Scientific ‘Laws’, ‘Hypotheses’ and ‘Theories’

Some commonly held erroneous notions about the terms laws, hypotheses and theories are pointed out with specific examples from different branches of science.     

是‘宣泄’,不是‘渲泄’

《语文学习》1992年第5期第27页写道:“写作教学的最大失败,是把心灵沟通,情感渲泄的快乐,变成言不由衷、动辄得咎的痛苦。” 《语文教学通讯》1992年第1期第30页写道:“把‘那就是一只蟋蟀’放在每段的段首,反复咏叹,让那悠悠的乡思和绵绵的乡情,得以充分的渲泄。”     

Understanding: ‘Knowledge’, ‘Belief’ and ‘Understanding’

The following paper is intended as an exercise in friendly criticism of one of Harvey Siegel's and Mike Smith's (Knowing, Believing and Understanding, this volume). I'm in substantial sympathy with the general thrust of their paper and my remarks merely provide some criticism of their discussion's conceptual coherence and clarity and a correspondingly slightly adjusted version of what they have to say. My focus is limited to the conceptions of knowledge, belief and understanding and their inter-relationships in terms of which they offer suggestions to science educators.     

“‘国有民营,和‘股份合作制’”

为建立社会主义市场经济,我国确立以公有制为主体,多种所有制并存的所有制结构。作为社会第三产业一部分的高校后勤,应把改变单一的所有制作为深化后勤改革的内容之一。过去高校后勤同社会一样片面追求,“一大二公”的单一国家所有制,所有制“越纯越好”,“越纯越是社会主义”,阻碍了生产力的发展。十多年来高校后勤改革,在所有制问题上触动不大。所有制包括所有权、占有权、支配权、使用权、收益权和处置权。前一段时期后勤改革有所触动的也仅是在单一的公有制条件下所有权和经营权进行了适度分离,实行承包制也只是将     

谁‘蹲着’,谁‘半跪着’?

讲读完省编小学语文第九册《我的伯父鲁迅先生》一文以后,我对同学们说:“你们还有什么不懂的地方吗?请提出来。”一个同学说:“课文中‘他们把那个拉车的扶上车子,一个蹲着,一个半跪着……’这句中‘蹲着’、‘半跪着’的各是谁呢?我不知道。”他提出这个问题后,我请同学们回答。一个同学说:“这个问题还不好回答?不管是谁‘蹲着’、‘半跪着’都行。”另一个同学说:“本文是作者的回忆。因时间长了,作者记不清楚了,所以就没有交代是谁?”很明显,这两种回答都     

‘Hot’, ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ information and higher education decision-making

This paper draws on the notions of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ knowledge in analysing the responses of students to the relevance of different information and sources of such information in university choice. Analysis of questionnaire and focus group data from prospective and first-year undergraduate students provides evidence that many students put most credence on ‘hot’ knowledge, from persons in their social grapevine. However, this is supplemented by ‘warm’ knowledge from fleeting acquaintances at university open days. University provided knowledge is often distrusted. We discuss the implications of this given the recent government emphasis in England on the role of information provision in helping students to make informed decisions, including the relevance to the ‘fair access’ agenda.     

Limitless provocations of the ‘safe’, ‘secure’ and ‘healthy’ child

This paper arose amongst the making and showing of a film and questions whether there are possibilities for interrupting powerful discursive frames that work at producing ‘the normal child’. Traditionally there has been a lack of interest in the use and critique of visual culture in educational research. Perhaps this lack of interest provides fertile opportunities to know something of the structure of education as a discipline, the rules that structure it and its deep grammar; it may also open up opportunities for disciplinary boundary-crossings where fields that embrace visual culture, such as photography and filmmaking, can bring their playfulness across binaries, including notions of certainty/ambivalence, to qualitative research in education. By turning to art theory, our aims are to interfere with our utopian longings that steadfastly cling to educational notions of the child.     

Dewey,Derrida, and ‘the Double Bind’

It is taken for granted that the complexity of the information society requires a reorientation of our being in the world. Not surprisingly, the call for lifelong learning and permanent education becomes louder and more intense every day. And while there are various worthwhile initiatives, like alphabetisation courses, the article argues that the discourse of lifelong learning contains at least two difficulties. Firstly, the shift from a knowledge‐based to an information society has revealed a concept of learning with an emphasis on skills related to information retrieval, dissemination and evaluation. Learning now is the constant striving for extra competences, and the efficient management of the acquired ones. Secondly, the discourse of lifelong learning suggests the autonomy of the learner. However, educational practices are organized in a way that ‘choosing to learn (particular things)’ has become the contemporary human condition. With reference to Marshall's notion of ‘busno‐power’, it is argued that—contrary to what one likes to believe—lifelong learning has become a new kind of power mechanism.     

