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The bracelets are being tested to see if they can pick up when students are bored in classes.（Agencies) |
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Microsoft supremo Bill Gates wants to fit school students with mood bracelets to measure how interested they are in their lessons. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is spending $1.1 million (￡700,000) testing galvanic skin response bracelets to see if they can measure whether students find their teachers engaging. The move is part of the billionaire’s mission to evaluate and improve the quality of teachers, which has already included controversial initiatives such as fitting classrooms with video cameras. The bracelets measure how well the skin conducts electricity, which varies with its moisture level. Sweat glands are controlled by the nervous system so skin conductance can be used as an indication of emotional response. Some US teachers and commentators have been less than impressed with the plan. ‘Why would anybody spent money on this when some school systems can’t afford to pay their electric bills?’ Education blogger Valerie Strauss wrote in the Washington Post. ‘The obsession with measurement in data and school reform has reached nutty new heights.' Teacher Anthony Cody, writing in Education Week, commented: ‘The wonderful thing about having human beings as teachers is that we are naturally empathetic. We do not need galvanic skin sensors to detect when our students are drowsy or disinterested -- we can look around the room in an instant and know!’ Others have pointed out limitations with the bracelets, including that they are not able to tell whether a student was responding to their teacher or something a friend whispers in their ear. The bracelets are also so far unable to distinguish whether a heightened response is due to excitement or anxiety, and whether a drop in response is due to relaxation or boredom. The amount Bill Gates has spent on evaluating the bracelets is already more than $1.1 million. Clemson University has been given almost $500,000 (￡320,000) to run a pilot study ‘which will determine the feasibility and utility of using such devices regularly in schools with students and teachers.’ The National Center on Time and Learning was given more than $620,000 ($400,000) to assess the effectiveness of the bracelets by comparing them with MRI scans, and work out a scale that would pinpoint how engaged a student was in lessons. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
微軟創始人比爾-蓋茨正研制一款適用于學生的“情緒手鐲”，來檢測他們對上課內容有多感興趣。 比爾及梅琳達?蓋茨基金會將花費110萬美元（合70萬英鎊）測試皮膚電反應手鐲，看其是否能夠衡量出學生對授課內容的興趣。 這是蓋茨評估并改進教師素質的項目的一部分，該項目還包括一些具有爭議的舉措，比如在課堂里安裝攝像機。 這種手鐲可以測試出皮膚導電的能力，而這種導電能力在不同濕度下會有變化。 人體的汗腺是受神經系統控制的，因此可以用皮膚電傳導來衡量情緒反饋。 美國一些教師和評論員則對這項研究計劃持有異議。 教育博客博主瓦萊麗-施特勞斯在《華盛頓郵報》的一篇文章中寫道：“有些學校連電費都付不起，為什么還有人會花錢研究這個？” “對于用數據進行衡量和學校改革的癡迷已經達到了狂熱的新高度。” 教師安東尼-科迪在《每周教育》中評論到：“人為教學的好處就在于我們當然都是感性的。我們不需要皮膚電流傳感器來檢測學生什么時候昏昏欲睡，什么時候不感興趣。我們環顧一下教室就知道了！” 還有些人指出了這種手鐲的局限性，比如通過手鐲無法得知學生的反饋是針對老師的授課內容，還是好友的竊竊私語。 目前，這款手鐲無法區分出反饋效果增強是出于學生的興奮還是焦慮，也無法分辨出反饋程度的降低是出于學生的放松還是厭倦。 比爾-蓋茨用于評估這款手鐲的經費已經超過110萬美元。 克萊蒙森大學已接受大約50萬美元投資（合32萬英鎊），用于開展一項初步研究，這項研究“將決定在學校和老師中間定期使用這種手鐲的可行性和實用性。” 美國時間與學習中心已接受了超過62萬美元（合40萬英鎊）資金，與核磁共振成像進行比較，用來評估手鐲的效用，并制定出評價學生在課上用心程度的等級標準。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：陳丹妮） |
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Vocabulary: supremo: 主管，最高領導人 empathetic: 移情作用的，感情移入的 |
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