Minding Our Metaphors in Education

If educators presuppose that brain and mind are synonymous, perhaps it is out of necessity. Such an equivalency might be required in order for mind to be accessible, knowable and a ‘thing’ like the brain is. Such a presupposition, that mind is a thing which we can understand nonetheless rests on an insecure foundation. As suggested by philosopher John Searle in the opening quotation, this might explain the historical and present day interest in metaphors of mind, where comparisons to unlike things are used to help philosophers, psychologists, and educators more securely understand how mind really ‘works.’ Educators have an enormous investment in explicating how mind works, as they are required to observe and measure what is going on in the minds of students. In practice, mind has to be a thing for how does one reasonably talk about accomplishing such requirements if mind is merely some philosophical abstraction? This article will explore two metaphors of mind suggesting that embedded within each are presuppositions of epistemological and pedagogical significance.     

英语语言观及教学观

人脑先天就具有掌握语言的机制,它是一种潜在结构,因而学习英语的过程是一种习惯的养成过程,其间离不 开基本的学习能力及自然而然的学习能力。     

脑哲学的可能性与问题域

脑是宇宙中最神奇的物质,是科学正在攻克的最艰难堡垒之一。脑科学的成就日新月异,在此背景下哲学也需要将脑纳入自己的视野,形成脑哲学这一新领域既有必要,也有可能。脑哲学与神经哲学、身体哲学、心智哲学等既有交叉,也有区别,具有独立存在的价值和意义。脑哲学的重点问题是心脑关系问题,但也包含更广泛的其他问题,如脑的哲学界定问题、脑与人、脑与生命、脑与自我、脑与机器的关系问题等等。脑哲学所面临和探讨的新问题可以成为当代哲学探新的生长点。     

将思维导图引入“中医学基础”教学的必要性

思维导图作为一种思维工具,模拟大脑功能,有利于促进学习,因此被引入教育教学领域,成为众多国家教育改革的策略之一。目前,思维导图已被引入中医学课程教育教学改革之中。“中医学基础”是中医学必修课程,在实际教学活动中应用思维导图建构“中医学基础”知识体系,符合该课程特色及人才培养目标,也有利于提高教学质量,激发学生的学习热情,有助于学生理解中医理论,也能为其以后学习其他医学知识奠定基础。     

“心灵就是大脑内的计算机”--福多的心灵哲学思想初探

福多的心灵哲学是一种关于心灵本质及其结构、带有“机械论”色彩的哲学,更是一种崭新的人学。他根据物理主义、自然主义重新诠释“民间心理学”,提出了“心灵就是大脑内的计算机”的新论断。文章在考察福多对这一论断的论证的基础上,指出：应谨慎而科学地对待福多的思想,在批判借鉴有关观点和方法的基础上,对我们过去赞成或否定的有关观点作出冷静的反思。     

思维导图——开启人类智慧的金钥匙

思维导图是英国脑力开发专家托尼·布赞于1970年代发明的一种有效使用大脑的方法。它是以关键词为节点，以流畅的线条为纽带而绘制的形象直观的图形图像，由于同时启动左脑和右脑的全部功能，是一种结构化的放射性思考模式，因而可广泛应用于阅读、记忆、激发联想与创意、项目规划与管理、会议、谈判等日常生活、学习和工作的各个领域。     

从意识形态符号学角度看社会谚语

社会谚语包含了很多人生哲学和道德准则,像镜子一样,映射着社会生活的方方面面、社会谚语又是语言和文化的集合,蕴藏着丰富的文化信息,所以对社会谚语的研究大多是从文化的角度,前苏联著名语言学家巴赫金提出的意识形态符号学理论就是其中一种。巴赫金符号学理论将话语作为典型的意识形态符号,社会谚语是典型的话语,所以具有意识形态的功能。意识形态是自然和社会在人头脑中的反射和折射,爱文化模式如世界观、价值观的影响这些模式来自于文化的深层结构、意识形态符号又包含了文化深层结构的内容。从这点上理解,意识形态符号就是文化符号．文化深层结构以社会谚语作为表现形式,渗透到个人的意识中去。那么抽象的文化观念就变成了具体的感知和行为,所以文化能够长久。     

