This retrospective study presents a comparison of assessment results achieved by distance-learning students and classroom-based students undertaking the same module in a degree course. The purpose of the comparison is to provide some objective measurement of the quality of distance education in relation to conventional classroom-based education. The authors have selected three groups of students, who have all undertaken the same module in the B. Sc Health Studies degree programme offered by the University of Paisley. One group (in Paisley) undertook their studies by means of conventional classroom-based education, the second (in Hong Kong) by supported distance learning with face-to-face contact in the form of tutorials, and the third (in a geographically dispersed group in the United Kingdom and other countries) by supported distance learning with no face-to-face contact. The results obtained by these three groups of students were analysed. Because of the differences in the size of the groups, the Kruskal- Wallis 1- Way Anova test was applied to validate the face value findings. The authors include findings from the literature comparing distance education with conventional education and from cross-cultural studies to present their data in context. Analysis of the assessment results showed that students from all three groups were successful in their studies, but the students studying by distance learning obtained significantly higher end-of-module results than their classroom-based colleagues. This latter finding reflects the conclusion that other investigators have reached In their discussion the authors identify educational, cultural and personal factors that may help to explain their findings. A limitation in the study is that it concerns only one module in the degree programme. The research now moves on to comparing students who have undertaken the whole degree programme by the means described.
[Copyright of ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology is the property

This article attends to comparative education scholars' calls for more dialogue on the contribution of theory to comparative education research. It first presents the results of a review of a small sample of articles from comparative education related journals that elicited the purposes of their comparative research strategies in terms of exploration, explanation, argument, prediction, recommendation, and theory development. The article then discusses perspectives on the potential for the use of theory to contribute to richer explanations of educational phenomena. Finally, it demonstrates how a comparative study of political socialization in Hong Kong and Mainland China led to the development of explanatory concepts of critical thinking and the application and reconceptualization of the theory of resistance to explain the formation of students' attitudes towards the nation.
[Copyright of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050060500073215]

此論文探討大陸、台灣、香港及新加坡等地區小學語文科課文的生字識字量、生字選編問題、及根據台灣地區的小學語文科課文生字識字量問題和生字選編問題，提出具體可行的改進意見。（何文勝整理）

此文借中國大陸中學語文教材中文言文課文設置的特點，論述語文學科的性質和任務；並提出建構建語文學科體系，建立語文教學新體系，和語文教學科學化等方法。（何文勝整理）

This paper reports the findings of a project pursued to examine the social-cultural influences which emerged from the spatial representation in drawings of children from Hong Kong and Japan. The authors also investigated how and why social-cultural factors influenced children's cognitive and affective developments in spatial judgement. The project has two components: a six-year study in Japan (since 1992) and a two-year study in Hong Kong and China (since 1996). The authors report that the studies have shown that certain spatial characteristics in drawing frequently appear in Japanese and Chinese children and are accounted for by their cultural and environmental context.

作者於論文指出其研究從課程社會學的觀點出發，探討香港、台灣的小學課本是否擔負再生產的功能，研究選取兩地正規課程中最通行的教科書版本，以國語、社會科為主，倫理／宗教科為輔，進行內容分析。

One widely accepted explanation of bullying, known as the aggressive-motive thesis, assumes that bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour triggered by external stress. However, recent evidences have suggested a different explanation, known as the frustration-aggression thesis, which asserts that bullying is a psychological defense triggered by external stress to reduce anxiety. The present investigation is an attempt to compare school bullying in Japan and Hong Kong and to find out whether the frustration-aggression thesis is applicable in the schooling context of both societies. Data analysis using structural equation modeling was based on 703 girls selected from 13 primary and 6 junior secondary schools in Japan and 2,477 girls selected from 21 primary and 19 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Results of the analysis suggest that girl bullying in Japan can be explained by the frustration-aggression thesis but that girl bullying in Hong Kong can be explained by the aggressive-motive thesis. The reasons behind the different bullying mechanisms are suggested, but further investigations are needed to uncover the underlying causes.
[Copyright of Educational Research & Evaluation is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803610701702894]