Curriculum Design and Epistemic Ascent

Three kinds of knowledge usually recognised by epistemologists are identified and their relevance for curriculum design is discussed. These are: propositional knowledge, know‐how and knowledge by acquaintance. The inferential nature of propositional knowledge is argued for and it is suggested that propositional knowledge in fact presupposes the ability to know how to make appropriate inferences within a body of knowledge, whether systematic or unsystematic. This thesis is developed along lines suggested in the earlier work of Paul Hirst. The different kinds of know‐how and their relationships are discussed and it is suggested that they occupy different places and different relationships in any curricular hierarchy. The changing role that knowledge by acquaintance plays within this hierarchy is also discussed. Implications of this account for the current National Curriculum and for curriculum design more generally are discussed, looking at History, Science and Design Technology as examples.     

符号计算主义与意向实在论

符号计算主义的意向实在论论证的要点,是表明具有语义性质的命题态度的因果效力。然而,在这里,命题态度的因果效力是通过命题态度的句法性质而得到论证的。这就给符号计算主义的意向实在论论证带来了问题:命题态度的语义性质如何能够对认知系统的行为具有因果相关性?语义性质的因果效力问题是意向实在论论证的关键所在。因此,符号计算主义对意向实在论的论证是不成功的。     

模态逻辑中的三值逻辑

每一个真值函数三值命题逻辑都可以翻译为模态逻辑系统S5。定义一般的三值命题逻辑的真值函数,并给出将任意的三值逻辑命题公式翻译成为模态公式的翻译方法。证明了每一S5模型,都存在有一个等值翻译的三值赋值。给出了一个将LP和K3翻译为S5的线性翻译方法。     

Towards a Theory of Propositional Curriculum Content

This article addresses two questions. The first question is this: ‘when ought teachers to encourage or discourage students’ belief of a given proposition on the one hand (call this ‘directive teaching’), and when ought teachers to simply facilitate students’ understanding of that proposition, on the other (call this ‘non‐directive teaching’) (cf. the work of Michael Hand)? The second question is this: ‘which propositional content should curricula address?’ An answer to these questions would amount to what I will call a ‘theory of propositional curricula content’, by providing both a means for choosing content, and a directive for teaching that content. While the answer that I give to the second question is unlikely to prove exhaustive, I still consider that it would form an important part of the answer, hence the title a ‘towards a theory of propositional curricula content’.     

Secularisation and the Securitisation of the Sacred a Response to Lewin’s Framing of the Gearon–Jackson Debate

In this article, I make a response to Lewin’s insightful and judicious contribution to the Gearon–Jackson debate. I address the central and important arguments made by Lewin in relation to three aspects of my theoretical orientations on religion in education: (1) what Lewin rightly identifies as my ‘propositional’ interpretation of religion; (2) the politicisation of religion as secularisation; and (3) the securitisation of religion in education as a ‘securitisation of the sacred’. I argue some theoretical framing for this is necessary and that an engagement with the (propositional) realities more helpful than their denial, and that precisely because religion is propositional it can be so used or directed to political and security purposes. In sum, to ensure there is no sense of equivocation in my response I greatly welcome Levin’s intervention, but defend my propositional interpretation of religion and defend too my conceptualisation of the politicisation and securitisation of religion in education. Prompted by Jackson’s critique and Lewin’s subsequent intervention, this response is offered then as a bridge to facilitate further theorisation of the politicisation and securitisation of religion in education as an aspect of secularisation.     

