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Mentoring is an essential fixture of teacher education. With growing opportunities for international learning exchanges, there is a need to better understand how cross-cultural mentoring can be characterized by reciprocal learning. This study investigated mentee perceptions of the mentoring relationship in an international, cross-cultural teacher education exchange. We conducted research among 19 Chinese preservice teachers who participated in an international teacher education exchange program, exploring their perspectives on the cross-cultural mentoring relationship and mutual learning. Our findings suggest that learning outcomes are improved in a mentoring relationship when there are strong relational ties, opportunities for reciprocal learning, and a greater awareness of cultural complexity. We contend that there is value in supporting the mentoring relationship directly, which has implications for both international exchanges and teacher education programs.

Since the exploitation of Block 8 of Jinglou Oilfield, owing to the constant increase in water influx, coupled with low system pressure (8.9 MPa), the water influx affected by the water injection wells every year has been near 2×104 m3, the formation pressure has exhibited a year-by-year ascending trend, and the contradiction of water injection well plugging removal has been increasingly prominent. In view of these problems, the following experiments were carried out: the experiment on scaling laws of inorganic scale under the interactions of CO2 at different concentrations with formation water, the experiment on laws of plugging due to fines migration caused by CO2 flooding, the experiment on mechanisms of plugging by organic scale after CO2 flooding and on plugging removal, and the evaluation experiment on oil-water relative permeability curve after CO2 flooding. The results show that there is a CaCO3 scaling trend existing between CO2 and formation water in the flooding process under reservoir conditions. After CO2 flooding, there is plugging effect due to conglomeration of inorganic scale, organic scale and fines, causing the seepage capacity of the reservoir to become poor, with a loss of core permeability of 69.6%. After the reservoir is washed with toluene and absolute alcohol, its seepage capacity is recovered slightly, with a recovery of core permeability of 42.2%. It can be discerned from the shape of the relative permeability curves that the change characteristics of two-phase relative permeability curves before and after CO2 flooding exhibit rightward shift for all cores with different permeability values, with the bound water saturation increasing (more than 35%), indicating that the CO2-water-rock karstification caused by CO2 flooding enlarges the pore space and seepage channels, enhancing the water injectivity. This study is of great theoretical and practical significance for plugging removal and augmented injection in water injection wells.

Plant-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a promising technology for pest control through expression of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) targeted against essential insect genes. However, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms and whether long dsRNA or short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are the effective triggers of the RNAi response. Here we generated transplastomic and nuclear transgenic tobacco plants expressing dsRNA against the Helicoverpa armigera ATPaseH gene. We showed that expression of long dsRNA of HaATPaseH was at least three orders of magnitude higher in transplastomic plants than in transgenic plants. HaATPaseH-derived siRNAs are absent from transplastomic plants, while they are abundant in transgenic plants. Feeding transgenic plants to H. armigera larvae reduced gene expression of HaATPaseH and delayed growth. Surprisingly, no effect of transplastomic plants on insect growth was observed, despite efficient dsRNA expression in plastids. Furthermore, we found that dsRNA ingested by H. armigera feeding on transplastomic plants was rapidly degraded in the intestinal fluid. In contrast, siRNAs are relatively stable in the digestive system. These results suggest that plant-derived siRNAs may be more effective triggers of RNAi in Lepidoptera than dsRNAs, which will aid the optimization of the strategies for plant-mediated RNAi to pest control.

The Preservice Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Programme has been developed on a vision of bridging the East and West dichotomy by harmonising Eastern learning with Western knowledge....

The aim of this paper is to describe an international project aimed at building a knowledge base between Canada and China and beyond for cross-cultural educational understanding and harmoni...

