The natural provenance: ecoliteracy in higher education in Mississippi

Researchers suggest there is an increasing apathy in the study of natural history in academic settings and in the scientific community. However, most studies of environmental knowledge do not address knowledge of local flora and fauna; they are concerned with the knowledge of environmental issues or broad ecological knowledge. Ecoliteracy established local natural history as fundamental to environmental knowledge and seeks to determine the knowledge of local environments and factors associated with that knowledge. This study investigated ecoliteracy in Mississippi, determining knowledge of local flora and fauna of undergraduate and graduate students at the largest universities. Ecoliteracy levels in Mississippi were low. Students had a rudimentary knowledge of local flora and fauna, despite coursework in natural history. Students majoring in wildlife and fisheries and biology had more advanced knowledge of local flora and fauna than non-biology majors. Students were most knowledgeable of reptiles and amphibians, and least of fish and endangered species. The number of environmental courses taken and environmental sensitivity were positively correlated with ecoliteracy, and were strong predictors of ecoliteracy. Ecoliteracy was influenced by coursework and experience with degree programs including fieldwork. Natural history knowledge was deficient at Mississippi universities. Researchers suggest reintroducing coursework focused on ecoliteracy.     

Evaluating Environmental Knowledge Dimension Convergence to Assess Educational Programme Effectiveness

One aim of environmental education is fostering sustainable environmental action. Some environmental behaviour models suggest that this can be accomplished in part by improving people's knowledge. Recent studies have identified a distinct, psychometrically supported environmental knowledge structure consisting of system, action-related and effectiveness knowledge. Besides system knowledge, which is most often the focus of such studies, incorporating the other knowledge dimensions into these dimensions was suggested to enhance effectiveness. Our study is among the first to implement these dimensions together in an educational campaign and to use these dimensions to evaluate the effectiveness of a programme on water issues. We designed a four-day environmental education programme on water issues for students at an educational field centre. We applied a newly developed multiple-choice instrument using a pre-, post-, retention test design. The knowledge scales were calibrated with the Rasch model. In addition to the commonly assessed individual change in knowledge level, we also measured the change in knowledge convergence, the extent to which the knowledge dimensions merge as a person's environmental knowledge increases, as an innovative indicator of educational success. Following programme participation, students significantly improved in terms of amount learned in each knowledge dimension and in terms of integration of the knowledge dimensions. The effectiveness knowledge shows the least gain, persistence and convergence, which we explain by considering the dependence of the knowledge dimensions on each other. Finally, we discuss emerging challenges for educational researchers and practical implications for environmental educators.     

Implementing a disciplinary-literacy curriculum for US history: learning from expert middle school teachers in diverse classrooms

In recent years, educators in the USA have emphasized disciplinary literacy as an essential path forward in cultivating adolescents’ understanding of subject matter in tandem with literacy practices. Yet, this agenda poses challenges to teachers who have been tasked with its implementation. Here, we examine two expert US history teachers’ efforts to implement curriculum that integrates reading, writing and thinking in history with academically diverse eighth graders. We conduct qualitative analyses of teacher observations and interviews as well as student work. This analysis provides insight into several issues that emerge in efforts to teach disciplinary literacy in history classrooms: the nuances of teachers’ use of curriculum materials created by people other than themselves, teachers’ appropriation and adaptation of curriculum materials and teachers’ understanding of curriculum materials and disciplinary literacy goals. We find that teachers’ knowledge of the discipline and attention to students’ ideas allowed them to skillfully adapt the curriculum to better meet students’ needs and push students’ thinking. Orienting teachers toward disciplinary learning, ensuring a foundational understanding of their discipline and providing teachers with tools to teach disciplinary literacy are important steps to help students meet the demands of the disciplinary literacy agenda.     

