Vol. 23-2（2010/12）
-
Chih-Neng Lin, Ling-Jiun Chen, & Jeng-Fung Hung
This study aimed to understand the relationship between multivariable causal reasoning ability and argumentation ability of the 10th grade students. The research method of this study was questionnaire survey. “The ability of causal reasoning and argumentation questionnaire” was used to detect students’ multivariable causal reasoning ability and argumentation ability. There were 165 subjects who participated in this survey. Data analysis showed that: (1)In the aspect of multivariable causal reasoning, students’ performance in factor-search was better than reason-state. (2)In the aspect of argumentation, students’ performance in rebuttal was weaker than other factors. (3)Multivariable causal reasoning performance and argumentation performance demonstrate a high correlation (r=.782, p<.05).
Keyword：multiple variables, causal reasoning ability, argumentation ability
-
Liang-Ping Juan
From September 2005 to June 2007, the researcher invited 43 teachers in rural area elementary schools, north Taiwan by random-sample for interviews and instruction observation. The data were analyzed from the concepts of the poverty theories, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy for empowering the disadvantaged students. The finding of the research was that the teachers actually were aware of the problems that there were many shortages of social capital and cultural capital in the poor communities and children’s families, but most of the teachers’ responsive-teaching and school curriculum practice usually were conservative. The number of teachers who adopted knowledge-center curriculum in their classrooms was larger than the number of teachers who adopted social construction curriculum and learner-centered curriculum. The researcher tried to explore how the assumptions that always existed in the school curriculum context strongly formed the teachers’ curriculum consciousness and their curriculum practice. Finally, the research suggests that we can encourage teachers to reflect their views concerning education of the disadvantaged students and deliberately decide their curriculum practice in order to elevate the quality of rural elementary schooling.
Keyword：the disadvantaged social environment, responsive teaching, teachers’ curriculum consciousness
-
Derray Chang, Chun-Dar Lee, & Li-Hua Cho
The purposes of this study are to analyze the process of formative teacher evaluation, its impacts and difficulties, and its influencing factors in a junior high school. To achieve the above purposes, this study adopts a qualitative approach to collect data by observing, interviewing and analyzing documents. The subject of this study is a large-sized junior high school in Taipei, which participated in the project of teacher evaluation for professional development initiated by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan. The results concluded in this study are listed as follows: 1. Three phases were formed during the process of teacher evaluation: (1)Preparation, (2)Implementation, and (3)Modification. 2. The consequences of implementing teacher evaluation were that it could help to promote professional dialogue between teachers, stimulate teaching reflection, promote teacher’s confidence, and produce teaching material which will be beneficial for school evaluation. 3. Three main difficulties were confronted in implementing teacher evaluation: (1)Teachers were still afraid of teacher evaluation. (2)The timing of training workshop could not match the need of the school. (3)Teachers didn’t have enough time to conduct evaluation and prepare paperwork. 4. Most of the instructional leadership and teacher culture of the case school were found to have positive impacts on the evaluation project. Suggestions were proposed according to the aforementioned conclusions of this study.
Keyword：teacher evaluation, formative teacher evaluation, teacher professional development, instructional leadership, teacher culture
-
Chwen-Chyong Tsau & Chia-Hua Hao
This study aimed to investigate the influence of early English learning experience in kindergarten on the English motivation and academic achievements of 1st and 3rd graders who just started formal English lessons at elementary schools in Kaohsiung area. An English Learning Motivation Questionnaire (ELMQ) based on Gardner’s social-educational model of second language acquisition (SLA) was designed with good content validity and reliability. Questionnaires and document analysis were adopted in the study; 2,339 students from 11 elementary schools in Kaohsiung area were invited to fill out the ELMQ and their 1st semester scores of English, Math and Chinese were obtained for further analysis. Quantitative data was processed by descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, t-test, Scheffé analysis with SPSS 15.0 for Windows. The results were as follows: (1)62.4% students started learning English in kindergarten, (2)the ‘English learning start time’, ‘English learning place’, ‘English learning hours’, and ‘English teacher’s qualification’ of the early English learning experiences showed different levels of positive influence on elementary students’ English learning motivation including instrumental and integrative motivation, and (3)Students who had early English learning experiences outperformed students who did not in terms of their English, Math, and Chinese scores in the 1st semester. This suggests that learning English early may have a positive influence on students’ academic achievement later on.
Keyword：kindergarten English learning experience, learning motivation
-
Hsiu-Hao Liu
There are not only the technical issues but also the historical, political, social ones when it comes to academic culture and technology reform. This paper outlines an alternative theorization which follows Larry Cuban’s historical thinking on the use of technology in educational reform. He examined the grammar of school when reformers initiated technology-based reform. This paper adopts history research and documentary analysis, then focuses on the deconstruction, verification, context and practice of Cuban’s historical thinking on technology, and finally rethinks the implications for technology-based reform in education. We conclude as follows: (1)There are dilemmas in the technology-based reform. (2)There are persistent beliefs in the grammar of school. (3)There are political issues in teachers using technology. (4)There are responsibilities of social ethics in educators.
Keyword：Larry Cuban, the grammar of school, educational reform, technology reform
