Correlates of sex-related differences in logical reasoning

The study utilized a post-test-only, no-control experimental design to investigate the influence of sex-related contextual nature of tasks and perceived difficulty of these tasks on logical reasoning among 70 randomly selected high schools pupils (35 boys and 35 girls) in Nigeria. Three categories of tasks were used-those whose context were male related, those whose context were female related, and those that were relatively content-free. Results of the study show that males scored higher than females on male-related tasks and females scored higher on female-related tasks. No significant difference, however, was observed on the relatively content-free tasks. The need to design problems and tasks that are relatively nonsex-related is discussed.     

How logical reasoning mediates the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension

The present study aimed to examine the role of logical reasoning in the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension in 146 fourth grade Dutch children. We assessed their standardized reading comprehension measure, along with their decoding efficiency and vocabulary as measures of lexical quality, syllogistic reasoning as measure of (verbal) logical reasoning, and nonverbal reasoning as a control measure. Syllogistic reasoning was divided into a measure tapping basic, coherence inferencing skill using logical syllogisms, and a measure tapping elaborative inferencing skill using indeterminate syllogisms. Results showed that both types of syllogisms partly mediated the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension, but also had a unique additional effect on reading comprehension. The indirect effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension via syllogisms was driven by vocabulary knowledge. It is concluded that measures of syllogistic reasoning account for higher-order thinking processes that are needed to make inferences in reading comprehension. The role of lexical quality appears to be pivotal in explaining the variation in reading comprehension both directly and indirectly via syllogistic reasoning.     

浅谈《大希庇阿斯篇》逻辑推理的特点

柏拉图在《大希庇阿斯篇》和希庇阿斯的对话探讨了"美是什么"的问题。现以这个问题的讨论过程为线索,分析苏格拉底在这个问题探讨过程中逻辑推理的特点。     

Teaching argumentative synthesis writing through deliberative dialogues: instructional practices in secondary education

Instructional Science - Dialogical argumentation practice contributes positively to argumentative writing skills. Specifically, deliberative dialogues are effective in promoting argument and...     

Teaching to write collaborative argumentative syntheses in higher education

Reading and Writing - Writing argumentative syntheses based on multiple sources implies integrating ideas from different, often conflicting, positions. This can promote more constructive learning,...     

议论文写作教学策略之“活用”

议论文写作在我国的语文教学中扮演者极为重要的角色,它不仅仅能够让学生们在日积月累的写作过程中,不断锻炼自己的抽象逻辑思维能力和思辨能力,还可以让学生的议论能力得到大幅度的提高。但是,从我国学生整体的写作水平来看,学生们在议论文写作上仍旧令人堪忧,无论是学生自身的写作能力还是对议论文写作的态度都存在着严重的问题。本文从我国当前议论文写作教学的现状入手,深入分析了造成议论文写作现状的原因,从而对如何加强学生在议论文写作过程中"活用"能力提出了相关建议,希望能为我国的议论文写作教学起到一定指导作用。     

Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving

With an increased emphasis on problem solving and problem-based learning in the instructional design field, new methods for task analysis and models for designing instruction are needed. An important methodology for both entails the elicitation, analysis, and inclusion of stories as a primary form of instructional support while learning to solve problems. Stories are the most natural and powerful formalism for storing and describing experiential knowledge that is essential to problem solving. The rationale and means for analyzing, organizing, and presenting stories to support problem solving are defined by case-based reasoning. Problems are solved by retrieving similar past experiences in the form of stories and applying the lessons learned from those stories to the new problems. In this paper, after justifying the use of stories as instructional supports, we describe methods for eliciting, indexing, and making stories available as instructional support for learning to solve problems.     

Children's reasoning about social, physical, and logical regularities: a look at two worlds

In 2 studies, 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children were interviewed about 3 different types of regularities or rules: social conventions, physical laws, and logical necessities. In the first study, children were asked if regularities could be changed (by consensus) and/or be different in another world. In the second study, children were asked if regularities could be different in another country (on Earth) or on a different planet. Results showed that social regularities were distinguished from the other types, but physical and logical regularities were treated similarly. While the evidence for age differences was equivocal, it was clear that even first graders did not judge physical items as alterable on Earth. This fails to replicate a previously reported finding that children pass through a stage where all items are seen as alterable. Finally, a sex difference emerged, with boys more willing to judge physical and logical regularities to be alterable in another world.     