From Representation to Emergence: Complexity's challenge to the epistemology of schooling

In modern, Western societies the purpose of schooling is to ensure that school‐goers acquire knowledge of pre‐existing practices, events, entities and so on. The knowledge that is learned is then tested to see if the learner has acquired a correct or adequate understanding of it. For this reason, it can be argued that schooling is organised around a representational epistemology: one which holds that knowledge is an accurate representation of something that is separate from knowledge itself. Since the object of knowledge is assumed to exist separately from the knowledge itself, this epistemology can also be considered ‘spatial.’ In this paper we show how ideas from complexity have challenged the ‘spatial epistemology’ of representation and we explore possibilities for an alternative ‘temporal’ understanding of knowledge in its relationship to reality. In addition to complexity, our alternative takes its inspiration from Deweyan ‘transactional realism’ and deconstruction. We suggest that ‘knowledge’ and ‘reality’ should not be understood as separate systems which somehow have to be brought into alignment with each other, but that they are part of the same emerging complex system which is never fully ‘present’ in any (discrete) moment in time. This not only introduces the notion of time into our understanding of the relationship between knowledge and reality, but also points to the importance of acknowledging the role of the ‘unrepresentable’ or ‘incalculable’. With this understanding knowledge reaches us not as something we receive but as a response, which brings forth new worlds because it necessarily adds something (which was not present anywhere before it appeared) to what came before. This understanding of knowledge suggests that the acquisition of curricular content should not be considered an end in itself. Rather, curricular content should be used to bring forth that which is incalculable from the perspective of the present. The epistemology of emergence therefore calls for a switch in focus for curricular thinking, away from questions about presentation and representation and towards questions about engagement and response.     

环境史学与西辽河流域的“环境史”研究

环境史是历史学研究的新领域。美国的环境史学比较发达,我国国内的环境史学也有一定进展,这是区域环境史研究的有利条件。西辽河流域的环境史研究取得了一些成就,但总体而言比较薄弱。了解并运用国内外的环境史学理论,采用科学的方法确定正确的方向,西辽河流域的环境史研究大有可为。     

西双版纳傣族传统环境知识与森林生态系统管理

人类的生态和发展离不开自然生态环境。由于过度开发导致的环境污染、生物多样性减少等生态危机已成为全球性的环境问题。许多原住民族在其生存发展过程中逐渐形成了保护和利用自然资源的传统环境知识体系。本从生态人类学的视角出发，应用可持续发展理论，探讨了西双版纳傣族的传统环境和森林生态系统的管理、保护和利用的关系，展现了傣族传统化中以人为本合理利用森林资源的自然生态观及其实践。     

Children’s Participation in a Virtual Epidemic in the Science Classroom: Making Connections to Natural Infectious Diseases

This study investigated students’ understanding of a virtual infectious disease in relation to their understanding of natural infectious diseases. Two sixth-grade classrooms of students between the ages of 10 and 12 (46 students) took part in a participatory simulation of a virtual infectious disease, which was integrated into their science curriculum. The results from our analyses reveal that students perceived the simulation as similar to a natural infectious disease and that the immersive components of the simulation afforded students the opportunity to discuss their understandings of natural disease and to compare them to their experiences with the virtual disease. We found that while the virtual disease capitalized on students’ knowledge of natural infectious disease through virtual symptoms, these symptoms may have led students to think of its transfer more as an observable or mechanical event rather than as a biological process. These findings provide helpful indicators to science educators and educational designers interested in creating and integrating online simulations within classroom environments to further students’ conceptual understanding.     

A Cross–Cultural Environmental Education Model

Abstract

This study assessed the level of scientific and natural resource knowledge that fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade students in Maine possess concerning acidic deposition. A representative sample of public school students (N = 175) was interviewed on twelve concept principles considered critical to a full understanding of the acidic deposition problem. These included geological, meteorological, ecological, political, and economic concepts. Student knowledge was rated for each concept principle on a scale of complete, high partial, low partial, or no understanding. Common misconceptions were also noted. Generalized correct concept statements of current student knowledge are reported, as well as generalized missing concepts. Our conclusions have implications for teaching about acidic deposition and the design of environmental education curriculum materials based upon student knowledge. This information can help teachers better instruct students about current environmental problems and thus help learners gain an appreciation for the complex and multidisciplinary nature of science and the environment.     

