Listening to “The Voices of the Pages”and “Combining the Letters:” Spiritual Practices of Reading and Writing

This article seeks to show that the practices teachers and students engage in—reading, writing, reflection, conversation, teaching, learning—can be spiritually formative. The first part, “Listening to the Voices of the Pages,” explores the monastic approach to reading known as lectio divina, and my own efforts to transpose this ancient method of reading into a twenty-first-century classroom. The second part, “Combining the Letters,” explores the creative power of words to name and bring forth life, and my own efforts to encourage and inspire students to write.     

Evaluations and the Forgetfulness of Pedagogical Relations: Remarks on Educational Authority

In this essay, Christiane Thompson addresses the question of evaluative practices, particularly student evaluation of teaching (SET), and their effects with respect to pedagogical relations in the university setting. In the first part of the essay, Thompson draws on Michel Foucault's analysis of power to show how university teaching has come to be defined according to notions of obligation, accountability, and assurance. The forgetfulness of pedagogical relations that results from the increasing use of SET prompts Thompson to rethink the significance of pedagogical relations in the second part of the essay. Referring to the notion of “educational authority” and Foucault's framework of power, Thompson argues that education is about the continuous re‐institution of pedagogical relation to the other. In the final section, Thompson reflects upon the professor's “authority” in terms of constituting a “community of inquiry”: specifically, the seminar is interpreted as a pedagogical setting that implies a different “being‐with” than SET suggests. She concludes by considering what possibilities and limitations the seminar setting offers and how we can discuss this issue (by means of evaluative practice).     

The Merits of Using “Worldview” in Religious Education

This article aims to argue that worldview is a useful concept in religious education because of its encompassing character. In the first part of the article three essential characteristics of “worldview” are distinguished: “worldview” includes religious and secular views; a distinction between organized and personal worldviews should be made; and existential questions are a necessary part of “worldview.” The second part of the article demonstrates how two articles about Grimmitt's distinction between learning about and from religion benefit from using “worldview” and how the authors can address their points more clearly by using the concept and its three essential characteristics.     

A critique of neo-Hahnian outdoor education theory. Part two: “The fundamental attribution error” in contemporary outdoor education discourse

Abstract

In the first of a two part series of articles I argued that “character building” in outdoor adventure education (OAE) is a flawed concept. This, the second article, examines the persistence of the idea of character building in OAE in the face of strong evidence that outdoor experiences cannot change personal traits. I examine how the “fundamental attribution error” can explain the paradox of (a) a shortage of evidence that adventure education “works” and (b) a widespread belief that it does “work”. I review the place of character building in research, and develop a critical reading of a representative adventure education text. I show how unchallenged dispositionist assumptions emerge in neo-Hahnian discourse. I explain how discarding the intuitively appealing but fallacious foundations of neo-Hahnism can clear the way for situationist approaches to outdoor education that bring much needed sensitivity to cultural, regional, historical, and social contexts.     

Quentin Skinner,intentionality and the history of education

This article attempts to reconsider and re‐evaluate the often misunderstood and mis‐conceptualised notion of “progressivism” within education by examining it through the lens of intentionality, specifically the textual kind prescribed by Quentin Skinner in his seminal work “Visions of Politics” (2002). Locating and explicating his ideas will therefore form the first part of the article. In particular, there will be an examination of his two key analytical concepts, locutionary meaning and illocutionary force, which will act as the methodology for the analysis. The second part of the article will examine how writers of the past have tended to equate the term “progressivism” with “progressive schools”, seeing the concept as floating through time, independent of human agency. There will be a brief discussion on the problems of misconceiving progressivism in this way. To fulfil its chosen aim therefore, the article will use as its focus two contemporaneous educators from the past who have often been seen as fitting into the same, linear progressive tradition: Susan Isaacs and A.S. Neill. The article will demonstrate in its final part, through a Skinnerian examination of one of each of their key texts, how far from fitting into a homogenous progressive discourse Isaacs and Neill were when it came to their intentions and understandings in writing.     

Effects of professional support in school improvement

At a time when much attention is being paid to teachers’ effectiveness, there is little regard for the effectiveness of their professional support. Although professional development facilitators are frequently involved in school improvement projects, little is known about the interventions they should carry out and the effectiveness of these interventions. In this study, five facilitators’ interventions are operationalised. Multilevel regression analyses show, that the intervention “guiding the process” explains a significant part of variance in teachers’ knowledge, attitude and concerns with respect to an innovation and the degree of implementation. The interventions “team training and coaching”, “creating conditions for innovation at school level” and “individual coaching” explain a significant part of variance in teachers’ knowledge with respect to an innovation. In general, it appears that professional development facilitators have considerable influence on teachers’ knowledge and concerns and reasonable influence on teachers’ attitude and the degree of implementation.     

