Cultural conflicts of the child‐centered approach to early childhood education in Taiwan

This paper discusses the cultural conflicts around the Western notion of child‐centeredness in Taiwanese preschools. The implementation and translation of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) in Taiwan is highlighted as an example to understand productions of differences, norms and cultural conflicts in Taiwanese early childhood education. Throughout this paper, it is argued that multiplicities and differences are not acknowledged but instead are dangerously ignored while assumptions are made about a singular norm and homogeneous universal standard. From this perspective, it is asserted that the global circulation of a particular Western notion of child‐centeredness should be (re)conceptualized as a cultural construct through which a particular system of reasoning or cultural knowledge is perpetuated.     

Sensorial experiences and childhood: nineteenth-century care for children with idiocy

Following Foucault’s analysis of expanding psychiatric power, this article addresses the shift from psychiatry into pedagogy in interventions concerning children with mental problems in the nineteenth century. The aims of this article are twofold. First, to answer the question of how the notion of “idiocy” developed in the context of an increasing interest in sensorial experiences in childhood, in relation to both psychopathology and “normalcy”. New research into the early nineteenth-century case of the “wild boy of Aveyron” reveals the importance of care in the first observations of the boy and the connection that was subsequently made with sensorial experiences in childhood and child development. In the wake of the work of Enlightenment alienists such as Pinel and Itard, Edouard Séguin constructed an educational trajectory for children with mental impairments in which, through strict pedagogical guidance, the lack of “will” would be restored by stimulating the senses. The second aim is to examine the case of the first autonomous school for “idiotic” children in The Netherlands. Following the “praxeography” approach, I focus on the interventions by the Reverend Cornelis van Koetsveld, who shaped his “cure by education” through training the senses in children with problems.     

由基础教育课程改革新理念看教师教学行为的转变

在基础教育课程改革中,教师应从正确理解和把握新课程标准所倡导的新理念、新方式出发,树立全新的个性教育意识、课程目标意识、主体意识、情感意识、创造意识和反馈意识,彻底转变教学行为。     

“想”词典义补

词典的解释应力求准确完备。动词“想”的“回忆”义经常使用,但几部主要的字典词典都没有把这个用法作为一个义项列出。本文通过语料考察和义素分析认为,可以把“回忆、记起”作为“想”的义项在词典中列出。     

A conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding

The concept of scaffolding refers to temporary and adaptive support, originally in dyadic adult–child interaction. It has become widely used, also in whole‐class settings, but often in loose ways. The aim of this paper is to theoretically and empirically ground a conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding so that it remains close to the origin of the scaffolding concept, but also provides scope for features not salient in one‐to‐one interaction. Drawing an analogy with Vygotsky's concept of Zone of Proximal Development we argue why the extension to whole‐class settings is justified. We further distinguish three key characteristics for whole‐class scaffolding—diagnosis, responsiveness and handover to independence—and illustrate these with examples from a teaching experiment focusing on whole‐class scaffolding language in a multilingual mathematics classroom (age 10–12). The empirical data led to a metaphorical distinction between online and offline enactment of key characteristics, during respectively outside whole‐class interaction. Diagnoses can namely also be made outside lessons, for instance by reading pupils' work; responsiveness can also be realised in adapting instructional activities; and handover to independence can also be fostered in the design of lessons. In addition to this layered nature (online vs. offline), whole‐class scaffolding is often distributed over time. Finally, whole‐class scaffolding is cumulative with pupils' independence emerging as the cumulative effect of many diagnostic and responsive actions over time. We suggest these three features are at the core of whole‐class scaffolding that is deliberately employed to foster long‐term learning processes.     

介词“对”不同义项的中介语使用情况考察

介引对象成分的“对”有3个义项,它们在中介语中的使用情况各不相同。考察它们的使用频率、正确率以及偏误后发现,不同义项的难度等级和偏误规律不同。在教学中应该把这3个义项分开,并采取循序渐进的方式进行教学,以帮助学生在学习中少出偏误,有效习得。     

高校教务秘书应具有的几种意识

高等学校的教务秘书是一批既担当着秘书工作,又肩负着繁重的教育教学管理职责的高校管理工作者.本文提出了高校教务秘书在主观上应该具有的几种“意识”,阐述了确立这些意识的意义,以及与个人素质的提高、与搞好本职工作之间的必须联系.     

