Junior Alvarado was worried when he began his first year at a public high school in Washington, DC. He often struggled in his math classes and earned poor grades in middle school. But the teachers at the Washington Leadership Academy used computer programs to identify the areas he was weak in and design a learning plan just for him.
As Alvarado started geometry in his second year of high school last week, he said he felt much better about his math skills. "For me, personalized learning is having classes set at your level," the 15-year-old said. "They explain the problem step by step. It wouldn't be as fast. It will be at your speed."
Many schools in the United States struggle to raise the high school graduation rate. They also have difficulty helping many minority and low-income students perform at the same level as others. So many educators see digital technology as a way of solving these problems.
The use of technology in schools is part of a larger idea of personalized learning. This idea has been gaining popularity in recent years. The Education Department put $500 million into personalized learning programs in 68 school districts. These programs served almost 500,000 students in 13 states and Washington, D.C.
Supporters say traditional methods do not match the modern world, but personalized learning helps teachers follow their students' progress and make changes to lessons that meet students' individual needs and students, in this way, are able to master subjects at their own speed.
Still, many researchers say it is too early to tell if personalized learning works better than traditional teaching. The Rand Corporation recently did a study of personalized learning and found that it only led to small improvements. It found only a 3-percentile improvement in math and even smaller improvements in reading compared to schools with traditional teaching methods. Some teachers have their doubts as well. They admit that technology can be helpful in many ways, but they argue that no computer program should ever replace the personal touch, support and inspiration that teachers give their students.
【小题1】What or who did Alvarado give his thanks to for his better performance in math skills?| A．His new math teacher. | B．Personalized learning. |
| C．The Education Department. | D．The traditional teaching. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Reserved. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．It has benefited students all over the USA. |
| B．It can help improve students’ scores greatly. |
| C．It can be helpful for students’ individual learning. |
| D．It will take the place of traditional teaching in no time. |
At parties, more people are on their phones than on their drinks. According to a recent International Data Corporation Study, over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach for it as soon as they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people in society are using smartphones while driving and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teenagers admit sending messages while driving, and they agree that sending messages is their number one driving interruption. People’s addiction(沉溺) to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.
Just as drivers ignore the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the importance of human communication. When with their friends, some people aimlessly check or send messages in front of a friend, which sends a message to that friend: the person I am texting is more important than you. In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantage as being able to make new friendships in the real world. Face-to-face conversations will give us much stronger communication skills in the long run.
As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a message or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The quality of this technology is preventing societal achievements and weakening the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to communicate face to face, but it is also lowering society’s ability to communicate.
【小题1】The purpose of the passage is to .
| A．call for an end to use the smartphone while driving |
| B．tell us to pay attention to communication skills |
| C．express a concern about the overuse of the smartphone |
| D．advise us to be careful about the addiction to face-to-face communication. |
| A．giving examples | B．time order. |
| C．comparing facts | D．analyzing the effects |
| A．by using smartphones | B．in a face-to-face way |
| C．in different ways | D．by writing letters. |
| A．parties and gathering limit their social circle. |
| B．people are more and more easy-going. |
| C．people’s communication skills are weakened. |
| D．face-to-face communication becomes more and more dangerous. |
Why Educational Technology is Important
Educational technology definitely has an upper hand compared to the traditional way of learning.
It reduces the burden of teachers.
It helps students keep pace with the digital world. Today’s world is increasingly digitalized and it is important to keep up with it. From work front to daily life, everything is so dependent on technology that it is important for students to familiarize with it from an early age, and educational technology helps them with that.
| A．How will it serve our daily life |
| B．It allows personalized learning |
| C．If students want to be free from homework |
| D．What more can educational technology offer |
| E．When children learn to use technology while learning |
| F．It closes many gaps that exist in the traditional teaching and learning system |
| G．Teachers can depend on the resources available online to prepare their teaching |
BEIJING--More Chinese consumers prefer to make payments via smart devices as mobile app have made purchases much easier, but security concerns remain, a PwC report said.
Nearly one-third of respondents in China chose mobile payment when shopping last year doubling from 16 percent in 2014, according to the accounting firms global retail(零售) survey. The figure appeared much higher than the world's average of 12 percent.
The popularity comes as a result of rapid growth of mobile payment options and an expand mobile network, the report said.
Chinese have started to enjoy a wide range of mobile payment options that allow faster, payment through near field communication and QR code. Moreover, more advances have been seen biometric technology, such as the use of fingerprints and facial recognition.
“As competition becomes fierce, mobile payment players are trying to attract users through continuous development of technology and business models.” said Yuqing Guo, PwC China's financial service consulting partner, adding that the technology is changing the way consumers assess and purchase products.
But security problems are rising. Data security was still seen as a huge problem, with leak of user information, payment fraud(诈骗) and virus attacks appearing as the three biggest challenges for the rapid growing field. The PwC report said over 60 percent of respondents were worried that their personal information was not safe.
Chinese government has introduced a series of policies to strengthen strict supervision(监督). In the meantime, people should avoid scanning QR codes from unknown sources and raise awareness of fraudulence.
The field still has vast space for growth due to technological advances and the rise of the tech-savyy younger generation, the report said, predicting Chine's retail and consumer product in will post an annual growth rate of 7.5 percent between 2016 and 2020.
【小题1】According to the passage, more Chinese people favor motile payment because _________.| A．it ensures the absolute security of purchases |
| B．it provides them with various options of items |
| C．it guarantees faster delivery than cash payment |
| D．it helps them purchase products more conveniently |
| A．to learn more knowledge about virus attacks |
| B．to cut down the chance of using mobile apps |
| C．to increase supervision over mobile payment |
| D．to check the sources before scanning QR codes |
| A．Technology | B．Education |
| C．Companies | D．Industries. |
组卷网是一个信息分享及获取的平台，不能确保所有知识产权权属清晰，如您发现相关试题侵犯您的合法权益，请联系组卷网
