Task-dependent construction of mental models as a basis for conceptual change

Learning can be seen as a task-oriented process which often requires the reorganization of existing knowledge, usually referred to as conceptual change. This paper describes a theoretical framework for the analysis of conceptual change that considers conceptual knowledge as a generative cognitive tool for the creation of more specific mental representations — propositional symbolic structures and analog mental models. According to this view, conceptual change is based on a task-oriented interaction between these different kinds of mental representations. The assumption is made that it is possible to foster conceptual change by presenting to students well-defined tasks that stimulate the construction of elaborated mental models as well as an intensive interaction between these models and the corresponding propositional representations. In order to test this assumption an empirical study was conducted, in which subjects had to express their prior knowledge about a complex subject matter from the field of geography (time differences on the earth), which contained various conceptual deficits. The subjects were then randomly assigned to different groups who received the same learning material but had to solve different learning tasks requiring differently structured mental models. Afterwards, the subjects were asked to express their knowledge about the subject matter again and were tested for understanding with a comprehension test. The results support the view that a task-oriented interaction between propositional structures and mental models can help learners to evaluate the consistency of their conceptual knowledge. Accordingly, conceptual deficits result in the formation of mental models with an inadequate structure. Such deficits can be detected if the respective model is used in a sufficiently variable way, whereas they can remain unnoticed if it is used in a limited manner.     

Theory and practice of teaching for transfer

Transfer of teaching is central to education. In this article, the evolution of the sole viable theory of transfer—the theory of common elements—is traced from its mentalistic beginnings, through the behaviorist view of elements as stimuli and responses related by the mechanism of conditioning, to the contemporary view of elements as mental representations, knowledge, and strategies operated on by cognitive mechanisms including automatization, inferential reasoning, and metacognitive monitoring. Second, the cognitive theory of elements and mechanisms is used to answer three educationally crucial questions: (1) How do students select, from all they have learned, particular knowledge and skills for use in new situations? (2) What determines the utility of the knowledge and skills selected? (3) When selected knowledge and skills are not useful, what determines whether and how learners cope? Third, the authors identify what they view as needed refinements in experimental methods of studying transfer, in the theory of common elements, in basic and applied research, and in the uses of technology in education.     

Learning qualitative and quantitative reasoning in a microworld for elastic impacts

From a psychological point of view efficient teaching by means of an intelligent tutoring system necessarily involves that the communication of knowledge is adapted to the requirements of the learner: to her cognitive abilities, her pre-instructional knowledge and her learning capabilities. To tackle these topics in a precise way, we have developed the artificial-intelligence-based microworld DiBi (disk billiard) and MULEDS, a multi-level diagnosis system. The microworld DiBi sets up a learning environment which simulates elastic impacts as a subtopic of classical mechanics. DiBi enables and supports reasoning on different levels of mental domain representation ordered along the dimension ‘qualitative/quantitative’. This way of representing the domain provides a basis for passive adaptation in an advanced way. Correspondingly, active adaptation is supported by MULEDS, wherein student modeling is realized by assessing the student’s correct and/or incorrect domain-specific knowledge at these different levels. Within this psychological perspective, the use of instructional tools, such as the microworld DiBi and the computerized diagnosis system MULEDS, aims at gradually supporting and guiding the student in the construction of more and more powerful an sound domain representations. The progression through these levels of domain representation will enable the student to solve the problems posed by the domain in a flexible way.     

