Online professional development for environmental educators: strategies to foster critical thinking and social interactions     

Bryce DuBois  Alex Russ 《Environmental Education Research》2019,25(10):1479-1494

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer opportunities for professional development of environmental educators globally, yet we lack understanding of participants? cognitive and social learning processes and of how instructors can enhance these processes. Based on the Community of Inquiry framework, we used a survey and coded participant discussion board and Facebook posts to examine the cognitive, social, and teaching presence in the Environmental Education: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Addressing Wicked Problems MOOC, offered by Cornell University. Rather than train educators in a specific curriculum, the goal of the MOOC is to expand educators? critical and transdisciplinary thinking about the field of environmental education and to enhance social interactions to support learning, educators, and knowledge co-creation. Results indicate that cognitive presence is higher on the discussion board whereas social presence is higher on Facebook. Over half of cognitive posts focused on exploration, a lower level of learning, whereas just less than a fifth reflected higher level integration, suggesting room for enhancing cognitive learning. Our results suggest strategies to encourage higher levels of thinking and more meaningful social interactions to foster learning, educator support, and co-creation of knowledge, thereby improving online professional development.  相似文献   

Parents' role in the academic motivation of students with gifts and talents     

Alex C. Garn  Michael S. Matthews  Jennifer L. Jolly 《Psychology in the schools》2012,49(7):656-667

Parents play a key role in developing their children's academic motivation, and parents of children with gifts and talents also may face additional parenting challenges that are less commonly faced by parents of average‐ability learners whose needs are more readily met in the school setting. School psychologists may be charged with addressing these issues, despite having little or no training on the needs of families of high‐ability learners. We use the lens provided by the self‐determination theory of motivation to consider how social–environmental climates created by parents can promote or impede the academic motivation of students with gifts and talents. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.  相似文献   

Understanding and Changing Older Adults' Perceptions and Learning of Social Media   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Xie B  Watkins I  Golbeck J  Huang M 《Educational gerontology》2012,38(4):282-296

An exploratory study was conducted to answer the following questions: What are older adults' perceptions of social media? What educational strategies can facilitate their learning of social media? A thematic map was developed to illustrate changing perceptions from the initial unanimous, strong negative to the more positive but cautious and to the eventual willingness to actually contribute content. Privacy was the primary concern and key perceptual barrier to adoption. Effective educational strategies were developed to overcome privacy concerns, including: 1) introducing the concepts before introducing the functions; 2) responding to privacy concerns; and 3) making social media personally relevant.  相似文献   

Robert Glaser 1921‐2012     

Alex Romiszowski  Jim Hartley 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2012,43(3):357-358

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Positive Effects of Converting a Food and Bioprocessing Analysis Course to an Inquiry‐Guided Approach     

Gabriel K. Harris  Sanja Cvitkusic  Amanda S. Draut  Chelani S. Hathorn  Amanda M. Stephens  Karen E. Constanza  Michael J. Leonardelli  Ruth H. Watkins  Lisa O. Dean  Nathaniel G. Hentz 《Journal of Food Science Education》2012,11(2):23-27

Abstract: Food science laboratory courses are traditionally taught as a series of preplanned laboratories with known endpoints. In contrast, inquiry‐guided (IG) laboratories allow students to ask questions, think through problems, design experiments, then adapt and learn in response to unexpected results. This study examined the effects of converting the course, “Analytical Techniques in Food and Bioprocessing Sciences” from a traditional approach (2008 to 2010 data) to an IG approach (2011 data) by assigning teams of 2–3 students a food and a set of 5 analyses to conduct over the course of the semester. Students were required to choose and justify the use of specific methods for each analysis, as well as to develop a supply list and a budget for the semester‐long project. During the semester, students were required to post and discuss their weekly progress with the instructor, teaching assistants, and the rest of the class using an online discussion forum. At the end of the semester, students were required to present the results of their analysis in both oral and written formats. Overall course grades were significantly higher (P≤ 0.05) using IG in 2011 compared to 2010 and 2009, but not to 2008 grades. Numerical course evaluations for the instructor, overall course, and lab, as well as written course evaluations all significantly (P≤ 0.05) improved. This suggests that an IG approach may measurably improve student performance in terms of course grades and the ability to complete semester long projects. It may also increase student satisfaction with the course, as measured by numerical and written end of semester surveys.  相似文献   

The impact of peer mentoring on levels of student wellbeing,integration and retention: a controlled comparative evaluation of residential students in UK higher education     

R. Collings  V. Swanson  R. Watkins 《Higher Education》2014,68(6):927-942

Peer mentoring is becoming increasingly popular in UK higher education, however, there remains little good quality, theoretically driven and evaluative research. The current study aims to bridge the gap between theory, practice and evaluation by providing a controlled evaluation of a peer mentoring scheme within UK universities. 109 first year undergraduates from two matched universities completed questionnaires at two time points: during the first week of university and again 10 weeks later. Results focused on direct, mediating and moderating effects of mentoring on levels of wellbeing, integration and retention. Peer mentored individuals showed higher levels of integration to university. Four times as many non-peer mentored students had seriously considered leaving university compared to peer mentored students. Integration partially mediated the relationship between mentoring and intention to stay at university. Moderating effects analyses indicate that mentoring may buffer the effect of the transition to University. Results are discussed in relation to Tinto’s theory of student retention, the benefits and practicalities of peer mentoring within UK universities and the methodological limitations within this study.  相似文献   

Structural and convergent validity of the homework performance questionnaire     

Laura L. Pendergast  Marley W. Watkins  Gary L. Canivez 《教育心理学》2014,34(3):291-304

Homework is a requirement for most school-age children, but research on the benefits and drawbacks of homework is limited by lack of psychometrically sound measurement of homework performance. This study examined the structural and convergent validity of scores from the newly developed Homework Performance Questionnaire – Teacher Scale (HPQ-T). Participants were 112 teachers of 224 students in six Illinois school districts. Common factor analysis with principal axis extraction and promax rotation was used for data analysis. Results revealed three salient factors: Parent support, student competence and homework completion. Subsequently, convergent validity of HPQ-T subscale scores with subscale scores from the Learning Behaviours Scale was examined. Findings suggest that the HPQ-T may potentially be a useful tool for improving research on homework and identifying strengths and weaknesses in student homework performance. However, modifications are recommended to optimise the utility of the scores.  相似文献   

What is global education and where is it taking us?     

