Competency-based curriculum development: An experimental model for social service workers

The call for relevance in higher education has opened the doorway from the classroom to the community. Creative methods to provide viable academic exercises within this context are being sought by increasing numbers of faculty and administrators. Competency-based curriculum development is one method being proposed as having strong potential. This article describes a competency design and documentation process that was developed during a one-year research and demonstration program for social service workers. The process was found to provide greater accountability for learning situations that link theory and fieldwork. It was also found to revitalize dialogue between field professionals and academic faculty, with students as active participants.George C. Burrill received his Ph.D. from the Union Graduate School (Yellow Springs, Ohio).     

基于学习小组的"学生讲授模式"探索

信息化社会中的“教学”不再单纯是知识和技能的传授活动,而应该是指导学习者面对社会,实现自我全面发展的过程。应用教学设计理论和建构主义教学理论,我们设计了一种教学模式,即“学生讲授模式”。     

The social construction of learning disabilities

Underpinning the technical gaze that dominates learning disabilities theory and practice is the assumption that learning disabilities are a pathology that resides in the heads of individual students, with the corollary that remedial efforts also focus on what goes on in the heads of students classified as learning disabled. This article begins with a critique of the ideology of individualism that situates individual success and failure in the heads of individuals as a means of introducing an alternative perspective--social constructivism--that locates learning and learning problems in the context of human relations and activity. Extended examples are used to illustrate how the performative aspects of learning disabilities emerge in the context of human relationships. The primary argument developed here is that one cannot be learning disabled on one's own. It takes a complex system of interactions performed in just the right way, at the right time, on the stage we call school to make a learning disability. The article concludes with a brief consideration of the instructional implications of a social constructivist stance.     

A Study of Students' Focal Awareness when Studying Science Stories Designed for Fostering Understanding of the Nature of Science

Using Marton's theory of the structure of awareness as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the aspects that students discerned and brought into their focal awareness while they studied four science stories in an instruction designed for fostering understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The data showed that when students studied the stories many focused only on one or two aspects, from among a range, presented in the stories. Further, the aspects of the stories in the students' focal awareness were closely linked to the views of NOS that they developed subsequent to the instruction. Students who focused on certain appropriate aspects acquired adequate views of NOS while those who focused on other aspects acquired inadequate views of NOS. The theory therefore offers a viable explanation for why students often construct idiosyncratic meanings from learning experiences that differ from those intended – by attributing it to students attending to certain aspects rather than others. However, the data also show that students' prior conceptions strongly influence their construction of meanings from the learning experiences. The complementarity of the theory of the structure of awareness and the constructivist view of learning are considered. Implications for classroom practices are discussed.     

网络环境中基于个人知识管理的自主学习的探讨

随着建构主义学习理论的发展,人们对自主学习的呼声越来越高。而网络环境的普及,使越来越多的学习者融入到网络化的学习环境中。本文从自主学习的本质和内涵出发,探究了网络环境下适合学生自主学习的有利条件和不利条件,并在此基础上引入了知识管理的概念,从知识管理的角度出发构建了网络环境中的个人自主学习模型,确保了网络环境中个人自主学习的有效性。     

Short Cuts and Extended Techniques: Rethinking relations between technology and educational theory

Building upon a recent call to renew actor-network theory (ANT) for educational research, this article reconsiders relations between technology and educational theory. Taking cues from actor-network theorists, this discussion considers the technologically-mediated networks in which learning actors are situated, acted upon, and acting, and traces the novel positions of creative capacity and participation that emerging media may enable. Whereas traditional theories of educational technology tend to focus on the harmonization of new technologies with extant curricular goals and educational practices, an educational theory of technology looks to novel forms of technologically-mediated learning experience—from production pedagogies to role play in the virtual—to make visible the surprising relations, techniques, and opportunities that emerging media, and their attendant social contexts, may offer educational research.     

我国行政组织的变革与创新——基于知识管理理论的视角

作为一种行之有效的管理工具,知识管理在全球化和信息技术急速发展的前提下应运而生,作为一种理论,知识管理理论也为进行深入全面的行政组织变革和创新提供了新的有效的思路。基于知识管理理论视角,我国行政组织在学习能力、人力资源管理、知识管理体系、信息化水平等方面存在一定的问题,传统行政文化、科层制弊端、资金投入不足及失衡、公务员整体素质等的影响和制约构成了问题产生的原因,因此,建立扁平化的行政组织、创建学习型行政组织、加强我国行政组织电子政务建设、完善我国行政组织知识管理体系等即成为我国行政组织变革和创新的可行路径。     

