Culture as a tool: facilitating knowledge construction in the context of a learning community

Knowledge construction is regarded as an effective learning model in practice. When more and more learning communities are organized to promote knowledge construction, it is necessary to know how to use different tools to support knowledge construction in the learning community context. In the literature, few researchers discuss how to construct knowledge with such tools in the contexts of learning communities. The purpose of this project is to explore how culture as a tool supports knowledge construction in the context of the Zhabei Learning Community in Shanghai, China. Social constructionism and the cultural diamond are employed as devices to frame the study. Some of the conclusions are influenced by postmodernism. Data from five learning cells indicate that culture is a bridge that connects multiple knowledge creators together; culture is a prop which transfers knowledge to a variety of receivers; culture is a lubricant nurturing an open learning environment; and culture is used as a toolkit to compose the new knowledge product.     

Post-secular schooling: freedom through faith or diversity in community

Post-secularism and neo-liberalism have converged in education policy and theory to generate a new enthusiasm for faith schools, along with criticism of the publicly-funded common or community school. However, in a post-secular social context, where religious and spiritual pluralism exponentially increases, and belief positions are both polarised and syncretised, the democratic notion of the common or community school appears even more crucial to address community understanding. There need to be strong reasons, therefore, for abandoning the common or community school in favour of faith schools. This article presents a critique of recent key philosophical defences of the public funding of faith schools, put forward by Richard Pring and Harry Brighouse, and by the Christian educationalist, Trevor Cooling. It also gives support to Michael Fielding and Peter Moss’ arguments for radicalising and reforming the common school, to enable it to be a community for understanding in an increasingly challenging post-secular environment.     

我国高等教育多样化表现的局限性分析

我国高等教育大众化已呈现出多样化的格局。但从高等教育层次上看,结构不太合理,定位不当;从高等学校办学主体构成来看,民办高校少,公办高校多;从高等教育机构形式和学生学习形式来看,多样化程度不高;从学生成份来看,成人学生偏少,适龄青年较多;从学生学习动机上看,追求能力的少,追求学历的多;从课程方面来看,改革滞后,缺乏创新;从高等教育质量标准来看,体系尚未建立,负面效应显现。这些局限性已经直接或间接造成了许多负面效应,如不及时加以规避和消解,必将继续影响我国高等教育健康发展。     

护工故事

1Lecturer:Caregiving is not just about feeding and clothing and cleaning.It is also about understanding how to 1)navigate a complicated relationship between those who give care and those who are in need of it.If you find yourself lost,frustrated,confused,you can always come back to this helpful 2)mnemonic device:ALOHA.     

The challenges of facilitating arts learning in home education

Home education, or home schooling, is a rapidly growing global educational phenomenon. Given the emphasis that educators, policy makers and researchers have placed upon the arts as an important element in a holistic education, the ways in which the growing home education community are facilitating arts learning warrants consideration. Facilitating quality arts learning has been found to be extremely challenging, especially for generalist classroom teachers who may not possess background learning across the range of arts subjects represented in most arts curricula. Revelations from this study on Australian home educating parents identifies a similar dilemma with the facilitation of arts learning in home contexts, and a significant proportion of the home educating participants acknowledged little to no educational or artistic training. In this project, an online survey was conducted to develop insights into the ways Australian home educators (n = 193) approach arts education, the challenges associated with facilitating arts learning and the strategies they employ in light of these challenges. The research highlights that, while home education is pedagogically unique and distinct from traditional classroom education, the challenges participants expressed regarding teaching in the arts aligned closely with those expressed by classroom teachers in wider research; however, the uniqueness of home education contexts means that support structures for classroom teachers are less helpful for home educators. Implications arising from the research are thus beneficial in understanding the nature of support that might be tailored for arts learning in home education.     

