Much ado about nothing: Science and hermeneutics

Insofar as the basic concepts (in particular, meaning, interpretation, text) and theses of Martin Eger's hermeneutics of the sciences are intelligible they are not distinctive, and insofar as they are distinctive they are unintelligible and/or lack backup arguments. Ambiguity characterises much of the argument. James Cushing's elaboration of hermeneutics, using the history of quantum mechanics as an illustration of its supposed strengths, does nothing to rescue the position against the criticisms here levelled at Martin Eger's formulations of it.     

Frequency norms and structural analysis of algebra story problems into families,categories, and templates

The goal of this study was to develop a framework for classifying algebra story problems and to determine observed frequencies for each problem type. A total of 1097 algebra story problems were selected from ten standard algebra textbooks. These are divided into eight families based on the nature of the source formula involved; for example, nearly 300 problems were classified in the time rate family because they were based on the source formula, distance = rate x time or output = rate x time. Each family was divided into problem categories based on the general form of the story line; for example, the time rate family consisted of motion, current, and work categories. Each category was divided into templates based on the specific propositional structure of the problem; for example, there were a dozen templates for motion problems such as overtake, closure, round trip, etc. This article describes the procedure for generating families, categories, and templates and provides frequency counts for each observed template. Implications for fostering productive research and instruction are discussed.This research was supported by grant NIE-G-78-0162 from the National Institute of Education. Requests for reprints should be sent to: Richard E. Mayer, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.     

The non-education of Kurds: A Kurdish perspective

Educational provision in Kurdistan (embracing parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) violates most of the language-in-education requirements of international law. The same is true for Kurds in diaspora in most parts of the world. Linguistic and cultural genocide is attempted, with the tacit complicity of the West. The future of Kurdish education depends to a large extent on the political situation in the Middle East. Political solutions are needed before educational problems can be tackled. Within international law, a new interpretation by the UN Human Rights Committee of Article 27 in the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN 1986) might give grounds for hope for the future.

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Zusammenfassung Bildungsmöglichkeiten in Kurdistan (einschließlich Teilen Irans, Iraks, Syriens und der Türkei) entsprechen nicht den internationalen Forderungen zur Sprachpolitik in der Bildung. Das gleiche gilt für Diaspora Kurden in den meisten Teilen der Welt. Mit stillschweigender Übereinkunft des Westen wird der linguistische und kulturelle Massenmord angestrebt. Die Zukunft der kurdischen Bildung hängt größtenteils von der politischen Situation im mittleren Osten ab. Bevor jedoch das Bildungsproblem gelöst werden kann, braucht man politische Lösungen. Innerhalb des internationalen Gesetzes könnte eine neue Auslegung des Artikel 27 im Internationalen Convent über zivile und politische Rechte (UN 1968) durch das Menschenrechtskommittee der Vereinten Nationen Hoffnung für die Zukunft bringen.

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Resumen La educación prestada en Kurdistán (que comprende partes de Irán, Iraq, Siria y Turquía) viola la mayor parte de las exigencias que el derecho internacional establece en cuanto a la educación en la lengua correspondiente del individuo. Esto también rige para los kurdos, que se encuentran en la diáspora, en muchas partes del mundo. Con ello se intenta un genocidio cultural, con la complicidad tácita del mundo occidental. El futuro de la educación kurda depende en gran medida de la situación política de Oriente Medio. Se requieren soluciones políticas que permitan abordar los problemas de la educación, Dentro del derecho internacional, puede dar lugar a esperanzas una nueva interpretación que el Comité de Derechos Ilumanos de las Naciones Unidas hizo del artículo 27 en el Convenio Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos (UN 1986).

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Résumé Les formes d'enseignement dispensé au Kurdistan (partagé entre l'Iran, l'Iraq, la Syrie et al Turquie) violent la plupart des exigences envers les langues dans l'enseignement établies par le droit international. La même constatation est valable pour la diaspora kurde disséminée sur la quasi-totalité de la planète. Il ya a en fait tentative de génocide linguistique et culturel, avec la complicité tacite de l'Occident. L'avenir de l'éducation kurde dépendant dans une large mesure de la situation politique au Moyen-Orient, les problèmes pédagogiques ne peuvent être abordés que si la situation politique est résolue. Dans le adre du droit international, une nouvelle interprétation de l'article 27 de la Convention internationale des droits civils et politiques par le Comité des droits de l'hommes (ONU 1986) pourrait donner un nouvel espoir pour l'avenir.