Introduction The Paeonia ostii T. Hong & J. X. Zhang seed shell, characterised by a high content of oligostilbenes, is one of the two most important by-products in the preparation of seed oil. Oligostilbenes are considered characteristic constituents of the genus Paeonia, and can be used in fingerprinting to determine the geographical origin and the quality of raw materials. Objective To develop and optimise a simple and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatography diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) method for the simultaneous determination of seven oligostilbenes in P. ostii seed shell from different geographical areas, and to associate the cultivation area. Methodology A validated HPLC method coupled with a DAD detector was performed for the detection and determination of target compounds in the samples. Optimal chromatographic conditions were achieved using an Agilent Zorbax Eclipse SB-AQ-C18 column and a gradient elution with acetonitrile and potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution. Results The proposed quantitative method showed appropriate accuracy and precision, and was successfully applied to the routine analysis of seven oligostilbenes and the quality evaluation of 50 P. ostii seed shell samples. There were significant differences between the contents of the seven oligostilbenes in different samples (P Conclusion The results demonstrated that the oligostilbenes were main secondary metabolites in the P. ostii seed shells, and the content of seven components in P. ostii seed shells sourced from different cultivation areas in China was different.

The population of international students has increased significantly at the University of Windsor in recent years, and the university takes a variety of actions to address several key issues of interest to international students, including academic integrity, English language development, and writing support. This chapter reports findings from a multi-year collaborative project that was designed to enhance international students' library and academic literacy, with a focus on the understanding of plagiarism and measures to prevent it. A number of workshops that involved students at different levels were delivered to students from the English language improvement, undergraduate, and graduate programs. Research data collected from these workshops indicate that students benefited from the workshops, although at different degrees because of various factors, such as academic discipline, English language proficiency, previous educational experience. Further research can be conducted to explore ways to optimize such programs to meet the needs of students, particularly international students.

The number of children with autism is increasing worldwide. These children like all other children should be provided with equal chances for learning and education. Thus, English language education is not an exception as the need to learn it in today’s world is inevitable. The present study sought to investigate the effect of employing Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on English as a foreign language vocabulary learning relying on its effectiveness in first language communication. As a single-subject study an experimental A-B design was employed through repeated measurement. The participants were two high-functioning children with autism aged 9 and 12 at a school for students with special needs. The treatment phase included 15 sessions. An analysis of visual inspection and graphic representation revealed performance improvement in both cases after the intervention. Moreover, some problems while educating the two participants for English vocabulary including lack of cooperation in phase 2, lack of attention and cooperation in mid-intervention, sense problems such as proprioceptive and vestibular are reported through qualitative analysis of the reports made of weekly sessions.

The field of curriculum studies has long been tormented by a disputatious literature over theory and practice and the proper way to pursue curriculum inquiry. Roughly in the middle of the last century standard practical pursuits came into question with a dizzying array of postmodern critiques. Countering both the practical pursuits under criticism and the postmodern reconceptualist critical literature, Joseph J. Schwab advanced a theory of The Practical. Schwab’s writing remains relevant, and theoretical debates on curriculum inquiry regularly reference Schwab. These debates are driven by fundamentally different philosophical views on theory and practice and their place in curriculum studies. Although the reconceptualist literature has become theoretical orthodoxy in the field of curriculum studies, the debate is kept alive by writers who draw on Schwab’s theory of The Practical. However, little progress in mutual understanding has resulted because debate is focused on theoretical parameters, assertions, and positions at the expense of the practice of inquiry. We believe that turning attention to what people do in curriculum inquiry rather than pursuing theoretic prescriptions of how people should think in curriculum studies would help move the field forward. Our “Practical” Schwab-based work in personal practical knowledge and in narrative inquiry over the years, culminating in our current large-scale, seven-year-long longitudinal comparative education study, Reciprocal Learning Partnership Research between Canada and China, is illustrative. Using a commonplaces of inquiry framework developed by Schwab, we detail practical research qualities of The Practical and of the Reciprocal Learning Partnership Project. We discuss the situational starting and end points of curriculum inquiry in the Reciprocal Learning Partnership with special reference to the moral quality of practical situations studied. We further describe the nature of qualified knowledge outcomes in inquiry, qualities of the researcher agent, method and its relationship to a flexible, shifting database, and the understanding that inquiry and situations studied are the outcomes of narrative histories. This Schwab-based comparative education work begins with a moral position on a practical international situation and builds cross-cultural reciprocal learning strategies and outcomes using diverse theoretical positions and methodologies. In so doing Schwab’s “The Practical” is demonstrated by a new model of comparative curriculum studies. There is much to criticize in this work but there is also, we believe, much in which to take pride. Canadian and Chinese educators and their practices are enhanced through reciprocal learning. Improving practice has its own theoretical, and personal, rewards apart from the security achieved by theoretical consistency pursued by The Theoretic. Our hope is that something new in the contentious arena of curriculum studies may emerge if deliberation revolved around competing curriculum inquiry practices rather than around competing theoretical ideas on the nature of curriculum inquiry. Should this hope be unrealized, we nevertheless believe that Reciprocal Learning as an exemplar of The Practical provides useful direction for comparative curriculum studies.