乌鲁木齐市社区养老模式浅析

乌鲁木齐市老年人口迅速增加,养老问题正日益成为一个严峻的社会问题。结合乌鲁木齐市的养老现状,我们认为社区养老模式是一种符合社会发展的模式,但是在发展过程中社区养老服务存在着问题:政策缺乏统一的协调、运作机制和保障;资金短缺,来源方式单一;社区服务工作不能适应社区养老的发展;社区养老的宣传力度不大,对社区养老的认识不足。搞好社区养老服务应进一步建立健全居家养老服务的政策;把社区养老模式纳入到乌鲁木齐市的"和谐社区建设"中;丰富资金来源,多渠道筹集资金;实行科学化、行业化的管理;加大对社区养老的宣传力度,提供老年人的参与性。     

教育研究的现实关怀

任何有价值的教育研究都不是凭空产生的，任何有生命力的教育研究都不是研究者的精神独白，它们都是关照现实的研究，是时代精神的产物。对现实的关怀为教育研究提供了永不停息的动力之源。那么，教育研究的现实关怀究竞如何把握?本文分别对教育研究的现实关怀的意义、内容以及如何达成等问题做了简要分析。     

The transition from fingerspelling to English print: facilitating English decoding

Fingerspelling is an integral part of American Sign Language (ASL) and it is also an important aspect of becoming bilingual in English and ASL. Even though fingerspelling is based on English orthography, the development of fingerspelling does not parallel the development of reading in hearing children. Research reveals that deaf children may initially treat fingerspelled words as lexical items rather than a series of letters that represent English orthography and only later begin to learn to link handshapes to English graphemes. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a training method that uses fingerspelling and phonological patterns that resemble those found in lexicalized fingerspelling to teach deaf students unknown English vocabulary would increase their ability to learn the fingerspelled and orthographic version of a word. There were 21 deaf students (aged 4-14 years) who participated. Results show that students were better able to recognize and write the printed English word as well as fingerspell the word, when training incorporated fingerspelling that is more lexicalized. The discussion focuses on the degree to which fingerspelling can serve as a visual phonological bridge as an aid to decode English print.     

The reflection integration model: A process for facilitating reflective learning

Abstract

One of the goals of teacher education is to develop each preservice teacher into a reflective educator. A reflective educator is a lifelong learner who perceives every experience as an opportunity for growth, change, and development of understanding. As a result of our teaching experiences in the College of Education, we have developed a process that helps students become reflective learners. In this article we discuss this process, the Reflection Integration Model (RIM). The four components of the model are (a) pre‐experience, (b) experience, (c) reflection, and (d) integration. While the model is germane to any experiential‐based learning, in this article it is applied to a field experience for preservice teachers.     

Laughter, smiles and grins: The role of humor in learning and facilitating

This article inquires into the role of humor in the relational learning process that takes place in adventure education programs. It presents program episodes, which the authors experienced in their practice as facilitator, staff trainer and researcher, and explores the related literature. Four aspects appear to affect whether humor either facilitates or interferes with participants' learning in development programs. First, humor plays a role in developing relationships among participants and between participants and facilitators, and hence in the relational safety that characterizes an environment conducive to learning. Second, it may play a role in creating a workable distance to sensitive learning issues. Third, humor may offer new and unexpected perspectives, which contribute to revising familiar but restrictive reference frames. Finally, humor seems to fulfill these functions to the extent that it is not planned to do so, and as such may exemplify the 'paradox of functionality' in relational processes.     

Laughter,smiles and grins: The role of humor in learning and facilitating

Abstract

This article inquires into the role of humor in the relational learning process that takes place in adventure education programs. It presents program episodes, which the authors experienced in their practice as facilitator, staff trainer and researcher, and explores the related literature. Four aspects appear to affect whether humor either facilitates or interferes with participants' learning in development programs. First, humor plays a role in developing relationships among participants and between participants and facilitators, and hence in the relational safety that characterizes an environment conducive to learning. Second, it may play a role in creating a workable distance to sensitive learning issues. Third, humor may offer new and unexpected perspectives, which contribute to revising familiar but restrictive reference frames. Finally, humor seems to fulfill these functions to the extent that it is not planned to do so, and as such may exemplify the ‘paradox of functionality’ in relational processes.     

