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Soil erosion monitoring is essential for the ecological evaluation and dynamic monitoring of land resources via remote sensing technology. In this paper, we provide new insights into the existing problems and development directions of traditional models, which are supported by new technologies. An important role is played by remote sensing information acquisition technology in the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of soil erosion, and the data and technical support provided are systematically reviewed. We provide a detailed overview of the research progress associated with empirical statistical models and physically driven process models of soil erosion, and the limitations of their application are also summarized. The preliminary integration of remote sensing data sources with high spatial and temporal resolution and new technologies for soil erosion monitoring enables the high-precision quantitative estimation of sediment transport trajectories, the watershed river network density, and the terrain slope, enhancing the accuracy of erosion factor identification, such as spectral feature recognition from erosion information, gully erosion feature extraction, and vegetation coverage estimation. However, the current erosion models, driven by algorithms and models, are not comprehensive enough, particularly in terms of the spatial feature extraction of erosion information, and there are limitations in the applicability and accurate estimation of such models.

In this study we aimed to capture the characteristics of Chinese high-quality lessons from a lesson structure perspective, specifically addressing the elements of teaching activity and their sequence. Sixteen videotaped middle school mathematics lessons were selected from 224 daily lessons collected from urban districts in five cities located in the east, north, west, south, and center of China, approved by three independent parties (based on the scores of an instruction quality assessment and ratings by two experts). We found the following five common features among most mathematics lessons: (a) most lessons began with a review; (b) pure learning of mathematical knowledge was emphasized; (c) recurrent teaching activities related to mathematics problems ran throughout the lesson; (d) highlighting and summarizing important points during the lesson and summarizing the entire lesson at the end of the class were frequently used; and (e) teaching activities were dense and large in volume. The research findings paint a broad picture of high quality instruction (deepening our understanding of high-quality teaching in different cultures) and provide multiple choices for teachers.

In this paper, we report on the cross-cultural comparative analysis that was undertaken as part of the Social Unit of Learning project investigating student collaborative problem solving in China and Australia. The video-based research examined the 'negotiative foci' of dyadic student interaction during collaborative problem solving within the mathematics classroom setting. In the analysis we take "negotiative focus" as the central construct and compare the student interactions in terms of their focus on either facts and procedures, didactical norms, or social/interpersonal considerations. We report on the analysis based on an open-ended pair task (Household task) that was completed by year 7 students (mostly 12- to 13-year olds) in China and Australia. In the study we analysed the video and written responses of 20 student pairs from three year 7 classes in China (40 students in total) and 25 student pairs from two year 7 classes in Australia (50 students in total). The findings from this comparative study provide empirical evidence regarding how the participating students in each country interpreted and negotiated meaning as they tackled the open-ended task collaboratively.

Teacher noticing can be an important element in improving teaching and students' mathematical success. While the focus of the international project "Learning from Lessons" was on teacher learning, in this paper we report what mathematics teachers noticed and claimed to learn through the process of planning, teaching, and reflecting on their lessons. The study involved teachers and research teams from three countries (Australia, China and Germany) with different cultures, contexts and pedagogies. The explicit goal of the current study was to identify commonalities and differences with respect to those aspects that teachers noticed during their teaching. A multiple case study with three teachers, one from each of the three participating countries, was conducted using prompting questions to facilitate teacher reflection. The process of defining and refining categories for teacher noticing was implemented in the methodology. The findings suggest that there were many commonalities across the cases despite the different cultural and individual backgrounds of the teachers. The specific topic and individual lessons as well as the teachers' expectations based on their lesson planning seemed to influence what the teachers noticed in their teaching process. The study highlights the importance of attending to the situational aspects of teacher noticing and learning.

Purpose: This study aims to explore how a Chinese lesson study (LS) supports a teacher's learning of transforming curriculum reform ideas into classroom practices. Design/methodology/approach: Data analyzed in this study included lesson plans, three videotaped research lessons, three audio-taped group meetings, interviews, the teacher's reflection journals and other related materials. Clarke and Hollingsworth's interconnected model of professional growth (IMPG) was adopted as the theoretical and analytical framework for examining the teacher's learning process. Findings: This study found that teachers can deepen their understanding of innovative curriculum ideas and implement them through an iterative cycle of planning, enactment and reflection in LS. Involving knowledgeable others in the process and reflecting on evidence-based evaluation of students' learning outcomes is crucial for changing the teacher's knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and teaching practices. Theoretical tools, such as learning trajectory, are useful for transforming curriculum reform ideas that teachers find abstract and overly broad into concrete and actionable lesson designs. Originality/value: Theoretically, this study can broaden our knowledge about how the under-studied mechanism of Chinese LS can contribute to helping teachers to transform reform ideas into classroom practices. Practically, this study provides suggestions for researchers and educators to reflect on and improve the effectiveness of teachers' professional development programs in a reform context.