What Is Good?

“什么是真好?”我在沉思中问。法庭说:“法规。”学校说:“知识。”智者说:“真理。”愚人说:“欢乐。”少女说:“爱情。”侍者说:“美丽。”     

Is Peer Interaction Necessary for Optimal Active Learning?

Meta-analyses of active-learning research consistently show that active-learning techniques result in greater student performance than traditional lecture-based courses. However, some individual studies show no effect of active-learning interventions. This may be due to inexperienced implementation of active learning. To minimize the effect of inexperience, we should try to provide more explicit implementation recommendations based on research into the key components of effective active learning. We investigated the optimal implementation of active-learning exercises within a “lecture” course. Two sections of nonmajors biology were taught by the same instructor, in the same semester, using the same instructional materials and assessments. Students in one section completed in-class active-learning exercises in cooperative groups, while students in the other section completed the same activities individually. Performance on low-level, multiple-choice assessments was not significantly different between sections. However, students who worked in cooperative groups on the in-class activities significantly outperformed students who completed the activities individually on the higher-level, extended-response questions. Our results provide additional evidence that group processing of activities should be the recommended mode of implementation for in-class active-learning exercises.     

Hard Work Is Good for Health

科学家发现努力工作的名人比一般人寿命长,职业妇女比家庭妇女健康。证据表明,失业者比在业人员健康状况差。有一项调查显示,失业率每增长1%,死亡率相应增长2%。所有这些可归结为一点:工作有利于健康。     

School Efficiency and Student Subgroups: Is a Good School Good for Everyone?

State and federal accountability reforms are putting considerable pressure on schools to increase the achievement of historically low-performing groups of students and to close test score gaps. In this article, we exploit the differences among the large number of elementary schools in New York City to examine how much schools vary in the efficiency of the education they provide to subgroups. In addition, we examine the extent to which observable school characteristics can account for the variation that exists. We find that New York City elementary schools vary in how well they educate poor students compared to nonpoor students and Asian and White students compared to Black and Hispanic students. The disparities in school efficiency measures between boys and girls are lower than for the other subgroups. There is no conclusive evidence about which school resources and characteristics are associated with more or less efficient education across all subgroups.     

Network Applications for Group-Based Learning: Is More Better?

Group-based learning is being introduced into many settings in higher education. Is this a sustainable development with respect to the resources required? Under what conditions can group-based learning be applied successfully in distance education and in increasingly flexible campus-based learning? Can networked support facilitate and enrich courses where group-based learning is applied? These questions formed the basis of the motivation for the research project whose main results are presented here. The goals set for the research were the identification of problems associated with the planning, operationalisation, and monitoring of group tasks in group-based learning in higher education, and the identification of networked support options which, in combination with appropriate instructional decisions, have the potential to remedy these problems. The solutions identified were tested in the context of three case studies.     

What Does RTI (Response to Intervention) Look Like in Preschool?

This paper examines the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) in early childhood programs, more specifically in preschool settings. The paper proposes that RTI in preschool could focus on alleviating risk factors as it relates to social emotional competence, and reduction of challenging behaviors during early childhood years. A case-study in which RTI is used for challenging behaviors of a child is examined. Further, recommendations for practice in application of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) in preschool are made.     

Who Is a Good Student?

The junior middle school phase is one in which students first come into formal contact with science subjects and is a key period in the formation of their attitudes toward the sciences. Any setback in science studies in this period inevitably affects the students' studies in the senior middle school phase and even their future choice of specializations and the direction of their career development. Thus science education during the junior middle school phase is of the utmost importance for the students' growth. Studies by scholars abroad show that the great majority of girls have the same intelligence and ambitions as boys when they enter school, but by the time they graduate from junior and senior middle schools they have much less confidence in their abilities and their self-esteem has conspicuously declined. There is also a big difference between boys and girls in terms of their choice of advancement to higher schools, and a relatively small proportion of girls choose to take science courses in senior middle school. In terms of choice of vocations, most girls remain stuck in the narrow field of traditional occupations for females, such as nursing, health care, and secretarial work, and display a clear tendency toward job gender patternization. The rate of school dropouts and discontinued schooling is much higher among girls than boys.¹ Studies by scholars in China show that stereotyped gender impressions among teachers leads to incorrect conduct in education and teaching. For instance, teachers believe that boys are more clever. They make different dispositions for girls' and boys' learning activities, and lavish more attention on boys. Such different feedback to learning information [sic] from boys and girls widens the difference between students of different genders.²     

Is He A Good Boy?

