Transforming learning: teaching compassion and caring values in higher education

As a result of reported failings in the care of people in the health and social care sector in the UK, HE providers who produce professionals to work in these areas are being challenged to address caring values in the student body. As values are subjective and affective, this requires the learning environment to not only promote critical thinking and the development of professional competencies, but to facilitate personal growth and change within students at cognitive, emotional and spiritual levels. As the latter dimensions are frequently ignored in education, this is very challenging: it requires a curriculum that supports students to understand, reflect on and, if necessary, restructure their own caring values in order to develop a transcendent lens i.e. the ability to put others before their own self interests and that of the organisation in which they work. It also requires students to develop the skills to challenge others in situations where caring values are not achieved or sustained. This can only be accomplished as a co-produced phenomenon, as it requires students who are prepared to engage in the process and educators, in both HE and practice settings, who are able and willing to role model appropriate skills and facilitate a learning relationship in which students can grow. However, if the true wisdom of caring values is to be realised in everyday practice, then this kind of transformational learning has to be supported at wider structural levels, and this just may be its Achilles heel.     

The Proof of the Pudding?: A Case Study of an “At-Risk” Design-Based Inquiry Science Curriculum

When students collaboratively design and build artifacts that require relevant understanding and application of science, many aspects of scientific literacy are developed. Design-based inquiry (DBI) is one such pedagogy that can serve these desired goals of science education well. Focusing on a Projectile Science curriculum previously found to be implemented with satisfactory fidelity, we investigate the many hidden challenges when using DBI with Grade 8 students from one school in Singapore. A case study method was used to analyze video recordings of DBI lessons conducted over 10 weeks, project presentations, and interviews to ascertain the opportunities for developing scientific literacy among participants. One critical factor that hindered learning was task selection by teachers, which emphasized generic scientific process skills over more important cognitive and epistemic learning goals. Teachers and students were also jointly engaged in forms of inquiry that underscored artifact completion over deeper conceptual and epistemic understanding of science. Our research surfaced two other confounding factors that undermined the curriculum; unanticipated teacher effects and the underestimation of the complexity of DBI and of inquiry science in general. Thus, even though motivated or experienced teachers can implement an inquiry science curriculum with good fidelity and enjoy school-wide support, these by themselves will not guarantee deep learning of scientific literacy in DBI. Recommendations are made for navigating the hands- and minds-on aspects of learning science that is an asset as well as inherent danger during DBI teaching.     

Motivating the learning of part-time taught-postgraduate students through pedagogy and curriculum design: are there differences in undergraduate teaching?

Interviews were conducted with 29 part-time taught postgraduate (TPg) students to determine forms of teaching and curriculum which motivated their learning. The study was conducted in an open exploratory manner to investigate the aspects of pedagogy or curriculum design which particularly motivated the TPg students which were in any way distinct from typical undergraduate teaching. As most of the TPg students were mature professionals working in a field connected to the course they had enrolled in, they were able to identify relevant knowledge, skills and abilities which ought to be included in the content or curriculum. This distinguishes them from typical undergraduate students. The TPg students appreciated in-class discussion so that they could share experiences and expertise. The interviewees preferred assessment tasks that related to their professional practice. Teaching and learning for TPg students should recognise the expertise of the students and draw upon it as a valuable learning resource.     

无教学不足以成课程：美感认知理论的观点

美感认识理论的基本论点是：人的认知活动除了逻辑思考,还包含感官知觉和情感的作用。不同的感官知觉让人藉着不同的途径由外界获得信息,细致分辨其中的特质,让人有真切的认识。基于感官知觉所发展出来的表征形式,更让人藉以将自己的知识公开化,参与社会与文化的建构。当知觉与知识相互结合,人还能发展出直觉的能力,让我们藉着“有信息基础的猜测”,迅速掌握整体情境特质。学校课程若要改变孩子的心智能力,则应提供孩子通过多重表征形式去理解与建构意义的经验。如此具有美感体验的课程无法事先完全规划,而必须由教与学的历程经验来完成,所以,由美感认识理论来看,课程根本是在教学中形成的,无教学不足以成课程。     