垃圾：城市环境史研究的一个重要主题

城市环境史是环境史研究的新领域,它是环境史、城市史,技术史及公共工程史各自发展并有机融合的产物。它的成熟也有赖于对城市及城市环境的深入理解。垃圾问题是城市环境史的一个重要主题,其原因在于:垃圾问题是城市发展的产物,也是重要的城市环境问题;对垃圾进行历史研究既有助于理解人与社会的发展,也有助于现实城市环境问题的解决。尽管国外关于垃圾问题的历史研究已取得丰硕成果,但是相对于城市环境史的其他课题而言还显得比较薄弱,中国学界的相关研究更是欠缺。参考已有的成果,开展垃圾的历史研究应特别注意完善相关知识体系,拓展研究思路,借鉴其他学科领域的研究方法。     

The Synthesis Map Is a Multidimensional Educational Tool That Provides Insight into Students’ Mental Models and Promotes Students’ Synthetic Knowledge Generation

Concept mapping was developed as a method of displaying and organizing hierarchical knowledge structures. Using the new, multidimensional presentation software Prezi, we have developed a new teaching technique designed to engage higher-level skills in the cognitive domain. This tool, synthesis mapping, is a natural evolution of concept mapping, which utilizes embedding to layer information within concepts. Prezi’s zooming user interface lets the author of the presentation use both depth as well as distance to show connections between data, ideas, and concepts. Students in the class Biology of Cancer created synthesis maps to illustrate their knowledge of tumorigenesis. Students used multiple organizational schemes to build their maps. We present an analysis of student work, placing special emphasis on organization within student maps and how the organization of knowledge structures in student maps can reveal strengths and weaknesses in student understanding or instruction. We also provide a discussion of best practices for instructors who would like to implement synthesis mapping in their classrooms.     

基于中学《地理》教学大纲的中日环境教育目标变迁的比较分析

基于中日中学《地理》教学大纲的比较分析,把握环境教育目标的历史变迁。中日双方环境教育目标的轨迹可．以归纳为：从自然保护逐渐转移到重视自然与人类的关系;从关心自然地理逐渐转移到人文地理进而关注乡土地理;从知识的理解、意识的培养转向环境考察,注重行动力的培养。     

从"博物"观念到"博物"学科

中国古代“博物”观念及其相关工具书具有鲜明的人文特征,反映了中国传统的知识结构和分类体系。西方学科分类意义的博物学概念在近代传入中国,据此,中国编辑出版了新式博物学教科书和辞书。考察中国博物观念及其工具书从古代到近代的演变,比较中西知识结构和分类体系的不同,具有多方面的学术价值。     

论真实的知识

历史的长河并没有对真实的知识一锤定音,形成一种定论。真实的知识随着时代和环境的变迁一起发生变化。亚里士多德推崇以自然的存在方式沉思完全实现的知识为最高和最真实的知识;笛卡尔在＂我思,我在＂的基础上构筑着真实的知识体系;康德借助先天综合判断和物自体的区分论证真实的知识的情形,召唤不同层次的真实的知识进入不同的领域。真实的知识的三种论证方式及其内在逻辑的敞开,召唤我们思及映现真实的知识的人的真实的存在方式;对人的的真实的存在方式的理解,让我们最为自然地沉思着真实的知识所引发的时代问题。     

How does completing a dissertation transform undergraduate students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge?

Dissertations are positioned as the capstone of an undergraduate degree, bringing together what students have previously learned from their programmes through a piece of independent research. However, there is limited research into the ways in which engaging in a dissertation has an impact on students’ understandings of disciplinary knowledge. In this article, we explore the relations between students’ accounts of sociological knowledge in their second and third years and how they engage with sociological knowledge in their dissertations. We argue that for the work of the dissertation to have an impact on students’ understanding of sociological knowledge, students need to see their discipline as providing a way of answering their research questions. We explore the implications of this argument for both our understanding of the role of dissertations and research-based learning in universities more generally.     

Conversations of family and primary school groups at robotic dinosaur exhibits in a museum: what do they talk about?

The story which a natural history museum wishes to tell to its self-guided visitors is presented through a number of different components, such as type of exhibit. However, this story from the museum may not be 'read' by visitors, who come with their own knowledge and understanding and read a different story in the animals. Increasingly robotic models are being used in natural history museums, science centres and zoos to attract visitors and tell some kind of story. To what extent are they successful in this and does the quality and context of the animatronics matter? What do the visitors actually talk about when looking at such robotic animals? This article focuses on primary school groups and families. Do they talk about similar things at the same exhibits even though the schools visit for educational purposes and the families visit of their own free choice in their leisure time. Furthermore, within school groups do different sub groups respond in a different way, gauged by the content of their conversations, to similar robotics? This article is a study of the responses of the conversational content of primary school and family groups to two different robotics dinosaur exhibits in the Natural History Museum, London. These verbal responses were analysed through using a systemic network. Results indicate that the animatronics have a simple, well thought out, story line which is 'read' by both the family and school visitors and hence increases their understanding of the topic of the exhibit.     

