Technology,learning and instruction: distributed cognition in the secondary English classroom

In this paper, we analyse interactions between secondary students and pre‐service teachers in an online environment in order to understand how their meaning‐making processes embody distributed cognition. We begin by providing a theoretical review of the ways in which literacy learning is distributed across learners, objects, tools, symbols, technologies and the environment in modern English language arts classrooms. This is followed by a case study where we identify how programme values, textual resources and cultural schema function as distributed tools. In traditional schools, with an emphasis on taking standardised tests, the learning environment is designed on the view that learning is a transaction that happens solely ‘inside the head’. Unfortunately, this pushes many students to the margins of classroom engagement and participation. By analysing students' and pre‐service teachers' online discourse, we argue that virtual spaces can facilitate critical dialogue and can act as catalysts for a distributed theory of mind.     

Affect and Meta-Affect in Mathematical Problem Solving: a Representational Perspective

We discuss a research-based theoretical framework based on affect as an internal representational system. Key ideas include the concepts of meta-affect and affective structures, and the constructs of mathematical intimacy and mathematical integrity. We understand these as fundamental to powerful mathematical problem solving, and deserving of closer attention by educators. In a study of elementary school children we characterize some features of emotional states inferred from individual problem solving behavior, including interactions between affect and cognition. We describe our methodology, illustrating theoretical ideas with brief qualitative examples from a longitudinal series of task-based interviews.     

Continuous frequency and phase spectrograms： a study of their 2D and 3D capabilities and application to musical signal analysis

A new lighting and enlargement on phase spectrogram （PS） and frequency spectrogram （FS） is presented in this paper. These representations result from the coupling of power spectrogram and short time Fourier transform （STFT）. The main contribution is the construction of the 3D phase spectrogram （3DPS） and the 3D frequency spectrogram （3DFS）. These new tools allow such specific test signals as small slope linear chirp, phase jump case of musical signal analysis is reported. The main objective is to and small frequency jump to be analyzed. An application detect small frequency and phase variations in order to characterize each type of sound attack without losing the amplitude information given by power spectrogram     

Using blended learning and out-of-school visits: pedagogies for effective science teaching in the twenty-first century

Background: Recent research and curriculum reforms have indicated the need for diversifying teaching approaches by drawing upon student interest and engagement in ways which makes learning science meaningful. Purpose: This study examines the integration of informal/free choice learning which occurred during learning experiences outside school (LEOS) with classroom learning using digital technologies. Specifically, the digital technologies comprised a learning management system (LMS), Moodle, which fits well with students’ lived experiences and their digital world. Design and Method: This study examines three out-of-school visits to Informal Science Institutes (ISI) using a digitally integrated fieldtrip inventory (DIFI) Model. Research questions were analysed using thematic approach emerging along with semi-structured interviews, before, during and after the visit, and assessing students’ learning experiences. Data comprised photographs, field notes, and unobtrusive observations of the classroom, wiki postings, student work books and teacher planning diaries. Results: We argue, that pre- and post-visit planning using the DIFI Model is more likely to engage learners, and the use of a digital learning platform was even more likely to encourage collaborative learning. The conclusion can also be drawn that students’ level of motivation for collaborative learning positively correlates with their improvement in academic achievement.     

Connectionism and learning to read: Steps towards a psychologically plausible model

We consider the prospects and need for a psychologically plausible connectionist model of the development of word recognition skills. We present an outline of the Seidenberg and McClelland (1989) distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming. We emphasize certain incompatibilities between this model and the assumptions underlying it and psychological evidence from studies of children learning to read. In particular, we emphasize the importance of phonological skills as precursors and facilitators of learning to read. We argue that it may be possible to develop a connectionist model of the development of word recognition skills which, by having a built in knowledge of phonology, will be more consistent with evidence from studies of both normal and dyslexic children.     

Comparison of brain activation during norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced feedback: The role of perceived competence and performance-approach goals

The patterns of brain activation during norm-referenced and criterion-referenced feedback were compared, using the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty-two healthy right-handed individuals performed a series of perceptual judgment tasks while their brain activity was recorded. The participants responded to a performance-approach goal survey and performed practice trials prior to scanning, during which their perceived competence toward the novel task was manipulated with bogus performance information. During scanning, the participants received either norm-referenced or criterion-referenced feedback after each performance. The brain regions associated with negative affect including the posterior cingulate cortex, the medial frontal gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobule were recruited during norm-referenced feedback only among the low-competence participants. In contrast, significant activation was observed in the identical cortical areas involved in negative affect during criterion-referenced feedback only among the high-competence participants. Regardless of the level of perceived competence, performance-approach goal scores correlated positively with activation in the brain areas implicated in the negative emotion during norm-referenced feedback. The present findings provide insight into the potential costs and benefits of normative assessment.     

Writing together for academic publication as a youth-adult PAR team: moving from distance and distaste towards transformative engagement

While participatory action research’s (PAR) democratic and social justice principles promote team member involvement across the research, collaborative team writing for publication is not standard practice. Peer-reviewed publications are predominately written by academic team member(s), and may include varied but often limited, co-authorship from youth, teachers and/or community team members. Drawing from narrative approaches, this paper narrates a youth-adult PAR team’s movement from a sense of distance and distaste towards academic writing to experiencing writing for publication as a process of transformative team engagement. In doing so, this account offers a story of possibility and agency for teams considering this facet of democratic youth-adult PAR team work.     

Good teachers on dangerous ground: towards a new view of teacher quality and professionalism

Ideas about what makes a good teacher are important in thinking about educational reform, and have come into focus recently. These ideas are contested and open to change. The first part of this paper traces models of the good teacher in Australia from the colonial-era good servant, through an ideal of the autonomous scholar-teacher, to contemporary lists of teacher competencies. The second part looks more closely at the incoherent but insistent way the good teacher is now defined under neoliberal governance by teacher registration authorities. The third part of the paper makes proposals for a new understanding of good teachers: based on understanding the labour process and occupational dynamics of teaching, the intellectual structure of Education studies, and the overall logic of education itself.     

Theory of mind in children with severe speech and physical impairment (SSPI): a longitudinal study

Six children with cerebral palsy and severe speech impairment took part in a two‐phase longitudinal study of development of social cognition. The children ranged in age from 5 to 7 years old at data collection time 1 and from nine to 11 years old at data collection time 2. Using a model of normal development of Theory of Mind (ToM) suggested by Gopnik and Slaughter (1991), the children were tested on a number of tasks requiring (ToM). The findings suggest that the children with speech impairment follow a normal pattern of development, but with a severe delay compared with children without disability. The results are discussed in relation to problems in early social and communicative experience for the group of children with cerebral palsy and severe speech impairment.