Question,Explanation, Follow‐Up: A Mechanism for Learning From Others?

This study explored differences in caregiver–child interactions following children's information‐seeking questions. Naturalistic speech from thirty‐seven 4‐year‐olds and their caregivers was used to explore children's information‐seeking questions, the caregiver's response, and children's subsequent follow‐up. Half of the families were low‐socioeconomic status (SES) and the other half were mid‐SES. Although children across socioeconomic groups asked a similar proportion of questions, mid‐SES caregivers offered significantly more explanatory responses to causal questions as well as more noncircular explanations than low‐SES caregivers. No differences were found in children's follow‐up to responses given to fact‐based questions; however, after hearing unsatisfactory responses to causal questions, mid‐SES children were significantly more likely to provide their own explanation. Such variability in caregiver–child interaction may have implications for subsequent learning.     

Can Interactive Web-based CAD Tools Improve the Learning of Engineering Drawing? A Case Study

Many current Web-based learning environments facilitate the theoretical teaching of a subject but this may not be sufficient for those disciplines that require a significant use of graphic mechanisms to resolve problems. This research study looks at the use of an environment that can help students learn engineering drawing with Web-based CAD tools, including a self-correction component. A comparative study of 121 students was carried out. The students were divided into two experimental groups using Web-based interactive CAD tools and into two control groups using traditional learning tools. A statistical analysis of all the samples was carried out in order to study student behavior during the research and the effectiveness of these self-study tools in the learning process. The results showed that a greater number of students in the experimental groups passed the test and improved their test scores. Therefore, the use Web-based graphic interactive tools to learn engineering drawing can be considered a significant improvement in the teaching of this kind of academic discipline.     

“The Effort of Reason,and the Adventure of Beauty”: The Aesthetic Rhetoric of Randolph Bourne

We are still coming to terms with the legacy of Randolph Bourne. Although he died at the age of 32 just as the United States was cheerfully entering the First World War under the banner of “democracy,” the words he penned in an unfinished essay still resonate in the American social conscience: “War is the Health of the State.” This maxim, once thought the exclusive property of leftist radicals, now can be heard echoing from every political corner of the blogosphere as progressives and libertarians alike find cause to question the motives of governmental power. Yet despite his reappearance as a symbol, Bourne in many ways remains as forgotten as ever—perhaps even more so as his once provocative claim has been transformed into a talking point. This essay endeavors to recapture the voice of Bourne in all its complexity, seeking to place him at the forefront of the contemporary American intellectual tradition as one of its most piercing critics, most visionary poets, and most eloquent rhetors. Specifically, we show how Bourne's critique of the “State” foresaw the rise of the technological society organized by ideological propaganda, how his vision of the Beloved Community anticipated our modern ideals of global transnationalism, and how his literary essays practiced a form of aesthetic rhetoric which employed dramatistic methods to bring about a new state of expanded social consciousness.     

Comments from the Editor: The End of Teacher Evaluation?

Commentary

Comments from the Editor: The End of Teacher Evaluation?     

‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’: The Great Gatsby in the 1980s

This essay illustrates the application of reception study, the subfield of literary history that emphasises the historical experiences of readers, to pedagogical contexts by investigating the teaching of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) in American high schools during the 1980s. Focusing on the episode in which Jay Gatsby leads Nick and Daisy on a tour of his mansion, the analysis draws on published lesson plans and other primary source documents and reimagines the contemporary cultural contexts to reconsider the novel’s lessons about social class during a decade that saw escalating wealth disparity, mirroring Fitzgerald’s 1920s and anticipating our present.     

The National Grid for Learning: A curriculum without walls?

The aim of the British Government's National Grid for Learning policy is to harness the power of information and communications technology (ICT) in order to create a 'curriculum without walls', where the riches of the world's intellectual, cultural and scientific heritage are available to all. Central to this vision are the assumptions that: all pupils will in the future have appropriate access to computers at home and at school; that there is a common conception between home and school as to what actually constitutes learning. In this paper the authors draw on preliminary findings from a 2 year study of how young people actually utilise ICT at home and at school to raise important questions about the realisation of the Government's policy objectives.     

A New Pattern to Research the Learning:From Phenomenography and Constructivism Perspective——The Case of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts

This essay is trying to explore how the arts students experience the teaching and learning context in the English class of the col lege from the phenomenography perspective.The qualitative research methodology of phenomenography has traditionally required a man ual sorting and analysis of interview data.To study the teaching and learning context,the qualitative research method will be applied,and the data collection will base on the face-to-face interview.There are 8 sophomores were interviewed after they had one year study in col lege.The research findings reveal that most student in interview gradually get used to college English class,but never think about changing their learning approach even they study one year in a totally different teaching and learning environment.     

Learning and the pandemic: What’s next?

PROSPECTS - This article highlights key points with respect to each of the following: 1) School systems around the world were stagnant before Covid-19 and had been for some time; 2) Therefore there...     

A Sticky Business? Exploring the “and” in Teaching and Learning

This article takes as its focus the “and” in discourses of teaching and learning. Drawing upon the work of Deleuze and Guattari, I argue that the “and” signifies a complex, sticky relationship between teaching and learning, and that we can radicalise our conception of “and” to bring forward a range of different discourses. The argument suggests that those critiques of discourses of teaching and learning which argue for an alternative discourse of pedagogy can be supplemented by the radicalising of the “and”. I am therefore proposing the possibility for different forms of immanent and transcendental critique in relation to contemporary debates about teaching and learning. And that there is significance in the apparently insignificant?…

In real life people fumble their words and stare blankly off into space and don't listen properly to what people say. I find that kind of speech fascinating but it seems writers never write dialogue like that because it doesn't look good on the page. (Christopher Guest, Theatre Director)     

Clarifying Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Self-Regulated Learning: What’s the Purpose?

In this commentary on the special issue, I join the authors in searching for a conceptual framework that would clarify the concepts of metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning. Building on the insights of the different articles, I suggest that metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning should be considered as subtypes of the general, abstract, phenomenon of self-regulated action. I continue by questioning the benefit of seeking boundaries between these three concepts. Instead, I propose to search for dimensions along which types of self-regulated action vary. I, then, introduce the notion of a “multidimensional conceptual space of self-regulated action” as a conceptual tool that allows for diversity of conceptions of self-regulated action while maintaining conceptual clarity. I conclude by highlighting the central role of purpose of engagement in self-regulated action and by noting its potential for guiding the search for meaningful dimensions on which to typify self-regulation.     

Metacognition, Self Regulation, and Self-regulated Learning: A Rose by any other Name?

This commentary reviews the distinctions researchers make in defining metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning along with the methods used to explore these constructs. Bandura’s notion of reciprocal determinism (1977) is revisited in the context of situated learning, whereby interactions between the person, behavior, and environment take on new meaning when examining learning and affect in specific contexts where knowledge is constructed through interacting with all that the environment affords, be that material or human. The interaction between the mind and environment continues to be an interesting question with regard to these three constructs, and this interaction can be explored by using computers as cognitive tools. Technology-rich environments are described that provide opportunities for assessing and validating metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning with future directions for assessing co-regulation of teams of learners.