试析斯多葛学派命题逻辑研究中的命题函子理论

斯多葛学派是古希腊的一个哲学学派,他们的前驱是麦加拉学派。命题逻辑是斯多葛逻辑的精华所在。斯多葛在亚里士多德的基础上,对命题理论的研究又有了新的突破,探讨了命题函子及命题函子的可互定义性。     

Task-dependent construction of mental models as a basis for conceptual change

Learning can be seen as a task-oriented process which often requires the reorganization of existing knowledge, usually referred to as conceptual change. This paper describes a theoretical framework for the analysis of conceptual change that considers conceptual knowledge as a generative cognitive tool for the creation of more specific mental representations — propositional symbolic structures and analog mental models. According to this view, conceptual change is based on a task-oriented interaction between these different kinds of mental representations. The assumption is made that it is possible to foster conceptual change by presenting to students well-defined tasks that stimulate the construction of elaborated mental models as well as an intensive interaction between these models and the corresponding propositional representations. In order to test this assumption an empirical study was conducted, in which subjects had to express their prior knowledge about a complex subject matter from the field of geography (time differences on the earth), which contained various conceptual deficits. The subjects were then randomly assigned to different groups who received the same learning material but had to solve different learning tasks requiring differently structured mental models. Afterwards, the subjects were asked to express their knowledge about the subject matter again and were tested for understanding with a comprehension test. The results support the view that a task-oriented interaction between propositional structures and mental models can help learners to evaluate the consistency of their conceptual knowledge. Accordingly, conceptual deficits result in the formation of mental models with an inadequate structure. Such deficits can be detected if the respective model is used in a sufficiently variable way, whereas they can remain unnoticed if it is used in a limited manner.     

The acquisition of formal operational schemata during adolescence: The role of the biconditional

To test the hypothesis that the basic “logic” utilized by individuals in scientific hypothesis testing is the biconditional (if and only if), and that the biconditional is a precondition for the development of formal operations, a sample of 387 students in grades eight, ten, twelve, and college were administered eight reasoning items. Five of the items involved the formal operational schemata of probability, proportions and correlations. Two of the items involved propositions and correlations. Two of the items involved propositional logic. One item involved the biconditional. Percentages of correct responses on most of the items increased with age. A principal-component analysis revealed three factors, two of which were identified as involving operational thought, one of which involved propositional logic. As predicted, the biconditional reasoning item loaded on one of the operational thought factors. A Guttman scale analysis of the items failed to reveal a unidimensional scale, yet the biconditional reasoning item ordered first supporting the hypothesis that it is a precondition for formal operational reasoning. Implications for teaching science students how to test hypotheses are discussed.     

模糊逻辑与自然语言中的语义模糊

自然语言和形式语言的一个重要区别,是自然语言具有语义模糊性。二值逻辑与三值逻辑对命题语义处理是不足的。以札德"模糊集合论"为理论基础的模糊语义分析为我们提供了一种描述模糊语词语义真值多样性和渐进性的全新观念和手段。     

会话语篇连贯的语用分析

连贯是语篇研究的重要课题.会话语篇连贯是语用者寻求关联性的结果,它可以分为两类:命题内容连贯和语境效果连贯.命题内容连贯指一话语在决定另一话语的内容所起作用的连贯;语境效果连贯指一话语在决定另一话语的关联性中所起作用的连贯.会话语篇连贯涉及交际者的关联性认知推理和心理运算,是他们寻求命题内容关联和语境效果关联的结果.     

命题逻辑与数学证明方法（Ⅰ）

简单地讨论了命题逻辑,用命题逻辑全面地研究了推理格式和数学证明方法,形成一个完整的系统,内容包括命题逻辑．     

Prior knowledge moderates instructional effects on conceptual understanding of statistics

This study investigated the effects of different teaching and learning methods for statistics for 2 levels of prior knowledge on cognitive load, propositional knowledge, and conceptual understanding. Teaching methods were whether or not to provide students with propositional information, and learning strategies were self-explaining the learning material and explaining in pairs. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates propositional knowledge development and leads to differential effects of teaching and learning methods on conceptual understanding: Only low prior knowledge students profit from additional information in the learning task and/or explaining in pairs. An implication of these findings is that low prior knowledge students should be guided into the subject matter by means of working in pairs on learning tasks that comprise additional information. Once students have developed more knowledge of the subject matter, they should be stimulated to work individually on learning tasks that do not comprise additional information.     

