How Do Humans Acquire Knowledge? And What Does That Imply About the Nature of Knowledge?

This paper offers a resolution to the debate between constructivists andrealists regarding the epistemological status of human knowledge. Evidence in the form of three case studies and one experimentalstudy is presented. The conclusion drawn is that knowledge acquisitioninvolves a pattern of idea (representation) generation and test that, whencast in the form of a verbal argument, follows an If/then/Thereforepattern. Self-generated ideas/representations are tested by comparingexpected and observed outcomes. Ideas may be retained or rejected,but can not be proved or disproved. Therefore, absolute Truth aboutany and all ideas, including the idea that the external world exists, isunattainable. Yet learning at all levels above the sensory-motor requiresthat one assume the independent existence of the external world becauseonly then can the behavior of the objects in that world be used to testsubsequent higher-order ideas. In the final analysis, ideas – includingscientific hypotheses and theories – stand or fall, not due to socialnegotiation, but due to their ability to predict future events. Althoughthe knowledge acquisition process has limitations, its use neverthelessresults in increasingly useful representations about an assumed to existexternal world as evidenced by technological progress that is undeniablybased on sound scientific theory. The primary instructional implicationis that science instruction should remain committed to helping studentsunderstand the crucial role played by hypotheses, predictions and evidencein learning.     

What Does Wiki Reveal About the Knowledge Processing Strategies of School Pupils?

On the basis of one teaching project carried out in a school, this article discusses collaborative writing in wiki platforms. It aims to find out what wiki reveals about pupils’ knowledge construction, creation, and division and their collaborative writing skills. In this project, wiki is treated as a useful tool for analyzing these processes because it gives us the possibility of studying those elements and stages of educative writing that are normally hidden from the teacher or researcher’s eye. Also, it shows us the interaction between pupils. The theoretical background of the project lies in collaborative writing and writing research.     

What Does Prone Skateboarding in the Newborn Tell Us About the Ontogeny of Human Locomotion?

The crawling behavior of sixty 2-day-old newborns was studied while they were supported prone on a mini skateboard and on a pediatric mattress without additional support. Analyses of the number and types of limb movements and their characteristics, the coactivation of limb pairs, and the displacement across the surface, revealed that newborns can crawl with locomotor patterns similar to those documented during quadrupedal locomotion in animals and human adults. This was particularly apparent on the skateboard. This discovery suggests that locomotor circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion develops during fetal life. Drawing upon other evidence for a quadrupedal organization underlying bipedal gait, we argue that early quadrupedal training may enhance interventions designed to hasten the onset of independent walking.     

What is Knowledge in English and Where Does it Come From?

By offering a close reading and interpretation of one conversation between four Year 8 pupils about Robert Swindell’s Stone Cold, I aim to address questions of what might count as knowledge in English and to suggest how it might develop not only out of the qualities of a text, but from particular social relations and a set of pedagogic choices. I argue for a refocusing of attention away from the ‘acquisition’ of ‘cultural capital’ or ‘powerful disciplinary knowledge’ by individual pupils, towards the cultural resources and cultural productivity of pupils and teachers. I go on to suggest that serious consideration of such conversations as evidence of learning poses a significant challenge to dominant theories and research methodologies that locate knowledge and ability within the minds of individual pupils. Instead, my reading of this classroom interaction suggests the creative potential of discussion in diverse, urban classrooms to contribute to a fuller account of learning that pays proper attention to its roots in the social and affective realms. Crucially, part of my argument is that classrooms such as the one in which the conversation took place offer unique opportunities and conditions for the development of a pedagogy that both draws on and negotiates difference and is therefore culturally productive in a wider sense.     

Getting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increasing Course Structure Work?