Design for assessment of dissection in anatomy laboratory based on group identification of structures and peer evaluation

Dissection is a unique multisensory educational experience and is essential to learning the anatomical construction of the human and animal bodies. This study aims to introduce a specialized design for the assessment of dissection and to discuss the assessment's attributes. The design was a product of the “assessment drives learning” concept and was developed to motivate students to dissect. Students were awarded “dissection points” based on prior group dissection and identification of structures. Students' perception of the design was examined, and content analysis was performed. The assessment consisted of two parts: the first assigning each student group structures to “pin” on their previously dissected cadavers; the second was a group peer evaluation. The most critical factor for the assessment's success was careful selection of structures assigned to students to pin. The assessment was fit for the purpose, valid, reliable, and had a significant educational impact. Eighty-three percent of students (n = 116) recommended maintaining the assessment design, as they felt it promoted a deep approach to learning as well as teamwork while reducing stress to a minimum. A strong correlation (Spearman's rho = 0.46, P < 0.0001) was present between the high rating of the design and the number of structures learned, as well as, high rating and lower stress level (Spearman's rho = 0.40, P < 0.0001). There was no apparent influence of grades on student perception of the effectiveness of the assessment. This specific design of evaluation could be used as part of anatomy education in veterinary and medical schools.     

A rhetorician's son: His advice to public speakers

J. M. Barrie's 1922 address Courageconstitutes a paradoxical rhetorical text. In his oratorical debut, Barrie offered seniors at St. Andrews poignant and explicit advice concerning life's liminal passages, even as he carefully obfuscated his own identity. This essay offers two readings of the text to illuminate an alternative relationship between text and context in rhetorical criticism. The first interpretation focuses on the obvious textual paradox related to liminality. The second reading moves from the “textual context” to the social and ideological context, and argues that working within the address is the rhetorical form of “the closet.” Recontextualizing Barrie's address from within “the closet,” renders visible a second “invisible context” related to homosexuality, opening a new interpretive doorway for the critic.     

Jean Vigo’s Zéro de conduite and the spaces of revolt

In this article we will contribute to the contemporary theoretical debate about film by considering, from a history-of-education perspective, the film Zéro de conduite by Jean Vigo (1905–1934). This film is classified under the umbrella of “poetic realism”: a product of cinéma de gauche and an avant-gardist, surrealist and anarchist-catalogued film by a film-maker described by many as very talented and creative. The paper is divided into five parts. In the first part we sketch Vigo’s own biography and the social biography of the film. The second section documents the response to the film both at the time of its release and subsequently. In the third section we explore anarchist ideas about education both in theory and practice. In the fourth section we use this understanding to analyse the film. The final section returns to the question of film as an underused resource and the possibilities of bringing new elements into historical practice.     

Banaji,Shakuntala & Buckingham,David (2013) The civic web MIT Press (Cambridge MA & London) isbn 978‐0‐262‐01964‐4 185 pp £20.95 https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/civic‐web

With the sub‐title “Young people, the internet, and civic participation”, The civic web recognises that youngsters are now well along the path to fully and seamlessly integrated offline and online lives. How can we ensure these young people become and remain fully engaged in their wider society and worlds now and throughout their lifetimes? It applies to teachers insofar as “digital media are part of the taken‐for‐granted social and cultural fabric of learning, play, and social communication”. There is some relevance to formal learning technology here, but the recommendation is that you borrow a copy for thought‐provoking “spare‐time” reading. Eric Deeson     

The Development of Simile Comprehension: From Similarity to Scalar Implicature

Similes require two different pragmatic skills: appreciating the intended similarity and deriving a scalar implicature (e.g., “Lucy is like a parrot” normally implies that Lucy is not a parrot), but previous studies overlooked this second skill. In Experiment 1, preschoolers (N = 48; ages 3–5) understood “X is like a Y” as an expression of similarity. In Experiment 2 (N = 99; ages 3–6, 13) and Experiment 3 (N = 201; ages 3–5 and adults), participants received metaphors (“Lucy is a parrot”) or similes (“Lucy is like a parrot”) as clues to select one of three images (a parrot, a girl or a parrot-looking girl). An early developmental trend revealed that 3-year-olds started deriving the implicature “X is not a Y,” whereas 5-year-olds performed like adults.     

