Theory, experiment and practical application in research on visual impairment

This paper examines the relation between theories of development in conditions of visual impairment, the experimental evidence on which models are based, and methods of education and remediation. It is argued that experimental findings always need fine-tuning to be adapted to individual circumstances and needs. Equally, practical procedures are based on tacit assumptions which need to be scrutinised explicitly, so that they can be updated when the empirical evidence suggests changes in our models of the role of the sense modalities in development. Spatial skill and braille learning are used as examples. The first section discusses how theory and practice are reciprocally affected by simplistic dichotomies like the “nature-nurture” distinction, and the notion that vision is either necessary, or else irrelevant to sparial understanding. Spatial development is explained next by the CAPIN hypothesis which assumes that total absence of sight requires convergent and redundant, not just substitute, information and underlines the importance of specific task conditions. A third section focuses on the dual verbal and spatial processing demands of braille. The two final sections deal with empirical methods in asking questions about blindness in psychology and education.     

The plasticity of intellectual development: insights from preventive intervention

Debates regarding the plasticity of intelligence are often fired by a confusion between 2 distinct realms of development, that is, between developmental functions (e.g., a group's average IQ over time) and individual differences (e.g., the relative rank ordering of individual IQs within a group). Questions concerning the stability of these 2 realms are statistically independent. Thus there are 2 kinds of intellectual plasticity, and there may be no developmental convergences between them. In the present study, data from an early intervention program were used to investigate the 2 kinds of plasticity separately and to examine certain possible convergences between them. The program involved children at risk for developmental retardation who were randomly assigned at birth to 2 rearing conditions (i.e., educational daycare vs. no educational intervention) and whose intellectual development was then studied longitudinally to 4 years of age. Our findings indicate that developmental functions are moderately alterable through systemic early education, particularly after infancy, whereas individual differences are moderately stable, again particularly after infancy. They also indicate that the 2 kinds of plasticity are independent; the alteration of developmental functions through daycare affects neither the stability nor the determinants of individual differences. We discuss the implications that these findings have for current models of mental development, for the nature-nurture debate, and for arguments concerning the efficacy of early intervention programs.     

Advance organizers: Facilitators of recall

The debate surrounding the facilitating effects of advance organizers rages on despite clearly cited limitations of their nature, use, and definition. The controversy continues because of a perceived imprecision in the definition of advance organizers. This review is organized around summaries of 30 experiments, which used advance organizers written in paragraph form, conducted during the past 14 years. Although not all of the studies report beneficial effects associated with advance organizers, the overall conclusion is that advance organizers facilitate recall. The article, however, first considers Ausubel's original theory of cognitive subsumption, followed by criticisms and changes to the theory. The final section of the article makes suggestions for future research.     

Developing a School Focused Approach to Continuing Professional Development in Sustainability Education

This article has two aims. Its first is to describe how findings from a questionnaire survey of 96 UK primary schools influenced the theory of action adopted in the SEEPS Project, (Sustainability Education in European Primary Schools, 1997) funded by DGXI and DGXXII of the European Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage. SEEPS is a continuing professional development (CPD) project developed by representatives from 11 European educational systems. The first section of the article outlines how the Project came to adopt a school focused theory of action in CPD, in preference to a centralised or school-based approach. School focused CPD trains trainers and provides them with adaptable materials that can support individualised CPD programmes decided in and by the school and its staff. The second aim is to outline and analyse some of the more interesting inter and intra-regional relationships, correlations and differences which emerged from the survey. We have only included those findings that illuminate CPD provision in sustainability education. This article seeks to share data with others working in environmental education and sustainability education and to stimulate a debate about the relevance of school focused approaches in international discussions about CPD in environmental and sustainability education.     