浅谈视觉设计中的设计形式

设计形式的目的是使版面更具有个性,具有强烈的形式美感并且条理非常清晰,主次比较的分明,主题很突出,他们之间更具逻辑性,达到最佳的视觉效果,又符合审美原则,这就需要用整体思路把握形式设计的各个环节。平面设计中通过视觉对比,可以加强版面个性,使之生动活泼,但要注意版面整体感的把握。而元素之间的协调与统一,可令版面视觉化、简洁化,避免了突兀、不统一。元素的层次感易于使版面统一,手法的简洁则易于整体的表达,相反,形式的变化多样性易于获得生动,也易于失去整体平衡。"整体统一"和"个性生动"两种概念存在着一定的矛盾关系。所以整体感要顾及对比和协调的关系,以确保视觉集中,流程清晰、形式统一、主次分明、个性生动等,在整体中求变化,在变化中求统一,使设计有统一的感觉又有不同的感觉、主题突出,并具有强烈的形式感。     

Which notion of implication is the right one? From logical considerations to a didactic perspective

Implication is at the very heart of mathematical reasoning. As many authors have shown, pupils and students experience serious difficulties in using it in a suitable manner. In this paper, we support the thesis that these difficulties are closely related with the complexity of this notion. In order to study this complexity,we refer to Tarski's semantic truth theory,which contributes to clarifying the different aspects of implication: propositional connective, logically valid conditional, generalized conditional,inference rules. We will show that for this purpose, it is necessary to extend the classical definition of implication as a relation between propositions to a relation between open sentences with at least one free variable. This permits to become aware of the fact that, in some cases, the truth-value of a given mathematical statement is not constrained by the situation, contrary to the common standpoint that, in mathematics, a statement is either true or false. In the present paper, the didactic relevance of this theoretical stance will be illustrated by an analysis of two problematic situations and the presentation of some experimental results from our research on first-year university students' understanding of implication. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Conveying clinical reasoning based on visual observation via eye-movement modelling examples

Complex perceptual tasks, like clinical reasoning based on visual observations of patients, require not only conceptual knowledge about diagnostic classes but also the skills to visually search for symptoms and interpret these observations. However, medical education so far has focused very little on how visual observation skills can be efficiently conveyed to novices. The current study applied a novel instructional method to teach these skills by showing the learners how an expert model visually searches and interprets symptoms (i.e., eye-movement modelling examples; EMMEs). Case videos of patients were verbally explained by a model (control condition) and presented to students. In the experimental conditions, the participants received a recording of the model’s eye movements superimposed on the case videos. The eye movements were displayed by either highlighting the features the model focused on with a circle (the circle condition) or by blurring the features the model did not focus on (the spotlight condition). Compared to the other two conditions, results show that a spotlight on the case videos better guides the students’ attention towards the relevant features. Moreover, when testing the students’ clinical reasoning skills with videos of new patient cases without any guidance, participants studying EMMEs with a spotlight showed improved their visual search and enhanced interpretation performance of the symptoms in contrast to participants in either the circle or the control condition. These findings show that a spotlight EMME can successfully convey clinical reasoning based on visual observations.     

从文化史规律看经典文化教育之必要

教育的使命在于化的传承和化的创造，同时也在于个人的成长和发展。教育的根本目的在于“大人”的造就。化可以从总体上分为三个层次：风俗化、普通化、经典化。不能简单以发展进步和代替的观点处理古今化的关系。在历史的时间中产生的化应当构成现代化现实的空间结构。经典性的、较难的化可以包含非经典的、较易的化。非经典的、较易的化则难以包含较难的、经典的化，故教育应从较难的经典化着手才最经济。     

Engaging students in learning science through promoting creative reasoning

ABSTRACT

Student engagement in learning science is both a desirable goal and a long-standing teacher challenge. Moving beyond engagement understood as transient topic interest, we argue that cognitive engagement entails sustained interaction in the processes of how knowledge claims are generated, judged, and shared in this subject. In this paper, we particularly focus on the initial claim-building aspect of this reasoning as a crucial phase in student engagement. In reviewing the literature on student reasoning and argumentation, we note that the well-established frameworks for claim-judging are not matched by accounts of creative reasoning in claim-building. We develop an exploratory framework to characterise and enact this reasoning to enhance engagement. We then apply this framework to interpret two lessons by two science teachers where they aimed to develop students’ reasoning capabilities to support learning.     

基于事例推理的夹具设计研究与应用

根据基于事例的设计方法,提出采用工序件的特征信息和夹具的结构特征信息来描述夹具的相似性,并建立了包括这2方面主要特征信息为基础的事例索引码,设计了事例库的结构形式,创建了层次化的事例组织方式;同时,提出了基于知识引导的夹具事例检索算法,以及事例的修改和采用同族事例码进行相似事例的存贮,形成了基于事例推理的夹具设计.所开发的原型系统在型号工程夹具设计等项目的设计过程中得到了应用,并取得了令人满意的使用效果.