信息两面论质疑

信息两面论是大卫.J.查默斯（D.J.Chalmers）于1994年提出的一个旨在用非还原论方法解决意识之困难问题的新意识理论,主张信息是世界的根本特征,它具有物理和现象两个基本方面：信息的现象方面产生出心理意识现象,其物理方面则具体化于物理的神经加工活动之中。因此,信息两面论似可以不违科学规律地说明心理意识的产生与存在。然而,信息乃是一非独立的、无形质的意义性抽象东西,属于虚在的属性范畴;心理意识则是实在的主观现象,有具体可感的持存性,因而它不能以虚在的抽象信息为产生根据。又则,心理意识是有其活动主体的,但作为抽象意义的信息能够内含或产生出一种有支承能力的主体来吗？这是大可疑义的。再从科学机制上看,是大脑神经活动产生了心理意识现象,心理信息以心理现象为载体,它是神经活动信息的转换形式,而非神经信息的另一方面。所以,信息难能具有心物两面性。但查默斯的信息两面论以其对意识难题的深刻难解,从而也具有诸多的启发意义。     

思维导图:打开美术思维之门的钥匙

美术思维的训练与培养是中学美术教育的一道难题。思维导图就像一把打开美术思维之门的钥匙,在美术思维训练中发挥着特殊作用。思维导图的发散思维,可以打开学生想象创造之门;思维导图的全脑学习,可以打开学生的右脑直觉之门;思维导图的图文并茂,可以打开学生的绘画思维之门;思维导图与美育结合,可以打开学生的学科整合之门。     

What Is the Function of Mind and Brain?

Byrnes and Fox (1998) provide a useful and important overview of the ways in which cognitive neuroscientific research can inform educational research and practice, but leave unanswered the question: What is the function of mind and brain? An understanding of the function of mind and brain has implications for research in cognitive neuroscience and in educational psychology, and a number of these implications are spelled out in this comment.     

Brains in Jars: The Problem of Language in Neuroscientific Research

Neuroscience is a rapidly expanding scientific field, and its influence on our perceptions of fundamental aspects of human life is becoming widespread, particularly in the social and behavioral sciences. This influence has many philosophical implications, only one of which will be addressed in this article. For many centuries, philosophers have grappled with the myriad problems presented by consciousness, not the least of which is the so-called “mind–body problem”; now, the gains made in the field of neuroscience promise to answer questions that have been traditionally unanswerable. The richness of neuroscientific data notwithstanding, there are still fundamental philosophical problems in play. This article seeks to answer the question: How do neuroscientists and articles drawing primarily on neuroscience use language to characterize the brain and the mind? Is the same terminology and language used interchangeably, suggesting that the mind and the brain are inherently the same, or does this influential field draw distinctions between the two? We argue that neuroscientific research uses language in a way that does not acknowledge the potential philosophical objections to a mind–brain identity thesis. By doing this, neuroscientific research does not acknowledge the historically problematic discourse about consciousness.     

思维导图在大学生知识管理中的应用探究

思维导图是一种提高发散性思维的工具,正确使用有利于开启大脑潜能、厘清思维的脉络。目前大学生对知识管理认识不清,能力不强,效率不高,合理利用思维导图能为大学生知识管理提供新的方法,帮助他们学会学习知识、运用知识、管理知识,合理构建自己的知识体系,更好地完成学习任务。     

Neuromyths: Why Do They Exist and Persist?

Neuroeducation—a recent approach to educational policy—claims that a bridge should be established between education and mind‐brain sciences, with the double aim of devising educational methods that work and of understanding why they work. The success of this encounter depends, among other conditions, on getting the science right; otherwise, neuroeducation and science‐informed policies risk doing more harm than good. On several occasions, the cognitive and brain sciences have been misunderstood, and misused: neuromyths—the misconceptions about the mind and brain functioning—have blossomed, thus raising both theoretical and pragmatic concerns. This article addresses the origin, persistence, and potential side‐effects of neuromyths in education. The hypothesis is put forward that the persistence of neuromyths is sustained by specific cultural conditions, such as the circulation of pieces of information about the brain and the appetite for brain news, but has its roots in deeper cognitive intuitions.     

Resource Reviews

Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age Carl Bereiter Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002 ISBN 0 8058 3943 7 The expression “Iapos;m losing my mind” holds new meaning for me, or at least is now a declaration that I will use less frivolously when overwhelmed by daily life. Carl Berieter's book, Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age, conceives of the mind in an illuminating way; something new for most readers. Bereiter disputes the “folk theory of mind” as termed in his book, the common comprehension of the “mind as a container”. This metaphor, as he explains, in extreme depth and with numerous detailed examples, is the basic tenet upon which many current educational systems establish daily policies and procedures. The idea of the “mind as a container” informs and influences most aspects of education ranging from curriculum development to standardized testing, preservice teacher education and professional development. Most of our routine teaching and subsequent student representation of learning begins and ends with the process of filling up the container. However, this “folk theory of mind”, or common understanding of how the mind works, does not allow us to consider the brain, the mind and knowledge as distinct, but interconnected entities. We often see them as one single object or phenomenon Bereiter suggests that we need to disentangle our understanding of knowledge and the mind in order to understand the mind in a fresh way (p. 55). The theory of the “mind as a container” prevents us from viewing the mind, knowledge and consequently education, differently. This commonly accepted perception dooms us to recreate, chronically, our current, mostly static educational practice. Our view of teaching and learning, then, remains the vision of pouring knowledge into little brains, assisting students in filing each new piece of information in certain location to be accessed and used at a later date. Bereiter asserts that a second common perception of the brain “as a computer” reflects a similar fixed interpretation of human understanding and learning as the “mind as a container” theory. With these “folk theories” of understanding in place, when problems arise in teaching and learning, we do not consider the theory behind it. Instead, we question the student's abilities, our presentation of the material intended to be put into the container or the computational expectations of the computer-like brain.     