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Student learning work: Grounds for anin situ analysis

The ethnomethodological programme of studies of work is drawn on to provide a general framework within which we might develop ways to undertake thein situ analysis of the competencies which constitute student learning activities. The objective of such research is to describe the locally managed and temporally organised nature of student learning work. Emphasis is placed on the development of methods of investigation which will enable us to describe the whatness of the work from within the setting of that work's accomplishment. The twin conceptions of the visibility and sequential order of student activities are discussed in detail. The implications of this approach for the notion of student learning are also examined.     

The applicability of democratic principles and the mission of the university

The university's mission of serving as a fortress for freedom of speech, inquiry, and criticism of established truths is inextricably connected with democracy. Such a mission can be pursued only in a climate of genuine political and academic freedom. Three other aspects of democracy in the university are discussed: equality of access, university governance, and the public utility of the university. It is argued that equal representation or one man one vote cannot be applied in university governance because it comes into conflict with the notion of competence—a conflict that cannot be resolved by taking votes. Interest groups inside and outside of the university cannot be allowed to interfere with the free pursuit of knowledge. The internal audit, that is, peer review (by, ultimately, the international community of scholars) has to take precedence over vertical review by government bureaucracy.     

Certifying effect and consumer effect: Some remarks on strategies employed by higher education institutions

The term certification, as used in discussions concerning higher education, is clarified and a distinction made between terminal awards which do have a genuine certifying effect in the sense of procuring admission to a profession and those which do not. Institutions wishing to increase the value of the certifying effect of their awards, seek to do this by stimulating applications for entry to their institution. The longer the queue at the gate the greater the prestige of the terminal award. The ability to influence the certifying effect of an award does not, however, lie with the teaching institutions alone; business, the employers and the professions can, and increasingly do, determine the relative value of awards and of different ways of preparing for the exercise of a particular profession. The case of the business schools in France is described to illustrate how teaching institutions once they are established seek to increase the certifying effect of the diplomas they award by actually reducing the number of graduates. The numerus clausus, as applied to medical schools, provides another example of the same phenomenon. Such strategies lead to what the author describes as consumer effect. Once admittance to a prestige institution has been gained, entry to a position of influence and possibly affluence, is more or less assured. Students in such institutions, in both capitalist and communist countries, have exploited this by persuading teaching staff to acquiesce in a reduction of the demands made by the course, though some directors of institutions have begun to respond by failing more students, seeking to re-establish positions surrendered in the days of student unrest and by these and other means seeking to reduce consumer effect. Teacher training colleges provide an interesting example of institutions having a low but certain certifying effect, producing a high consumer effect. The possibility of deriving a general theory from the proposition put forward in the article is discussed.This is an improved version of an article published earlier in French: Effet certifiant et effet clientèle. Quelques remarques sur les stratégies des institutions d'enseignement supérieur dans les pays développés, ESPRIT, nov./dec. 1978. Translation: Sylvia Collot.     

The decline of the modern paradigm in education

The education system is widely perceived to be functioning poorly, and this paper argues that there is in fact a deep crisis caused by the gap between the system and the changing world that surrounds it. Post-modern conditions stress the production of information rather than the productivity of land or capital, and a relativistic world-view rather than adherence to a fixed religion or ideology, which in turn gives rise to pluralism and shifting social frameworks. At the same time, the pursuit of Truth is no longer seen as the highest goal in life, and the possession of proof of education is no longer a guarantee of access to the Good Life. Educational institutions are dysfunctional because they remain wedded to outmoded parameters in their aims, activities, structures, methods and perceptions of their clientele. Through a wide-ranging review of recent conceptual debate and assessment of social trends, the paper explores the implications of radical contemporary changes in the parameters: the search for a new paradigm of education has only just begun.

