Complexity science and educational action research: toward a pragmatics of transformation

In this article, the authors extend Phelps & Hase's (2002) explorations of the theoretical and methodological connections of complexity theory and action research by emphasizing complexity science as the study of learning systems. By emphasizing the importance of ‘complexity thinking’, an argument is made for conceptualizing action research as a ‘pragmatics of transformation’ that explicitly aims to bring together the self-interests of autonomous agents into grander collective possibilities. In addition, the authors offer pragmatic advice that is relevant for the ‘educational’ and ‘learning’ aspects of educational action research by describing a number of conditions that need to be in place in order for complex learning systems to develop and thrive.     

Complex systems: An introduction

The characteristic feature of complex systems is the emergence of unexpected properties or behaviour. Complexity, beyond a certain threshold, may even lead to the emergence of new principles. It is a one-way traffic: The new principles and features may be sometimes deducible from, but are not reducible to, those operating at the lower levels of complexity. Reductionism stands discounted. Complexity is rampant in the animate world. It arises in inanimate systems also, some examples being multiferroic materials and certain nanocomposites, as also a variety of soft-matter systems. Our ecosphere is also a giant, highly complex, open system, which we do not understand much at present. Mastering complexity is the next big challenge for science. Conceptual breakthroughs are needed. In the first part of this article, we introduce the basic of information theory, chaos theory, and computational complexity. In the second part, we shall describe complex materials as well as some terrestrial and cosmic aspects of complexity.     

语言学研究的复杂性探索：语言结构生成、演化的动力学机制

复杂性科学是在系统科学的基础上发展起来的一门跨学科科学,其研究对象是复杂系统,重点探索宏观领域的复杂性及其演化等问题。从系统复杂性的视角看,语言是一个开放的、动态的、非线性的、适应性自组织复杂系统;汉语“的”字结构的产生表明,新的语言结构生成的性质为涌现,主要通过语言系统内部各要素之间的合作、竞争,从有序到无序再到有序的相互转换而实现;同时,推动语言结构生成演化的源动力蕴藏于结构之中的遗传基因,表现为上下层级结构分形的关系;复杂性科学对现代语言学研究有重大的启示。     

Use of self-determination theory to support basic psychological needs of preservice science teachers in an environmental science course

In this paper, we examine how the basic psychological needs of preservice science teachers (PSTs) were supported in a series of environmental science course activities informed by self-determination theory (SDT). We collected qualitative data about the PSTs’ sense of competence, autonomy, and relatedness through interviews, group discussions, assignments, and reflection papers. Data were analyzed in relation to the instructional design features of the course; namely, collective construction of ideas, student guided discussions, real life connection, and consistent group dynamics. Findings illustrate primary support for cognitive features, including, how course activities supported a sense of confidence in action, sense of self-initiation, awareness of personal role in the system, and awareness of environmental actions. Overall, results suggest that SDT can be effectively utilized as a framework for environmental education in courses designed to foster environmental self-determination and long-lasting pro-environmental behaviors.     

Making Design Education (Even More) Complex: Exploring Complexity for an Amplified Mindset of Design

An Amplified Mindset of Design (AMD) has emerged from recent research on emerging design practices, as designers are once again re‐inventing their identity to include an adaptability to uncertainty and paradox. However, this is not yet visible in what design education offers. As designers intervene in complex contexts and embrace participatory, collaborative and interdisciplinary practices informed by strong ethical and sustainability concerns, design education must adjust and expand its scope to include, for example, collaboration, cross‐cultural and interdisciplinary skills, and a way of being in the world through design. In this article, I argue for the formal introduction and exploration of social complexity in design education to assist the development of an AMD in design students. Boundaries, dependence on context, edge of chaos, emergence and organisation were identified as key qualities of complex systems to introduce to students. Embodiment and visualisation techniques were used as the most appropriate vehicles for such an endeavour. In this article, I discuss the results of a qualitative research informed by action research in which I explore ways of teaching complexity to design students. The inquiry was driven by the following core research question: How can complexity can be taught in design education using visual and embodiment methods to encourage the development of an Amplified Mindset of Design?     

高校管理系统的熵值效应与组织决策

高校组织管理随着内外部环境条件的变化,越来越多地表现出复杂的非线性系统特征。将源于自然科学的复杂性科学理论作为观察问题的新视角,研究高校管理,分析影响高校管理的基本因素,揭示高校管理绩效发展的规律,指导高校组织结构的构建和管理决策,为高校管理开拓一个新的视野。正是基于这样一种思考,本文应用非线性复杂性科学的管理熵和管理耗散结构理论的基本原理,对高校组织结构及其知识体系管理中的具体表现和运用作了一个简要的分析和研究。     

