Inquiry-based learning: reconciling the personal with the public in a democratic and archaeological pedagogy

When the National Literacy Strategy was introduced into English primary schools it aimed, among other things, to raise standards of reading and, in so doing, to improve children's ability to use textual sources to enhance their wider learning and enjoyment. We propose that success in achieving these is likely to be affected by the way in which school resources are allocated between staffing and learning resources, in particular books and other text-based media. Consequently, this article investigates school policies towards book provision. Using evidence from inspections of 6150 primary schools, questionnaire returns from head teachers in 540 primary schools and individual interviews with primary teachers, we argue that book provision is a significant factor in the success of a literacy strategy. The findings also indicate, more widely, that appropriate decisions on the allocation of school resources are an important component of curriculum policy.     

From learning community to community learning: pedagogy,technology and interactivity

The authors of this article discuss three pedagogical approaches, learning community, community of practice and community learning, and analyse their significance for knowledge acquisition and construction in higher education. The authors also explore the roles of technology in creating adequate environments for educators to implement teaching practices supported by these approaches and explain, through an illustrative course example, how technology and teaching methods can be used together to promote interaction among learners and help them achieve course goals.

De la communauté apprenante à l’apprentissage communautaire: la pédagogie’la technologie et l’interactivité

Les auteurs de cet article examinent trois approches pédagogiques:la communauté apprenante, la communauté de pratique et l’apprentissage communautaire et analysent leur signification pour l’acquisition et la construction des connaissances dans l’enseignement supérieur. Les auteurs étudient aussi le rôle de la technologie pour créer les environnements adéquats permettant aux éducateurs de mettre en place des pratiques d’enseignement reposant sur ces approches et ils expliquent au moyen d’un exemple de cours significatif,comment la technologie et les méthodes d’enseignement peuvent être utilisées ensemble pour favoriser l’interaction chez les apprenants et les aider à atteindre les objectifs du cours.

Von der lernenden Gemeinde zum gemeinsamen Lernen: Pädagogik, Technik und Interaktivität

Die Autoren dieses Artikels erörtern drei pädagogische Ansätze: Lerngemeinschaft, Übungsgemeinschaft und lernende Gemeinschaft. Sie analysieren ihre Bedeutung für Wissenserwerb und Aufbau einer höheren Ausbildung. Die Autoren erklären außerdem die Rolle der Technik beim Schaffen von adäquaten Umgebungen für Pädagogen, damit diese von diesen Ansätzen unterstützte Lehrübungen durchführen und durch ein illustratives Kursbeispiel erklären, wie Technologie und Lehrmethoden zusammen verwendet werden können, um Interaktion unter Lernern zu fördern und ihnen zu helfen, Kursziele zu erreichen.     

At the intersection of technology and pedagogy: considering styles of learning and teaching

Abstract

In considering those forms of teaching and learning that most favor the use of information and communication technologies, this article explores assumptions related to technology use and education; describes technology use in learning contexts that favor teacher-centered and studentcentered approaches; refers to the literature on learning styles; and presents some of the evidence supporting a move towards technology-based, studentcentered learning environments. In analyzing this information, the article concludes with a statement supporting a ‘pedagogy of learning’ as the most favorable context/style for the use of appropriate educational technologies     

Affective Teaching for Effective Learning: A Deleuzian pedagogy for the (corporate era and) Chinese context

In this article I explore the pedagogical value of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s philosophical concepts for helping make an ‘event’ of thought, with a view towards fostering deep learning in Chinese students' learning theory and criticism in a second language. Paying attention to the qualitative role of bodies, humour and creativity alongside an expanded trans-personal concept of ‘educational life forms’ that stretches out to include an affective assemblage of inhuman elements (such as art and technology), I explore how Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical models provide a ethical alternative to corporate, Confucian and Cartesian models otherwise inhibiting students and teachers in the modern Sino-international university context.     

移动环境下教师学习共同体的设计与研究

移动学习和学习共同体是当前教育技术领域两个研究的热点,但是对移动环境下的教师学习共同体的研究却不是很多。在移动学习和学习共同体的涵义基础上界定了移动环境下教师学习共同体的涵义,指出了目前教师专业发展的现状,分析了移动环境下教师学习共同体的组成要素,构建了移动环境下教师学习共同体的模型,论述了此模型构建的教师学习共同体内部成员的互动方式以及教师学习共同体的特点。     

