Belief,Doubt and Reason: C. S. Peirce on education

In this paper, we explore Peirce's work for insights into a theory of learning and cognition for education. Our focus for this exploration is Peirce's paper The Fixation of Belief (FOB), originally published in 1877 in Popular Science Monthly. We begin by examining Peirce's assertion that the study of logic is essential for understanding thought and reasoning. We explicate Peirce's view of the nature of reasoning itself—the characteristic guiding principles or ‘habits of mind’ that underlie acts of inference, the dimensions of and interaction between doubt and belief, and his four methods of resolving or ‘fixing’ belief (i.e., tenacity, authority, a priori, and experimentation). The four methods are then juxtaposed against current models of teaching and learning such as constructivism, schema theory, situated cognition, and inquiry learning. Finally, we discuss Peirce's modes of inference as they relate educationally to the resolution of doubt and beliefs and offer an example of belief resolution from an experienced teacher in a professional development environment.     

中国学者眼中的皮尔士--评《皮尔士》中译本出版

皮尔士是一位在国际学界越来越受到重视的著名哲学家、逻辑学家和科学家。长期以来，皮尔士本人及其思想一直处于国内主流学者视野之外。《皮尔士》一书较为系统地呈现出了其哲学思想的方方面面。皮尔士将哲学建立于牢固的科学基础之上，将科学主要理解为一种探究者共同体的社会性活动。而作为“一位系统哲学家”，皮尔士各种思想主题之间的有着紧密联系和内在统一。《皮尔士》一书也有缺憾，比如，书的内容上并没有突出皮尔士的思想中心——逻辑学。     

The effects of message theme,policy explicitness,and candidate gender

Female candidates are sometimes perceived as less competent than their male counterparts, especially in races for higher political offices, and research has indicated that female candidates can face tougher standards in establishing credibility. This study explores the effects of message theme and explicitness on the perceived competence ratings of female and male Congressional candidates. An experiment with 209 college students at the University of Florida was conducted in 1997 to investigate the relationship between candidate gender, message characteristics, and perceived competence of two hypothetical candidates, one female and one male. It was hypothesized that an explicit message on a stereotypically male policy area, crime, would be advantageous to female candidates. Message theme was found to be important for both the female and male candidates, but message explicitness was found to be important for the female candidate only.     

Limits of Constructivism: Kant,Piaget and Peirce

The paradox of mathematical knowledge that mathematics cannot be conceived of as completely separated from empirical experience and yet cannot be explained by empiricist epistemology (for a slightly different and more elaborate formulation cf. Blackwell Companion to Epistemology, 270f), can only be resolved if one accepts that the causal interactions between knower and environment have themselves a generalizing tendency, a sort of continuity, rather than consisting just of singular events. Kant resolves the schism between the continous and the distinct in a constructivist manner. He assumes that all our knowledge-extending cognitions are synthetic. This synthesis does not lie in the matter of experience but springs from the function of cognizant consciousness. Piaget adhered to a Kantianism where the categories are not there at the outset. He conceives of the subject as constructing itself as well as of the emerging subject's structure as the source of the apprehension of the wo rld and believes in a Kantianism which emphasizes man's active being and potential for unlimited self-development. But he has no use for the Kantian idea of space and time as forms of mathematical intuition.Kantian thought is also central to Peirce's philosophy and conception of mathematics. But Peirce emphasizes the role of perception and analysis as its prerequisites. Peirce's and Piaget's origins in Kantianism are exhibited when both try to replace the Aristotelian notion of abstraction and generalization by something more suitable for mathematical epistemology. Peirce proposes that hypostatic abstraction is the chief explanation for the power of mathematical reasoning and explains: This operation is performed when something, that one has thought about any subject, is itself made a subject of thought. Piaget speaks of reflective abstraction in this context, making it the basis of mathematical knowledge; but separating it completely from empirical abstraction.     

Effects of presentation modes,explicitness, and student aptitudes on learning

Research on the relationship between learner aptitudes and presentation modes has taken several approaches — and raised a number of questions. This study sought to clarify the relationships between modes of presentation (verbal vs. spatial), explicitness of presentation (little or much), and student aptitudes (verbal vs. spatial). Explicit guidance clearly was helpful in teaching the fourth-grade subjects, regardless of type of aptitude, how to compute surface areas of two- and three-dimensional objects. The relationship between mode of presentation and aptitude was less clear. The authors discuss their findings at length and suggest several areas for future aptitude-treatment-interaction research.     