Alex Standish 《Curriculum Journal》2014,25(2):166-186

Global education began as a movement to reform education and society in the 1960s and 1970s, through the work of educationalists, NGOs and also intergovernmental organisations. The global approach seeks to break with a curriculum that is grounded in subject knowledge and national culture. Instead, it seeks to explore alternative rationales for education and alternate futures. A second wave of global or international education occurred from the 1990s alongside discussion of globalisation, which brought the movement into mainstream education. One of the characteristics of global/international education is its ambiguity. It seeks to break with the past curriculum, but it is not always clear what will take its place. For some, preparing young people for the global market is foremost, while others aim to facilitate the child's sense of himself or herself as a personal being. What is common to both is a desire to challenge the boundaries that previously gave meaning to education (especially theoretical knowledge and culture) and a search for meaning and opportunity in the projection of power beyond national boundaries. We conclude by questioning whether children are adequately prepared to act as global citizens without an education based on academic knowledge and an ethical framework that is culturally grounded.  相似文献   

Application of digital image correlation to full-field measurement of shrinkage strain of dental composites     

Jian-ying LI  Andrew LAU  Alex S. L. FOK 《浙江大学学报(A卷英文版)》2013,14(1):1-10

Objectives: Polymerization shrinkage of dental composites remains a major concern in restorative dentistry because it can lead to micro-cracking of the tooth and debonding at the tooth-restoration interface. The aim of this study was to measure the full-field polymerization shrinkage of dental composites using the optical digital image correlation (DIC) method and to evaluate how the measurement is influenced by the factors in experiment setup and image analysis. Methods: Four commercial dental composites, Premise Dentine, Z100, Z250 and Tetric EvoCeram, were tested. Composite was first placed into a slot mould to form a bar specimen with rectangular-section of 4 mm mm, followed by the surface painting to create irregular speckles. Curing was then applied at one end of the specimen while the other part were covered against curing light for simulating the clinical curing condition of composite in dental cavity. The painted surface was recorded by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera before and after curing. Subsequently, the volumetric shrinkage of the specimen was calculated with specialist DIC software based on image cross correlation. In addition, a few factors that may influence the measuring accuracy, including the subset window size, speckle size, illumination light and specimen length, were also evaluated. Results: The volumetric shrinkage of the specimen generally decreases with increasing distance from the irradiated surface with a conspicuous exception being the composite Premise Dentine as its maximum shrinkage occurred at a subsurface distance of about 1 mm instead of the irradiated surface. Z100 had the greatest maximum shrinkage strain, followed by Z250, Tetric EvoCeram and then Premise Dentine. Larger subset window size made the shrinkage strain contour smoother. But the cost was that some details in the heterogeneity of the material were lost. Very small subset window size resulted in a lot of noise in the data, making it difficult to discern the general pattern in the strain distribution. Speckle size did not seem to have obvious effect on the volumetric shrinkage strain along specimen length; however, larger speckles resulted in higher level of noise or heterogeneity in the shrinkage distribution. Compared with bright illumination, dimmer lighting produced larger standard deviations in the measured shrinkage, indicating a higher level of noise. The longer the specimen, the greater was the rate of reduction with distance from the irradiated surface, especially for the longitudinal strain. Significance: The image correlation method is capable of producing full-field polymerization shrinkage of dental composites. The accuracy of the measurements relies on selection of optimal parameters in experimental setup and DIC analysis.  相似文献   

Evolution and Diffusion of the Michigan State University Tradition of Organizational Communication Network Research     

Alex M. Susskind  Donald F. Schwartz  William D. Richards  J. David Johnson 《Communication Studies》2013,64(4):397-418

This article documents the 30‐year history of communication network research at Michigan State University (M.S.U.), providing a case study of the evolution and diffusion of an academic innovation. Three past and continuing issues for network scholars are identified: a lack of professional reward for developing user‐friendly computer programs, unresolved methodological problems, and a need for better theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The narrative also illustrates the difficulty communication as a discipline has in impacting broader intellectual traditions. The story begins with the first doctoral dissertation (Schwartz, 1968 Richards, W. D. and Barnett, G., eds. 1993. Progress in communication sciences: Advances in communication network analysis, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.  [Google Scholar]) and the first network analysis software program in 1970 (Richards’ Negopy), continuing to the last dissertation (Susskind, 1996 Susskind, A. M. 1996. The impact of an organizational downsizing effort on survivors’ communication network relationships and attitudes, East Lansing: Department of Communication, Michigan State University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation [Google Scholar]), and ending in 1998 when J. David Johnson left the M.S.U. faculty. Other major players in the M.S.U. network tradition included David K. Berlo, Eugene Jacobson, Everett M. Rogers, Vincent Farace, Peter Monge, and Erwin Bettinghaus. Ironically, Schwartz and Susskind met in 1998 while Schwartz was preparing to retire from Cornell University and Susskind was starting as an Assistant Professor in a different department, thus providing closure to the M.S.U. network.  相似文献