Affordances of computers in teacher-student interactions: The case of interactive physics™

The study reported here is part of a larger project designed to understand student learning during conversations with their teacher over and about a computer-based Newtonian microworld (Interactive Physics?). At the focus of this report are affordances of the microworld to a teacher who engaged his students in conversations about representations of phenomenal objects and conceptual entities that constitute the microworld. The study shows how the teacher used the context of Interactive Physics? to identify students' ways of seeing and talking science. He then implemented a series of strategies to make forces “visible” to students. Data are provided to illustrate that students' learning was not local but persistent, so that they used appropriate canonical science talk without teacher support. The conclusion focuses on Interactive Physics? as a tool that does not embed meaning as such, but takes on meaning as part of the specific (scientific) practices in the context of which it was used. This view of science as a discourse helps us to see scientific literacy not as the acquisition of specific facts and procedures or even as the refinement of a mental model, but as a socially and culturally produced way to thinking and knowing, with its own ways of talking, reasoning, and acting; its own norms, beliefs, and values; its own institutions; its shared history; and even its shared mythologies (Roseberry, Warren, & Conant, 1992, p. 65).     

A computer‐based learning environment in the field of Newtonian mechanics

This paper describes a Computer‐based Learning Environment (CBLE) whose objective is to stimulate and support learning in the field of Newtonian mechanics through exploratory activities in various microworlds. The structure of the microworld TABLE is described in detail. A pilot study is presented: it concerns the modelling process of the learner knowledge in the topic involved and the evaluation of the impact of the exploratory activity on student learning. Some suggestions drawn from the results are discussed.     

Integrating History of Science in Science Education through Historical Microworlds to Promote Conceptual Change

This paper proposes a new way to integrate history of science in science education to promote conceptual change by introducing the notion of historical microworld, which is a computer-based interactive learning environment respecting historic conceptions. In this definition, “interactive” means that the user can act upon the virtual environment by changing some parameters to see what ensues. “Environment respecting historic conceptions” means that the “world” has been programmed to respect the conceptions of past scientists or philosophers. Three historical microworlds in the field of mechanics are presented in this article: an Aristotelian microworld respecting Aristotle’s conceptions about movement, a Buridanian microworld respecting the theory of impetus and, finally, a Newtonian microworld respecting Galileo’s conceptions and Newton’s laws of movement.     

Readiness, Instruction, and Learning to be a Kindergartner

As children enter school they learn to take on the role of student. This qualitative study describes how the children in one classroom learned what it meant to be a kindergartner in the context of a community meaning of readiness for school. Analysis of classroom observations and parent, teacher, and student interviews indicate that this school community held a coherent meaning of readiness. This meaning provided the framework for instructional activities and served to help parents understand their children as students. Finally, it helped to frame students' interpretations of their first public school experience through their involvement in classroom tasks.     

Shape Makers

Summary

Professional standards for school mathematics recommend that dynamic geometry programs such as the Geometer's Sketchpad can and should be used to enhance student learning of geometry. This article illustrates how a geometry computer microworld containing screen manipulable, dynamically transformable shape-making objects can promote the development of powerful geometric reasoning. Also described is the overall context and factors that should guide mathematics educators' design and use of instructional technology.     

关于学生观的新视野

什么是学生 ?学生是学习怎样生存的人 ;学生是学习怎样生活的人 ;学生是学习如何了解生命、珍惜生命和怎样使生命有意义的人。以这样的学生观观照现存的教育 ,现存的教育需要调整、改革、创新 ,把学生的生存本领、生活质量与生命意义的提升当作出发点与归宿     