面向电子书的移动学习系统环境应用及趋势研究

电子书的形态让学习环境能够移动起来,对移动学习环境建设具有重要影响,近年来其研究和应用受到更多的关注。该研究在对以电子书为核心的应用环境分析的基础上,基于移动学习的系统环境路线图层次和要素分析,进行了三个典型的面向电子书的移动学习系统环境的应用研究:小学五年级语文《雅鲁藏布大峡谷》电子书应用研究;一对一数字化自主学习电子书包系统应用研究;互动反馈系统在课堂教学中的应用研究。然后,分别对移动学习的典型模式进行了分析,构建了典型应用的学习服务支持的系统环境架构,说明了典型应用案例。最后,阐述了面向电子书的移动学习系统环境发展趋势涵盖四个特性:易用性、环境交互性、绿色支持性和后台服务性。     

基于虚拟现实技术的探究式学习环境设计与效果研究——以儿童交通安全教育为例

虚拟现实技术的迅速发展使越来越多的学者开始探索其在教育领域的创新应用。然而,现阶段尚缺乏将虚拟现实技术特性和教学理论有机整合的设计研究和效果检验。针对该研究的局限性和我国儿童交通安全教育的具体需求,文章对虚拟现实技术支持下的探究式交通安全教育模式进行了系统设计,结合实例分析了如何将真实性、开放探索性、关键决策点、问题空间和专家反馈等探究式学习原则应用在虚拟现实学习环境的情境、任务、交互和反馈设计中。为进一步检验其教学效果,文章开展准实验研究,对湖北省城市、城郊和农村地区三所小学的79名儿童在该学习环境中的学习表现和体验进行了定量和定性分析。研究结果表明,该学习环境能有效诊断并改善儿童的危险道路行为,如横冲马路、绿灯闪烁时过马路、不检查交通状况等,且城乡环境和年级水平对儿童交通行为表现和学习效果没有显著影响。研究结果对改革我国儿童交通安全教育模式、提升教育质量有一定的指导意义。     

Integrating technology into K-12 teaching and learning: current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research

Although research studies in education show that use of technology can help student learning, its use is generally affected by certain barriers. In this paper, we first identify the general barriers typically faced by K-12 schools, both in the United States as well as other countries, when integrating technology into the curriculum for instructional purposes, namely: (a) resources, (b) institution, (c) subject culture, (d) attitudes and beliefs, (e) knowledge and skills, and (f) assessment. We then describe the strategies to overcome such barriers: (a) having a shared vision and technology integration plan, (b) overcoming the scarcity of resources, (c) changing attitudes and beliefs, (d) conducting professional development, and (e) reconsidering assessments. Finally, we identify several current knowledge gaps pertaining to the barriers and strategies of technology integration, and offer pertinent recommendations for future research.

Integrating alternative assessment in a project-based learning course for pre-service science and technology teachers

This paper deals with a required methods course, based on the national curriculum of science and technology for junior high schools. The course participants are pre-service teachers who study towards a B.Sc. degree in education in science and technology parallel to their studies in one of the faculties of sciences or engineering. Working in small teams, the students carry out a project in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) environment. The final outcomes of the project are group and individual written reports, a portfolio, a multimedia presentation and a physical model. The research question was: what implementation issues and processes do higher education students encounter in a Project-Based Learning environment which involves an alternative assessment approach? Qualitative and quantitative tools for collecting data included ‘the participant as observer’ observations at the classroom, semi-structured interviews with students, questionnaire, and analysis of students' reports and products. The findings relate to the advantages of PBL from the students' point of view, the challenges students experienced and perceived while conducting their projects, and the benefits students may gain from formative assessment.     

融入通用学习设计理念：学习障碍APP的研究与实践

学习障碍在特殊学生中十分常见,目前虽无治愈方法,却可通过辅助技术在教学中的运用降低其影响。具有辅助技术功能的教育APP为学习障碍学生提供了多样化的参与、表征和表达方式,这正好与通用学习设计的理念相契合,有助于他们在融合班级中获得平等的受教育机会。这些学习障碍相关APP可划分为文字转语音、语音识别、单词预测、文字处理、计划与组织、数学运算等6种类型。一方面,作为能力补偿工具和学习支持工具,学习障碍相关APP能够在阅读、写作和数学学习中为学习障碍学生提供多元化、可参与的学习环境;另一方面,作为一种新型的教学工具,学习障碍相关APP也可能给学习障碍学生带来诸如注意力分散、学习情绪消极等负面影响。因此,其作用机制和在教学中的有效性仍有待明确。未来我国在学习障碍相关APP的研究与实践方面还需做到:推进通用学习设计理念在学习障碍学生教育中的应用与实践,为其学习提供适宜的环境和支持;完善特殊教育辅助技术相关法律和政策,确保各类特殊学生能够获得更专业的支持;加强学习障碍相关APP的开发与研究,使其能够更有效地应用于现实教学情景;建立教育APP的评价体系和支持系统,提升学习障碍相关APP的应用效果。     

Teaching and research: new relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education

In order to bring teaching and research together, a fuller understanding of how academics conceptualise research and scholarship is needed. The paper discusses different ways in which research and scholarship are conceptualised and then provides two alternative models of the relationship between teaching and research based on different conceptions of teaching and different ideas about the nature of knowledge. The paper suggests that if the relationship between teaching and research is to be enhanced it is necessary to move towards a model based on the notion of academic communities of practice. The implications for higher education of doing this are then examined. It is argued that there is a need to reconceptualise the role of higher education and to renegotiate relationships between teachers and students.     