At the college level, the effectiveness of active-learning interventions is typically measured at the broadest scales: the achievement or retention of all students in a course. Coarse-grained measures like these cannot inform instructors about an intervention''s relative effectiveness for the different student populations in their classrooms or about the proximate factors responsible for the observed changes in student achievement. In this study, we disaggregate student data by racial/ethnic groups and first-generation status to identify whether a particular intervention—increased course structure—works better for particular populations of students. We also explore possible factors that may mediate the observed changes in student achievement. We found that a “moderate-structure” intervention increased course performance for all student populations, but worked disproportionately well for black students—halving the black–white achievement gap—and first-generation students—closing the achievement gap with continuing-generation students. We also found that students consistently reported completing the assigned readings more frequently, spending more time studying for class, and feeling an increased sense of community in the moderate-structure course. These changes imply that increased course structure improves student achievement at least partially through increasing student use of distributed learning and creating a more interdependent classroom community.     

What Is Construed as Relevant Knowledge in Physics Teaching? Similarities and Differences in How Knowledge and Power Are Staged in Three Lower Secondary Classrooms

Research in Science Education - The content that is privileged in teaching has consequences for what the students are given the opportunity to learn and can thus be regarded as an aspect of power....     

Editorial Introduction Literacy in the Age of Information: Knowledge,Power or Domination?

International Review of Education -     

What Does the Skill of Observation Look Like in Young Children?

Fifty‐six children, aged between 4 and 11 years, in seven groups, were videoed playing with, being questioned about and sorting a collection of toys in order to identify what skills of observation looked like in young children, how observations influenced other scientific skills and what supported the skill of observation. Children’s skills of observation were found to be similar across all ages and included affective, functional, social and exploratory comments, actions, and questions. These initial observations led to the use of other scientific process skills: classification, prediction, hypotheses, along with explanation for younger children and interpretations for older children. There was generally a greater sophistication of observation skills with increasing age of the children. Observations in young children were found to be tactile and developed in two ways: by engaging in more unique close observation and interpreting observation by utilising previous knowledge and experiences. Important factors affecting the development of observational and other scientific skills were found to be the context (activity, environment, resources) and combination of social interactions between individuals, peers, and adults. This combination supported the development of both observational and other scientific skills, although the nature and amount of this interaction appeared individual to different groups of children and could not be predicted.     

What Counts? Sources of Knowledge in Children’s Acquisition of the Successor Function

Although many U.S. children can count sets by 4 years, it is not until 5½–6 years that they understand how counting relates to number—that is, that adding 1 to a set necessitates counting up one number. This study examined two knowledge sources that 3½- to 6-year-olds (N = 136) may leverage to acquire this “successor function”: (a) mastery of productive rules governing count list generation; and (b) training with “+1” math facts. Both productive counting and “+1” math facts were related to understanding that adding 1 to sets entails counting up one number in the count list; however, even children with robust successor knowledge struggled with its arithmetic expression, suggesting they do not generalize the successor function from “+1” math facts.     

Does an Audiovisual Dissection Manual Improve Medical Students' Learning in the Gross Anatomy Dissection Course?

The gross anatomy dissection course is considered to be one of the most important subjects in medical school. Advancing technology facilitates the production of e-learning material that can improve the learning of topographic anatomy during the course. The purpose of this study was to examine a locally produced audiovisual dissection manual's effects on performance in dissection, formal knowledge gained, motivation, emotions, learning behavior, and learning efficiency of the medical students. The results, combined with the total effort put into the production of the manual, should support decisions on further implementation of this kind of audiovisual e-learning resource into the university's curriculum. First-year medical students (n = 279) were randomly divided into three groups for two weeks within the regular dissection course hours during the dissection of the anterior and posterior triangles of the neck. Two groups received an audiovisual dissection manual (n = 96) or an improved written manual (n = 94) as an intervention, the control group (n = 89) received the standard dissection manual. After dissection, each student filled out tests and surveys and their dissections were evaluated. The audiovisual dissection manual did not have any significant positive effects on the examined parameters. The effects of the audiovisual dissection manual on the medical students' learning experience, as observed in this study, did not support further curriculum implementation of this kind of e-learning resource. This study can serve as an orientation for further evaluation and design of e-learning resources for the gross anatomy dissection course.     

Knowledge acquisition and environmental values in a microplastic learning module: Does the learning environment matter?

