The effects of different types of text and individual differences on view complexity about genetically modified organisms     

Daniel L. Dinsmore  Brian P. Zoellner  Meghan M. Parkinson  Anthony M. Rossi  Mary J. Monk  Jenelle Vinnachi 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(7):791-813

ABSTRACT

View change about socio-scientific issues has been well studied in the literature, but the change in the complexity of those views has not. In the current study, the change in the complexity of views about a specific scientific topic (i.e. genetically modified organisms; GMOs) and use of evidence in explaining those views was examined in relation to individual factors and type of text (informational, persuasive, or narrative). Undergraduate students completed measures of their prior views about GMOs their epistemic beliefs about the nature of science, and activities related to food consumption. Participants then read either an informational, persuasive, or narrative passage about GMOs and again answered a question related to their views about GMOs. Participants who read the persuasive passage decreased in the complexity of their views, while those who read the narrative and expository passage increased in the complexity of their views. Additionally, while cultural activities related to the complexity of individuals’ views during the pretest, these significant differences were not evident at posttest after the text intervention. These findings can be used to help scientists and teachers better understand how to communicate information critical to understanding complex science and environmental issues to the public and their students.  相似文献   

Internet,Multimedia and Virtual Laboratories in a 'Third World' Environment     

Julián Antonio Monge-Nájera  Marta Rivas Rossi  Víctor Hugo Méndez-Estrada 《Open Learning》2013,28(3):279-290

Electronic education faces similar difficulties in low-budget institutions throughout the world (many of them in common with developed nations), including mainly rejection or disinterest from staff and students, insufficient funds, outdated hardware, incompatible software and poor Internet access. Over the past five years, with low budgets and considerable limitations in the equipment available, the Universidad Estatal a Distancia in Costa Rica has produced multimedia courses and materials for use on the Internet, as well as designing virtual laboratories that can be run on cheap computers. The authors recount their experiences in the hope that these will prove useful to others. They explain how simultaneous production of traditional materials (mainly printed textbooks) and online courses, together with simple automatic evaluation and 'outsourcing', reduce costs significantly. They conclude that HTML and JAVA are currently the choice computer languages to reach the greatest number of users without need of a specific computing platform, powerful computers or expensive software.  相似文献   

“My Three Wishes”: Hopes,Aspirations, and Concerns of Middle School Students     

John Allen Rossi 《Clearing house (Menasha, Wis.)》2013,86(3):141-144

Inclusion in the general education classroom is becoming the placement of choice for many students with autism. Autism is a disorder that can impact many aspects of a child's learning experience. A child's profile along the continuum of Autism Spectrum Disorders dictates the severity of impairment in language engagement, social connectedness, sensory integration, and cognitive skills. This can often be overwhelming for teachers who are uninformed and untrained in the unique issues of autism. Teacher awareness and understanding of behaviors and perceptions unique to these disorders can facilitate the development and implementation of strategies created specifically to ease this potentially overwhelming situation for students and teachers.  相似文献   

Promotion of participation and mediation in multicultural classrooms     

Claudio Baraldi  Elisa Rossi 《Irish Educational Studies》2013,32(3):383-401

This essay presents the theoretical framework and main results of a research on intercultural mediation which has been performed in eight multicultural classrooms of Italian secondary schools. Intercultural mediation is conceived as a form of dialogic communication which should empower empathic and equal relationships between the participants by changing the existent negative patterns (dialogic mediation). The empirical features of mediation have been investigated in the interactions between mediators and adolescents in the selected classrooms. The analysis demonstrated that some dialogic actions were effective in empowering students’ personal expressions, promoting effective reflections and new narratives about their relationships, and management of their conflicts. Two limitations of dialogic mediation emerged from the analysis: (1) dialogic actions were always effective in demonstrating mediators’ involvement and coordination with students, but they were only occasionally effective in promoting dialogue among students; (2) promotion of active participation was more frequently successful than coordination of reflection and conflict management.  相似文献   

ITALIAN PEOPLE AGED 50–75 YEARS ENROLLED IN A HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAM: HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE     

