Social Implications of the Opportunities for Romanian Higher Education in the New World Order∗

An overview is given of the course of development and the social role of higher education in Romania since the revolution of December 1989. The pros and cons of private higher education institutions are presented with the added note that the existence of these institutions saves money for the Romanian state and subsidizes the salaries of professors teaching in the state institutions. Suggestions are made as to how to improve the teaching/learning environment both for students and for teachers, and a plea is made that higher education in Romania, both public and private, avoid becoming overly market‐oriented. Rather, higher education should contribute to the remaking of civil society.

     

Educating for the “Real World”: The Hidden Curriculum of Community Service-Learning

This study draws on interviews with community supervisors partnered with high school students and presents their perspectives on service-learning and youth. The results show that there was a hidden curriculum being played out at community sites that was in part facilitated by community agency supervisors who actively engaged in mediating, mentoring, and structuring the service-learning experiences of students. Agency supervisors' decisions about the curricular experiences of students had a significant impact on the social justice aims and intentions of the projects designed by the teachers. Consequently, it is crucial for schools and teachers to take into consideration the community supervisors' perspectives and interpretations of social justice and invite them into a collaborative partnership throughout the process of structuring service-learning experiences.     

Attributes of Affective E-learning Behavior： Emerging Issues Beyond Teaching and Learning

Many studies have focused on factors affecting e-learning and its effectiveness by comparing e-learning with face-to-face traditional classes. This study, however, aspires to contribute to the literature by exploring factors that contribute to student success in the e-learning environment. This study tested the assumption that a student＇s success in e-learning is a function of the specificities that are linked to this pedagogical model. It further postulated that these attributes are outcomes of an affective learning behavior. Data for this study were collected from a random sample of 486 respondents （close to 10% of the total student population） in a small university. The empirical data helped map out the hierarchy of the attributes that contribute to the development and experiences with e-learning. This study further provided suggestions to improve the areas that seem essential for a successful e-learning environment.     

Teachers’ and Pupils’ Perceptions of Technology and the Implications for Curriculum

The recent explicit inclusion of technology into the science component of the school curriculum in Western Australia necessitates changes in both curriculum materials and the nature of classroom teaching. This paper reports an investigation of the perceptions of technology of senior teachers who are heads of the science department in their schools, and relates these perceptions with those of a sample of 13‐year‐old pupils in this state. The investigation reveals that many teachers have a restricted view of technology which may be interpreted as a view that technology is dependent upon science. Such a view may neglect the historical aspects and societal influences on science and technology. Further, the available evidence indicates that local pupils have a low level of awareness of technology. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for curriculum change and suggests a starting point for achieving a successful balance in the teaching of technology, science and society issues in the classroom.     

How to Improve the Effectiveness of Teaching Writing under the New Curriculum?

The requirements of "Curriculum standards" for high school students to write have greatly improved than ever. Thus,in high school,teachers should seriously study teaching materials and "curriculum standards" and pay attention to the importance of English writing instruction,guide and organize students to do English writing to train and improve students’ writing skills and to improve their writing instruction effectiveness.     

Quantitative and Rational Research for the Sense Quantum ——Research of the Order Factors for Color Harmony Aesthetic

1　Introduction　Colorharmonyisanimportantwaynotonlyinachievingaestheticmeasureofcolorcompositions ,butalsoincreatingmessagecontextforcolorcompositionpurposes.Themoderncolorharmonytheorydealswithcolordesignproblemsinindustrialproductswithquantitativeandrationalengineeringmethods ,whichisnecessaryintothedevelopmentofproductivity .Thestudyofcolorharmonyaestheticmeasureisnotonlyapsychologicalsubjectbutalsoanengineeringsubject.Withthedevelopmentofproductivity ,therequirementofproductdesigngoesbeyo…     