Outcomes‐based Education in South African Curricular Reform: a response to Jonathan Jansen

An ‘outcomes‐based education’ (OBE) underlies South Africa's proposed new Curriculum 2005, one of the current government's initiatives to address the legacy of apartheid education. This response to Jonathan Jansen's critical analysis of OBE (Cambridge Journal of Education, 1998, 28, pp. 321‐331) contextualises the shift to an outcomes‐based education within an epistemological framework, drawing on Ryle's distinction between propositional and procedural knowledge. Curriculum 2005 as currently conceived lays a disproportionally heavy emphasis on procedural knowledge. The paper proposes that a less radical version of OBE, in which teachers integrate thoughtfully propositional, procedural and dispositional knowledge, will better address apartheid education's legacy     

英语人体部位表达的语法转喻

转喻是普遍的语言现象,更是基本的思维方式。根据抽象程度,转喻可分高层转喻和低层转喻,语法转喻为高层命题转喻。通过对英语人体部位表达的行为代过程和感知代体验事件等高层转喻的研究发现,突出身体部位的功能是该类转喻的基本理据;借助转喻思维,身体部位表达由非转喻用法中的原始位置移位到更优势的主语位置。     

若干命题联结词集合的完备性和不完备性证明

命题联结词集合的完备性和不完备性是命题逻辑中一种有趣的现象,证明了联结词集合{∨,∧,→,}和{～,}的不完备性,并在表明联结词集合{～,∧},{～,∨}和{～,→}是完备的基础上证明了两个单元集{↓}和{|}是完备的。     

n值Lukasiewicz命题逻辑中命题的α-矛盾理论

基于均匀概率空间的无穷乘积,n值Lukasiewicz命题逻辑中引入α-矛盾理论,给出了一般矛盾推理规则;利用命题的α-矛盾度定义了命题间的α-差异度,进而导出命题集上的一种伪距离.     

Interactional effects of the environment on interviews

This study investigates the effect of the environment factor on discourse mode and content in an interview situation. Fifteen eight-year-olds were interviewed in three specific and different locations in their school (classroom, doctor's office and playground) that formed the three experimental groups. Analysis of the interview data (propositional discourse analysis) shows that each experimental group produced a specific type of speech characterized by the occurrence of particular language markers.     

The epistemic role of novel metaphors in teachers’ knowledge constructions of school reform

In this article, a parallel is drawn between Steven Hawking’s use of common and novel metaphors in his evolving explanation of the theory of the universe and the similar use of common and novel metaphors by educators in four school contexts attempting to illuminate their experiences of school reform storied and restoried over time. The epistemic role of novel metaphors is unpacked through examining the plotlines of the metaphors, the morals of the metaphors, the freedom of the metaphors and the teacher knowledge implications resident in the live metaphorical utterances. Through the use of self‐selected novel metaphors, both Hawking and the educators merged propositional and non‐propositional knowledge that was bound up in persons—and communicated across people—in deceptively simple, though infinitely complex, ways.     

Understanding teacher knowledge from a Cultural Psychology approach

In this paper we propose a Cultural Psychology approach to teacher knowledge which assumes that: 1) mental representations are directly observable, and 2) the relationship between different kinds of representations is co-mediational. The paper sets out such an approach, providing arguments to support these two alternative premises; outlining a methodology, based on social linguistics, for the direct observation of representations; and articulating the relationship between three types of representations: situational representations, specific propositional representations, and general propositional representations. We discuss the implications of this approach for research and practice in teacher education.     

Having an EfECT: Professional development for teacher educators in Myanmar

As part of Myanmar's current educational reforms, the EfECT project aimed to improve the competence of pre-service teacher educators in Education Colleges across the country. Drawing on baseline and exit measures collected through questionnaires, tests, observations, interviews and written reflections, this paper examines the impact of the two-year project on 1647 teacher educators' propositional knowledge of teaching methodology, practical teaching skills, reflective abilities and professional confidence. Overall, but not exclusively, the outcomes of the project in relation to these issues were positive, and these results are analysed critically with particular attention to the tools used to measure project impact.