复杂性科学视阈下的网络课程研究

网络课程,作为信息时代的一种本源性存在,有着独特而多变的系统组织和运行机制。通过对复杂性科学的缘起与发展解析,以及复杂性科学与教育教学和网络课程研究的相关性分析,网络课程这种复杂科学理论与课程研究领域相互吸引、碰撞和融合所涌现的崭新课程系统已清晰地呈现出来。根据复杂性科学的要素组成,从课程目标、课程环境、课程实施和课程评价四个方面,运用代表性复杂性科学理论加以对照和分析,探寻复杂性科学视阈下的网络课程重构,希冀寻找到关于众多网络课程问题的解决之道。     

Complexity Conceptual Perspectives for Research About Educational Complex Systems

Abstract

This article is premised on the observation that in educational research there is an increasing use of terminology and concepts related to the field of complexity and the study of complex physical, biological, and social systems. As we are at an early stage in this cross-fertilization of complex systems ideas and methods in educational research, this article provides an overview of key complex systems conceptual perspectives and research methods in conjunction with a discussion of why educational researchers should consider their use. It is hoped that this overview of complex systems concepts and nomenclature used to describe research that views education as a complex system will help promote a broader awareness and acceptance of this work in the educational research community.     

Human rights education and the research process: action research as a tool for reflection and change

Human rights education (HRE) aims to achieve a change of mindsets and social attitudes that entails the construction of a culture of respect towards those values it teaches. Although HRE is a recent field of study, its consolidation in Latin America is a fact. During the latest decades several authors have carried out research related to HRE that has made it easier to understand the process of inclusion of HRE in public policies as well as reflection about research processes as a whole. They favour a discussion about the most frequently used strategies and tools, how the latter contribute to strengthen the production of knowledge in HRE, and to what extent there is an actual interrelation between theory and practice. This research article intends to show the state of these questions in HRE, building on the research and studies carried out in Latin America during the last 10 years. At the same time, the article aims to discuss the importance of action research for HRE, understanding its potential as a tool for reflection and change. In general terms, this research article concludes that the studies on HRE rely more on field research and experience report than on action research methodology. The article is concluded noting an important and current challenge for HRE: a more frequent use of participatory action research in human rights-related work, so the knowing-understanding and applying fields can be constructed.     

系统生物学在中药研究中的应用

我国中药的体内作用过程一直不明确,近年来随着生命科学的发展,将中药的研究与系统生物学相结合,有可能从系统的角度诠释中医药多靶点、平衡调理和标本兼治的治病机制和分子机制,为中药的研究提供新的思路。     

Towards a reflection repertoire: using a thinking tool to understand tensions in an action research project

Most action researchers agree that action research consists of cycles of planning, acting, reflecting, and taking further action. However, in action research literature, there is something missing. The nature of reflection in the action research process, including its relationship with the tensions that arise while discussing purposes, processes, and outcomes, has not been well explored. As a contribution to an expanded reflection repertoire, this article presents a thinking tool: the expansive learning circle. This model, or thinking tool, draws on the theoretical framework of cultural–historical activity theory and the idea that contradictions and tensions are driving forces for development. The central thesis of the article is that there is a need for a reflection repertoire that can highlight tension in an action research project and help people cope with this type of complex reflective work.     

Complexity and action research: exploring the theoretical and methodological connections

Complexity theory is essentially a formal attempt to question how coherent and purposive wholes emerge from the interactions of simple and sometimes non-purposive components. Explicit recognition of complexity can provide a fresh and enlightening perspective on action research. Through an expository discussion of the foundational postulates of complexity theory this article demonstrates the theoretical and methodological connections between complexity and action research, with particular emphasis on the relevance of complexity in educational and workplace contexts. Complexity is an emerging theoretical perspective, which presents possibilities for revolutionizing approaches to action research, as well as strengthening arguments promoting the value of action research in a wide range of contexts. Complexity, it is argued, can provide a valuable theoretical underpinning for action research. Furthermore, action research provides a valid methodological approach to the study of complexity. This article is primarily theoretical and attempts to demonstrate the application of complexity to a specific action research project will be left to future publication(s). Rather, this article explores the general applicability of complexity as both theory and metaphor in action research. The article begins with a brief exploration of the theory, particularly focusing on its application in the social sciences. The theoretical and methodological connections between complexity and action research are discussed through several of the foundational postulates of complexity, how these manifest in action research and how they add to our understanding of action research itself.     

Exploring the utility of action research to investigate second‐language classrooms as complex systems

Action research is geared to changes for the better and has the potential to assist teachers to extend their teaching skills and develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their classroom and their learners. However, in the area of applied linguistics, the viability of action research has been seriously questioned. In this article, we argue that adopting a complexity‐theory perspective, which requires teachers to be dynamic and complex in their approach, helps in identifying action research as a suitable research tradition for investigating second‐language classrooms and in turn using it widely to invigorate the field of applied linguistics. Our argumentation is supported by the fundamental links between action research and complexity theory as an emerging paradigm in education. Although the case made in this article concerns second‐language classrooms, the conclusions reached may well apply to any classroom that shares some commonalities with second‐language classrooms.     

