Teaching About Theory-Laden Observation to Secondary Students Through Manipulated Lab Inquiry Experience     

Kwok-chi Lau  Shi-lun Chan 《Science & Education》2013,22(10):2641-2658

This study seeks to develop and evaluate a modified lab inquiry approach to teaching about nature of science (NOS) to secondary students. Different from the extended, open-ended inquiry, this approach makes use of shorter lab inquiry activities in which one or several specific NOS aspects are manipulated deliberately so that students are compelled to experience and then reflect on these NOS aspects. In this study, to let students experience theory-laden observation, they were provided with different “theories” in order to bias their observations in the lab inquiry. Then, in the post-lab discussion, the teacher guided students to reflect on their own experience and explicitly taught about theory-ladenness. This study employs a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design using the historical approach as the control group. The results show that the manipulated lab inquiry approach was much more effective than the historical approach in fostering students’ theory-laden views, and it was even more effective when the two approaches were combined. Besides, the study also sought to examine the practical epistemological beliefs of students concerning theory-ladenness, but limited evidence could be found.  相似文献   

Global export of Hong Kong television: Television broadcasts limited     

Yiu‐ming To  Tuen‐yu Lau 《亚洲交流杂志》2013,23(2):108-121

This study examines the business strategies of media exports by a dominant television company in Hong Kong. It is found that there are four strategies: co‐operative contract, joint venture, barter trade, and management consultancy. These strategies vary with the importing state's reactions as well as interactions between the media exporter and the importing state. The authors argue for a re‐examination of the two conventional approaches in the discussion of media imperialism, namely, the traditional theories of media imperialism and the free market approach. The new approach should emphasize the interactions among the media exporters, the state, and the audience.  相似文献   

Heshang (River Elegy) a television orchestration of a new ideology in China     

Then‐yu Lau  Yuet‐keung Lo 《亚洲交流杂志》2013,23(2):73-102

This paper analyses the extensive reactions and intensive discussions generated by Heshang, a six‐part documentary series aired in June 1988 in China. The documentary, advocating a ‘full‐scale adoption of Western ideas’, and ‘total abandoning of Chinese traditional culture’, stirred up party leaders' displeasure.

Furthermore, the paper also analyses the presentation rationale and strategy (such as use of symbols, emotional appeal, etc.) used in Heshang. The analysis suggests that the programme producers' experiment of conveying complex social, cultural and historical contents in a documentary format is successful and innovative. Additionally, Heshang has enormous implications for contemporary Chinese politics, in particular the use of television as a public forum on controversial issues. As such, this paper enhances our understanding of the role and impact of the mass media in China.  相似文献   

Development of private higher education in Macau: Exploring the relationship between government and private sector     

Lau  Cheng Man Diana  Yuen  Pong Kau 《Frontiers of Education in China》2010,5(3):450-463

The development of private higher education in Macau has experienced rapid growth in the past two decades. The purpose of this paper is to understand this trend by investigating the facts and figures supplied by official sources and to analyze the role between the Government and the private sector. This paper shows that the attitude of the Macau Government is neither authoritative nor laissez-faire toward private higher education. On the one hand, the Government is investing heavily in the public sector. On the other hand, it is assisting the private sector by various means. However, there is a lack of systematic planning in the area of public-private partnership. There are also two issues which may hinder the current development of private higher education. They are an outdated legal framework and a lack of standardized quality assurance measures.  相似文献   

Nanotechnology in Mexico: Key Findings Based on OECD Criteria     

Guillermo Foladori  Edgar Arteaga Figueroa  Edgar Záyago Lau  Richard Appelbaum  Eduardo Robles-Belmont  Liliana Villa  Rachel Parker  Vanessa Leos 《Minerva》2015,53(3):279-301

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Impact of participation in extra-curricular activities during college on graduate employability: an empirical study of graduates of Taiwanese business schools     

Hsien-Hsien Lau  Sandra Acosta  Tze-Li Hsu 《Educational studies》2014,40(1):26-47

This study examined college graduates’ evaluations of their employability skills associated with graduate participation in various extra-curricular activities including being a core member of: (a) student government (such as student councils), (b) service (such as scouts clubs), (c) sports, (d) music and (e) arts clubs. The final sample comprised 28,768 business school graduates who hoped to enter the workforce immediately upon graduating in the 2008 school year. Results from propensity score matching analyses demonstrated that students who had been core members of extra-curricular activities were more likely to positively evaluate their communication, leadership, creativity and self-promotion skills. Furthermore, results suggested that different types of extra-curricular activities could unequally influence the employability of graduating college students. Leadership skills benefited most from involvement in sports clubs, while creativity skills benefited most from involvement in music clubs. Communication and self-promotion skills benefited moderately from all extra-curricular activities. Unlike other employability skills, the time management skills of students hardly benefited from extra-curricular activities.  相似文献   

Perception of reading instruction and self-regulated learning: A comparison between Chinese students in Hong Kong and Beijing     