为亲子教育呐喊

本对当前家庭教育进行反思,指出“问题孩子”的问题出在父母身上。阐明进行亲子教育的迫切性。指出亲子教育旨在提高父母素质,转变教育观念,调适亲子关系,说明亲子沟通是亲子教育的切入点。呼吁全社会都来关注亲子教育。     

汉语维度形容词“深”语义系统研究

"深"是描述容器内部垂直维度或水平维度的形容词。"深"的语义特征为:方位性、方向性、内向性、容器图式性、底部难以到达性、非易视性,这些语义特征作为始源域投射到相关的目标域产生了各种隐喻义,空间义和隐喻义之间以及各隐喻义之间相互关联形成了一个完整的语义系统。     

Educational and psychological problems of abused children

The findings of this study tend to confirm the hypothesis that abused children are found to be significantly different from nonabused children in academic achievement, placement in classes for the emotionally disturbed and for the educable mentally retarded. The data also confirm the hypothesis that abused and neglected children are placed in special facilities more frequently than children who have not been adjudged as abused. Further, abused and neglected children were reported to exhibit behaviors indicative of psychological problems. Within each of the dimensions investigated, abused and neglected children were found to have significant problems.In light of the significant differences found in this study, we find substantial support for the projects being supported by the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect designed to involve the schools in the United States in the battle against children abuse and neglect. Especially important is the project of the Education Commission of the States designed to create an awareness among school systems, professional teacher organizations, and state and local legislative governing bodies of their potential in the battle against child abuse and neglect.In light of the loss of human potential as well as the increased costs involved in providing special classes for the abused and neglected child, allocation of resources to involve schools and school personnel as a part of the multidisciplinary team concerned with child abuse and neglect seems well justified. Additionally, the allocation of fiscal resources for research designed to secure data regarding the sequelae of child abuse is also amply justified.     

Conversations with children: making sense of marginalization in primary school settings

This paper engages with the issue of marginalization, in relation to the notion of inclusive education, that might be experienced by children within primary school settings. The discussion draws on understandings gained through an ethnographic study that took place in one primary school in Cyprus, with 227 children enrolled (aged 5 years 8 months to 12 years) over the period of five months. Particular emphasis was given to the idea of listening to children in order to better understand notions of marginalization, and therefore of inclusive education. Hence children’s voices were at the centre of this study and, in particular, they played a significant role in the process of identifying pupils who were possibly experiencing marginalization in the particular school setting. A total of 31 children were identified as possibly experiencing marginalization. Through the process of carrying out the research and analysing the data, marginalization came to be conceptualized in four different ways within a primary school context: when a child is experiencing some kind of marginalization and this is recognized by almost everybody including himself/herself; when a child is feeling that he/she is experiencing marginalization, while most others do not recognize this; when a child is found in what appear to be marginalized situations but does not feel it, or does not view it as marginalization; and, finally, when a child is experiencing marginalization but does not admit it. It is argued that marginalization in school contexts is a complex, multifaceted process, and that educators should take this understanding into account in order to successfully include all children.     

Lucky Belief in Science Education

The conceptualisation of knowledge as justified true belief has been shown to be, at the very least, an incomplete account. One challenge to the justified true belief model arises from the proposition of situations in which a person possesses a belief that is both justified and true which some philosophers intuit should not be classified as knowledge. Though situations of this type have been imagined by a number of writers, they have come to be labelled Gettier cases. Gettier cases arise when a fallible justification happens to lead to a true belief in one context, a case of ‘lucky belief’. In this article, it is argued that students studying science may make claims that resemble Gettier cases. In some contexts, a student may make a claim that is both justified and true but which arises from an alternative conception of a scientific concept. A number of instances of lucky belief in topics in science education are considered leading to an examination of the criteria teachers use to assess students’ claims in different contexts. The possibility of lucky belief leads to the proposal that, in addition to the acquisition of justified true beliefs, the development of reliable belief-forming processes is a significant goal of science education. The pedagogic value of various kinds of claims is considered and, it is argued, the criteria used to judge claims may be adjusted to suit the context of assessment. It is suggested that teachers should be alert to instances of lucky belief that mask alternative conceptions.     

Public perception of child abuse and the need for intervention: Are professionals seen as abusers?

Professionals who make decisions in child abuse cases often deny that their decision-making has a moral basis, claiming that they have a “non-judgmental” attitude, and that they only make decisions in the “interests” of their clients, reaching their conclusions on an assessment of the circumstances. This paper considers the implications of this for practice, and particularly for the ways in which cases are reported to the authorities. The study suggests that the general public are reluctant to report cases to the authorities, or even to suggest that professionals should intervene in an authoritarian way. This may arise from suspicion, often in effect justified, that the child will be removed and placed in an institution. Normally the decision to remove a child from home is taken in two stages: first professionals decide whether a child has been abused or whether he is in acute danger of being so; only if this is so can the second decision be taken, namely whether to remove the child or offer some less drastic form of help. This paper is primarily concerned with the first issue and with forms of abuse which are not in themselves life-threatening. Five types of criteria are considered for determining whether child abuse has taken place and the implications for each for public perception of professionals and for practice. The types are: legal, social norms, professional expertise, client subjectivity and no criteria. All present difficulties and may sometimes be in conflict with one another. The paper argues for standards to be clearer, criteria more available and for a shift of resources from therapy to education.     

