1,720,955 research outputs found
Variables that influence teachers' practice of differentiated instruction in Chinese classrooms: A study from teachers' perspectives
No full textAs the diversity of students increases, differentiated instruction (DI) serves an increasingly significant function in meeting their individual learning needs. Emerging research has highlighted the value of inclusive teaching approaches to address students' differences, such as DI. Therefore, it is important to quantify teachers' DI thoughts and behaviors in classroom teaching. This study follows the original Differentiated Instruction Questionnaire (DI-Quest) to investigate the factors that influence teachers' practice of DI, taking into account their teaching experience, class sizes and school locations. The sample comprised 1,935 teachers from 150 national lower secondary schools in six provinces of central and western mainland China. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), scale reliability, and invariance testing were conducted to explore and verify the factor structure of a Chinese mainland version of the DI-Quest (CN-DI-Quest). The empirical findings indicate that CN-DI-Quest is a valid and reliable instrument for future study of teachers' DI philosophies, principles, and practice. Moreover, the results of structural equation modeling revealed that teachers' practice of DI (i.e., adaptive teaching) was explained largely by their ethical compass, flexible grouping, output = input, teaching experiences, and class size. Notably, teachers' practice of DI (i.e., adaptive teaching) could not be predicted by growth mindset and school location. This study addresses gaps in the literature, since it provides empirical evidence regarding DI in Chinese mainland schools, offers material and suggestions for future research, and provides recommendations useful to the professional advancement of Chinese teachers, including training programs and professional support
From perception to practice: how Chinese teachers perceive and implement differentiated instruction in primary and secondary schools
No full textDifferentiated instruction (DI) allows teachers to work optimally with students' diverse learning needs. The qualitative study presented here used a semi-structured interview to explore how Chinese primary (N = 14) and secondary (N = 14) teachers perceived and implemented DI in their daily work. A deductive and inductive approach, based on the DI-Quest model (Coubergs 2017), was used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that a significant majority of teachers favour growth mindset and student-centred approaches. In the present study, both primary and secondary teachers were aware of multiple forms and aspects of student diversity and could use various approaches to adapt their instruction in light of these. Notably, respondents were more likely to adapt their instruction to accommodate students' various levels of readiness than they were to adapt it to their interests and learning profiles. This study concludes that teachers may benefit from professional training designed to enhance their understanding, and proficiency in the implementation, of DI.No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Chinese version of the teachers’ attitudes towards differentiated instruction scale: an adaptation study
No full textDue to the increasing heterogeneity of students within learning groups at school, teachers are urged to appropriately address students’ learning needs by means of differentiated instruction. Given that the successful and effective implementation of differentiated instruction relies mostly on teachers, research has extensively explored teacher-related variables, such as attitudes, that have a strong impact on their use of differentiated instruction. However, empirical research exploring teachers’ attitudes, specifically towards the practice of DI, is still quite limited. In addition, up to now, there is only one available instrument that assesses teachers’ attitudes towards DI, the Teachers’ Attitudes towards Differentiated Instructional Scale (TAT-DIS). In this context, the purpose of the present study is to report on the instrument’s adaptation and implementation within the mainland Chinese context. The sample consisted of 650 primary and 702 secondary school teachers from western and central areas of China. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the original two-factor structure: the value of DI and perceived insufficient resources. Regarding the internal consistencies of the subscales, the reliabilities of both subscales were good. Additionally, differences across the sociodemographic variables such as gender and school educational level were found. Limitations are discussed and future lines of research are recommended
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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