Anti‐racism and the ‘New’ South African Educational Order

This article traces the desegregation of South African schools, particularly within the Gauteng region, from 1990 to 1996. It argues that there is a discernible shift from ‘race’ to ethnicity in the educational discourses of South Africa and that at school level the response to ethnicity has been predominantly assimilationist. Attempts to move towards a more multicultural way of operating are affected by conceptions of identity as stereotyped, homogenised and generalised, leading to ‘bad’ multicultural approaches being adopted. Simultaneously, within official enunciations at national level, a consistent anti‐racist stance is emphasised in order to ‘redress’ apartheid's legacies. I argue that such initiatives are limited due to their structurally functionalist underpinnings and their failure to address the complexity of identities contained within the classifications of ‘black’ and ‘white’. I argue that, on both the macro and the micro level, questions of identity and difference are central in developing a school (and societal) environment that is not only free from racism, but other forms of discrimination too.     

Replication and Pedagogy in the History of Psychology V: The Metronome and Wilhelm Wundt’s Search for the Components of Consciousness

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) believed that consciousness was represented by the interconnection of psychical processes comprised of temporal elements and compounds. To explore these processes, Wundt used a metronome to measure the amount of information that passed into consciousness across time. The current project replicated some of his procedures, to better understand the role of introspection and the complexity of the metronome task for experimenters and observers. The results of the replication were mixed, but the replication helped provide insights into Wundt’s procedures and their relationship to his theories. This study originated as a class assignment in the Spring of 2004 (see Tweney, this issue).

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The New Curriculum for the Teaching of English——With Which Dialectical Knowledge in Education Is Raised

The paper ,with a theory of Action Research and especially dialectical knowledge, gives a brief analysis and disussion of the New English Standard Syllabus(aim called the New Curriculum) and also points out the difference between the New Curriculum and the traditional syllabus of the basic English course. It is also theoretically and practically designed with some excellent suggestions on how to study the New Curriculum and make good use of English teaching.     

Charles Peirce’s Rhetoric and the Pedagogy of Active Learning

Abstract

Although John Dewey has had the most profound effect on education, less is known about the philosophy of education of the original founder of pragmatism, Charles Peirce Using Peirce’s theory of formal rhetoric, I try to show that Peirce’s philosophy of education, when fully understood, is aligned with Dewey’s pedagogy of experiential learning, and can provide a justification for the promotion of active learning in the classroom. Peirce’s rhetoric, as one part of his logical or semiotic theory, argues that reasoning alone is not sufficient to gain knowledge, but that it must be embedded within a community of inquiry, of a certain sort. Applying this to the classroom, I argue that we, as teachers, should endeavor to create the features of a proper community of inquiry in the classroom, one that emphasizes engagement of the students in doing research rather than passively receiving information about its results.     

Just Another Tool? IT Pedagogy and the Commodification of Education

This article investigates the social relations being produced through the incorporation of information technology (IT) into educational practices. Drawing upon field research with the Los Angeles public school system, the article analyzes social relations in three technology classrooms, discusses gender and ethnic inequalities with technology, and documents the kinds of educational technology programs that teachers and administrators find valuable. Rather than IT being an apolitical tool, these examples illustrate how technologies operate within larger ideological systems, linking students and public institutions intimately with globalization processes of privatization and commodification. In conclusion, an alternative framework for technology pedagogy is introduced, one that confronts the politics of technology by perceiving information technologies as social media rather than simple tools.Torin Monahan is the author of the forthcoming book Globalization, Technological Change, and Public Education (Routledge, 2005). He is Assistant Professor of Justice & Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. With training in the .eld of science and technology studies (STS), his scholarly research focuses on the design of information technology infrastructures and their associated political and social rami.cations. He conducts ethnographic research on telecommunication networks in schools, surveillance and biometrics systems in public places, and the techno-spatial transformation of cities. Address correspondence to Torin Monahan, Arizona State University, School of Justice & Social Inquiry; e-mail: torin.monahan@asu.edu.