Background RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as an efficient tool to control insect pests. When insects ingest double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) targeted against essential genes, strong gene silencing and mortality can be induced. To exert their function, dsRNA molecules must pass through the insect’s gut and enter epithelial cells and/or the hemolymph. Gut bacteria are known to play multifarious roles in food digestion and nutrition, and confer protection against pathogens and parasites. Whether there is a cross talk between gut bacteria and ingested dsRNAs and whether the microbiome affects RNAi efficiency are unknown. Results Here, using a leaf beetle gut microbiota system, we investigated whether gut bacteria interact with dsRNA molecules and how the gut microbiota affects RNAi responses in insects. We first showed that the leaf beetle Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera) is highly susceptible to RNAi. We then demonstrated that ingestion of dsRNAs by non-axenic P. versicolora larvae results in (i) significantly accelerated mortality compared with axenic larvae, and (ii) overgrowth and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. The latter may be caused by bacterial utilization of dsRNA degradation products. Furthermore, we found that Pseudomonas putida, a gut bacterium of P. versicolora, acts as major accelerator of the death of P. versicolora larvae by transitioning from commensal to pathogenic lifestyle. Conclusions The present study illuminates the complex interplay between lethal dsRNA, the insect host, and its gut microbiota. The ingestion of dsRNA by the leaf beetle caused a dysbiosis of gut bacterial community, and the dsRNA degradation products by host insect preferentially promoted the growth of an entomopathogenic bacterium, which accelerated dsRNA lethality to the insect. Our findings reveal a synergistic role of the gut microbiota in dsRNA-induced mortality of pest insects, and provide new insights in the mechanisms of RNAi-based pest control.

The adhesion forces between model chemical moieties of oil molecules (CH3–, C6H5–, COOH–, and NH2–) and quartz surfaces with different wettability were investigated by the aid of chemical force microscopy at low and high salinity (10 mM and 100 mM). Our results showed that the adhesion force on hydrophilic surfaces decreased as in the order: –NH2 > –COOH > –C6H5 ≈ –CH3, due to the contribution of hydrogen bonding interactions between polar groups of functionalized tips and Si-OH groups of quartz surfaces. By comparison, the adhesion force decreased almost in an opposite order: –CH3 > –C6H5 > –COOH ≈ –NH2, in the case of hydrophobic surfaces, attributed to the strong trend of hydrophobic interactions between nonpolar oil groups and hydrophobic surface (modified with alkyl chains). A high potential of low salinity effect on improving oil recovery can be found in polar oil system in the presence of hydrophilic surfaces, as well as in nonpolar oil system in the presence of hydrophobic surfaces, because of the significantly reduced adhesion forces from high to low salinity environment. Thus it can be concluded that for hydrophilic reservoirs, the low salinity effect may be remarkable in the case of crude oil containing more polar components. And for hydrophobic reservoirs, crude oil with more nonpolar components would exhibit a significant low salinity effect. All these provide a better understanding in the molecular level for low salinity water flooding applications.

