The origins and aims of Epistemics

This is the first of two articles describing the nature and historical development of the author's work on Epistemics. The author originally conceived Epistemics as the science of the structure and transmission of human knowledge, but this conception was later elaborated to enable separate emphasis to be given to the human and instrumental aspects of knowledge transmission. Part I of the paper relates the concerns of Epistemics to Instructional Science. Part II of the paper relates Epistemics to insight deriving from the Brain Sciences.     

Plowden aims

This article focuses primarily on the challenges of one multicultural classroom. The underlying intentions of the exercise are, however, somewhat wider than this may suggest. The article initially notes that some urban teachers have felt undervalued in recent years and then seeks to identify how the demands of complex urban classrooms can be explained effectively. It is in pursuit of this objective that attention turns to a multicultural class taught for one year. Factors which made the task of teaching the class both complex and rewarding are identified and analysed. Use of the concept of ‘complexity’ is then clarified through brief reference to wider reading. This paves the way for consideration of the potential value of the approach adopted at a time when some urban teachers are vulnerable to unfair criticism rooted in ignorance and arrogance. It is hoped that the article may help to combat the prejudice which far too many urban teachers continue to face.     

The teaching of geometry present problems and future aims

Summary Some general observations are made on present problems in the teaching of geometry at pre-college level, and some aims for the future are suggested. These remarks are inevitably made against a background of British experience. Aids for the teaching of geometry are discussed; and two lines of development, perspective drawing and nomograms, are described as a school introduction to geometrical ideas which are important at college.     

The aims of lifelong learning through the dynamic of ambition

This article addresses the personal negotiations that lead individuals to pursue adult education. Analysing this process determines ambitions pursued, and thus makes it possible to identify how the individuals involved perceive their desired future as an improvement. This study found that ambitions were negotiated in order to make them acceptable to the individuals themselves, but that their negotiation also involved others; at the same time, it examined the aims and constraints implied by the process. This negotiation process draws on norms and rules related to the search for a better work–life balance. Three types of ambition were identified as models for negotiating the social organisation of time. The paper concludes with the benefits of studying ambition for the field of adult education, and on the potential contribution that can be made by considering these programmes as a support in the construction of identities, even though this aspect tends to be diminished by neoliberal hegemony regarding adult training programmes.     

The interdependency of vocational and liberal aims in higher education

It is not educators' role to dissuade students from seeing college as a path to a career. It is our role to help students see the larger purpose in the work they choose.     

对教育目的的再思考

教育目的是教育的核心问题,它既是一个哲学问题,又是一个价值观的问题。促进人的全面、自由、充分的发展,使人趋向完善,完美,是教育的根本目的,这既是人的主观理想,也是社会历史发展的客观要求。     

中国共产党党建总目标嬗变的历程及其启示

党的建设是一项伟大的工程，在不同的历史时期，我党根据不同的时代特点提出了不尽相同的党的建设总目标。党的建设总目标的成功实践具有重要意义，它成功地把一个善于革命的党建设成为一个善于执政的党，实现了党建理论的重大飞跃。从党建总目标的发展历程中，我们又得到许多深刻的启示，党建理论的创新是实现党建目标的动力，以“三个代表”重要思想建党是实现党建目标的保证。     

The teacher is a learner: Dewey on aims in education

Abstract

In Chapter VIII of Democracy and Education, Dewey objects to all three of the following propositions: (1) education serves predefined aims; (2) Education serves aims that are external to the process of education; and (3) Education serves aims that are imposed by authority. From the vantage point of policy-makers and authors of curriculum guides, these three propositions seem plausible, even self-evident. In this paper, I set forth a critical interpretation and evaluation of Dewey’s objections to them and argue that he saw the aims of education from another point of view, that of a learner. From a learner’s point of view, propositions 2 and 3 are only half-true because external aims that are not shared by the students cannot successfully guide educative activities. As regards proposition 1, Dewey’s philosophy does not accommodate the birds-eye view required to make it literally true. As learners, we cannot have an external view of our entire progress. Some of our aims are, therefore, not predefined but discovered on the way. Dewey’s stance on the role of aims in education is worth serious consideration, because the view of curriculum development and school administration that these three propositions engender is as deeply problematic today as it was when Dewey wrote against them a century ago.     

高校双语教学目标认知的思考

为了达到双语教学的最佳效果,应当对双语教学目标有正确的认知。双语教学的目标包括基本目标和发展目标。本文辨析了双语教学目标的认知内涵,指出了建立正确双语教学目标认知的必要性和重要性。     

Teacher research and the aims of education

We report on the development of a course for experienced teachers in the Netherlands, intended to enhance their professionalism by engaging them in doing research based on reflection on the aims of their educational efforts. The course was accompanied by design-based research. The research question was whether and how the course stimulated teachers to connect doing research and taking a reflective stance; the results were used to improve the course, thus creating a cyclical design. Although the course was positively evaluated by the participants, reflection on its results made clear to us that our approach in the combination of learning to do research and reflecting on aims is not enough to make teachers into critical research-minded professionals. A more context-aware view of their learning process is necessary: the institution school limits their possibilities. The implication is that both our course and our research effort have to be critically revised. Instead of looking for causal effects, one should be aware of traces of development that may or may not be caused by the intervention.     

论怀特海的教育目的观

怀特海是过程教育哲学的创始人,其教育目的就是要造就有业余爱好者基本优点的专家,或者说培养既有专门知识又有文化的人才。这一教育目的观的现实依据是怀特海个人的经历,其哲学基础则是怀特海的过程哲学思想。怀特海的教育目的观超越了历史上诸多教育思想,在教育史上占有重要地位。文中对怀特海的教育目的观及其历史意义进行了论述。     

The laboratory aims questionnaire—A new method for course improvement?

A simple method of diagnosing areas for course improvement in university science and engineering laboratory courses is described. A first year physics laboratory course is examined in terms of a set of aims. A questionnaire was used for staff and students to rate the importance of these aims in the cases (i) of each group's conception of what an ideal course in the subject should be, and (ii) each group's rating of the “traditional” and “non-traditional” components of the particular course under investigation. One means of identifying specific areas of improvement is out-lined. The potentialities of the technique are discussed.     

The ethics of intervention

Policy with regard to children with special educational needs has been continuously discussed and revised over the last 25 years to try to ensure that all children receive their rights to appropriate educational opportunities. However, as Georgina Glenny argues in this article, these efforts have led to a focus on the assessment and definition of need at the expense of attention to the quality of the intervention that follows. This relative lack of attention to the quality of the intervention raises serious questions for teachers, schools and local authorities as to the nature of their responsibilities for the children entrusted to their care. It is proposed that more systematic monitoring of the effectiveness of interventions would assist in refocusing attention on to the quality of children's learning experiences.