Teachers’ self-efficacy and intercultural classroom practices in diverse classroom contexts: A cross-national comparison

This cross-national study provides new insights in teacher efficacy in today’s culturally diverse classrooms using survey data of 269 early childhood and primary school teachers in England, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Teacher efficacy can be viewed as a two dimensional concept in which both general beliefs are measured alongside (diversity-related) domain-specific beliefs. These beliefs are related to the cultural classroom context and the use of intercultural classroom practices. Our results indicate that policies and professional development targeted at the reciprocal relation between diversity-related efficacy and practices are important when preparing teachers for working in diverse classroom contexts.     

The Mystery Room: discovering the flexibility of an information literacy-based educational escape room

Abstract

The Mystery Room is an educational escape room based on information literacy and applied to multiple audiences, including first-year students and library student employees. In this article, we explain how we developed the game, its theoretical underpinnings, and why it’s a flexible workshop for a variety of audiences.     

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.     

辽宁省专业运动队文化教育状况及对策分析

采用文献资料法、问卷调查法、座谈访问法、数理统计法 ,对辽宁省专业运动员的自然情况、文化教育的需求情况、教练员以及运动员对文化教育重要性和迫切性的认识等情况、运动队的领导、一般干部进行了调查。经分析发现辽宁省专业运动队文化教育存在五个方面的问题 ,针对存在的问题提出解决的对策 ,这对于加强辽宁省专业运动队文化教育、提高运动员的科学文化素质具有一定的实践价值。     

Does the Model of Language in the National Literacy Strategy Create Failure for Pupils from Differing Language Backgrounds?

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced by the government in the wake of the hotly debated issue of falling educational standards in the UK. All schools were required to adopt the NLS Literacy Hour unless they could show their preferred programme would result in raised levels of achievement. My experience of delivering the Literacy Hour has been a process of adaptation to the needs of my pupils, who are drawn mainly from groups whose language backgrounds differ from that which is dominant in school. I have found that the requirements of NLS, together with many of the commercial resources used to teach it, are not appropriate for pupils from these groups and a question arose: is it the pupils who are in some way deficient or is it the approach and the resources being used? This article takes a case study of the use of a commercially produced resource to explore the model of language implicit in NLS, the kinds of resources it generates and the ways in which this creates failure in pupils from different language backgrounds. It then considers the New Literacy Studies and their implications for an alteration in our approach.     

Steps Toward More Effective Implementation of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing

The goal of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is to improve testing practices, but their impact on practice appears spotty. Self-regulation clearly fails in some instances. The establishment of an external agency to oversee testing practices and adherence to the Standards would face substantial hurdles, and the ambiguity of many of the Standards would hobble such an organization if one were created. Many of the Standards are general statements of principle, and past controversies make clear that we in the field often disagree about the reasons for them, their applicability to specific cases, and their practical meaning in specific contexts. This paper argues that the field should follow two approaches to lessen this ambiguity. First, using journals, conferences, and other vehicles, we should foster more frequent and more protracted debate about the practical meaning of key Standards, such as 13.6 and 13.7, which mandate that a decision that will have a "major impact" on a student should not be based on a single score. Second, future revisions of the Standards should use concrete examples of testing practices to clarify the meaning of the Standards, much as the legal system uses case law to clarify the meaning of the general principles embodied in statutes .     

论青少年运动员自学能力的培养

竞技体育事业的腾飞需要全面发展的优秀运动员,青少年运动员的文化学习是培养全面发展优秀运动员的一个重要方面,青少年运动员文化学习的特殊性更要求打破传统的教学方式,培养其学习能力,尤其是自学能力。论述了培养自学能力的重要意义,青少年运动员文化学习的特殊性和必要性,并提出了培养青少年运动员自学能力的方法及策略。     

关于聋校识字教学的思考

长期以来,聋校学词识字教学的效率较低,一直在少、慢、差的沼泽中徘徊,严重影响了聋生阅读能力的提高。其影响因素有聋校教材的编排、汉字识别中的笔画数和熟悉度、聋生对字形结构的理解能力。笔者主张在教学实践中采用字理识字、随文识字、游戏识字相结合的形式,努力提高聋校识字教学的效果,为聋生以后的学习和交流打下坚实的基础。     

国内外信息素质教育及民办院校信息化建设的思考

简要介绍了国内外信息素质研究及相关教育活动发展的情况。探讨了在当代信息环境下开展信息素质教育对中国特别是对民办高校的现实意义,通过对信息素质教育内涵及我国相关教育发展现状与所存在问题的分析,对推进民办高校信息化建设提出了若干建议。     

国内外1975～1991年间关于中小企业信息管理的研究成果统计分析及建议

对 1975～ 1991年间国内外有关中小企业研究的文章从关键词分布、主题分布、国家分布等方面进行了统计 ,具体分析了文章主题的内容 ,进而指出我国在这些方面亟待解决与完善的问题 ,对我国支撑中小企业的信息管理提出参考性建议。表 4 ,参考文献 8。