Maria Lucchetti  Liana Spazzafumo  Federica Cerasa 《Educational gerontology》2013,39(6):439-453

The article presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis that identifies the most important lifestyle factors of an independent population of 50-75 years living at home and in a variety of middle-sized towns in the Marche Region (Italy). The first step was an investigation of multiple associations among state of health, socioeconomic variables, and lifestyle. After studying the set of variables defining lifestyle, we proceeded to identify the most important ones in order to select a group of elderly with a "correct" lifestyle. The principal outcome concerns the overwhelming role played by the subjective perception of aging. It is, therefore, necessary for social policies to concentrate on the importance of promoting educational campaigns for the achievement of successful aging, stressing the value of both personal well-being and socializing activities.  相似文献   

Social selection in higher education. Enrolment,dropout and timely degree attainment in Italy     

Dalit Contini  Federica Cugnata  Andrea Scagni 《Higher Education》2018,75(5):785-808

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive picture of social selectivity in higher education in Italy by focusing on enrolment and two alternative indicators of success: retention and timely completion. The existing literature has shown that young individuals of disadvantaged backgrounds have lower enrolment probabilities and higher chances of withdrawal. This paper analyses the size and features of this cumulative disadvantage, shaping the chances of high-school leavers of eventually attaining the university degree. We analyse whether social background inequalities are stronger at enrolment or at later outcomes, and how these inequalities vary with previous schooling experience. We confirm previous evidence that disadvantaged groups with respect to enrolment are also disadvantaged on persistence, add new findings on timely completion and show that cumulative inequalities are very strong. Inequalities are strongest among students holding technical and vocational high-school qualifications and weakest among well-performing students from lyceums. In addition, we examine the role of labour market conditions and whether they explain geographical differences. Enrolment, retention and timely completion probabilities appear negatively related to local youth unemployment rates, suggesting that with poor labour market prospects, individuals lose motivation and reduce their engagement in education.  相似文献   

The role of content management systems in publishing firms     

Federica Bianco  Francesca Michelino 《International Journal of Information Management》2010

This paper investigates the interaction between technological and organizational parameters. Recent studies have been focused on the information and communication impact on organizational parameters, owing to the growing need to acquire and process information. We focus on the impact of the content management system on publishing firms and through the study of ten Italian cases we identify the socio-technical context which favor the adoption of technology as well as the organizational parameters influenced by the technology use.  相似文献   

CONNECTIONISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF KNOWLEDGE     

Jean Pierre Rossi 《High Ability Studies》1995,6(2):170-175

Procedures for creating used by connectionist networks with hidden units are analyzed. With these networks it is possible to create by modification of the inputs, by modification of collector properties, by modification of connections between units and variation of thresholds of activation, by modification of constraints imposed on the network, by creation of new hidden units or by creation of new outputs. The interest of connectionist networks is in simulating various processes to allow analysis of modifications that are efficient and capable of concretizing the consequences of choices. Networks must be designed as tools capable of helping formalize problems, and not as replicas of cognitive processes.  相似文献   

Using personal construct theory and narrative methods to facilitate reflexive constructions of teaching physical education   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Tony Rossi  Tim Hooper 《The Australian Educational Researcher》2001,28(3):87-116

This paper reports on two lengthy studies in physical education teacher education (PETE) conducted independently but which are epistemologically and methodologically linked. The paper describes how personal construct theory (PCT) and its associated methods provided a means for PETE students to reflexively construct their ideas about teaching physical education over an extended period. Data are drawn from each study in the form of a story of a single participant to indicate how this came about. Furthermore we suggest that PCT might be both a useful research strategy and an effective approach to facilitate professional development in a teacher education setting.  相似文献   

Universities’ Access to Research Funds: Do institutional features and strategies matter?     

Rossi  Federica 《Tertiary Education and Management》2009,15(2):113-135

Tertiary Education and Management - Competitively allocated research funds, from both public and private sources, constitute an increasing share of university revenues. The article investigates...  相似文献