Towards new understandings of learning disability

Abstract

This article highlights inherent difficulties in defining learning disability, particularly in South Africa. It traces the evolution of the category from ‘minimal brain damage’ through to the more current ‘learners with special educational needs’ and ‘learners with barriers to learning.’ Different definitions or attempts to describe the phenomenon ‘learning disability’ are reviewed. An overview of the current international research in the field is provided with particular reference to research that attempts to define learning disability. Much of this research is framed within the medical model, which has as its foundation positivism and empiricism. This results in research which is deficit-focused; in other words the focus is on pathology. A second reductionist model fragments the phenomenon of learning disability into discrete units, each of which is researched. It is suggested that, in re-thinking learning disability, the focus shifts away from the deficit, pathology based, reductionist focus currently held across disciplines.

The problem inherent in including the notion of ‘discrepancy between potential and performance’ in any definition is discussed, with particular reference to the measurement of ‘potential in South Africa's multicultural and multilingual learner population. The article ends with a proposal that there be a shift in focus to a panoptic view of the child: a view that takes in his strengths and talents. In so doing, the country may be better able to serve this growing population.

With the national shift towards inclusive education, there is a renewed focus on learners euphemistically called learners with special educational needs or the more ‘in vogue’ learners with barriers to learning. Yet what we mean when we bandy these terms about, how well we understand these learners, is questionable. The focus of this article is that sub-group of learners that educators and parents think are just not achieving as they should be achieving, despite themselves, that sub-group we identify as having ‘potential’ but not ‘performance’; that sub-group that we just cannot quite explain, we just cannot quite understand; that sub-group for whom support ranges from placement to pills to punishment!

This article critically evaluates the current understanding of the phenomenon of learning disability as it is understood in the South African context. It begins with an overview of the international research, with particular reference to the notion of definition. Thereafter, it makes comments on the term as it is used in South Africa. In conclusion, the article proposes the need for an alternative understanding of this group of learners.     

Extract from new understandings of teachers' pedagogic knowledge 1

Abstract

The focus of this article is a comparative review of the science curriculum for England and Wales from the perspective of recent developments in the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the comparison of science curriculum documents and the language deployed, questions are raised about differences as well as commonalities among and between documents from various jurisdictions. Issues discussed include: the varying emphases upon science topics and/or intended learning outcomes; integration with other curriculum areas; the content and organization of the science curriculum; and ways of assessing students’ performances and understandings. The article draws attention to the importance of comparative analysis which informs our understanding of the effects of curriculum change, its relation to students’ achievements in science, and the need to support the development of teachers.     

Postcritical knowledge ecology in the Anthropocene

The always vexed relationships between philosophy, theory, methodology, empirical work and their representations and legitimations have been thrown into chaos with the belated acknowledgement of the Anthropocene. Unsurprisingly, traditional Western thought may have been complicit, given its underlying anthropocentric assumptions and humanist commitments in education philosophy, theory and practice. The postcritical knowledge ecology developed here is applied to both a modest and responsible form of methodological inquiry in an ethnographic study of nature experience. Our contextualised experiment adds to the nascent literature of an environmentally oriented education now demanded in the Anthropocene.     

How pre-service teachers navigate trade-offs of food systems across time scales: a lens for exploring understandings of sustainability

In response to the increasing recognition of the need for sustainable food systems, research on students’ and educators’ knowledge of food systems and sustainability more broadly has grown but has generally focused on what people ‘fail’ to understand. Moving away from this deficit approach, the present study used semi-structured interviews to explore how 12 pre-service teachers (PSTs) in the US consider sustainability in terms of the trade-offs – or concurrent costs and benefits – associated with using different agricultural resources over short, medium, and long terms. Drawing upon the constructs of framing, metacognition, and complex causality, the study found that the majority of PSTs referred to indirect experiences of seeing or hearing about agricultural resources to demonstrate stable knowledge of short-term trade-offs and construct tentative knowledge about medium-term trade-offs. Few described long-term trade-offs. Most participants also acknowledged some gaps in their knowledge in discussing trade-offs across the different time scales. Findings suggest the importance of leveraging and building upon educators’ (and ultimately students’) prior experiences to build their understanding of complex trade-offs that underlie food systems. The study also illustrates the value of using the concept of trade-offs across time scales to explore people’s conceptions and understandings of sustainability.     

