Combined effects of cadmium (Cd) and acid rain on physiological and biochemical characteristics in Eleocarpus glabripetalus seedlings were investigated under controlled conditions. The single Cd treatment and the combined Cd and acid rain treatment increased growth at low Cd concentrations, while decreased growth and photosynthesis at high Cd concentrations. A low Cd concentration (50mg‧kg -1 ) combined with different acid rain treatments increased the seedling biomass, while there was no significant difference in chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidative enzyme activities compared with the control plants. A high Cd concentration (100 mg‧kg -1 ) under different acid rain treatments significantly decreased the biomass, the Fe and Mg content, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic parameters (the maximum net photosynthetic rate, Amax, and the light saturation point, LSP). Relative electric conductivity and peroxidase (POD) activity were significantly higher while the reduced glutathione (GSH) content and catalase (CAT) activity were significantly lower at high Cd concentration under acid rain when compared to the control plants.The results indicated that the combination of a high concentration of Cd and acid rain aggravated the toxic effect of Cd or acid rain alone on the growth and physiological parameters of E. glabripetalus due to serious damage to the chloroplast structure.However, E. glabripetalus showed tolerance to a low concentration of Cd and low pH induced by acid rain.

This study examined teacher questioning practices over a sequence of consecutive lessons in China. Based on the IRF (initiation–response–follow-up) framework, a comprehensive coding system was developed to analyze what kinds of verbal questions were initiated by the teachers to elicit mathematical information and in what ways the teachers made use of students’ verbal contributions. This study finds that all participating teachers’ questioning practices showed both variations and consistencies over the lesson sequence. It is argued that the act of asking questions in classroom interaction not only includes the teachers’ conscious planning so as to accomplish pedagogical goals, but also involves the teachers’ unconscious routine in how to build up on students’ thinking.

This study examined the relationship of intelligence mindsets to math achievement for primary school students in the Chinese educational context, as well as the mediating function of math self-efficacy and failure beliefs in this relationship. Participants included 466 fifth graders (231 boys and 235 girls) from two Chinese primary schools. Results indicated that boys had significantly higher mean levels of growth mindsets and math self-efficacy than girls, whereas boys had no statistically significant differences to girls on failure beliefs and math grade. Further, intelligence mindsets had a significant positive effect on math achievement, and failure beliefs and math self-efficacy played a full mediating role in the relationship between intelligence mindsets and math achievement. Moreover, intelligence mindsets affected math achievement through the chain mediating role of failure beliefs and math self-efficacy. These above findings contribute to advance our knowledge about the underlying mechanisms through which intelligence mindsets affect math achievement, which are of great significance to students' growth and current educational practice.

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During the last decades, curriculum reform has been implemented in mainland China to emphasize classroom interaction in mathematics teaching and learning. The intention to create more chances for classroom interaction in large-size classrooms has led to the introduction of self-learning guide which allows students to go through the learning contents before the classroom learning. This study investigates the pedagogical tensions emerging in a mainland Chinese mathematics teacher's practices of using self-learning guide to reform classroom questioning. The analytical entry point is the examination of the IRF (Initiation/Response/Follow-up) structures evident in the reform-based mathematics classroom interactions. The results show that, by using various reform-based questioning strategies, students were given adequate opportunities to present and share their mathematical thinking and ideas. The nature of the pedagogical tensions has shifted from imbalance of time allocation for classroom discussion and lecturing to imbalance of opportunities for guided classroom discussion and elaborated classroom discussion.