An Ethic of Caring: The Fuel for High Teacher Efficacy

In this article I discuss ways of increasing teacher efficacy identified as a key belief system in the enhancement of teacher effectiveness. Teacher efficacy is defined and its impact on teacher effectiveness explored. The need to increase teacher efficacy to enhance the design, implementation and outcomes of instruction is discussed with special focus on caring and its potential as a catalyst for expanding teachers’ perception of their power to make a difference in the lives and performance of their students. Dr. Marta D. Collier is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Dr. Collier earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana and her masters and Ph.D. degrees in elementary education from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Her research interests include the impact of caring on teaching and learning, the incorporation of culturally relevant children and youth literature into literacy instruction, and the design of preschool, primary and elementary classrooms that promote active teaching and learning. Dr. Collier’s teaching interests include early childhood pedagogy and program development, classroom learning theory and children’s literature.     

生命关怀:课程实践中的必要关照

教育的本质是关注每一个学生的发展。以“为了每一位学生的发展”为理念的新一轮基础教育课程改革在理论上回应了教育的本质，但压抑个性、轻视生命的时然教育境遇却违背了教育的本质。因此，从课程实践层面关注个性关怀生命已成为必要。     

A compassion framework: the role of compassion in schools in promoting well-being and supporting the social and emotional development of children and young people

ABSTRACT

Our current social and political context is awash with pronouncements about the growing number of children and young people with mental health issues. This paper explores how school culture that is founded upon a compassion framework is well placed to support the promotion of pupils’ mental health and well-being. Drawing upon experiences of being a senior leader in a specialist social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) educational setting and of supporting a wide range of mainstream schools in the area of SEMH and well-being, this paper outlines some of the conflicting interests and ubiquitous tensions that present challenges in the contemporary UK education system. Conceptualisations of compassion and other relevant theoretical perspectives are referred to in order to illustrate how the, often, at times, competing needs of different constituencies (pupils, teaching and non-teaching staff, management, parents and carers) within school communities are best served when disentangled from each other and addressed with attention and clarity.     

关怀型课堂:生活世界的还原与超越

当前课堂的问题在于悖离了生活世界,所以课堂必须还原与超越,才能焕发出生机和活力。关怀是人的生命本体意义上的概念,具有自然性、价值性和行动性的特征。关怀型课堂在过程向度上坚持以生命的方式把握人,在目标向度上以培养健全人格为旨归,在内容向度上以探询生活中的问题为纽带,提倡宽容、尊重、真诚,从而使课堂在有效地建构意义的过程中还原与超越生活世界。     

The role of traditional folklore in facilitating adult learning in Nigeria

Adults, unlike children, have a wide variety of prior experiences and knowledge which they bring to the processes of learning they engage in at later stages of life. This difference between teaching children (pedagogy) and teaching adults was identified by Malcolm Knowles in the 1980s. He coined the term andragogy to describe the art and science of helping adults learn. Andragogy is premised on five key tenets: self-concept; experience; readiness to learn; orientation to learn; and motivation. These are often absent from the conventional facilitation methods used for adult learning and education (ALE) in Nigeria. The author of this article notes that many ALE programmes fail to meet the needs and expectations which motivate learners to engage in a course. She argues that for learning outcomes to be more successful, teaching methods need to be more creative and take learners’ prior experience and knowledge into consideration. After reviewing literature on the topic of adult learning, this article examines conventional methods of facilitating ALE in South West Nigeria. The author points out some of these methods’ shortcomings and suggests that one viable approach to addressing these might be to introduce the use of traditional folklore for andragogical purposes. The author posits that integrating oral tradition would also enable a more playful approach to adult learning. In a practice-oriented vein, she discusses the innovative and andragogical elements inherent in folktales, lullabies, folksongs, poetry, proverbs and riddles, illustrating her discussion with Yoruba examples. She concludes that folklore is useful as an independent or integral ALE facilitation method, with promising potential to make ALE more effective.

     

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.