高度现代性条件下知识缺失与风险叠加

知识缺失有制度化的因素，但是也有规律性的特征。在人类知识高速增长的同时，我们还严重缺乏知识。知识的缺失导致行动无据，过度防御行为使得本原风险出现叠加效应。知识史上知识饱和与知识缺失相伴而生，一方面我们拥有不断增长的社会知识，这些知识在提高人类战胜各类灾害减少风险和获取较高安全保障水平的同时也增强了我们制造风险的能力；另一方面我们应对突发性社会风险的知识又严重短缺，知识缺失使我们更加脆弱和易损，从而使我们的社会进入风险时代。     

Thinking/acting locally/globally: Western science and environmental education in a global knowledge economy

This paper critically appraises a number of approaches to 'thinking globally' in environmental education, with particular reference to popular assumptions about the universal applicability of Western science. Although the transnational character of many environmental issues demands that we 'think globally', I argue that the contribution of Western science to understanding and resolving environmental problems might be enhanced by seeing it as one among many local knowledge traditions. The production of a 'global knowledge economy' in/for environmental education can then be understood as creating transnational 'spaces' in which local knowledge traditions can be performed together, rather than as creating a 'common market' in which representations of local knowledge must be translated into (or exchanged for) the terms of a universal discourse.     

知识与价值:对德性认识论的初步回答

对知识性质的追问导致了当代认识论中对知识定义的争论。争论的焦点在于如何理解知识与价值的关系问题。德性认识论对这个问题给出了一种解决方案,试图用道德的规范性说明知识的规范性,甚至试图用认识的客观性说明道德的客观性。然而,这种方案的主要困难在于没有看到知识作为一种规范性概念如何与人类的价值发生联系。中国传统哲学中的认识论可以为我们理解这个问题提供启发。"德性所知"、"格物致知"的认识论模式是从德性出发讨论认识问题。只有当我们把知识理解为由德性和心性所生发出来的对特殊事物的理解,我们才能理解知识所包含的真实内涵。只有在对人类灵魂的普遍理解中,我们才能真正把握知识的内在价值。如果必须放弃把知识理解为得到证明的真信念这个定义,我们更需要论证知识定义中除了得到证明和真理之外还应当包含的更多的内容。我们首先需要考虑的是价值问题在知识构成中的作用,其次还要考虑认识活动中的价值客观性问题。我们不再否定知识构成中的主观因素的影响,而是更多地关注这些主观因素在多少程度上会最终进入客观的领域。只有从这个角度出发,我们才能真正理解知识与价值之间的互动关系。     

Rethinking Environmental Education with the Help of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Traditional Ecological Knowledge

In recent years, Indigenous ecological knowledge has been receiving increased attention due to its potential to help address the devastating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. Indigenous peoples in various contexts have become engaged in collaborative research projects with scientists and other experts to build environmentally sustainable societies. Environmental education has been another site for incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing. This paper presents one such programme designed by the Bunun Indigenous group in Taiwan to support environmental learning and reconnection with the natural world of their group as well as other Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals willing to participate. While the programme's objective is learning with and from the natural environment (the lessons that can be adopted by non-Indigenous groups), its other objectives include re-building and strengthening Indigenous identities, cultures and ways of life, and potentially contributing to decolonisation of settler societies and reconciliation between groups.     

社会科课程体系中的历史教育

历史知识及方法关乎人们认识自我和社会的深度,关乎公民教育的质量,以至凡涉及人的权利、义务、道德、态度、价值观等教育内容时,历史知识及方法就成了理解人、社会和人的精神世界的核心内容之一。我们之所以为人,除了历史成就的人文文化外,还因我们有推进自己的历史不断文明且更具智慧、更有道德、更为人道主义的愿望和能力。公民教育正是依靠这种愿望和能力养成有知识、有道德、负责任的公民。因此,与其说社会科教育需要包含历史教育——作为人的基本的知识素养,不如说公民教育要求社会科必备良好的历史教育——作为现代公民所必需的、与现代意识养成密切关联的一整套观念体系的核心部分。