Jack had gone to a university to study history,but at the end of hisfirst year,he failed in the history examination and he was told by hishistory professor that he would have to leave the university,but his fatherdecided that he would go to see the professor to ask him to let Jack go onwith his studies the following year.     

Who Is the Good Cook?

John：Whenwegetmarried,weregoingtohaveagoodcookinourhouse．Mike：Ididntknowyourgirlfriendcouldcook．John：Shecant．Hermotheriscomingtolivewithus．9     

Is He a Good Doctor?

An America visiting a remote area(偏远地区)in South American becamesick.“I have to see a doctor,” he told a local(当地居民).“How can I knowwhich doctor is a good one?”     

Is It Ethical for Patents to Be Issued for the Computer Algorithms That Affect Course Management Systems for Distance Learning?

Abstract

This article discusses the impact of patents for computer algorithms in course management systems. Referring to historical documents and court cases, the positive and negative aspects of software patents are presented. The key argument is the accessibility to algorithms comprising a course management software program such as Blackboard. The algorithms claimed in the Blackboard patent are critical to the development of distance learning. The impact of patenting these algorithms in the field of online education is evaluated using three ethical frameworks. As education moves online, it is important that distance learning be allowed to develop freely unencumbered by software patents.     

Are Integrated Learning Systems Good For Teachers Too?

ABSTRACT

The formal evaluation of Integrated Learning Systems (ILSs) in United Kingdom schools has raised questions about the professional development of teachers as they worked with pupils using the system. In this paper we will present evidence to show that by encouraging the use of information technology for more effective management of learning, and through the use of diagnostic material provided by the system about students, the use of ILSs can encourage the professional development of individual teachers.     

Is There a Role for Mathematical Disciplinarity in Productive Learning for the Workplace?

This paper situates mathematical content and process knowledge within the construct of broad occupational competence. It is critical of many developments in vocational mathematics curriculum and pedagogical practice in Australia over the last decade or so, especially the trend towards the de-institutionalisation of disciplinary knowledge. This has been accompanied by a chronic lack of professional development for many involved in vocational education to enable development of this mathematical knowledge. Meanwhile, workers' actual and potential mathematical knowledges remain largely unrecognised, whilst irrelevant, often infantile, pedagogic texts form their subjectivities as doers rather than knowers, always in need of more training to adapt to ever-changing technologies of workplace plant and management. It argues that to attempt to satisfy government and industry demands for a creative, problem-solving workforce?to say nothing of workers' entitlement to democratic participation?there is a need for mathematical disciplinarity beyond current practice.     

Ramadan Fasting and the Propensity for Learning: Is There a Cause for Concern?

The literature indicates that glucose deprivation, dehydration, decreased sleep quality and quantity, and mood changes, independently and adversely can influence cognitive functions and therefore learning. The Ramadan fast is an annual religious act undertaken by Muslims where individuals refrain from consuming food and fluid during daylight hours, daily over 30 days. Alteration in eating times and sleep–wake cycles lead to a disruption in the body's daily circadian rhythm resulting in sleep perturbations and mood swings. Consequently, Ramadan fasting is linked to daytime lower glucose concentration, dehydration, decreased sleep quality and quantity, mood swings and elevated subjective feelings of fatigue and malaise. This review highlights how Ramadan fasting potentially poses learning difficulties as a result of the independent and/or combined effects of these factors.     

Does Early Mathematics Intervention Change the Processes Underlying Children's Learning?

Early educational intervention effects typically fade in the years following treatment, and few studies have investigated why achievement impacts diminish over time. The current study tested the effects of a preschool mathematics intervention on two aspects of children's mathematical development. We tested for separate effects of the intervention on “state” (occasion-specific) and “trait” (relatively stable) variability in mathematics achievement. Results indicated that, although the treatment had a large impact on state mathematics, the treatment had no effect on trait mathematics, or the aspect of mathematics achievement that influences stable individual differences in mathematics achievement over time. Results did suggest, however, that the intervention could affect the underlying processes in children's mathematical development by inducing more transfer of knowledge immediately following the intervention for students in the treated group.     

How to Be A Good Guest?

Sarah is very happy. She is going to be 13 in two weeks. Her mother says it is a big day for a teenager. She said that Sarah could have a tea party to celebrate.There are20people in Sarah’s class.And her mother said she could invite all ofthem.So they bought beautiful cards andwrote down the guests’(客人的)names,andthe time,date and place of the party.Sarah’s mother also wrote down her phonenumber,so that guests could reply(答复).Then they posted the invitations.When you receive an invit…