Low salinity effect has been in the center of attention as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique. Wettability alteration of the oil/brine/mica system appears to be the identified mechanism(s) to trigger the low salinity effect. While the effect of water chemistry and minerology on the wettability of the system has been extensively investigated, few studies have investigated the effect of specific function groups from crude oil on the system wettability, limiting the understanding of how specific functional group contributes to the wettability. We thus experimentally measured the adhesion forces between mica surfaces and functional groups (e.g., C 6 H 5 –, CH 3 –, COOH–, and NH 2 –) in the presence of different aqueous ionic solutions using chemical force microscopy (CFM). Moreover, to understand the contribution of the structural force, the traditional Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory was extended (denoted as EDLVO) to fit the force profiles using a Gauss model. Our results showed that the adhesion force between mica and functional groups in a decreasing order was –NH 2 > –COOH > –CH 3 > –C 6 H 5 . We also found that while DLVO forces strongly affected the tip-surface contact due to the interactions among oil/brine/mica interfaces, the structural forces also played an important role in a distance of 1–20 nm due to the presence of H-bonds between COOH-terminated or NH 2 -terminated tip and mica surface. We therefore conclude that the structural force largely contributes to the adhesion force due to the hydrophilicity or polarity of functional groups, and nucleophilic property (such as phenyl group). Our results suggest that the polarity of the crude oil needs to be considered to screen a candidate reservoir for low salinity water flooding projects.

In this introduction we describe the purpose and structure of the Canada–China Reciprocal Learning in Teacher Education and School Education Partnership Grant Project sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC) in 2013−2020, and describe the project’s practice-based methodology along with a discussion of selected preliminary results. The papers presented in this special issue of Frontiers of Education in China animate our discussion by bringing forward important school-based activities and results. The heart of this work is the collaborative activity and voices of Chinese and Canadian educators. We illustrate our concept of reciprocal learning and how we apply this concept in our Partnership Grant Project. We believe that we have heavily benefited from the productive work and impact that has been made in the field of comparative education and we have put our emphasis on Reciprocal Learning as Collaborative Partnership throughout our project.

Highlight StAmy23, StBAM1 and StBAM9 play distinct roles in potato cold-induced sweetening by preferentially acting on soluble phytoglycogen, soluble starch and starch granules, respectively, in different subcellular locations., Cold-induced sweetening (CIS) in potato is detrimental to the quality of processed products. Conversion of starch to reducing sugars (RS) by amylases is considered one of the main pathways in CIS but is not well studied. The amylase genes StAmy23, StBAM1, and StBAM9 were studied for their functions in potato CIS. StAmy23 is localized in the cytoplasm, whereas StBAM1 and StBAM9 are targeted to the plastid stroma and starch granules, respectively. Genetic transformation of these amylases in potatoes by RNA interference showed that β-amylase activity could be decreased in cold-stored tubers by silencing of StBAM1 and collective silencing of StBAM1 and StBAM9. However, StBAM9 silencing did not decrease β-amylase activity. Silencing StBAM1 and StBAM9 caused starch accumulation and lower RS, which was more evident in simultaneously silenced lines, suggesting functional redundancy. Soluble starch content increased in RNAi-StBAM1 lines but decreased in RNAi-StBAM9 lines, suggesting that StBAM1 may regulate CIS by hydrolysing soluble starch and StBAM9 by directly acting on starch granules. Moreover, StBAM9 interacted with StBAM1 on the starch granules. StAmy23 silencing resulted in higher phytoglycogen and lower RS accumulation in cold-stored tubers, implying that StAmy23 regulates CIS by degrading cytosolic phytoglycogen. Our findings suggest that StAmy23, StBAM1, and StBAM9 function in potato CIS with varying levels of impact.

RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as an efficient tool to control insect pests. When lethal double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) were ingested by the insects, strong gene silencing and mortality can be induced. To exert their function, dsRNA molecules must pass through insect’s gut and enter epithelial cells and/or the hemolymph. Gut bacteria are known to inhabit on the epithelial surface to confer host new capabilities to counter both biotic and abiotic stress. Whether there is a crosstalk between gut bacteria and dsRNAs and the effects of the microbiome on RNAi efficiency remains unknown. Here, using a leaf beetle-gut microbiota system, we investigated whether and how gut bacteria interact with dsRNA molecules and its effects on host insects. We firstly showed that the leaf beetle Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera) is highly susceptible to RNAi. Then, we found that ingestion of dsRNAs by non-axenic P. versicolora larvae results in (i) significantly accelerated mortality compared to axenic larvae, and (ii) over-growth and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. The latter is mainly caused by the bacterial utilization of the dsRNA degraded products initiated by the host insect. Furthermore, we found that Pseudomonas putida, a gut bacterium of P. versicolora, was a main commensal-to-pathogen strain that accelerated the death of P. versicolora larvae. Taken together, our findings reveal a synergistic role of gut microbiota to dsRNA-induced mortality of pest insects, which provides new insights in the ecological functions of insect gut bacteria, and also contributes to a better understanding of the RNAi mechanisms in insects.

The Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cry3Bb gene was successfully introduced into poplar plastid genome, leading to transplastomic poplar with high mortality to Plagiodera versicolora. Poplar (Populus L.) is one of the main resource of woody industry, but being damaged by insect pests. The feasibility and efficiency of plastid transformation technology for controlling two lepidopteran caterpillars have been demonstrated previously. Here, we introduced B. thuringiensis (Bt) cry3Bb into poplar plastid genome by biolistic bombardment for controlling P. versicolora, a widely distributed forest pest. Chimeric cry3Bb gene is controlled by the tobacco plastid rRNA operon promoter combined with the 5′UTR from gene10 of bacteriophage T7 (NtPrrn:T7g10) and the 3′UTR from the E. coli ribosomal RNA operon rrnB (TrrnB). The integration of transgene and homoplasmy of transplastomic poplar plants was confirmed by Southern blot analysis. Northern blot analysis indicated that cry3Bb was transcribed to both read through and shorter length transcripts in plastid. The transplastomic poplar expressing Cry3Bb insecticidal protein showed the highest accumulation level in young leaves, which reach up to 16.8 μg/g fresh weight, and comparatively low levels in mature and old leaves. Feeding the young leaves from Bt-Cry3Bb plastid lines to P. versicolora caused 100% mortality in the first-instar larvae after only 1 day, in the second-instar larvae after 2 days, and in the third-instar larvae for 3 days. Thus, we report a successful extension of plastid engineering poplar against the chrysomelid beetle.

Wangjiaba station locates in the junction of the middle reach and upstream of the Huai River. Due to its specific location, the hydrological conditions of the Wangjiaba station can be treated as important indicators for flood forecasting and disaster controlling in the Huai River basin. In this study, 62 flood events, with peak flows exceed the warning water level of the Wangjiaba station over the past 60 years, are selected. On the basis of quantitatively analysis of the watershed status variables and flood forecasting input data, three easily available impact factors including rainfall, initial water level, and rainfall distribution were chosen as flood warning indexes in the Wangjiaba station. Analysis results show that rainfall is the most important factor for flood generation. After that, by introducing the initial water level as additional factor, the positive correlation between the peak flow and the impact factors becomes more significant. At last, with the addition of the rainfall distribution as one more factor, the peak flow forecasting accuracy can be further improved.

The film flow behavior in an oil–gas cyclone separator was experimentally studied to improve the separation efficiency in terms of the effect of the oil film on the cylinder wall. The oil film flow pattern was captured using a high-speed camera, and the cylinder wall was divided into seven regions to analyze according to the different oil film flow patterns. Along the cyclone cylinder height, the central part of the cylinder was the main flow area, in which droplet–wall collisions and oil film splashing were severe. Additionally, the oil film’s distribution characteristics under inlet velocities of 14.0, 16.0, and 18.0 m/s were compared, and the results showed that more splashing oil droplets were generated under higher inlet velocity. Moreover, changing the structure of the central channel and outer cylinder slightly changed the oil film’s area and flow pattern but exhibited a weak effect on the oil film thickness and re-entrainment. Then, an improved structure was proposed by adding a porous cylinder to the outer cyclone to avoid the generation of small splashing droplets from the oil film. The performance of the modified separator was measured in a real oil-injected compressor system, which demonstrated higher separation efficiency with no increase in static pressure loss. The separation efficiency increased by up to 2.7%, while the pressure loss decreased by up to 10%. Thus, the improved structure can improve the performance of oil–gas separators by changing the distribution and thickness of the oil film on the cylinder wall.