Microplastic pollution is a growing issue of concern requiring appropriate classroom instruction. Educational initiatives within this context are supposed to provide relevant background knowledge, raise awareness, and ideally lead to sustainable behavior. We implemented an identical educational module within two different learning environments: formal (in-school) and informal (out-of-school). In both settings, 444 primary school students self-reliably completed hands-on activities at workstations. We monitored students' short-term (directly after the module) and long-term (after six weeks) cognitive achievement. Additionally, when examining the participants' environmental values (Preservation, Utilization) and the Appreciation of Nature, the program similarly appealed to all students independent of the environmental values' intensity. Preservation, Utilization, and the Study Group predicted knowledge levels after program participation; Appreciation did not. While Preservation positively influenced knowledge, Utilization did the contrary. Subsequent implications on learning strategies based on our results are discussed.     

Time Constraints in the School Environment: What Does a Sleepy Student Tell Us?

ABSTRACT— In this article, we discuss school schedules and their implications in the context of chronobiological contemporary knowledge, arguing for the need to reconsider time planning in the school setting. We present anecdotal observations regarding chronobiological challenges imposed by the school system throughout different ages and discuss the effects of these schedules in terms of sleepiness and its deleterious consequences on learning, memory, and attention. Different settings (including urban vs. rural habitats) influence timing, which also depends on self-selected sleep schedules. Finally, we criticize the traditional view of a necessary strict stability of sleep–wake habits.     

Curriculum of Connection: What Does Sense8 Teach us About Love,Community and Responsibility in Days of Despair?

The TV show Sense8 tells the story of eight strangers from all around the world who realize they are connected to each other in a unique way. While taking their first steps of their quest to understand what bonds them and how they relate to one another, they are challenged by powerful people who want to capture them. Their individual journeys become a collective one, and through practicing a love ethic, they grow individually and collectively—an important lesson that can be taught in our classrooms. This article discusses what a love ethic entails and how it relates to restoring a sense of community within our schools and classrooms as a counteraction to neoliberal ideology and practices that harm our schools and atomize our communities.     

How Should I Use My E‐Reader? An Exploration of the Circumstances Under Which Electronic Presentation of Text Results in Good Comprehension

The present research aimed to determine the circumstances under which comprehension between paper and e‐readers is comparable and what role working memory plays in successful comprehension of text presented in these formats. Narrative and expository texts were presented in electronic and paper formats to determine whether readers glean different information for these text types via different presentation formats. Results indicated that comprehension for paper and electronic formats may not be equivalent. Although comprehension of thematic information presented via e‐reader was better than when reading for detail (as in expository passages), it did not lead to comprehension as successfully as printed text. In addition, removing working memory led to the disappearance of the effects of presentation method and the type of questions, suggesting that it was important for individual differences in use of the e‐reader device. Implications for the appropriate use of e‐readers are discussed.     

What Does a Modern Anatomist Look like? Current Trends in the Training of Anatomy Educators

Anatomical sciences are foundational to the health professions, yet little is known about the qualifications of anatomy educators at the graduate and professional level in the United States. Moreover, there is concern that the number of qualified anatomy educators being trained may be insufficient to meet the growing demand posed by new and expanded programs in medicine and allied health specialties. The authors surveyed anatomists from across the country to (i) characterize the educational credentials of current anatomy educators and (ii) assess the perceived need for education-focused postdoctoral positions or formal mentorships to prepare anatomists for teaching-intensive faculty positions. To probe the survey responses more deeply, one-on-one interviews were conducted with eight individuals selected to represent a diverse sample of respondents in terms of institution, gender, and academic rank. Results indicate that 30–40% of educators at the graduate level and approximately 60% of those at the undergraduate level lack graduate coursework in histology, embryology, and neuroanatomy. Forty-five percent of respondents had completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Eighty-six percent replied “yes/maybe” to the question of whether an anatomy education postdoctoral fellowship would benefit doctoral graduates. The top 3 reasons for this recommendation were to (i) establish independent educational research, (ii) improve a publication record, and (iii) gain additional teaching experience. Notable weaknesses of education-focused postdoctoral training were related to finances, fear of exploitation, and undervaluing of teaching. Moving forward, postdoctoral fellowships and other forms of postgraduate training may represent a key strategy for training anatomists in the current educational climate. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000–000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Switching Schools? A Closer Look at Parents' Initial Interest in and Knowledge About the Choice Provisions of No Child Left Behind