Roots and Rhizomes—Some Reflections on Contemporary Pedagogy

During this article, I look at three images of thought which feature in Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus and consider their relevance to contemporary pedagogy. Deleuze and Guattari begin by discussing tree‐like thought, which involves an insular depiction of the world. I suggest that the performative apparatus, which structures contemporary pedagogy in the comprehensive school, is also tree‐like. Deleuze and Guattari's second image of thought is the fascicular root. Here the principle root is aborted leading to a multiplicity, which flows from it. With fascicular thought, the unity, which is aborted in the object, is returned to in the subject who gains control of multiplicities. In this section I provide a reading of a Classics lesson portrayed in The Secret History by Donna Tartt and go on to focus on Ronald Barnett's contribution to a debate with Paul Standish, which features in The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education. In the third section of the article, I consider Deleuze and Guattari's third image of thought—the rhizome. Rhizomes grow by a process of cloning or lateral spreading; they do not have the central trunk of the tree, with roots and branches extending outwards from this. At the end of this section, I look at two Classics lessons that represent tree‐like and rhizomatic pedagogies in turn. I attempt to enrich this discussion by providing a reading of a scene from The History Boys.     

Education research and educational practice: The qualities of a close relationship

The relationship between education practice and education research has a long history. In modern times, education practice and its relation to education research has been central to debates about the nature and quality of education as an academic discipline in universities. This article reports an empirical study that investigated a new instantiation of the practice–theory debate: ‘close-to-practice’ research in education. The research sought to (a) define and further articulate the concept of close-to-practice research and (b) provide reflections on the quality of close-to-practice research. The orientation of the work reported in this article is informed by theory on traditions of knowledge in the organisation of education that have contributed to the development of education as an academic discipline. The main section of the article reports the findings of the empirical study. The research design was a rapid evidence assessment (REA), and a series of interviews with education researchers whose experiences were highly relevant to understanding of close-to-practice research issues. The conclusions of the research are reported in relation to how close-to-practice research might be defined, including in relation to quality, but also implications for education as a discipline in universities subject to nationwide assessments of quality.     

杜里舒对张君劢“科玄论战”的影响

学术界已多有讨论康德、柏格森等西方哲学家对张君劢“科玄论战”的影响,而论战期间来华讲学并与张君劢有密切交往的另一位哲学家——杜里舒其影响尚未能引起人们的注意。①本文主要探讨德国生机主义哲学家杜里舒对玄学派主将张君劢进行“科玄论战”的具体影响,以更深入剖析张君劢论战的思想基础。本文认为张君劢在“科玄论战”中吸取了杜里舒的“自由意志”、进化论、形而上学等思想与经历。     

Jean Vigo’s Zéro de conduite and the spaces of revolt

In this article we will contribute to the contemporary theoretical debate about film by considering, from a history-of-education perspective, the film Zéro de conduite by Jean Vigo (1905–1934). This film is classified under the umbrella of “poetic realism”: a product of cinéma de gauche and an avant-gardist, surrealist and anarchist-catalogued film by a film-maker described by many as very talented and creative. The paper is divided into five parts. In the first part we sketch Vigo’s own biography and the social biography of the film. The second section documents the response to the film both at the time of its release and subsequently. In the third section we explore anarchist ideas about education both in theory and practice. In the fourth section we use this understanding to analyse the film. The final section returns to the question of film as an underused resource and the possibilities of bringing new elements into historical practice.     

辩论的逻辑分析

作为展开于主体间以消除争议、谋求共识为目的的言语交往行为,辩论或论辩在近年来逐渐进入了逻辑学的研究领域。本文立足当前的辩论实践与相关研究成果,从非形式逻辑的角度对辩论的实质、结构与规则作了初步的分析,既考察了辩论与论证的关系、辩论的形式及其理想化模式,又分析了辩论的静态构成与动态展开,并在此基础上提出了以真诚、礼貌、可理解和问答对等为主要内容的辩论规则。     

Editorial

Abstract

During the past two decades, the debate over a national curriculum has been the subject of much controversy in the United States. However, this debate, part of a much larger debate over the broader goals of public education, has inevitably clashed with the long‐held American notion of local control of schools. The purpose of this article is to present a brief historical overview and identify some issues which continue to feature prominently in the ongoing debate over national and state curriculum standards. The authors focus on curriculum standards for history. A case‐study of this specific debate will reveal some of the major issues which have surfaced in the broader debate.     