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Zusammenfassung Das Bildungssystem wird weitgehend als unzulänglich betrachtet, und dieser Artikel argumentiert dahingehend, daß es in der Tat eine tiefgreifende Krise gibt, die durch die Kluft zwischen dem System und der sich ändernden Welt um es herum ist. Postmoderne Bedingungen legen eher Wert auf die Erstellung von Informationen als auf die Produktivität von Land oder Kapital. Man zieht eine relativistische Weltanschauung einer festgelegten Religion oder Ideologie vor, die wiederum Pluralismus und sich ändernde soziale Rahmenbedingungen fördert. Gleichzeitig wird die Suche nach der Wahrheit nicht länger als oberstes Ziel im Leben angesehen und der Besitz von Bildungsnachweisen ist nicht länger eine Garantie für ein gutes Leben. Bildungsinstitutionen funktionieren nicht mehr, weil sie in ihren Zielen, Aktivitäten, Strukturen, Methoden und Wahrnehmungen ihrer Zielen, Aktivitäten, Strukturen, Methoden und Wahrnehmungen ihrer Zielgruppen mit unzeitgemäßen Normen verknüpft sind. Mittels eines weitreichenden überblicks über jüngste Debatten über Konzepte und die Einschätzung sozialer Trends, untersucht der Artikel die Auswirkungen radikaler zeitgenössischer Anderungen der Normen; die Suche nach einem neuen Paradigma der Bildung hat gerade erst begonnen.

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Resumen Hay una percepción general de que el funcionamiento del sistema de educación es deficiente, y este trabajo sostiene que, efectivamente, se produce una profunda crisis causada por la brecha existente entre el sistema y el mundo cambiante que lo rodea. Las condiciones postmodernistas ponen énfasis en la producción de informaciones más que en la productividad de la tierra o del capital, y en una óptica del mundo relativista más que en la adhesión a una religión o ideología fija, lo que por su parte da origen al pluralismo y a sistemas sociales cambiantes. Al mismo tiempo, la busca de la Verdad ya no es considerada como la meta más importante en la vida, y la titularidad de pruebas de formación ya no garantiza el acceso a la Buena Vida. Las instituciones de la educación muestran una disfunción porque aún se atienen a parámetros obsoletos en cuanto a objetivos, actividades, estructuras, métodos y percepciones de su clientela. A través de una amplia reseña de debates conceptuales recientes y de la valoración de tendencias sociales, el trabajo explora las implicaciones que los cambios radicales contemporáneos tienen en los parámetros; la busca de un nuevo paradigma de educaión solamente acaba de comenzar.

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Résumé Le système éducatif a la réputation largement répandue de mal fonctionner, et l'article expose qu'il existe en effet une crise profonde due à l'écart entre le système d'éducation et le monde en évolution qui l'entoure. Les conditions de vie post-modernes font passer au premier plan la production de l'information à la place de la productivité de la terre et du capital, et une vision du monde relativiste remplace l'adhésion à une religion ou une idéologie fixe, qui à son tour engendre le pluralisme et la modification des structures sociales. Parallèlement, la recherche de la vérité n'est plus le but suprême dans la vie, et la détention d'une preuve d'éducation n'est plus une garantie d'accès à une vie réussie. Le dysfonctionnement des institutions éducatives réside donc dans leur attachement obstiné à des modèles périmés quant à leurs objectifs, leurs activités, leurs structures, leurs méthodes et leur vision de la clientèle. Sur la base d'une vaste étude sur le récent débat conceptuel et une évaluation des tendances sociales, l'article analyse les conséquences des changements radicaux contemporains sur ces modèles: la recherche d'un nouveau type d'éducation ne fait que commencer.

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Different aspects in designing mathematics education: Three examples from the Freudenthal Institute

Three teaching designs are offered. They were developed for 12 to 16 year old pupils taking into account their personal differences in terms of gender (in Making Up the Cube), culture (in Mecca), knowledge, and use of calculators in The integrating calculator. The designs concern the representation of three-dimensional objects in the plane, directions and great circles on the sphere, and exploration of the integrating calculator.     