Fostering self-regulation in training complex cognitive tasks

In complex cognitive domains such as air traffic control, professionals must be able to adapt to and act upon continuing changes in a highly advanced technological work environment. To function optimally in such an environment, the controllers must be able to regulate their learning. Although these regulation skills should be part of their training, this is not usually the case. This study evaluates a training program that integrates air traffic control skills with regulation skills. The participants were 29 air traffic control students who followed either the original training program (n = 12) or a new program (n = 17) in which the development of regulation skills was embedded in the training of domain specific skills. Compared to students in the original program, the students in the new program showed increased self-efficacy in the use of self-regulated learning skills with improved performance in domain specific competences. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the daily training practice of complex cognitive skills.     

基于行动体验的高职行业英语教学模式研究

结合语言学习体验观和行动体系课程模式,以行动体验为核心构建多维互动、认知加工、语义建构和实际运用的行业英语教学模式。该模式通过行动融合语言学习和工作过程体验,让学生在动态行动过程中建构语言知识,掌握语言技能,体现高职英语教学的职业性和实践性,关注学生的认知、心理、情感和态度发展,突出学生职业能力和综合素质的培养。     

PERSPECTIVES IN TEACHING GERONTOLOGY: MATCHING STRATEGIES WITH PURPOSE AND CONTEXT

Discerning the purpose of the educational experience aids facilitators in choosing appropriate strategies for teaching gerontology concepts. Using the curriculum positions of transmission, transaction, and transformation, this article explains the assumptions, advantages, and disadvantages of each position and gives examples from community and education-based learning settings. The curriculum positions of transmission (conveying facts), transaction (developing cognitive skills and abilities useful in problem-solving), and transformation (facilitating personal and social change), are sometimes combined to achieve educational objectives. Additional considerations in choosing teaching strategies include knowing the audience and their cultural, social, and developmental backgrounds, learning styles, reasons for participating, and prior knowledge of the subject. The educator's philosophy and professional orientation toward the educative process contribute to creating a trusting learning environment in which learners can meet objectives. Based on research and field tested in educational and community settings, the teaching strategies suggested in this article are applicable in multiple educational contexts.     

从认知风格看大学英语拓展学习的优化设计

大学英语拓展学习从内容上可区分为课堂延伸型、课程延伸型和素质拓展型三个主要类别。了解拓展学习的内涵与外延,认识个体的认知风格,可帮助学习者选择与个体认知特点相适应的拓展学习内容和参与方式,并在此基础上有意识地发展灵活的、多样化的认知模式。     

Teaching thinking: the case for principles

Abstract

This paper reviews the situation with regard to the teaching of thinking skills as part of the taught curriculum. The case is made for direct teaching of cognitive skills both to meet the particular learning difficulties of children with special educational needs and also to enhance the learning and thinking of all children. The dangers of ‘recipe’ approaches to teaching this aspect of the curriculum are discussed and a ‘principles’ approach is advocated. Some principles are then described which may be used to underpin the designing of problem‐solving activities, through which thinking skills can be taught across the curriculum.     

Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk

Arts enrichment provides varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills and may offer important educational opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. Study 1 examined achievement within an arts enrichment preschool that served low-income children. Results indicated that students practiced school readiness skills through early learning, music, creative movement, and visual arts classes. Students who attended the preschool for 2 years demonstrated higher achievement than those who attended for 1 year, suggesting that maturation alone did not account for achievement gains. Across 2 years of program attendance and four time points of assessment, students improved in school readiness skills, and there were no significant effects of race/ethnicity or developmental level on achievement growth. Study 2 compared students attending the arts enrichment preschool to those attending a nearby alternative on a measure of receptive vocabulary that has been found to predict school success. At the end of 1 year of attendance, students in the arts program showed greater receptive vocabulary than those at the comparison preschool. Results suggest that arts enrichment may advance educational outcomes for children at risk.     