III: Torn between Action and Reflection: some dilemmas of ‘pedagogical support persons’ in the Environment and School Initiatives Project

ABSTRACT

In 1990, a group of Slovenian researchers and teachers from eight elementary schools joined the international project Environment and School Initiatives, co‐ordinated by OECD/CERI. This paper presents some dilemmas and insights resulting from the co‐operation of ‘pedagogical support persons’ with teachers during the project, using the action research paradigm which presupposes a partnership relation and mutual learning of all involved. The paper has two parts. The first part deals with the rationale of educational support and with some dilemmas encountered, such as: What is action in action research on environmental education? How to help teachers develop initiative and self‐confidence in doing action research? (avoiding the trap of giving recipes, but also another trap of giving “freedom” where teachers needed genuine help and direct feed‐back on what they were doing). The second part is a case study of one of the Slovenian projects, illustrating the problematic nature of the relationship between action and reflection, between making others understand the underlying complexity of environmental problems and developing one's own deep understanding. The process of maturing and developing genuine communication is illustrated by quotations and interpretations from the perspective of all “three circles’: the pupil's, the teacher's and the support person's. to condemn, but not so easy to understand. I may illustrate this from my experience, but first I shall proceed with my interview.     

论川端康成小说的文化艺术美及影响

川端康成是日本著名的文学家,是日本第一个、亚洲第二个获得诺贝尔文学奖的文学家。从川端康成小说的文化艺术美展开论述,笔者一要重点论述川端康成小说的文化美学风格,分别从川端细腻哀婉的风格、如画的意境、奇妙的色彩三个方面入手,其中,在奇妙的色彩文化部分主要以“红色”和“白色”两个颜色为例;二要在川端康成的表现手法中,主要从意识流手法和新感觉派的表现手法展开论述;三要着眼于川端康成艺术美的主要影响,以中国作家余华为例,从风格和关注题材来论述川端康成对余华的影响。进而揭示了川端文学既具有特殊性、民族性,又具有普遍性和世界性的意义。     

The Problem of Anxiety in Connection with Investigations concerning Children's Conception of War and Peace

Ålvik, T. The problem of anxiety in connection with investigations concerning children's conception of war and peace. Scand. J. Ed. Res. 215‐233, 1968. The present article deals with the problem of whether or not anxiety is provoked in children when they are questioned about their conception of war and peace. The first part of the article is an introductory discussion and a literature survey where several views on this topic are presented. In the second part of the article two methods of registering variations in level of anxiety are presented. The second method, employing a four‐group pretest/posttest design, is considered the more efficient one. In the last part of the article, results obtained in an exploratory study employing the second method are presented and discussed. The conclusion is that questioning children about matters of war and peace does not seem to provoke anxiety on the part of the subjects. Because of the small number of subjects and the ad hoc instrument used, however, the conclusion must be considered a very tentative one.

     

THE USES OF REMINISCENCE IN OLDER ADULTHOOD

Findings from previous research on the benefits of reminiscence and life review in the aging process have been inconclusive. This may be due in part to a lack of clarity with regard to the particular type of reminiscence being investigated. The study reported in this article attempted to bring some clarity to the phenomenon of reminiscence by identifying and differentiating its various uses or functions. A 17‐item Uses of Reminiscence scale was administered to 288 older adults as part of the Georgia Centenarian Study. A factor analysis of the data revealed three distinct uses of reminiscence: “therapeutic,” “informative,” and “enjoyment.” Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Assessment: Comments from the assessment plan review process

The following is reprinted from the December 1992 issue of Briefing (vol. 10, no, 3, p. 8), published by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. North Central's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education approved a “Statement on Assessment and Student Academic Achievement” that in part expressed the expectation that “an institution has and is able to describe a program by which it documents student academic achievement.” After some experience in reviewing campus assessment plans, the panel members offered the following comments on what distinguishes good plans from not-so-good plans.     

《论语·雍也》“虽欲勿（物）用”本字考

《论语·雍也》“虽欲勿用”句中的“勿”字原为“物”。“物”字本义指杀牲牛,引中指杀牲,又引申指供宰杀的牺牲,后来再作引申,泛指万物。《论语》“虽欲物用”原句所用的是“物”的第二次引中义．指供宰杀的牺牲。“勿”本义为屠杀,后来音近假借为否定副词。《论语》在流传中,“物”同声假借为“勿”,后世误将“勿”作本字流传。     

Review Essay: Sustainable Scholarship and the Rhetoric of Medicine

The Preface to Confessions of an English Opium‐Eater constitutes a fine example of what Thomas De Quincey called style in its “ministerial” capacity. He achieved the ends of this style in two ways: first, he adopted a strategy of accommodation and challenge, whereby he accepted the reader's viewpoint only to undermine and replace it with another; second, his “licentious” style rehearsed the reader in the activity requisite to understand the difficult, involved text which followed.     

Progression in learning science balanced forces

This article is linked to the last in its intelligent concern for the purposes of activities (“play”; “building with apparatus”) that can too often become part of the “routine” of a classroom. She starts with her own sensitive observations of what children do in her own classroom and enables us to see the value of structured use of play materials. With our current concerns for science, design and technology teaching in junior and secondary schools, it is, perhaps, a timely reminder of those subjects' starting points.