The presence of thin aqueous films and their stability have a profound effect on the interactions between oil/brine/rock interfaces. In a previous report, we proposed that hydration forces, originating from the overlap of hydrated layers of different surfaces in the presence of sodium chloride, played an important role at short range. In the present work, divalent ions were introduced to the liquid films and, the mechanisms in improving oil recovery from low-salinity brine and the low-salinity effect at the molecular level were revealed. Through a direct force-measuring technique of chemical force microscopy (CFM), the functionalized atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips felt a solid surface to mimic the oil/rock interactions in brine. It was found that not only did the van der Waals and electrostatic forces have a great effect on this process due to the interactions between the charged interfaces of oil/water and water/solid, but also some important additional interactions appeared at short range under a va...

There is a limited understanding with respect to the relationship between asphaltene adsorption/deposition and surface wettability at a molecular level, which could lead to a serious restriction of the development of heavy oil recovery techniques. In this study, the adsorption behavior of a model compound asphaltene (C5Pe) and the detachment process of C5Pe during waterflooding were investigated in different wettability conditions. Both experimental and simulation results indicate that: i) C5Pe molecules tend to adsorb onto hydrophilic surface with the adsorbed mass (AM) being about 114 ng/cm−2 and in a tilted configuration, assigned to the hydrogen bonding interactions between polar groups of C5Pe molecules and –OH groups on hydrophilic surface; ii) C5Pe molecules are difficult to be adsorbed on hydrophobic surface with a preferential parallel orientation and the AM is only 62 ng/cm−2, because of the loose and flexible adsorbed layer, resulting in a high potential of asphaltene desorption for the hydrophilic surface. Our research results may provide a reasonable explanation for the molecular mechanisms improving the low-salinity effect on asphaltene stripping from rock surface, which could open a promising avenue for various application fields.

Amid far-reaching global social and economic changes, increasing diversity and growing interdependency, teachers play important roles in creating successful futures for both individuals and society. Within the dialectic of global and local, and with increasing connectivity amongst teachers, opportunities for transformational learning fostering empathy, global citizenship, and social justice are unprecedented. Thus, teacher education reform should facilitate transcultural collaboration, collegiality and critical perspectives to counter Western hegemony of knowledge, Eurocentric education, neo-colonialism, and neoliberal/conservative agendas. This paper investigates these issues and teachers' personal practical and professional knowledge through narratives of West-to-East and East-to-West transcultural journeys as teacher educators.

Family stories were recounted from Chinese grandparents’ perspectives with Julian’s grandma, a retired elementary school teacher from Guangdong (Canton), China, as the main character in this chapter. Her family story represents the stories of many other grandparents at the Parent Centre in the school over a period of three years. Important characters in the family stories are Julian, Julian’s little brother Allen, Julian’s parents, and two grandfathers. The stories reveal perceived differences between China and Canada in terms of learning, schooling, child discipline, and childcare; their self and family values in a Confucian tradition; and Chinese grandparents’ sacrifice and contribution to the harmony and growth of the family and society.

Yang Yang, a newcomer boy from Fujian China, was located in the Newcomer Support Class due to his limited English. The glimpses of Yang Yang’s life in and out of school reveal many aspects of his life that appeared to be unseen, either by teachers in the school or by his parents at home. Like many Chinese newcomer students, Yang Yang sometimes seemed to enjoy, but more often struggled in, his unseen life as he traveled in between home and school and in between landscapes of schools in transition. Yang Yang’s story raises many issues on cross-cultural school education, family education, special education, and adolescent education.

Jia Ming, a boy from Shanghai, China, arrived at the Newcomer Support Class of Bay Street Community School in his first year and moved on to an advanced English program for newcomer students in his second year in Canada. The generational narratives of Jia Ming’s family tell the differences between Chinese schools and Canadian schools in terms of parental involvement, the teacher’s role, homework, notions of learning and playing, and educational approaches and expectations. The differences, frustrating as some may seem to be, reveal aspects and necessities of mutual appreciation and reciprocal learning between Chinese parents and Canadian teachers, and between Chinese schools and Canadian schools.