高等教育思想的元研究

高等教育思想研究是近年来高等教育理论研究的热点之一,其研究内容纷繁复杂。对高等教育思想研究的内涵、本质和结构及其内容的考察显示,高等教育思想有个体和群体、广义和狭义之分;同时,它是一种实践性认识,这决定了它的结构及其评价和检验方式。高等教育思想研究的内容总的来说有两大体系,即哲学体系和实践体系。观念上的这种区分能使研究的内容更加集中和突出,研究方法更加科学合理。     

Teacher talk: producing,resisting and challenging discourses about the science classroom

The aim of the project which forms the basis of this article was to make the science classroom more inclusive by challenging discriminatory practices. Science teachers from two secondary schools in Sweden agreed to be involved in an action research project over one year. Each teacher was to carry out a study concerning their own teaching and regular meetings were held for planning, evaluation and discussion. These meetings were analysed and suggest that science subjects are gendered and female science teachers face more resistance than their male peers, sometimes even being positioned as unprofessional. However, the science discourse is continually negotiable with the analysis showing challenge both to science as a male field and to the content that makes up science. Power relations other than gender are also visible and make patterns more complex. The analysis will offer a conceptual framework for understanding how gender in education is produced and reproduced in practice.     

A two‐sided medal: On the complexity of international comparative and collaborative team research

In recent years, more and more international comparative research has been conducted in internationally and geographically spread project teams and international research networks, and comparative research has become a fundamentally collaborative effort. Accordingly, research in such projects has to cope with a higher level of methodological complexity than non‐comparative research as well as with a particular sociocultural complexity. This complexity can have an influence on the research process and therefore on the quality and validity of the results, an issue that has so far not been discussed much, either in Higher Education research or beyond. Thus, this article refers to studies that provide empirical insights into comparative collaborative research teams and illuminates why international collaboration in comparative research projects is both a source of better solutions and of amplified complications and how they are interrelated. On this basis it provides a conceptual reflection and delineates dimensions of task‐related, methodological complexity and team diversity. While comparative research has specific methodological challenges that can be alleviated by international team collaboration, collaborative research has particular social challenges that can be aggravated in comparative research. The conclusion makes propositions for further analyses, discusses lessons for comparative Higher Education research and sets out implications for its institutional development.     

Assessing the unassessable: making learning visible in undergraduates’ experiences of scientific research

We suggest that academics involved in the provision of research experiences to undergraduate science students may benefit by reconceptualising these experiences as work-based learning. In particular, drawing on the widespread use of reflective practice in work-based learning allows for a more effective focus on process-related learning. We describe an empirical study involving the implementation of reflective blogs in which science students responded to prompt questions designed to focus their attention on how their project was progressing, the process of research and their own learning. The blogs reveal examples of students engaging in independent thinking, creative thinking and developing a sense of themselves as scientists, all qualities valued by supervisors. They also show how these combine as ‘wicked competences’ that allow students to address the complex problems and uncertainties of research. We identify characteristic patterns of reflection that indicate the exercise of such competences and suggest that these could be used as explicit evidence by academics making judgements for assessment purposes.     

系统科学前沿《复杂网络理论》课程建设及教学方法研究

近年来,旨在探索复杂系统结构和功能的复杂网络理论引起了国际科学界的普遍重视,已成为数理科学、生命科学、社会科学、技术科学的研究热点。通过对复杂网络理论课程的特点和规律进行归纳,详细阐述了符合课程特点的教学内容组织、教学方式以及实践性环节等教学模式,并对课程一系列创新性教学方法进行了有益探索。最后指出了复杂网络对系统科学研究教学的重要意义。     

Action research and reflective practice: towards a holistic view

Two concepts that have captured the imagination of the educational community in the last 60 years have been those of ‘reflective practice’ and ‘action research’. Both, in their various forms, are considered to be critical dimensions of the professional development of teachers. However, whilst both were receiving academic attention during the 1930s and 1940s (Lewin, 1934, cited in Adelman, 1993; Lewin, 1946; Dewey, 1933), it was not until Stenhouse's (1975) notion of the teacher-as-researcher that the two came most compellingly into relationship and educational action research as a process, which held at its centre different kinds of reflection, began to be reformulated in Britain (Carr, 1993). This article considers the important part played in teachers' development by different kinds of action research. Its central thesis is that, although action research has a critical role to play not least as a means of building the capacity of teachers as researchers of their own practice, there has been insufficient attention given to both the nature of reflection in the action research process, and its relationship to the purposes, processes and outcomes. The article challenges the rational, cognitive models of reflection that are implicit in much of the action research literature. It suggests that more attention needs to be given to the importance of the role of emotion in understanding and developing the capacities for reflection which facilitates personal, professional and ultimately system change     

近二十年来钱学森现代科学技术体系研究综述

学术界对钱学森现代科学技术体系的研究是一个逐步深入的过程。文章从现代科学技术体系的提出与概貌、马克思主义哲学的体系结构、现代科学技术体系的结构层次、前科学部分、方法论特点、战略意义、钱学森的创新贡献和总结与展望等方面对近二十年来的研究成果进行梳理,归纳出研究的成果和不足,以及进一步研究的方向。