Toward a Philosophy of STEAM in the Anthropocene

Abstract

This paper proposes a philosophy of STEAM education in the current moment, the Anthropocene. Whereas many proponents of STEAM focus on outcomes related to cultivating a more creative and competitive generation of STEM workers, it is, more importantly, an approach to education that can foster spaces for transdisciplinary conversations surrounding critical issues of the Anthropocene – those of ethics, sustainability, and relationality. Thus, the question arises, How might we understand/practice STEAM education differently? This philosophy of STEAM in the Anthropocene is inspired by the guiding notions of Braidotti’s affirmative ethics as well as Stengers and Ulmer’s conceptions of slow(ing). These perspectives challenge the ideologies and practices that have created and sustained divisions between the arts and sciences, while also promoting different ways of engaging in/with the world. Entangled in this conceptual framework are three concepts that might guide STEAM education moving forward: transdisciplinarity, relationality, and responsibility. With these notions as inspiration, this paper asserts a philosophical vision that takes seriously the realities of our Anthropocenic present and considers how educators might move with, rather than push against, the challenges that continue to present themselves.     

新型农村社会养老保险资金筹集可持续性研究

相对于旧农村养老保险制度,新型农村养老保险制度在资金筹集方面有了很多新突破.研究新农保资金筹集政策中存在的潜在风险并在此基础上针对发现的问题,提出改进建议,以促进我国新型农村社会养老保险制度的不断完善,实现新农保制度安全可持续发展.     

Role of the microcomputer‐based laboratory display in supporting the construction of new understandings in thermal physics

Teachers' failure to use the microcomputer‐based laboratory (MBL) more widely may be a result of not recognizing its capacity to transform laboratory activities. This research aimed to increase understanding of how MBL activities designed to be consistent with a constructivist theory of learning support or constrain student construction of understanding. The first author conducted the research with his Year 11 physics class of 15 students. Dyads addressed 10 tasks in thermal physics using a predict–observe–explain format. Data sources included video and audio recordings of students and teacher during four 70‐minute sessions, students' computer data and written notes, semistructured student interviews, and the teacher's journal. Analysis of students' discourse identified many instances in which students' initial understandings of thermal physics were mediated in multiple ways by the screen display. The findings are presented as eight assertions. Recommendations are made for developing pedagogical strategies incorporating MBL activities that will likely catalyze student construction of understanding. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 165–185, 2004     

Posthumanism as research methodology: inquiry in the Anthropocene

The posthuman turn has radically–and rapidly–shifted what is possible in research methodology. In response, my aim in this conceptual paper is to suggest entry points into posthuman educational research methodology. I outline aspects of posthumanism while recognizing its multiplicity: there are many posthumanisms and each offers different twists, turns, and ways of thinking about methodology. In unfolding the potentials thereof, I locate posthumanism within our current epoch, which some scholars have suggested be renamed the Anthropocene to account for the impact of humanity on the planet. Then, I describe how posthumanism situates, processes, and affirms knowledge in interconnected and material contexts. Next, I consider how non-representational research imagines and animates methodologies that think differently. I conclude by discussing a postdisciplinary future for more-than-critical inquiries. Significantly, this article addresses recent advancements in posthuman research and engages with ongoing theoretical, methodological, and ethical debates.     

音乐创作的造型要素探究

音乐作品是一定社会生活在作曲家头脑中反映的产物 ,生活实践是音乐创作活动中一个根本性的问题 ,是作曲家进行音乐创作的基础。同样 ,作曲家的艺术修养与他的作曲技巧的掌握和提高 ,其基础也是社会生活实践和艺术实践     

《星火》编剧中的几个问题

《星火》剧本的底稿来自中国现代左翼作家叶紫的小说,该剧的一个重要方面是向人们展示农民革命的真正意义所在,表现阶级和阶级意识在社会运动中的形成和转化.《星火》对于人们理解和认识当前中国社会中的农民问题有着重要的启示.     

Using a cognitive structural model to provide new insights into students' understandings of diffusion

In their paper, Martinez, Solanto, and Jiminez compared a number of methodologies used to describe students' understandings of scientific conceptions. One of the issues raised by the authors was the lack of a theoretical platform based in the area of cognition upon which the data were analysed. This paper investigates students' understandings of diffusion through the application of a cognitive structural perspective provided by the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome model devised by Biggs and Collis. In this study, 60 senior secondary school and 120 first‐year university science students were presented with two extended response questions regarding diffusion. Four months after the completion of the questionnaires, 30 students were interviewed. The responses obtained from the students were interpreted using the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome model. The results from the study provided strong evidence of a pathway of conceptual understanding of diffusion from simple intuitive ideas about movement to highly abstract views in which students explained the random motion of molecules in terms of kinetic theory. These results were consistent for both the high school and university students. In addition, the pathway provided a means of interpreting previous research results and practical ways of improving instruction in the future.     