In this chapter, the author explores issues and challenges in the narrative inquiry into Chinese families’ lived experience on landscapes of schools in transition from China to Canada. Entering the research field, the issue of narrative truth became a methodological challenge as the researcher was bounced between the boundaries of educational research. By understanding story as the phenomenon, and narrative as the inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco; 2000), the researcher asked two questions when she was located in a place of stories: “Who tells whose stories and why?” and “Which is true, ‘To see is to believe’, or ‘To believe is to see’?” In this methodologically focussed chapter ethical issues and considerations are also discussed.

In this final chapter, Schwab’s commonplaces are used to sketch and discuss the unseen lives immigrant children live in different curriculum situations – lives that are either unseen by the teacher or unseen by the parent – lives lived in-between shifting visible and invisible boundaries on landscapes in transition when continuity and interaction are missing from their cross-cultural lived experience. These boundaries prevent rich educational resources from being utilized to the best advantage of newcomer families. One of the purposes of this work is to bring these unseen lives to light for cross-cultural and multicultural curriculum and teacher development in terms of educational policy, practice and research, to build multidimensional bridges on landscapes in transition across cultures for reciprocal learning.

To achieve a narrative grip on newcomer families’ stories, Connelly and Clandinin’s (Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 1(1), 73–85.1995) notion of landscapes of experience was adopted and further developed to capture the experiential richness and the fluidity of the changing world in which newcomers live. Landscapes in transition is a term that imagines multidimensional, multifaceted, inclusive, and fluid interpretations of experience. The term captures the dimensions in which people move physically and conceptually, personally, and socially. The ideas of individualism and communitarianism and the philosophical notions of Confucian Continuity of Being and Deweyian Continuity of Knowing provide the philosophical/cultural structure for the metaphorical bridge between the East and the West. The educational lives of newcomer children and their families demonstrate the potential and power of reciprocal learning.

Chapter 1 introduces the background, context, key questions, methodology, and participants of the study. The choice of an open-ended fluid inquiry methodology is explained along with the reason why only boys were selected as key participants. Canadian immigration trends are discussed to provide the background and context for the narrative inquiry into Chinese immigrant families’ cross-cultural school experience in Canada. The chapter explains why Chinese people’s search for home in Canada is the focal point of the narrative inquiry. It reveals that the core purpose of the book is to explore the cross-cultural issues in schooling between the East and the West to find ways to bridge cultural and educational values. Reciprocal learning between Chinese newcomer culture and Canadian culture is the goal.

Zhi Gao, a newcomer boy from Guangdong, China, was the last potential participant to be considered for the study due to his behavior difficulties and thus the concern that he might be unwilling to participate. Zhi Gao’s behavior issues reflected the language barriers and cultural dissonance experienced by the boy in his transition between two countries and two educational systems as well as between childhood and adolescence. The frustration and helplessness experienced by the parents and the boy himself reveal the needs for identifying the visible and invisible boundaries in a school system with well-intended programs and rich resources, and a need for Parents’ Aid for despairing parents like Zhi Gao’s mom, whose dreams of a better life and education for their children in a new country are shattered.

Hui Lan, the main character in Chapter 4, is a stay-at-home mother of three children. Her husband works at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Toronto. They hold on to their belief that education plays a crucial role in the future of their boys and the family. They have no regrets for the sacrifices they make as long as it contributes to a better future for the boys. They see the importance of school education as well as the importance of family education. They keep tutoring and modeling for their boys to push them to achieve academic success at school, and at the same time to make sure that they are growing up as good citizens with traditional Chinese humanity and family values.

This paper shows how a long term process of narrative inquiry may act as a reflective tool for challenging and revising preliminary researcher frames for an inquiry. In this paper I return to a detailed set of fieldnotes taken over a several year period to show how my own assumptions and biases changed throughout the course of inquiry. This work is based on a study of newcomer Chinese family educational narratives. Several stories encountered during the first days of field work are revisited as they show up through the course of conducting field work.