Current Status of Research in Teaching and Learning Evolution: II. Pedagogical Issues

This is the second of two articles that address recent scholarship about teaching and learning about evolution. This second review seeks to summarize this state of affairs and address the implications of this work for the classroom by addressing four basic questions: (1) What is evolution?/What components of the theory are important at the introductory level? (2) Why do students and members of the public at large need to understand evolution? (3) What makes evolution difficult to teach and learn? and (4) What promising instructional approaches have been developed and tested? The paper will also focus on concerns about both the research designs and the measures used in this work. Based on this review, I will then propose a set of pedagogical implications and recommendations for the classroom instructor and call for studies to address specific gaps identified.     

学习理论的发展与学习创新

自古以来,关于知识的来源及其获取的方法,一直存在着经验论与唯理论之争,这些争论后来成为20世纪学习理论两大流派——行为主义和认知主义的哲学基础。建构主义是学习理论从行为主义发展到认知主义以后的进一步发展,它为当今时代学习创新提供了许多有益的启示:在学习目标上,变知识传输为知识建构;在学习方式上,倡导自主、探究、合作学习和情境学习;与此相适应,在教学上,也要从知识传授向全面促进学生的学习转变。     

创建高职学习型辅导员队伍的设想

学习型组织理论是20世纪90年代以来,在管理理论与实践中发展起来的一种新的管理理念。运用这一理念,创建学习型辅导员队伍,对新形势下学生思想政治工作的创新具有重大的现实意义。学习型辅导员队伍应具有先进的教育理念,倡导自我超越,注重学习,形成共同愿望并强调系统思考。创建学习型辅导员队伍,必须营造人人、时时、处处学习的组织氛围,构建各种性质的学习组织,建立健全学习的激励和保障制度,创新学习方式,并逐步形成自主管理的运行机制。     

A Piagetian-Based Programme for Learning “Elements and Symbols”

Piaget's learning theory on cognitive development has had considerable impact on science education (Piaget, 1964; Inhelder and Piaget, 1958; Craig, 1972). The theory classifies cognitive learning into four successive stages: (a) sensory-motor, (b) pre-operational, (c) operational, and (d) formal. Various programmes and instructional strategies have been developed based on the theory (Batt, 1980; Karplus, 1977; Renner and Stafford, 1979; Ryan, et al., 1980; Herron, 1978; Good et al; 1978). An application of this theory for teaching and learning scientific concepts is the Piagetian learning cycle (Karplus, 1977) which is of growing interest among science educators. This article intends to introduce briefly the learning cycle in general and suggest a learning cycle for teaching a topic in chemistry: “Elements and Symbols”.     

建构主义学习理论在初中化学教学中的应用

先进的教育理念是随着教育工作的具体实践,并结合原有的教育理论,不断产生和发展的。在新的教育背景下,教师应该转变自身的教学方式,学生的学习应当是自主建构的过程,而不仅仅是理解与接受教师所讲知识的过程。建构主义学习理论的应用对教师认识到学生学习方式的转变与学生自身的学习需要有非常大的帮助,教师应当在该理论的指导下完善自身的教学设计,本文主要对此进行简要分析。     

An overview of the history of learning theory

This article is an account of the history of learning theory as the author has come to know and interpret it by dealing with this subject for almost half a century during which he has also himself gradually developed the broad understanding of human learning which is presented in his wellknown books on “How We Learn” and a lot of other books and writings.     

‘We were expected to be equal’: teachers and academics sharing professional learning through practitioner inquiry

This paper describes a process in which early childhood professionals, who were novice researchers, engaged in their own research projects in collaboration with academics through a practitioner inquiry group. The aim of the project was to introduce the concepts and practices of practitioner enquiry, and learn about, plan and implement a self-initiated change project in consultation with academics. The paper details how a group of teachers succeeded in sustaining a community of practice that promoted teacher professionalism and change. Research has previously called for a shift in professional habitus and raised concerns about the value of teacher learning groups, the dispositions of teachers to call on academic research, and by implication, the desire to work actively with academics. Here we draw upon empirical data to raise the hope that the enablement and dissemination of collaborative change-focused research projects, while challenging, may provide viable avenues for successful teacher change.     