Kit-ling Lau  Xiao-bo Chen 《Instructional Science》2013,41(6):1083-1101

Based on the theoretical framework of self-regulated learning (SRL), the study aimed to examine whether the proposed relationship between classroom environment and students’ SRL was applicable in the case of Chinese readers. In this study, a questionnaire measuring students’ perception of reading instruction, strategy use, and reading motivation was completed by 1,654 Hong Kong and 2,006 Beijing students from grade 10. By comparing students from two different Chinese cities, the study also attempted to understand the learning attitudes and behaviors of students who share the same Confucian cultural backgrounds but experience different educational environments. The findings of this study indicated that the positive effects of perceived reading instruction on Chinese students’ SRL mainly came from strategy and metacognitive-based instruction, teacher support, and the nature of task. While both Hong Kong and Beijing students demonstrated a positive attitude towards their reading instruction as well as a positive degree of strategy use and reading motivation, significant area differences were found in nearly all measured variables. These findings have been discussed in the light of the contextual environments of the two Chinese cities. The study provides useful insights for understanding Chinese learners and Chinese classrooms from the perspective of SRL.  相似文献   

Analysis of sources of innovation, technological innovation capabilities, and performance: An empirical study of Hong Kong manufacturing industries   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

Richard C.M. Yam^{Author Vitae}  William Lo Author VitaeEsther P.Y. Tang Author Vitae  Antonio K.W. Lau Author Vitae 《Research Policy》2011,40(3):391-402

The concept of the regional innovation system (RIS) has been developed into an important framework for evaluating innovation performance. The study reported in this paper explores the relationship between the RIS and the firm's innovation system (FIS) according to the basic premise that firms that better utilize sources of information (SI) available within their regional innovation system (RIS) perform better due effect this has in enhancing the firm's technological innovation capabilities (TICs). The different innovation capabilities of a firm are regarded as the key components of the firm's innovation system. The sources of information available within an RIS include external sources (EXT) and external expert organizations, the latter of which are referred to as knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This study also explores the dual role of KIBS as both sources of and bridges for innovation in the RIS. Data were obtained through a mailed survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The utilization concept and the dual role of KIBS were verified. The results show that externally available information affects all innovation capabilities of the firm, while external expert organizations affect only the firm's R&D and resources allocation capabilities. This study contributes to the RIS literature by providing empirical evidence on how firms can interact with the RIS by utilizing SI to enhance their TICs and achieve global competitiveness.  相似文献   

Effectiveness of a Cloning and Sequencing Exercise on Student Learning with Subsequent Publication in the National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank     

Joann M. Lau  David L. Robinson 《CBE life sciences education》2009,8(4):326-337

With rapid advances in biotechnology and molecular biology, instructors are challenged to not only provide undergraduate students with hands-on experiences in these disciplines but also to engage them in the “real-world” scientific process. Two common topics covered in biotechnology or molecular biology courses are gene-cloning and bioinformatics, but to provide students with a continuous laboratory-based research experience in these techniques is difficult. To meet these challenges, we have partnered with Bio-Rad Laboratories in the development of the “Cloning and Sequencing Explorer Series,” which combines wet-lab experiences (e.g., DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, ligation, transformation, and restriction digestion) with bioinformatics analysis (e.g., evaluation of DNA sequence quality, sequence editing, Basic Local Alignment Search Tool searches, contig construction, intron identification, and six-frame translation) to produce a sequence publishable in the National Center for Biotechnology Information GenBank. This 6- to 8-wk project-based exercise focuses on a pivotal gene of glycolysis (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), in which students isolate, sequence, and characterize the gene from a plant species or cultivar not yet published in GenBank. Student achievement was evaluated using pre-, mid-, and final-test assessments, as well as with a survey to assess student perceptions. Student confidence with basic laboratory techniques and knowledge of bioinformatics tools were significantly increased upon completion of this hands-on exercise.  相似文献   

Understanding learner acceptance of learning objects: The roles of learning object characteristics and individual differences   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Siong-Hoe Lau  Peter C. Woods 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2009,40(6):1059-1075

Many organisations and institutions have integrated learning objects into their e-learning systems to make the instructional resources more efficient. Like any other information systems, this trend has made user acceptance of learning objects an increasingly critical issue as a high level of learner satisfaction and acceptance reflects that the users are more willing to continue to use the technology. In this study, an extended version of technology acceptance model (TAM) with two external variables (learning object characteristics and individual differences) was developed to investigate the underlying factors and causal relationships in predicting learners' acceptance of learning objects. This study called for the respondents to progress through two phases of learning object participation: introduction and direct-use experience to investigate the students' perceptions in terms of usefulness and ease of use while utilising learning objects. The findings show that both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are determinants of behavioural intention to use learning objects. Learning object characteristics influence both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of learning objects; individual differences appear to have no influence upon intention to use learning objects.  相似文献