Science Process Skills and Cognitive Preference Styles

The study examined the differences in cognitive styles between two comparable groups of students at the Grade 9 (Secondary 3) level, namely the LSS (Lower Secondary Science) group who had been exposed to the practical-based, inquiry-oriented type of science and the non-LSS group of students who had studied the more traditional type of science in the “old” science curriculum. Their differences in science achievement are measured by the common IEA Science Paper-Pencil, Multiple Choice Criterion Test and also, by the Science Process or Practical Test (which measured three levels of process skills, such as the observation/manipulation, reasoning and investigation skills). Variance in science achievement thus measured is examined against the 4 cognitive preference styles of the students, (measured by the Combined Cognitive Preference Inventory) namely the “recall”, “principles”, “applications” and “questioning” modes of thinking. The findings indicated that (a) the attainment of the science process or practical skills was characterised by the type of science curriculum (LSS or non-LSS) and it was significantly associated with the achievement level of students, (b) the cognitive preference pattern covaried according to the students' level of science achievement and the type of curriculum and (c) the weak but significant relationship between performance in the science practical skills and the students' modes of cognitive style have important implications for teachers who are concerned about the intended effects of changes in the science curriculum on the consequent learning behaviour or cognitive outcome of their students.     

Processes and skills underlying continuing intrinsic motivation to learn: Toward a definition of motivational skills training interventions

Continuing intrinsic motivation to learn is the result of actively generating and implementing a variety of metacognitive, cognitive, and affective processes and skills. An understanding of these processes, skills, and their interrelationships forms a basis for the design of an effective motivational skills training program. This article advances a generative process model of continuing motivation in which the central role of perceived self‐efficacy and personal control are explicated. Support for this model from current theories of learning and motivation is presented, along with implications for specific skills training interventions. It is argued that the functional purpose of motivational skills training is to promote perceptions of self‐efficacy and personal control that underlie the ability to take positive self‐control and change negative attitudes and orientations toward learning. For students with motivational deficiencies, this training is a necessary precursor to their active engagement in the learning process and execution of appropriate learning strategies and skills.     

认知学习理论在课程改革中的应用

认知学习理论已成为当前课程改革的理论基础之一,并将在今后的教学中得到更广泛的应用。在认知学习理论的指导下,教师应更加关注学生认知结构的合理性,运用恰当的教学策略促进新旧知识的联系;教师应在整个教学过程中使学生保持良好的情感体验;教师可以通过元认知训练提高学生自主学习的水平。     

Teacher Evaluation in an Era of Educational Change

Teachers can help minority children close the academic achievement gap in intermediate and middle school by combining literacy instruction and content-area material. This connection improves reading achievement and increases curriculum knowledge, even if students have previously experienced difficulty with primary school reading. Fortunately, upper-elementary and middle-level learners are still naturally curious, are developing cognitively, and have acquired some basic reading skills. Teachers can therefore extend students' previous learning by using a spiral curriculum, in which curricular concepts are introduced at an appropriate level and then revisited at more challenging levels. Teachers can also increase the academic complexity for students by using strategies that include picture books, word recognition skills, intensive subject matter, vocabulary in a meaningful context, Readers Theater, and after-school activities.     

Relooking Assessment: A Study on Assessing Developmental Learning Outcomes in Toddlers

In most countries the funding for early childhood education has increased and governments in some countries have taken serious steps to bring about positive change in the profession. However, the increase in funding by governments and other funding organisations around the world has, understandably, attracted increased accountability as these organisations need to know that their financial investments are achieving desired outcomes. To seek evidence that positive learning outcomes have indeed been achieved through these investments is a reasonable request, and there is a shared responsibility and accountability for professionals to provide appropriate evidence. The downside, however, can be the request for standardised test information, as if performance on such tests provides proof of all desired outcomes. More than ever before, it is important for early childhood educators to be able to provide accurate, objective information about children’s assessment in ways other than by standardised testing, which may not reflect the complex reality of children’s lives. This paper reports on a research study in Singapore that investigated curriculum effectiveness using developmental learning outcomes as a means of assessing children. The research was devised to examine if eight specified broad developmental learning outcomes could measure the effectiveness of the curriculum by assessing children’s learning as shown in qualitative data. Practical examples showed evidence of children’s learning and the role of the educator in facilitating and documenting developmental learning outcomes.     