SodaConstructing knowledge through exploratoids

In this article, we describe a preliminary study that integrates research on engineering design activities for K‐12 students with work on microworlds as learning tools. Here, we extend these bodies of research by exploring whether—and how—authentic recreations of engineering practices can help students develop conceptual understanding of physics. We focus on the design–build–test (DBT) cycle used by professional engineers in simulation‐based rapid modeling. In this experiment, middle‐school students worked for 10 hr during a single weekend to solve engineering design challenges using SodaConstructor, a Java‐based microworld, as a simulation environment. As a result of the experiment, students learned about center of mass. Our data further suggest that in the process of simulation‐based modeling, rapid iterations of the DBT cycle progressively linked students' interest in the design activities and understanding of the concept of center of mass. We suggest that these rapid iterations of the DBT cycle functioned as exploratoids: short fragments of exploratory action in a microworld that cumulatively develop interest in and understanding of important scientific concepts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach     

A pedagogy for mathematical microworlds

In this paper we attempt to map out some relationships between pedagogy and student behaviour in a mathematical microworld. We illustrate our analysis by a series of episodes which occurred in a Logo-based microworld constructed around the notions of ratio and proportion. We explore the patterns of pedagogy associated with on and off-computer activities and suggest how the teacher has significant roles in both settings; particularly in helping pupils to bridge the discursive disjuncture between the practices of Logo- and schoolmathematics.     

面向科学发现学习的微世界概念模型建构

微世界是一种面向科学发现学习的虚拟仿真学习环境。然而,科学发现学习本身的复杂性和现有微世界软件对这种学习方式缺乏支持,阻碍了微世界的有效应用。为此,在关于科学发现的已有研究基础上,将科学发现学习的活动结构划分为执行层与元策略层。进而,依据科学发现学习的活动结构,建立了以学生模型、活动模型和情境模型为核心的,面向科学发现学习的微世界概念模型。     

How to develop mathematics-for-teaching and for understanding: the case of meanings of the equal sign

What kind of mathematical knowledge do prospective teachers need for teaching and for understanding student thinking? And how can its construction be enhanced? This article contributes to the ongoing discussion on mathematics-for-teaching by investigating the case of understanding students’ perspectives on equations and equalities and on meanings of the equal sign. It is shown that diagnostic competence comprises didactically sensitive mathematical knowledge, especially about different meanings of mathematical objects. The theoretical claims are substantiated by a report on a teacher education course, which draws on the analysis of student thinking as an opportunity to construct didactically sensitive mathematical knowledge for teaching for pre-service middle-school mathematics teachers.     

Some Cognitive Difficulties Related to the Representations of two Major Concepts of Set Theory

The main focus of this paper is on the study of students' conceptual understanding of two major concepts of Set Theory – the concepts of inclusion and belonging. To do so, we analyze two experimental classroom episodes. Our analysis rests on the theoretical idea that, from an ontogenetic viewpoint, the cognitive activity of representation of mathematical objects draws its meaning from different semiotic systems framed by their own cultural context. Our results suggest that the successful accomplishment of knowledge attainment seems to be linked to the students' ability to suitably distinguish and coordinate the meanings and symbols of the various semiotic systems (e.g. verbal, diagrammatic and symbolic) that encompass their mathematical experience.     

Examining the Tasks of Teaching When Using Students' Mathematical Thinking

Recent research suggests that the examination of students' work may lead to changes in teaching practice that are more effective in terms of students' mathematical learning. However, the link between the examination of students' work and the teachers' actions in the classroom is largely unexamined, particularly at the secondary level. In this paper, I present the results of a study in which teachers had extensive opportunities to examine the development of students' conceptual models of exponential growth in the context of their own classrooms. I describe two related aspects of the practice of one teacher: (a) how she listened to students' alternative solution strategies and (b) how she responded to these strategies in her practice. The results of the analysis suggest that as the teacher listened to her students, she developed a sophisticated schema for understanding the diversity of student thinking. The actions of the teacher supported extensive student engagement with the task and led the students to revise and refine their own mathematical thinking. This latter action reflects a significant shift in classroom practice from the role of the teacher as evaluator of student ideas to the role of students as self-evaluators of their emerging ideas.     

"秉承"、"继承"词义再探

受语素义的影响,半同素同义词"秉承"、"继承"的语义侧重点不同,因此在概念意义上存在区别."秉承"的搭配对象增多,并且受到"继承"词义的渗透,因此词义范围进一步扩大,但两者在词义上的影响不是相互作用,而是呈现出单向性的特点."秉承"和"继承"在语法功能、感情色彩和语体色彩方面也存在差异.     

