Six Myths About Spatial Thinking     

Nora S. Newcombe  Mike Stieff 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(6):955-971

Visualizations are an increasingly important part of scientific education and discovery. However, users often do not gain knowledge from them in a complete or efficient way. This article aims to direct research on visualizations in science education in productive directions by reviewing the evidence for widespread assumptions that learning styles, sex differences, developmental stages, and spatial language determine the impact of visualizations on science learning. First, we examine the assumption that people differ in their verbal versus visual learning style. Due to the lack of rigorous evaluation, there is no current support for this distinction. Future research should distinguish between two different kinds of visual learning style. Second, we consider the belief that there are large and intractable sex differences in spatial ability resultant from immutable biological reasons. Although there are some spatial sex differences (in some types of spatial tests although not all), there is actually only very mixed support for biological causation. Most important, there is conclusive evidence that spatial skills can be improved through training and education. Third, we explore educators' use of Piaget's ideas about spatial development to draw conclusions about ‘developmental appropriateness’. However, recent research on spatial development has focused on identifying sequences that begin with early starting points of skill, and spatial education is possible in some form at all ages. Fourth, although spatial language does not determine spatial thought, it does frame attention in a way that can have impact on learning and understanding. We examine the empirical support for each assumption and its relevance to future research on visualizations in science education.  相似文献   

Formal music education not only enhances musical skills, but also conceptions of teaching and learning: a study with woodwind students     

Cristina Marín  Nora Scheuer  María-Puy Pérez-Echeverría 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》2013,28(3):781-805

This paper studies conceptions of woodwind students regarding learning and teaching music, within the framework of implicit theories. It analyzes whether there are differences related to participants’ instruction level, and whether it is possible to identify profiles according to their conceptions. Sixty-eight students from three different levels at 14 Spanish conservatories took part voluntarily in this study. A multiple-choice questionnaire was used, which comprised 16 dilemmas on different situations typical of learning and teaching music. Three answers were presented for each dilemma, corresponding to the three implicit theories identified in recent years: direct, interpretative, and constructive. For each dilemma, participants were requested to choose the option they most agreed with and the one they least agreed with. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests of independence, multiple correspondence analysis, and ascending hierarchical classification. From the results obtained we can state that as students’ age and level of instruction increase, so does the level of sophistication of their conceptions. Three conceptual profiles were identified: direct, direct-interpretative, and constructive, which are consistent with prior results on conceptions of teaching and learning in other domains. Implications for education are discussed.  相似文献   

Class Parties and “West Enders”     

Nora McCaffrey Law 《Clearing house (Menasha, Wis.)》2013,86(6)

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Generational differences in online safety perceptions,knowledge, and practices     

Mengtian Jiang  Hsin-yi Sandy Tsai  Shelia R. Cotten  Nora J. Rifon  Robert LaRose  Saleem Alhabash 《Educational gerontology》2013,39(9):621-634

ABSTRACT

As Internet usage has proliferated in recent years so have online security threats. Internet users are increasingly susceptible to online security threats. Using a qualitative approach, this study conducted 18 focus groups to examine how three different generations perceive online safety, use coping strategies, and protect themselves online: Silent and GI generation (SGI) (born 1945 or earlier), older Baby Boomers (1946–1954), and Millennials (1977–1992). Results show that although each generation shares a variety of online safety concerns, SGIs and Boomers are more suspicious about online security, have less confidence in their abilities, are uncertain about the effectiveness of protection resources, perform fewer protection behaviors, and are more likely to rely on others’ assistance compared to the Millennial group. Our findings indicate online safety training is needed for all three generations, but especially for older adults. Tailored approaches are suggested to reach different generations.  相似文献   

Transformative environmental education: a collective rehearsal for reality   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Nora Räthzel 《Environmental Education Research》2009,15(3):263-277

This paper puts forward an alternative view on sustainable development, arguing that the separation between the economy, the environment and the social in the Brundtland model obscures the societal character of the economy, the economic bases of the social, and the fact that the environment is a societal product. We differentiate between strong and weak sustainability, arguing that the threat of environmental degradation can only be addressed at the level of the relations of production, consumption and political relations. Building on this perspective, we advocate a form of transformative environmental education which engages learners and teachers in a process of self‐reflective transformation. We illustrate this through two examples: action competence and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.  相似文献   

Assessing Student Affairs Programs and Services: Trends and Strategies          下载免费PDF全文

A. Katherine Busby 《Assessment Update》2017,29(6):6-7

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Vision development in the classroom     

R A Busby 《Journal of learning disabilities》1985,18(5):266-272

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Some controls control too much     

Newcombe NS 《Child development》2003,74(4):1050-1052

Investigators of complex phenomena often seek to isolate variables of interest by statistical control. However, they run the risk of studying situations that do not exist in the real world, missing mediational links, and drawing incorrect policy conclusions. In the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network article in this issue, amount of time in child care was studied controlling for family income and maternal depression. However, use of child care is closely linked with maternal employment, which increases family income and decreases maternal depression, which in turn are linked to children's socioemotional adjustment. Hence, the negative effects of amount of time in child care reported in the article are likely overestimated relative to causal pathways in the lives of real families.  相似文献   

Spanish and English Early Literacy Profiles of Preschool Latino English Language Learner Children     

Jorge Gonzalez  Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola  Laura Saenz  Denise Soares  Heather Davis  Nora Resendez 《Early education and development》2016,27(4):513-531

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine within-group individual differences in the code-related and oral language abilities of an economically stressed Spanish-speaking English language learner (ELL) preschool sample and to evaluate the predictive relationship of these differences to later listening comprehension. Latent class analysis was used to identify similarities in both the latent and outcome variables to form classes of students with similar profiles on the measured variables. Our 1st finding confirmed the existence of 4 distinct psychometrically validated profiles: (a) Low English Language, Average Spanish Language, Mixed Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 19.4%); (b) Average English Language, Strengths in Spanish Language and Spanish Code-Related (24.2%); (c) Mixed English and Spanish Language, Low Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 34%); and (d) High English Language, Average Spanish Language, Mixed Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 22%). The resulting profiles demonstrated that English and Spanish code- and language-related domains of emergent literacy developed unevenly across the Spanish-speaking ELL preschoolers. Relative strengths and weaknesses in code- and language-related skills were also found to be meaningfully related to end-of-year listening comprehension—a precursor to reading comprehension. Finally, profiles yielded meaningful variability along sociodemographic variables. Practice or Policy: Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.  相似文献   

Myth and ceremony in financial decision making under stress: Case studies from Mexican universities     

Nora H. Martinez 《Higher Education》1994,27(3):297-312

Based on case studies of a private and a public Mexican university, this research studied the economic strategies adopted by institutions of higher education to respond to financial stress. Rather than assuming that these strategies were selected primarily on the basis of their economic efficiency, the social processes that led to their adoption were explored.Economic development theory was employed to describe and conceptualize the universities' responses to financial difficulties. The concepts of institutional rules and rational myths in the environment and the processes that lead organizations to become similar to their environment were utilized to explore the role of the institutional environment on decision-making in times of fiscal uncertainty.Results indicate that financial stress was managed through economic measures, however the universities' institutional environment filtered and gave specific meaning to particular decision strategies. Institutional rules in the environment, acquiring the character of rationalized myths, pemeated and determined decision-making choices, and were evidenced in and sustained by mimetic, normative and coercive processes. In this light, the institutional environment pervaded and predicted rational decisions.  相似文献