Theorising policy and practice in refugee education: Conceptualising ‘safety’, ‘belonging’, ‘success’ and ‘participatory parity’ in England and Sweden

Across the world, children are forced to leave their homes for far-flung destinations. This global phenomenon has particular impact in Europe, where there are now more child refugees than since World War II. Education plays an important role for children with extraordinary experiences seeking to build meaningful lives in their new context. This article offers a new theoretical approach to underpin reforms to educational policy and practice for refugees in schools in resettlement contexts in Europe. The new conceptual framing is grounded in empirical work in England and Sweden, and brings two theories together: ‘participatory parity’ (Fraser) and ‘resumption of an ordinary life’ (Kohli). Kohli’s concepts of ‘safety’, ‘belonging’ and ‘success’ have resonance with practitioners from Sweden and England as they work to meet the needs of their new arrivals. Fraser’s conceptual lenses of redistribution, recognition and representation highlight the barriers to achieving the right to inclusive education for refugee children in each context. The interdependence of both theories shapes a new framework. The theoretical understandings offered in this article have been developed with practitioners and add to the field by offering a robust moral and operational approach to shaping pedagogical principles for policymakers and educators working in resettlement communities.     

‘云横秦岭’,真义何在?

问:老舍先生在《林海》中写道:“这里的岭的确很多,高点的,矮点的,长点的,短点的,横着的,顺着的,可是没有一条岭使人想起‘云横秦岭’那种险句。”其中“云横秦岭”一词,不少教师在讲课时就只是略略带过。“‘云横秦岭’那种险句”究竟指什么?作者在这里引用“云横秦岭”,其真义何在?是否仅仅是借秦岭的险峻来突出大兴安岭的温柔? 答:为了弄清这些问题,我们先从韩愈的诗篇谈起。 “云横秦岭”一词出自韩愈的名诗《左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘》中,全诗     

‘Knowledge’, curriculum and social justice

This article considers the place of knowledge in developing a socially just curriculum. It pursues the unusual route of a critique of Social Realism, a small but influential tendency in curriculum studies which claims that knowledge has been squeezed out by recent curriculum reforms and that there has been a descent into relativism. This paper shares the Social Realist view that ‘powerful knowledge’ is needed, and particularly by disadvantaged or marginalised young people. However, it critiques Social Realism's limited definition of ‘powerful knowledge’, arguing that for knowledge to be truly powerful, it must open up issues of power and inequality. It contests the Social Realist argument that critical pedagogy which begins from a subaltern stance is intrinsically relativist, arguing instead that alternative perspectives can help uncover concealed truths and break through hegemonic paradigms and ideologies. It argues that this is entirely compatible with a Critical Realist epistemology. Furthermore, the paper presents reasons why a socially just curriculum needs to draw upon the vernacular knowledge of marginalised groups as well as the canonical knowledge of academic disciplines to produce truly powerful knowledge and a social justice curriculum.     

评析‘99广东,上海高考化学试题

1999年高考,广东省推行了3 Ｘ考试,上海市单独命题,而全国其他省市采用了3 2考试。这样,广东省、上海市及其他省市的高考化学试题就不尽相同。本文将对广东省、上海市的高考化学试题作以评析。一、试卷结构1.第Ⅰ卷广东、上海1999年高考化学第Ⅰ卷均为客观题(选择题),比较如下(见表1)。表1　第Ⅰ卷的比较题号题型小题数每小题赋分大题总分广东上海广东上海广东上海一单项选择583分2分15分16分二广东为多项选择上海为单项选择9104分3分36分30分三广东为单项选择上海为多项选择854分4分32分20分　　第Ⅰ卷广东为83分,上海为66分。2.第Ⅱ卷广东…     

Bureaucratic constructions of sexual diversity: ‘sensitive’, ‘controversial’ and silencing

National research illustrates the high degree of discrimination that prevails against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students resulting in diminished educational outcomes, both academic and social. This phenomenon is influenced by the prevalence of whole-school silences around LGBTQ topics in many Australian schools. This paper presents an analysis of the New South Wales (NSW) homophobia in schools policy, as well as both NSW state and Australian federal curriculum and syllabus documents in the health and physical education key learning area. This analysis illustrates how contradictory framing and messages; silences and omission; and various discursive constructions of the LGBTQ subject together produce silencing technologies that have critical implications for the implementation of education, both in this key learning area and across the schooling sector.     

‘Supportive’, ‘real’, and ‘low-cost’: implicit comparisons and universal assumptions in the construction of the prospective college-based HE student

This paper first argues for the importance of continued analysis of marketising discourses in Higher Education (HE), both despite and because of their ubiquity. Secondly, the paper looks specifically at college-based HE provision in English Further Education (FE). Using the ‘possible selves’ concept alongside critical discourse analysis, the paper analyses the representations of prospective students on marketing web pages for HE provision in FE colleges. Arguing that the web pages reveal more than just the limited language of HE marketing strategy, the paper highlights common representations of the college-based HE student across policy, research and marketing sources. By exploring both the celebratory and the limiting nature of these representations, the paper therefore asks what the pages’ projections of future or prospective students can tell us about current understandings of English college-based HE.     

‘Voice’, young people and action research

This article moves from an overview of what is meant by the term ‘voice’ to discussing the significance of its links with action research. It does this through using a simple typology of three types of voice: Authoritative, Critical and Therapeutic. Each type of voice represents a different process of articulation and intended outcome. It then moves on to consider ‘voice’ and the collaboration of young people in educational action research by unpicking a series of four assumptions which delineate major theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations. These assumptions provide a critique of the underpinning ideologies held by professionals when supporting and listening to young people