Teaching and Research: New relationships and their implications for inquiry-based teaching and learning in higher education

In order to bring teaching and research together, a fuller understanding of how academics conceptualise research and scholarship is needed. The paper discusses different ways in which research and scholarship are conceptualised and then provides two alternative models of the relationship between teaching and research based on different conceptions of teaching and different ideas about the nature of knowledge. The paper suggests that if the relationship between teaching and research is to be enhanced it is necessary to move towards a model based on the notion of academic communities of practice. The implications for higher education of doing this are then examined. It is argued that there is a need to reconceptualise the role of higher education and to renegotiate relationships between teachers and students.     

Extending the constructs of active learning: implications for teachers' pedagogy and practice

Active learning is a pedagogical construct widely appealed to within the global discourse of lifelong learning. However, an examination of the literature reveals a lack of clarity and consensus as to its meaning. This article provides a critical analysis of a range of dimensions underpinning the concept of active learning including policy discourses, definitions, interpretation and enactments in educational settings, and resultant pedagogical implications. A more robust theoretical framework is presented to support educator understanding which synthesises and extends current constructs and which bridges the divide between active learning considered as either theory of learning or pedagogical strategy.     

Assessing learning,quality and engagement in learning objects: the Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S)

Learning objects are interactive web-based tools that support the learning of specific concepts by enhancing, amplifying, and/or guiding the cognitive processes of learners. Research on the impact, effectiveness, and usefulness of learning objects is limited, partially because comprehensive, theoretically based, reliable, and valid evaluation tools are scarce, particularly in the K-12 environment. The purpose of the following study was to investigate a Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S) based on three key constructs gleaned from 10 years of learning object research: learning, quality or instructional design, and engagement. Tested on over 1100 middle and secondary school students, the data generated using the LOES-S showed acceptable internal reliability, face validity, construct validity, convergent validity and predictive validity.

Cooperative Learning for Academic and Social Gains: valued pedagogy,problematic practice

A growing number of governments, seeking to modernise their country's education system, adapt cooperative learning (CL) as a major component of their educational policy. Since the 1960s, when CL re-emerged to become a systematic pedagogy, CL practice has been constantly refined on the basis of ongoing research. Research results have consistently shown that CL improves students' academic achievement as well as social interaction when carried out responsibly. CL methods and procedures are designed to promote cooperation and mutual assistance among learners and often carry over to relationships outside the school. Translating the promise of CL to practice is more complicated than meets the eye, and does not always guarantee that its desired goals are achieved. This article sets out to explore some of the causes of the discrepancy between the promise and practice of CL, such as confusion about methods, lack of adequate preparation, and teachers' perceptions of teaching in general and of CL in particular.     

联通主义视域下的移动学习环境设计

联通主义学习理论阐述了网络时代下学习的发生过程,即知识是以不同方式进行联通、重组和再造。文章对联通主义学习理论进行了概述,分析了利用该理论进行移动学习环境设计的可行性,并且根据该学习理论,构建了移动学习环境的基本结构,分别对其中的学习共同体、学习资源、支持工具、学习情境四个环境子要素进行设计。鉴于对联通主义理论下移动学习环境的设计,以期给学习者提供一个优质的学习环境,促进学习者高效学习。     

The synthesis of subject and pedagogy for effective learning and teaching in primary science education

The issue of science subject knowledge, and how to address the demands of this for both practising and trainee primary teachers, has constituted a core research enterprise in recent decades. The Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status entail considerable conceptual demands for many primary trainees. Generating meaningful causal explanations of scientific phenomena lies at the heart of both the scientific endeavour itself, and of effective classroom teaching. To focus on knowledge acquisition per se in teacher education, however, obscures the critical issue of subject‐related pedagogical knowledge that ultimately influences classroom practice. This article explores the development of both subject knowledge and subject‐related pedagogical knowledge in science education. It is informed by science education literature, as well as by a substantial body of empirical research into trainees' learning of aspects of physical science accumulated over a five‐year period. Learners' perspectives of the synthesis of subject and pedagogy raise important questions concerning the nature of teacher education.