Whether public and private school choice initiatives usher in widespread enrollment changes or whether they cater to a small niche of students critically depends on the decisions that parents make on behalf of their children. Thus far, participation rates in most programs have proved disappointing. This article focuses on parents' knowledge of and interest in the choice provisions under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), for which a miniscule percentage of qualifying students nationwide have enlisted. Drawing from a survey of Massachusetts public school parents completed in the summer of 2003, 18 months after NCLB's enactment, two basic findings emerge. First, although parents claimed to be familiar with NCLB, the vast majority of those who in fact qualified for the act's choice provisions did not know that their child's school was on the state's list of underperforming schools. Second, parents with children in underperforming schools were especially interested in pursuing alternative schooling options. This interest, however, did not derive from pointed dissatisfaction with their current schools, and it was regularly directed toward options that NCLB does not afford-specifically, private schools. An essential point underscores these findings: If advocates of NCLB are to boost participation rates, and if scholars are to accurately predict the likely scope of other kinds of school choice programs, parents require considerably greater attention than they have received up until now.     

Unpacking the Treatment Contrast in the Head Start Impact Study: To What Extent Does Assignment to Treatment Affect Quality of Care?

Attending high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) is associated with higher cognitive and social-emotional skills, especially for children growing up in poverty, but access to high-quality ECCE is limited. This study capitalizes on the random assignment design of the Head Start Impact Study to better understand whether the randomized offer to attend Head Start, a free comprehensive child development program for low-income and at-risk children, raises the quality of ECCE in which children enroll. Multinomial logistic regression was used to isolate the intent-to-treat impacts of random assignment to Head Start on ECCE quality from impacts on enrollment in formal ECCE. Results indicate that children randomly assigned to receive Head Start (treatment), compared to children in the control group, were more likely to enroll in high-quality and, to a lesser extent, low-quality ECCE. Treatment impacts were largest at the high end of the quality distribution, were driven by increased enrollment in Head Start, and differed for 3- and 4-year-olds. These results highlight the important role of Head Start in providing high-quality ECCE for low-income children.     

Knowledge about the Greenhouse Effect and the Effects of the Ozone Layer among Norwegian Pupils Finishing Compulsory Education in 1989, 1993, and 2005—What Now?

The greenhouse effect and the effects of the ozone layer have been in the media and public focus for more than two decades. During the same period, Norwegian compulsory schools have had four national curricula. The two last‐mentioned prescribe explicitly the two topics. Media and public discourse might have been sources of information causing informal learning among pupils. The point of departure for this questionnaire‐based examination of the development of pupils’ knowledge about the greenhouse effect and the effects of the ozone layer from 1989 to 2005 is the changing curricula and formal and informal learning. In 2005 the trends seem to be that more pupils confuse the greenhouse effect with the effects of the ozone layer. At the same time, specific knowledge about the greenhouse effect is improving. This article will discuss some possible causes for these trends, and give some recommendations for teaching the topics in accordance with the last national curriculum implemented in 2006.     

What Are the Effects of Science Lesson Planning in Peers?—Analysis of Attitudes and Knowledge Based on an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

This study focuses on the effects of collaborative lesson planning by science pre-service teachers on their attitudes and knowledge. In our study, 120 pre-service teachers discussed a preparation for a science inquiry lesson in dyads. The teacher with the lesson preparation had the role of the coachee, while the other was the coach. We investigated the following research questions: (1) Does learning occur between the two peers? and (2) Is the competency in lesson planning affected by the attitude and knowledge of coach and coachee? Based on an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), we could clarify the relations of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and attitudes (ATT) between and within the dyads of coach and coachee, as well as their development over time. Furthermore, the APIM allowed the inclusion of a mediator (lesson planning competency). Both PCK and ATT increased slightly but significantly during our project. ATT and PCK seemed to converge between coach and coachee at the end of the project. However, we could not find any cross-lagged effects, meaning there was no effect of coach on coachee or vice versa over time. Further, preceding PCK showed a significant effect on the competency of lesson planning, but planning competency did not influence succeeding PCK or attitude. Finally, these results are discussed with respect to science teacher education.