Psycho-physical theatre practice as embodied learning for young people with learning disabilities

In a dominant Western tradition that reveres cerebral learning, embodied learning approaches have received limited research attention – and less in education than other disciplines. This paper draws on previously reported empirical data from a five-year Creative Partnerships study to argue that psycho-physical theatre practice can promote embodied cognition, has particular value for young people with learning disabilities in special schools and has potential for inclusive education in mainstream schools. The paper describes a psycho-physical actor training process developed with, and for, actors with learning disabilities. Its application within special educational contexts, which we call ‘mimetics’, has focused more keenly upon physicalised interaction as the core communication. In this form of communication, reading, interpreting and responding to the individuality of others happen through the development of non-verbal dialogue. This focus has illuminated the importance of an intuited or ‘felt’ understanding which is generated by and recognises such communications. In special education settings, being different is inherent, and physicalised interaction more routine, so ways of working different from the mainstream are required. The paper suggests that such settings are rich sites for research to develop, value and recognise the significance of embodied cognition and realise its potential for special and inclusive education.     

Applying activity theory to computer-supported collaborative learning and work-based activities in corporate settings

Business needs in many corporations call for learning outcomes that involve problem solutions, and creating and sharing new knowledge within worksplace situation that may involve collaboration among members of a team. We argue that work-based activities (WBA) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) are appropriate components for courses in such learning situations. Via this approach, collaborative work situations become the core of a course. We further describe how activity theory can provide a framework for the design of courses that involve WBA and CSCL as part of a workplace-oriented activity system for learning. The use of this design approach for courses offered by the Learning and Leadership Development organization of Shell International Exploration and Production is described and an example is elaborated. Finally, we identify four main issues and challenges that arose during the use of the design approach.     

Fostering transformative learning in non-formal settings: Farmer-Field Schools in East Africa

The purpose of this study was to explore the practice of Farmer-Field Schools (FFS) theoretically framed from the perspective of transformative learning theory and non-formal education (NFE). Farmer-Field Schools are community-led NFE programs that provide a platform where farmers meet regularly to study the ‘how and why’ of farming and engage in an instrumental and experiential learning process imbued with local knowledge expressed through song, dance and theatre. Through a qualitative design using multiple interviews and observations of the Luhya ethnic group in Western Kenya, involving participants of several FFS programs, the study revealed an intricate picture of fostering transformative learning within the context of NFE, where findings call into question some long-held assumptions about both.     

Pulled Up Short: Challenging Self-Understanding as a Focus of Teaching and Learning

Much light has been shed on important features of teaching and learning by Alasdair MacIntyre's writings. Yet there are experiences that are crucial to teaching and learning that are unaddressed in MacIntyre's arguments; experiences that reveal education as a distinctive kind of practice. This paper examines one kind of such experience: an experience I call 'being pulled up short'. Drawing on the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Gerald L. Bruns, I analyse an example of teaching King Lear to argue that being pulled up short is a unique experience of disorientation that cannot be taught merely by pedagogical skill, including the modern tools and approaches provided by constructivist learning theory and meta-cognition. The paper concludes by identifying challenges that being pulled up short poses for the education of disposition, and for the aims and activities of teaching.     

基于多元智能理论的大学英语泛读作业设计研究

当前大学英语泛读作业存在许多问题,不能有效地促进英语学习。多元智能理论认为每个学生都有自己的优势智能领域,有自己的学习类型和方法。通过两次实验证明以多元智能理论为基础,对大学英语泛读作业进行设计和研究,可以充分发挥学生的潜能,达到较好的英语学习效果。     

Using action research and action learning for entrepreneurial network capability development

This paper applies an action research (AR) design and action learning (AL) approach to network capability development in an entrepreneurial context. Recent research suggests that networks are a viable strategy for the entrepreneurial firm to overcome the liabilities associated with newness and smallness. However, a gap emerges as few, if any, studies have examined the process and challenges in developing and using network capability to generate advantage through collaboration with network actors. In recognising that capabilities are developed rather than acquired, this paper address this theoretical gap and contributes to literature by tracing the development of network capability in an entrepreneurial context. A further contribution of the paper is in applying an AR design and AL sets as a method for capability development for the entrepreneurial firm. Findings suggest that, although network capability is of use, to develop the ability to use it requires a change in the market making perceptions of the entrepreneur from an independence mind-set to a more collaborative, interdependent one. Our research also supports the applicability of AL as an intervention strategy to promote action and learning among entrepreneurs for capability development, fitting the learning preferences of the nascent venture. For practitioners, evolving towards an interdependent mind-set facilitates network capability use and has the potential to relieve some of the resource pressure on entrepreneurs by providing them with strategic routes through their existing and potential network ties. For the entrepreneurship literature, a benefit stemming from this study is in introducing AR in its design and AL sets as an invention strategy in addition to developing theory in relation to network capability development.