“正體字”是什么字?——评《從學術觀點看“正體字”與“簡化字”》

二十世纪以来,汉字存在着两种争论:存废之争和繁简之争。存废之争跟治国兴邦相联系,繁简之争跟传承传统文化相联系。繁简之争扩大到海峡两岸,台湾有人称其为"正体字"与简化字之争,这个争论跟拓展文化市场相联系。台湾学者李鍌先生给所谓"正体字"作界定,本文认为这个界定存在着逻辑错误和不符合事实的问题。     

Evolution of the nature-nurture controversy: Response to J. Philippe Rushton

The nature-nurture controversy is reviewed from the nineteenth century to the present. This review indicates that the nature-nuture issue has been highly controversial in psychology and education for long, mainly because of the oversimplified, either-or polarism of partisan views. In recent times, however, the old issue appears increasingly archaic. Expanding, interdisciplinary theory and research reveal complex interrelationships and evolutionary cognitive adaptations, etc. that can finally put the nature-nurture controversy to rest. This review provides background for a response to Rushton's critique of Yee (1992) in this issue.     

Diversifying secondary school curricula in developing countries: An implementation history and some policy options

This paper describes the history of the diversified curriculum debate. The first section briefly refers to the precedents for such discussions during the colonial era. A second section describes the institutional environment behind the beginning of bilateral and multilateral assistance to diversified curricula in 1960. The third section summarizes the changes in thinking about diversified curricula which have occurred in the World Bank over the last 20 years. This third section, itself, is divided into three subsections: (i) the original World Bank rationales for diversified education (1960–1970); (ii) the implementation history (1970–1980); and (iii) post-1980 strategies, including financing the research whose results are discussed at this meeting. The paper concludes with a fourth section which refers to the options on diversified education ahead.     

Nation,Curriculum and Identity in Conservative Cultural Analysis: a critical commentary

The article begins with a brief discussion of the recent invitation by the Chief Executive of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority to engage in debate about the role of the National Curriculum in promoting national identity. It argues the need for a more systematic analysis than has so far been provided, of the inter‐relationships within Conservative curriculum discourse between five elements: nation, culture, identity, social cohesion and curriculum. The second main section examines writing within this tradition on the themes of nation and nationalism and social integration, drawing particularly on the work of Ernest Gellner. The final section focusses on questions of culture, ‘high’ culture and cultural diversity, illustrating the long‐standing character of the critique of economic individualism within Conservative writing (broadly conceived), before critically reviewing certain aspects of contemporary neo‐conservative discourse on British culture and the curriculum.     

Learning and teaching policies in higher education: mediations and contradictions of practice

Abstract This article utilises Rokeach's categorisation of values (i.e. moral, competency, personal and social) to analyse how values influence the choice of research method. It discusses how the ontological and epistemological position adopted by the researcher is influenced by their competency and personal values. The next section is concerned with the social values (or politics) of educational research, where the debate has polarised between those advocating a value‐neutral approach and those who argue that researchers should instead accept the partisan nature of research. Finally, the issue of research ethics is considered. Moral values are found to play an important role, but other values also influence the ethical decisions that are taken. The article concludes by highlighting how the complex interaction of the researcher's moral, competency, personal and social values has an important influence on the research process. The article contends that research methods cannot be value‐free in their application, but researchers should adopt a reflexive approach and attempt to be honest and open about how values influence their research.     