Three-dimensional symmetry

The errors made when high-school students locate reflections in horizontal, vertical or slanting mirrors were examined. A questionnaire consisting of thirty-six perspective drawings, each portraying an upright transparent cube containing a two-sided mirror, was given to 394 Australian students from grades 7, 9 and 11. On a corner, an edge, or a face of each cube was drawn either a point or a straight-line segment. The task was to draw its image (reflection). Analysis of errors revealed a strong tendency towards horizontal or vertical sliding, suggesting that the edges of the cube act in much the same way as a horizontal-vertical background grid does in the two-dimensional case.     

Real-time simulation in computer-assisted instruction

Large scale computer-assisted instruction systems generally impose severe constraints upon the demands that individual users may make. Nevertheless, it is possible to overcome these problems and a program is described which teaches students how to fly a specific maneuver through real-time simulation of the flight of a student-controlled airplane. This is achieved in spite of the fact that the student is flying his plane through the use of a manually controlled analog input device. Both computational and educational implications are discussed.Contractual support for this work was provided in part by the Life Sciences Program Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Contract number F44620-70-C-0105. Dr. Charles Hutchinson was the scientific monitor of the contract.     

The concept of chance in everyday teaching: Aspects of a social epistemology of mathematical knowledge

The paper analyzes the relationship between the epistemological nature of mathematical knowledge and its socially constituted meaning in classroom interaction. Epistemological investigation of basic concepts of elementary probability reveals the theoretical nature of mathematical concepts: The meaning of concepts cannot be deduced from more basic concepts; meaning depends in a self-referent manner on the concept itself. The self-referent nature of mathematical knowledge is in conflict with the linear procedures of teaching. The micro-analysis of a short teaching episode on the concept of chance illustrates this conflict. The interaction between teacher and students in everyday teaching produces a school-specific understanding of the epistemological status of mathematical concepts: the concept of chance is conceived of as a concrete generalization, which takes chance as a fixed and universalised pattern of explanation instead of unfolding potential and variable conceptual relations of chance or randomness and developing the theoretical nature of this concept in an appropriate way for students' comprehension.     

“Hispanic” children: Theoretical,empirical, and related policy issues

Not only are school-age ethnic and racial minority children one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, they are also one of the most vulnerable. Hispanic children in particular are representative of the at-risk status of minority populations, displaying a portrait of unrealized social, educational, and employment success. This paper addresses the background and history of U.S. social and educational policies as they relate to the Hispanic student. Recent empirical findings are presented which support the following: (a) the bilingual character of Hispanic children is not a linguistic, cognitive, or educational liability and, in fact, should be employed to promote academic achievement; (b) the culture of the Hispanic family and child are better understood with regard to socialization variables and the potential differences they produce when directly compared to Anglo culture; and (c) educational strategies for Hispanic students that respect and integrate students' social, psychological, and linguistic attributes serve students effectively.     

American college students' perceptions of counsellor approachability: Professional implications

The Repertory Grid technique was used to explore differences in the way in which freshers and postgraduate counselling students perceived the roles of counsellor and friend. Postgraduates viewed counsellors as more approachable than other students, while freshers viewed other students as more approachable than counsellors. The constructs identified by the students were content-analyzed to define approachability for each group. The perceptions held by students were used to address implications for the provision of outreach services, role-induction programmes, and the status of the counsellor as the professional.Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, New Mexico State UniversityFor information contact Peggy Kaczmarek, Ph.D., New Mexico State University, Box 3CEP, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, United States.     

The meaning of response categories: How often is “occasionally,” “often,” and “very often”?

Samples of undergraduates from 30 colleges and universities responded in two ways to statements about how often they had engaged in various activities: first by indicating never, occasionally, often, or very often, and second by indicating the number of times they had engaged in the activity. Comparisons of the two sets of responses indicates that: (1) there are wide individual differences in the meaning attributed to each response category; (2) despite individual differences, the group data show clear modal differences between occasionally and often and between often and very often; (3) the median difference in the meaning of each of the response categories is very small between one institution and the next and between types of institutions; and (4) based on the present data, there is no compelling need to develop separate norms for different types of institutions.Presented at the 1981 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 13–17, Los Angeles.     