The effects of instructional explicitness on learning and error persistence

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of pictorial and/or verbal instructional stimuli on learning and error persistence. Subjects were 84 third-graders and 84 fourth-graders. Students were randomly assigned to a picture, oral, or combined presentation group. Each student saw and/or heard an adapted children's story. A constructed response recall test, containing both concrete and abstract items, was administered immediately, and 1 week after, the presentation. Oral and picture presentations yielded approximately equal learning of abstract content, but pictures yielded greater learning of concrete content. Error persistence for abstract content was greatest for picture-only presentations, while persistence of concrete errors was comparable across presentations.     

境界与生死

按照冯友兰先生的说法,生死的意义是与人的精神境界相关的,人的精神境界有高低之分,生死对于不同境界的人的意义也有大小之分。对于在自然境界中的人,生死是没有清楚的意义的;对于在功利境界中的人,生死是“我”的存、灭;对于在道德境界中的人,生是尽伦尽职的所以(所以使人能尽伦尽职),死是尽伦尽职的结束。对于天地境界中的人,生死是顺化。不同境界中的人对于生死的理解和态度是大不相同的。     

Integrating Counseling Theory and Practice: Searching for F.A.C.T.S. and C.R.A.C.K.S.

This article suggests a device that counselors may use as a reference for bridging the gap between counseling theory and technique. Cognitive development theory provides the basis for understanding a single transaction between counselor and client. The acronyms FACTS and CRACKS suggest the structural dynamics taking place within the client's cognitive field as the counselor performs in two different stages of the counseling process.     

必然王国·自由王国·人的全面发展——《资本论》学习札记

人的全面发展是马克思关于共产主义学说的出发点，也是其归宿；人的全面发展以物质资料的生产、以生产力的发展为基础，以人的精神追求的满足为核心：“必然王国”是满足人的物质生活资料的生产的王国，“自由王国”是拓展人的精神世界、发展人的本质力量的王国；共产主义是通过人并且为了人而对人的本质的真正占有，促进人的全面发展是建设社会主义新社会的本质要求。     

S.U.C.C.E.S.S.ful pre-/in-service training requires planning

There are preservice and in-service workshops from which participants leave saying, Thank goodness that ordeal is over, and others from which participants leave invigorated and anxious to try new ideas and activities in their classrooms. The key to the successful preservice and in-service is staff input in the planning process.Sharon Wooden is Professor and Nancy Baptiste is CDA Program Coordinator and Instructor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.     

教学的境域与时论

通过阐释教学的境域与教学时论，教师在教学过程中应该注重结合教学的与境教学的时，合理地安排教学，促进学生的发展。     

人格的三层次与艺术的三境界——论王国维的境界说

王国维唷我之境”可再分为“小我之境”和“大我之境”,而“无我之境”更确切说是“超我之境”。这“三境界”与做学问的“三境界”可统一起来,但顺序为：“衣带渐宽终不悔,为伊消得人憔悴”是“小我之境”,是执着于构成自我结构的一切利益、感受、知识等,这种“自我状态”绝对化必然与痛苦相生,是第一境界;“众里寻他千百度,回头蓦见,那人正在灯火阑珊处”,“回头”否定了对“小我”的执着,从而在“那人”身上发现相对的自我,是自我的一次解脱,也是新的觉悟,达到相对的“类我境界”,此第二境界;“昨夜西风凋碧树．独上高楼,望尽天涯路”代表第三境界,一切障碍消除了,自我延伸到无限,体验到永恒,得到彻底解脱,获得对世界本质的完整认识和大智慧。     

Paradise Lost and Found: Obedience, Disobedience, and Storytelling in C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman

In the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials, by C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman respectively, the authors use symbols and themes from Paradise Lost. Each author's narrative choice uses his view of cosmic order to persuade readers that obedience should be understood as central to coming of age. At stake is the proper role of human agency in the world. Can children become narrators of their own lives, or are they fated simply to occupy narratives already written for them? Obedience and disobedience are inextricably connected with narratives of origin, of development, and of maturation. Both Lewis and Pullman model and problematize the process of independent storytelling in order to arrive at truth; their treatments of obedience and disobedience explore each writer's sense of the nature of authority, storytelling, and the creative process.