Effective Teaching and Learning on Foundation and Access Courses in Engineering,Science and Technology

Increasing numbers of students are entering courses in engineering, science and technology without the qualifications which have conventionally been required. A review of educational practices on access and foundation courses designed to facilitate the learning of such students has revealed a consistency in the teaching and learning approaches being adopted. Courses must be flexible and offer a variety of learning pathways to accommodate student diversity. The students require: clear goals and structure; feedback on their progress; opportunities for active and collaborative learning; and help in developing learning skills. The syllabus must not be overloaded and the assessment system must be appropriate. The approaches developed within foundation courses would benefit many other students in engineering, science and technology. They encourage deep approaches to learning and the development of many of the skills which employers frequently demand from graduates.     

Ability- or competence-based education: Bridging the gap between knowledge acquisition and ability to apply

Traditionally education has to contend with the problem that knowledge acquisition does not guarantee the successful application of that same knowledge. Yet, according to Whitehead, the ultimate goal of education should be to teach students to learn to apply knowledge. Furthermore, one is confronted with the problem that discipline-specific knowledge and skills are insufficient to respond adequately in a situation with discipline-transcending, new and unknown problems. Next to disciplinespecific knowledge and skills, more general knowledge and skills are needed in the area of e.g., communication, problem-solving, use of information, analysis, decision-making. General knowledge and skills, however, offer no guarantee whatsoever that somebody also has sufficient discipline-specific expertise at his disposal.These are the problems that Nijenrode University wants to solve with a new curriculum for management education. In the curriculum developed by Nijenrode, students learn to apply heuristics in the area of general skills and meta-skills (reflecting and learning-to-learn) in interaction with a varying discipline-specific learning content. In this context, discipline-specific knowledge and skills on the one hand, and general skills and meta-skills on the other hand are, in relation to each other, both the objective as well as the means. The student learns the one thing with the help of the other and vice versa, by means of a continuing process of contextualization and decontextualization. The curriculum is a response to the challenge confronting management education to prepare students for future management positions in a world which is characterized by continuous change. The response may be interesting for other types of vocational and professional education as well.     

Directed-inquiry approach to learning science process skills: treatment effects and aptitude-treatment interactions

The directed-inquiry approach to learning science process skills and scientific problem solving [DIAL(SPS)2] was developed to help high-school students gain the critical thinking skills required to solve problems in the biology lab. This curriculum integrated several learning strategies into a single approach: advance organizers, the learning cycle, concept maps, Vee diagrams, a focusing strategy, and writing. Two general questions were addressed. First, was the DIAL(SPS)2 treatment more effective than a conventional treatment? Second, was there evidence of an aptitude-treatment interaction? Four high-school biology classes taught by this investigator were used to test the DIAL(SPS)2 curriculum. Scheduling of students involved ability grouping. To test the curriculum in the most rigorous way, the experimental group consisted of average ability students and the comparison group consisted of above-average students. Both the groups were pretested in August and posttested in May. In the intervening time, the experimental group received the DIAL(SPS)2 treatment while the comparison group received a more traditional approach. Analysis of covariance revealed that the DIAL(SPS)2 curriculum had no significant effect on the learning of science process skills or on cognitive development. Aptitude-treatment interaction analyses revealed an interaction of DIAL(SPS)2 treatment and cognitive development.     

Children's learning and developmental potential: examining the theoretical informants of early childhood curricula from the educator's perspective

The early childhood curriculum is informed by a complicated array of developmental and learning theories. In recent times these theories have been most readily articulated in approaches to curriculum planning emerging from the Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) guidelines and the project work in Reggio Emilia. Drawing on a common theoretical heritage, each of these approaches places a certain emphasis on ideas emerging from cognitive constructivism and developmental theory. This paper explores the nature of these theoretical informants as they are played out in both DAP and Reggio Emilia. Findings from a study aimed at examining educators' conceptions of cognitive constructivism and developmental theory as utilised by DAP are reported, with the responses by four educators regarding these understandings in relation to their developing awareness of the Reggio Emilia approach detailed. The paper identifies differences in orientation between the educators' conceptions of developmental theory and constructivism relative to DAP and Reggio, and indicates the potential value further research in this area holds for examining how common theoretical informants can be played out to different effect across early childhood curricula.