Assessment of a fertile dialogue (2012–17) / Balance de un diálogo fértil (2012–17)

This text reviews the main goals and achievements from the management of Infancia y Aprendizaje (2012–17). We have promoted a dialogue between developmental psychology and educational psychology from a complex and situated approach. We have also created a section for highly regarded authors to chart prospective lines that could have an impact on areas for development within this field of knowledge. In addition, we brought back the debate between theoretical and methodological positions around a central article. Two different calls promoted the training of scientific writers and reviewers, with an analysis of the modifications introduced into the texts from their receipt up to their publication as well as the interactions among author, reviewers and editors. Other calls encouraged research on the training of university teachers, learning in environments favoured by technology, relationships between argumentation and education, and cognitive change as a dynamic process. At an operational level, we highlight the transition to Taylor & Francis, the configuration of a strictly bilingual journal and the thematic and cultural expansion and diversification of the editorial team at its different levels.     

Affordances and Constraints of Using the Socio-Political Debate for Authentic Summative Assessment

This article reports from an empirical study on the affordances and constraints for using staged socio-political debates for authentic summative assessment of scientific literacy. The article focuses on conditions for student participation and what purposes emerge in student interaction in a socio-political debate. As part of the research project, a socio-political debate was designed for assessing student competences of scientific literacy in classroom practices. The debate centred on a fictive case about a lake where a decline in the yield of fish had been established. The students were assigned the task of participating in the debate from appointed roles as different stakeholders. Data were collected with video recordings of the enacted student debates. Student participation was analysed with the theoretical framework of communities of practice. The results show that multiple conflicting purposes of the socio-political debate as an assessment task emerged. The emergent purposes were (1) putting scientific knowledge on display versus staying true to one's role, (2) putting scientific knowledge on display versus expressing social responsibility, (3) putting scientific knowledge on display versus winning the debate, and (4) using sources tactically versus using sources critically. As these purposes emerged in classroom practice, tensions between different ways of enacting participation in the debates became manifest. Based on these findings, this article discusses the affordances and constraints for using a socio-political debate for classroom-based assessment of scientific literacy and argumentation in terms of validity, reliability and affordability.     

论大学生辩论赛的兴起、作用与创新发展

我国大学生辩论赛始于20世纪80年代,20世纪90年代达到了顶峰。大学生辩论赛不仅培养锻炼了人才,而且通过传媒扩大了正确的舆论导向,在校园生活和百姓生活中都发挥了积极作用。现在,辩论赛已成为各大学校园文化的保留节目。文章通过追溯我国大学生辩论赛的发展历程,着重探讨了大学生辩论赛在大学校园里的兴起、作用与创新发展,提出了推动大学生辩论赛健康发展的途径与方法。     

Home-school Agreements: A true partnership?

From September 1999 all schools in England and Wales will be expected to have a 'home-school' agreement in place. The home-school agreement initiative has provoked considerable debate amongst and between politicians, educationalists, professional associations and parents' organisations. This article provides an analysis of this controversy . The first part places home-school agreements within the historical context of home-school relations. The second part discusses two key issues of 'enforceability' and 'partnership' that have informed much of the debate . The article concludes by suggesting that models of parents as 'problems', as 'partners' and as 'consumers' are all implicit within this recent initiative and it questions whether an acceptable balance between these models can be incorporated in the process of implementation.     

Making art invisible: visual education and the cultural stagnation of neo-liberal rationality

The popularity of visual literacy may have resulted, in part, from some school authorities rushing the process of determining school curriculum. This article argues that the haste is reflective of pressure placed on educational discourse to conform to neo-liberal reforms of the sector, and is not the result of a careful and complex debate within the education community. In Australia, such reform has contributed to the erosion of visual art as a discrete subject in the general curriculum. The article accounts for the fact that the lack of careful debate may be due to art educators rehearsing tired arguments for retaining the place occupied by visual art, which smack of sentimentality. The author examines the conceptualisation of visual art at a cultural and theoretical level, and argues that by considering the function art has traditionally played in relation to conceptions of human subjectivity, we may disclose the marginalisation of visual art as a signal of much larger threats to political and economic structures in democratic society. The article considers whether the absorption of ‘art’ within a broader preference for visual communication, graphic design, or design and technology, is symptomatic of a long-term cultural stagnation.