What makes a professional learning community possible? A case study of a Mathematics department in a junior secondary school of China     

Jocelyn L. N. Wong 《Asia Pacific Education Review》2010,11(2):131-139

The concept of “professional learning community” (PLC) has been suggested as a tool to improve teachers’ professional competency and students’ learning outcomes since the mid-1990s. In such a community, teachers can share their individual practices with the aim of searching for “good practice” based on the outcome of collective inquiry. Such a learning process will result in a reculturing of the school community by reshaping the existing values and cultures and resolving problems such as teacher isolation and individualism. China already has a long tradition of teachers working and learning collaboratively, so investigating collaborative efforts in this context may provide a view of how to contextualize professional development of teachers in schools. This study attempts to access teachers’ lenses in order to explore their views on the effects of subject-based professional learning activities. This also helps to explain how teachers work and openly share their practices aiming at improving their professional competency and student learning outcomes within their communities. Also, factors influencing the sustainability of a professional learning community will be discussed.  相似文献   

Numeracy of Young Children in Singapore, Beijing & Helsinki     

Jessie Ee  Khoon Yoong Wong  Pirjo Aunio 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2006,33(5):325-332

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Efficient point-by-point engine calibration using machine learning and sequential design of experiment strategies     

Pak Kin Wong  Xiang Hui Gao  Ka In Wong  Chi Man Vong 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2018,355(4):1517-1538

Modern engines are controlled by electronic control units, which operate all the engine actuators based on the signals from various sensors in the engine. Traditionally, the control parameters of the actuators are obtained through huge amount of trial-and-error experiments. However, using traditional approach to calibrate these parameters becomes more challenging with the increasing incorporation of new technologies into advanced engines. In order to reduce the number of experiments required in the calibration process of modern engines, a novel point-by-point engine calibration approach based on machine learning methods is proposed in this study. It is an iterative procedure that, for a given operating point, sequential design of experiment (DoE) strategy is utilized to measure the responses of different engine sensors corresponding to different actuator signals, and a machine learning algorithm called initial-training-free online extreme learning machine is utilized to incrementally learn the relationship between the sensors and actuators based on the measurement acquired. In each iterative cycle, meta-heuristic optimization is performed on the machine-learning-based model to search for the best parameters, which are then used as the initial parameters for generating DoE plan of the next cycle. The iteration is repeated until the optimal parameters of that operating point are found. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, experiments on both simulation engine in commercial software and real engine in test bench have been conducted. The results show that the engine calibration can be carried out with significant fewer experiments and time by using the proposed approach.  相似文献   

Long-term Tai Chi exercise increases body stability of the elderly during stair ascent under high and low illumination*     

Qipeng Song  Shen Wang  Del P. Wong  Jingyi Zhou  Wei Sun  Cui Zhang 《Sports biomechanics / International Society of Biomechanics in Sports》2018,17(3):402-413

The effects of long-term Tai Chi exercise on body stability of the elderly during stair ascent under high and low illumination were investigated. Forty-five healthy elderly women were divided into three groups, namely, Tai Chi exercise group, brisk walking group and no-exercise control group. All the participants ascended a staircase, during which force platforms and a motion capture system collected the data. Under the high illumination, Tai Chi exercise participants exhibited higher loading rate and anteroposterior centre of pressure (COP_ap) displacement as well as a lower braking impulse than no-exercise group. Under the low illumination, Tai Chi exercise participants demonstrated higher COP_ap and mediolateral centre of pressure (COP_ml) displacements as well as lower braking and lateral impulses compared with no-exercise participants. The centre of mass (COM)_ml sway in Tai Chi and no exercise participants were higher, the loading rates in Tai Chi and walking participants were higher, and the lateral impulse in no exercise participants was higher under low illumination than under high illumination. Thus, low illumination increases the risk of falling. Tai Chi participants increased their foot clearance, head inclination angle and COP_ap displacement under low illumination to increase their stability during stair ascent.  相似文献   

The effects of expressions of fear induced by background music on reading comprehension     

Agnes S.K. Wong  Matthew Moreno  Samantha Burns  Earl Woodruff 《Journal of Research in Reading》2023,46(2):143-162

Background

Research has suggested that background music can have a positive or negative effect that can influence the affective state of individuals. Although research has demonstrated that fear negatively influences our cognitive performance, there is a research gap in understanding the combined effects of different background music tempo and fear in influencing reading comprehension performance.

Methods

Data were collected from 70 participants enrolled at a public university in Canada. Participants were required to listen to background music of varying speeds with three conditions (no music, slow music and fast music). We adopted a cross-sectional multi-level modelling approach for the main analyses, and further analyses using t-test and ANOVA.

Results

Results indicated that expression of fear was not a significant predictor of participants' reading comprehension performance (Model 1). However, when music condition was added (Model 2) in addition to expression of fear, a significant relationship between reading comprehension performance and music condition was found, showing better reading comprehension performance in the slow music condition than in the no music condition. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between music condition and expression of fear on reading comprehension performance (Model 3). Importantly, not all individuals were affected by the music to the same extent, with the possibility that baseline level of fear being the key issue in influencing comprehension performance.

Conclusions

Considering both expression of fear and music condition is required to understand the combined effects on cognitive performance. Expression of fear during cognitive tasks such as reading could be an essential signal that interventions should be applied. Such strategies may be especially beneficial for task performers with higher baseline levels of fear and possibly provide us with insights for best practice and research implications in the field of reading comprehension among individuals with special needs.

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