脑、认知与文化学习

在人脑与文化之间存在着交互作用的关系。人脑是所有行为与思想的发源地,是文化产生的源泉;而文化储存在人脑中,文化经验活动会改变人脑的结构与功能。每一种持续性的活动,无论是文化观念与活动,如文化学习、思维想象,还是生理活动、感觉活动等都改变着人类的心智与脑,使人脑成为文化脑。人的文化具有复杂性与累积性的特征,通过人类独特的合作、模仿、教学等独特的文化能力而代代传承。脑、认知与文化之间存在着复杂的交互作用。     

神经隐喻理论研究的发展和展望

Lakoff & Johnson采用基于概念结构的隐喻认知机制处理语言与其它认知观的关系,从而提出概念隐喻理 论。概念隐喻理论对语言与认知进行某种合理的融合,从源域到靶域的映射机制实现了对经验事件的结构化和概念化。然而,概念隐喻理论基本是通过语言使用现象来揭示思维的本质,缺乏对隐喻概念产生和识解大脑内在工作机制 的理解与描写。为弥补概念隐喻理论的不足,近年来学界把概念隐喻机制的研究拓展到神经科学层面,这为处理隐喻 表达与大脑认知机制的关系及其科学的实验方法提供了可能,具有较为明显的理论和方法优势。本文简要论述神经隐喻理论的发展历程及主要内容,并在此基础上对神经隐喻理论的应用前景作出展望。     

Editor's introduction: Science‐technology‐society education

This paper provides a review of evidence on the way the maturation of the brain may structure the plasticity that is available for the construction of the mind. The evidence reviewed is that taken from non-invasive imaging techniques that make use of electrode potentials, magnetic resonance or positron emission. Such imaging techniques allow the brain to be studied as specific mental tasks are carried out. Sites and processing pathways can be identified and correlated with other evidence. A review of data on the development of the brain in terms of the grey (dendritic branching) and white (myelination) matter is discussed with respect to the clinical observation of stages of cognitive processing.     

Beyond the dual mind: the cultural reconstruction of embodied representations. Response to commentaries from the article Learning beyond the body / Más allá de la mente dual: la reconstrucción cultural de las representaciones encarnadas. Respuesta a los comentarios al artículo Aprender más allá del cuerpo

In the responses to the original article, the necessity of adopting an embodied approach in the study of the mind instead of the traditional symbolic approach in classical cognitive psychology is assumed. However, as soon as the nature of that embodied mind and its relationship to explicit representations mediated by semiotic cultural devices is delved into, that consensus gives way to significant criticism and discrepancies. Without wishing to end the debate, but rather open or ignite it, this article seeks to respond to some these observations, grouping them into four sections: (1) the acceptance of the body as a representational device; (2) the risk of incurring a new dualism when differentiating an embodied and implicit mind from a symbolic and explicit one; (3) the transformation processes of mental representations and functions in development as well as in instruction; and (4) the implications of these reflections on the relationships among mind, brain and culture.     

认知神经科学研究及其哲学意义

认知神经科学是目前国内外倍受关注的科学发支，它立足于功能定位理论与神经元理论，试图揭开人类认知活动的脑机制之谜。认知神经科学在一系列认知领域的研究已取得了显进展，但仍存在着诸多悬而未决的难题。本在概述这一学科的形成发展过程、主要成就的基础上，从心灵哲学的视角探讨了它的理论价值及其对心身问题的解决所具有的重要意义。     

Right-and left-brain approaches to death education

Some recent advances in the understanding of brain function are considered in terms of their potential impact on death education. The notion of right- and left-brain cognitive styles is examined in terms of the pedagogic impact it may have on an individual's capacity to understand and therefore be educated on the subject of death. The idea that the human brain (mind?) relates to death in two diametrically opposed ways is discussed and a holistic death educational format is proposed based on the synthesis of these two oppositional styles.