential mediator for males.ConclusionParents’ son preference led to adverse childhood experiences, which influenced mental health in adulthood.     

A longitudinal investigation of protective factors for bereaved maltreated youth

BackgroundMaltreated youth are at an elevated risk for the development of problem behaviors. Coping with the death of a family member or close friend during adolescence, referred to as bereavement, is a stressful event that could potentiate risk linked to maltreatment. However, developmental research suggests that youth adjustment is a product of multiple risk and protective factors. Although maltreated youth who experience loss may be particularly vulnerable to behavior problems, personal and contextual factors may attenuate or exacerbate youths’ risk for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.ObjectiveThe overarching goal of this study is to examine individual, family, and community-level protective factors for maltreated youth who experience bereavement. Specifically, we aim to examine the effect of age 12 bereavement on age 16 internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and to investigate the moderating role of multi-level protective factors at ages 14 and 16.MethodsThe study consisted of a sample of 800 youth (52.4% female, 45.1% African-American) drawn from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), collected from 1998 to 2011.ResultsMaltreated youth who experienced significant loss were at increased risk for externalizing symptoms, compared to non-bereaved maltreated youth (β = 0.085, p < .05). Individual future orientation (β = 0.103, p < .05) family future orientation (β = −0.120, p < .05), parental monitoring (β = −0.123, p< .01), and neighborhood collective efficacy (β = −0.126, p < .01) each significantly moderated the association between bereavement and externalizing symptoms.ConclusionsThese results have implications for future interventions aimed towards reducing problem behaviors in adolescents with a history of child maltreatment and who experience bereavement.     

数学构造性方法的应用

从数学方法的角度 ,通过若干实例的分析 ,阐明了“数学构造性方法”的具体应用。     

在数学教学中培养学生提出问题的能力

20世纪50年代以来,谈话法就一直是数学教学的主流方法。这种谈话法大多由教师提出问题展开,以师生间一问一答的方式进行,教师提出的问题中具有启发式的,开放式的,需要学生经过深思熟虑才能回答的问题并不多。师生间是单向交流,学生缺少提出问题的机会,很大程度上限制了学生的思考和独立解决问题的能力。在数学教学中培养学生提出问题的能力是我们必须贯彻的教学目标。     

对数学实验课程建设的初步认识

本文作者根据自己教学实践 ,从开设数学试验课程的必要性出发 ,阐述了对数学试验课程建设的认识 ,以及开设数学试验课程对教育产生的影响。     

数学知识观的演变及其对人的认识主体性的意义

数学认识论的进步日益显示出数学作为人类的一种文化建构的本质。现代性视域下的主体性观念有其自身的缺陷。数学知识观的演变赋予认识论许多新的意义。数学用无可辩驳的真理对人的终极性主体地位给予了一个令人满意的科学论证。     

深入数学本质,培养发散思维

本以现代教育心理学为指导，探讨在数学教学中，为培养发散思维，该怎样深入数学问题的本质。