通过随笔辅导促进学生心理健康

随笔作为一种比较自由的写作方式，可以实现心理辅导的意义表达、情绪宣泄、沟通与建构功能。在开展学生心理辅导过程中，教师通过学生的随笔了解学生，与学生对话，引导学生在随笔中吐露心声，反思生活，建构意义。教师在通过批语或面谈与学生对话中要坚持平等、理解、鼓励的原则。另外也可以通过随笔展示开展师生间、生生间的对话，以扩大辅导效果。     

微世界支持的小学生科学发现学习过程研究

如何利用计算机模拟软件来支持一些在实验室无法完成的实验是目前科学教学中迫切需要解决的问题之一。微世界作为支持发现学习的模拟软件,尤其适合于发展科学学科的探索与发现学习活动。学习者利用它提供的操作方法与指令探索其中的领域知识,并观察产生的现象、检验自己的假设,从而发现并习得微世界中蕴藏的领域知识。文章从理解微世界和科学发现学习的含义出发,分析了微世界支持的科学发现的活动过程和学习者存在的困难,从技术应用和支持学习者科学发现学习认知过程两个维度提出了微世界支持的科学发现学习的策略框架,并通过开展教学实践,探索微世界支持小学科学发现学习的教学策略的实施过程,以促进小学科学课堂教学的有效开展,提升小学生的科学素养。     

Appropriating Mathematical Practices: A Case Study of Learning to Use and Explore Functions Through Interaction with a Tutor

This case study uses a sociocultural perspective and the concept of appropriation (Newman, Griffin and Cole, 1989; Rogoff, 1990) to describe how a student learned to work with linear functions. The analysis describes in detail the impact that interaction with a tutor had on a learner, how the learner appropriated goals, actions, perspectives, and meanings that are part of mathematical practices, and how the learner was active in transforming several of the goals that she appropriated. The paper describes how a learner appropriated two aspects of mathematical practices that are crucial for working with functions (Breidenbach, Dubinsky, Nichols and Hawks, 1992; Even, 1990; Moschkovich, Schoenfeld and Arcavi, 1993; Schwarz and Yerushalmy, 1992; Sfard, 1992): a perspective treating lines as objects and the action of connecting a line to its corresponding equation in the form y = mx + b. I use examples from the analysis of two tutoring sessions to illustrate how the tutor introduced three tasks (estimating y-intercepts, evaluating slopes, and exploring parameters) that reflect these two aspects of mathematical practices in this domain and describe how the student appropriated goals, actions, meanings, and perspectives for carrying out these tasks. I describe how appropriation functioned in terms of the focus of attention, the meaning for utterances, and the goals for these three tasks. I also examine how the learner did not merely repeat the goals the tutor introduced but actively transformed some of these goals.     

Authoring oneself and being authored as a competent teacher

What kind of self is being made available and denied to student teachers as they participate in life in their teaching practice schools? In addressing this question empirically, the article seeks to show the forms of meaning being made and experienced by student teachers and the identities that are authored, authorised and constrained. A sociocultural perspective on professional learning, with its emphasis on participation agency and identity, illuminates aspects of the process of becoming a teacher and highlights the tension that is there for students within available meanings. Having to opt to be a teacher at the expense of a learner identity constrains what is available to be appropriated in professional settings with potential consequences for how beginner teachers frame themselves, their learners and their colleagues.     

浅析《诗经》重叠词

文章以《诗经》AA式重叠词为对象，从词汇的结构性质、意义构成、形音义关系等方面进行考察，指出其结构形态除少数构成词组外，更多地构成双音单纯词和合成词，意义构成上以A的本义、引申义或假借义为基础来构成新词。由于这三种方式的交叉使用，造成了《诗经》重叠词的形、音、义的三种错综关系，另外还有音近义通的同源关系。最后文章对现在继续使用的一部分重叠词进行初步研究，总结出其得以流传的部分规律。