Education as the Cultivation of Second Nature: Two Senses of the Given

In philosophy, it is almost a platitude to argue that fact and value intertwine. However, in empirically oriented educational research, it is not. Hence, there is some affinity between logical positivism, which is no longer tenable in philosophy, and empirically based contemporary educational research in terms of assumptions each makes about “the given.” In this essay, Koichiro Misawa casts light on how fact and value intertwine by invoking the notion of “second nature” that John McDowell has reanimated. This will in turn prompt us to see the relation between nature and nurture, as well as between mind and world, quite differently and to discern two senses of “the given”: one is illusory; the other educational. Misawa concludes that the philosophy of education should and can take the lead in forming rigorous interdisciplinary studies of the human future with a certain sensitivity to the tight and complex interweaving between the empirical and the conceptual, or between the factual and the normative.     

论翻译教学中学生翻译意识的培养

目前高校英语专业翻译课程教学普遍忽视对翻译意识培养,指出仅仅传授技能无法满足对翻译人才的需求。认为培养翻译意识,使学生形成终生学习的习惯,才能真正实现翻译教学的目标。探讨了五种翻译教学中应该培养的意识:态度意识、信息传递意识、文化意识、语言意识和译无定本意识。     

Introducing the Concept of Convergence of a Sequence in Secondary School

My purpose in this paper is to present a didactic tool – a set of specially designed problems and questions for discussion – that can help making students better aware of the various aspects of the formal notion of limit of a sequence. The didactic tool will be justified using results from my own and other authors' research on students' naïve or erroneous conceptions of limit of a sequence.     

论大学生独立性、责任感、自尊水平及其培养

积极明确的自我概念、较高的自尊水平以及形成有责任感的独立个性对大学生心理成长与事业发展有着重要的作用与影响,大学生要“成才”,先要“成人”。学校应该结合大学生的学习和生活实际,引导他们在实践中通过参与、体验、分享、感悟逐渐得到提高,最终帮助他们形成正确的自我认识,获得自尊感和价值感,养成其独立性、自主性和责任感。     

论中国传统绘画的继承与发扬

不同时期的绘画章法和变革我们要研究和认知,需要传承的部分则要根据自身感悟来进行一定程度的取舍,对于不同时期的理论主张也应做到探其究、研其因、衡其优、取其精,从传统中汲取营养,在借鉴时剔除糟粕,进而促进中国画的不断发展和创新。     

Patterns of out-of-home placement decision-making in child welfare

Out-of-home placement decision-making in child welfare is founded on the best interest of the child in the least restrictive setting. After a child is removed from home, however, little is known about the mechanism of placement decision-making. This study aims to systematically examine the patterns of out-of-home placement decisions made in a state's child welfare system by comparing two models of placement decision-making: a multidisciplinary team decision-making model and a clinically based decision support algorithm. Based on records of 7816 placement decisions representing 6096 children over a 4-year period, hierarchical log-linear modeling characterized concordance or agreement, and discordance or disagreement when comparing the two models and accounting for age-appropriate placement options. Children aged below 16 had an overall concordance rate of 55.7%, most apparent in the least restrictive (20.4%) and the most restrictive placement (18.4%). Older youth showed greater discordant distributions (62.9%). Log-linear analysis confirmed the overall robustness of concordance (odd ratios [ORs] range: 2.9–442.0), though discordance was most evident from small deviations from the decision support algorithm, such as one-level under-placement in group home (OR = 5.3) and one-level over-placement in residential treatment center (OR = 4.8). Concordance should be further explored using child-level clinical and placement stability outcomes. Discordance might be explained by dynamic factors such as availability of placements, caregiver preferences, or policy changes and could be justified by positive child-level outcomes. Empirical placement decision-making is critical to a child's journey in child welfare and should be continuously improved to effect positive child welfare outcomes.     

Incest: a laughing matter

Although incestuous rape is considered to be the most prevalent and most devastating form of child sexual abuse being reported in the United States, a review of the most popular child sexual abuse prevention programs currently being marketed, purportedly for use with very young children, reveals that none of them explicitly deals with the subject. This lacuna is routinely justified on the grounds that the transmission of detailed conceptual knowledge of sexual violence violates the "innocence" of children, either frightening them or provoking precocious, possibly pathological behavior. The following analysis of the context and content of the Chulupi Indian myth, "The Man You Could Say Nothing To," unmasks this attitude as a cultural bias which permeates child sexual abuse prevention programs. By maintaining the silence which surrounds incest, one potentially becomes part of the problem that one seeks to resolve.