Student understandings of natural selection

This paper examines the continuation of a study investigating senior secondary students' understanding of concepts in biology. In this study, year 11 student understandings of natural selection were examined by questionnaire using different question formats. The SOLO taxonomy of Biggs and Collis (1982) was used as the theoretical framework with which the quality of student learning was assessed. This paper puts forward the usefulness of the SOLO taxonomy in assessing student understanding in biology in general and in examining student understanding of the concept of natural selection in particular. The paper goes on to examine the implications of these results and raises issues which have applicability to criterion-based assessment in secondary science. Specializations: science and technology education, biology teacher education, applications of multimedia to science education     

文学创作的技巧意识

文章探索文学创作心理中的技巧意识。揭示技巧的心理实质在于“审美——刺激”，即对于读者阅读的诱惑和吸引；强调技巧的整体意识，从而建构一个“优格式塔”；强调技巧意识要突破心理定势。技巧的心理效应是在形式关系中引向内容，从而让技巧在使用和阅读中消失。     

Rethinking Vulnerability in the Age of Anthropocene: Toward Ecologizing Education

In this essay, Huey‐li Li argues that, although precariousness has always been embedded in human existence, our human vulnerability has been heightened by seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent risks in the modern era, ranging from the 9/11 terroristic attacks and nuclear meltdowns to infectious disease outbreaks and climate change. Li unravels some of the ambiguities surrounding the conceptualization of vulnerability, pointing out that human vulnerability, to a large extent, is coterminous with the increasingly more vulnerable global–local ecological systems in the age of the Anthropocene. She then connects this formulation of vulnerability to the existential, ontological, and social vulnerability in education and its accompanying discourses. Li questions the wisdom of thinking that human invulnerability is an attainable goal in the modern era and argues further that all protective and preventive efforts are actually counterproductive — that is, that they instead tend to maximize our fears and thus render us more vulnerable. Instead of perpetuating the vulnerable pursuit of invulnerability in formal educational institutions, Li concludes, modern schooling should embrace and engage ecological and human vulnerability. In this way, education might better assume ethical responsibility for mitigating the ongoing ecological decline.     

Students' understandings of logical implication

We report results from an analysis of responses to a written question in which high-attaining students in English schools, who formed part of a longitudinal nation-wide survey on proof conceptions, were asked to assess the equivalence of two statements about elementary number theory, one a logical implication and the other its converse, to evaluate the truth of the statements and to justify their conclusions. We present an overview of responses at the end of Year 8 (age 13 years) and an analysis of the approaches taken, and follow this with an analysis of the data collected from students who answered the question again in Year 9 (age 14 years) in order to distinguish learning trajectories. From these analyses, we distinguished three strategies, empirical, focussed-empirical and focussed-deductive, that represent shifts in attention from an inductive to a deductive approach. We noted some progress from Year 8 to Year 9 in the use of the focussed strategies but this was modest at best. The most marked progress was in recognition of the logical necessity of a conclusion of an implication when the antecedent was assumed to be true. Finally we present some theoretical categories to capture different types of meanings students assign to logical implication and the rationale underpinning these meanings. The categories distinguish responses where a statement of logical implication is (or is not)interpreted as equivalent to its converse, where the antecedent and consequent are (or are not) seen as interchangeable, and where conclusions are (or are not)influenced by specific data. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Children's understandings of home-school relations

There is a consensus that close home-school links are beneficial for children's education. However, there is a silence about any part that children may play in, and their views on, this process. This paper reports on research in schools with diverse social intakes, looking at children's understandings and experience of home-school relations. Those in inner city schools were far more likely to talk about separation between their home and school lives, as were working class and ethnic minority children generally, as well as older children. However, all the children expressed strong views about the privacy of their home life in relation to schools and teachers.     

组成论简论

组成论是一个新的理论框架 ,它为认识和研究客观事物的组成 (构成、成分 )的一般规律提供了模型、基本概念、方法、工具、理论和若干应用实例 ,为理解事物提供了一个系统的广泛的新视角。     

对规范中数学式子排法的一点质疑

目前，许多学报对数学式子转行排法中的符号位置不能完全按照规范执行，主要有两种情况放在行首和留在行末。笔者认为对于处于独立地位的单独的数学式子在转行时，应该把运算符号放在行首对齐，既整齐又美观，且不会引起歧处，保证数学式子的确定性。这一排法与规范有冲突，但比规范中的排法更优越。