The correlation between education and earnings - a comment

In this note, Blaug's article in Volume 1, No. 1, is criticised on the grounds that the economic interpretation of the correlation between education and earnings is based on a mistaken view about the nature of capital; and hence human capital theories are logically incoherent.     

Integrating Curriculum,Instruction, and Assessment in Project-Based Instruction: A Case Study of an Experienced Teacher

This case study of a teacher who engaged his students in inquiry within a technologically rich classroom was conducted over 5 weeks, including 15 regularly scheduled classes. Data include extensive teacher interviews, e-mail, and artifacts such as class notes, curriculum guides, and handouts. A retrospective analysis methodology was utilized to address what Barron et al. (1998), called the major hurdles in implementing project-based curricula: the simultaneous changes in curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices. In addition, a framework developed by the National Research Councils How People Learn was employed to provide detail on the nature of knowledge, learner, assessment, and community centeredness of the project-based unit. Finally, the classroom environment created during a unit of astronomy was analyzed and five principles emerged: the sense of a project, the development of independent individuals, creation of a global community of learners, a cyclic nature of instruction emphasizing conceptual and procedural understanding, and the utilization of distributedexpertise.     

A Reinvented Union: A Concern for Teaching, Not Just Teachers

The current school reform movement, with its emphasis on teacher professionalism, teacher empowerment, and shared decision making, has challenged teachers unions to develop more collegial relations with school boards. Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, has called for the union to reinvent itself and to assume responsibility for improving school quality and the quality of the teaching force. This article discusses the development of teachers unions in the 1960s as adversaries of school boards. From the beginning the unions adopted an industrial model of labor relations, one tailored for factories and assembly lines rather than school environments. Today, there are signs that teachers unions are accepting Bob Chases vision of a more professional union, one in which union leaders and school leaders can become public allies in the struggle to improve schools.     

Choosing competency-based,humanistic and self-directed programs: The contribution of personality and reasoning

Fifty-five college women enrolled in competency-based, humanistic or self-directed education programs completed their California Personality Inventory and listed five reasons for selecting their program. CPI results indicated that self-directed students scored lower than other students on the Femininity Scale (p.001). Using Chickering's seven vectors of change as a framework, the study found competency-based students identifying purpose and competence, humanistic students identifying inter-personal relationships and integrity, and self-directed student identifying autonomy and purpose as reasons for enrolling in their nontraditional programs. The study used these results to question the mythology that adherents to different programs are of different personality types and to argue that differences in perceptions of purpose in education distinguish students in the three programs.     

Training,stability and control

This paper presents a system-theoretic approach to the analysis of the problem of training formally relating it to the control of an abstract dynamic system, the adaption automaton of the trainee. The utility of this formulation and the possibility of basing real training strategies upon it are discussed, and it is argued that further constraints upon the automaton are both necessary, and available, in so far as the theory corresponds to practical reality. The minimal constraints generate an extended theory in which training is related to the stability of the adaption automaton. More practical constraints lead to theoretical foundations for strategies of feedback or adaptive training. Corresponding to each set of constraints a training theorem is proved which demonstrates that the constraint is adequate to lead to a simple universal training strategy.Although this paper is highly theoretical it is argued that the formal concepts introduced correspond to intuitive models of the phenomena of learning and training which are implicit in the design of many training systems. It is hoped that the formal analysis will throw new light on these implicit assumptions and help to clarify discussion of practical approaches to training, including the possibility of computer-aided instruction given on our present level of knowledge of human cognitive skills or individual students.     

Whitehead and a new look at teaching elementary science

If Whitehead is right, science teachers who try to increase student interest by making the science they teach more pure and by covering more material are going about their work in just the wrong way. Science, for purposes of precision in measurement, translates the dynamic world of feeling and force, of causal efficacy (for example, the San Francisco earthquake), into a static representation spatialized and given presentational immediacy (for example, the Richter scale). But notice that the Richter scale isn't very interesting (even as abstract art) apart from its connection, via symbolic reference, to the earthquake. Such reference is essential to give both a sense of reality and a feeling of interes to the subject, but it makes the science less pure, and it takes more time to cover the material. An example of teaching pure and impure formal logic is given as a case study.