从图形-背景论分析汉语歇后语的理解机制

歇后语是我国传统的语言文化之一。它的传统研究多从其起源、分类、修辞及翻译出发。用图形-背景理论对歇后语的理解机制进行分析具有重要意义。歇后语的前面部分是突显的、容易被感知的背景,是后面部分的认知参照点,而后面部分是图形。人们在认知过程中可通过背景来激活图形,从而实现对歇后语的认知和理解。     

双重视域融合下的"影子人物"叙事

毕飞宇在小说创作中创造性地把第一人称和第三人称的叙事视角融合在一起，在双重视域的融合中衍生出独特的“影子人物”叙事，此种立场的陈述形成了价值判断层面的对峙形态，使作品更具独特的审美张力。     

Electroencephalogram Recordings Indicate That More Abstract Diagrams Need More Mental Resources to Process

There is considerable interest in the cultivation of student graphic literacy among educators and researchers, especially in the sciences. Previous research, however, has shown that many students manifest difficulties in using diagrammatic representations. One explanation that has been proposed to account for these difficulties is that certain forms of diagrams may be more demanding of mental effort to use. Although there had been behavioral evidence to support this explanation, neurophysiological evidence had not confirmed it. Here, we provide evidence, from electroencephalogram recordings of brain activity focusing on the P3b component, that more abstract diagrams (such as graphs) demand greater mental resources to process compared to pictures and text—even when amount of detail has been accounted for. Our results provide initial neurophysiological evidence for the impact of cognitive cost on student learning behaviors and outcomes. Consideration of this finding is important in pedagogical design and, more broadly, in media communication.     

社会认知神经科学关于自我与他人共享表征观研究进展

社会认知神经科学关于自我与他人的共享袁征观建立在认知心理学、社会心理学、发展心理学以及认知神经科学的基础上。目前的研究阐述了人们如何对自我和他人进行区分和辨别,如何协调和对比自我及他人的袁征,同时解释区分自我和他人社会性表征的脑神经机制。     

A Cognitive Analysis of Problems of Comprehension in a Learning of Mathematics

To understand the difficulties that many students have with comprehension of mathematics, we must determine the cognitive functioning underlying the diversity of mathematical processes. What are the cognitive systems that are required to give access to mathematical objects? Are these systems common to all processes of knowledge or, on the contrary, some of them are specific to mathematical activity? Starting from the paramount importance of semiotic representation for any mathematical activity, we put forward a classification of the various registers of semiotic representations that are mobilized in mathematical processes. Thus, we can reveal two types of transformation of semiotic representations: treatment and conversion. These two types correspond to quite different cognitive processes. They are two separate sources of incomprehension in the learning of mathematics. If treatment is the more important from a mathematical point of view, conversion is basically the deciding factor for learning. Supporting empirical data, at any level of curriculum and for any area of mathematics, can be widely and methodologically gathered: some empirical evidence is presented in this paper.     

遍指性非差比义构式

借鉴构式语法理论的框架,对递进性差比义构式进行全面考察,将其分为A、B、C、D四种变式,并对各种变式之间的承继关系以及该构式的成因进行认知范畴的探索,给出合理的解释。非典型的构式（D式）发生了“质变”,表达“遍指性非差比义”,而这个构式义无法从“一M比一M”中推导出来,因而是更典型的构式。指出遍指性非差比义其质变的根源在于“量级序列”的缺失,“比”的原型义虚化,从“实比”演化为“虚比”。     

皮亚杰与科尔伯格道德发展理论比较

皮亚杰与科尔伯格是从认知领域来研究人类的道德发展的。如果说皮亚杰开创了从认知领域对道德发展研究的先河,科尔伯格则是继皮亚杰之后采用认知发展取向研究道德发展的最杰出代表。从道德心理学、德育心理学的角度,从道德发展的实质与机制、影响道德发展的因素、道德发展的阶段三个层面比较他们的道德发展理论,即可揭示出他们理论的差异性与相似性,以及科尔伯格对皮亚杰的继承与发展的关系。而对他们的理论进行比较,不但有利于丰富和发展我国道德发展理论的研究,还可为我国道德教育实践做贡献。     

Construction and interference in learning from multiple representation

This paper presents an integrated view of learning from verbal and pictorial representations. Learning from these representations is considered as a task oriented process of constructing multiple mental representations. Construction of these representations includes information selection and information organisation, parsing of symbol structures, mapping of analog structures as well as model construction and model inspection. Based on this theoretical view an experiment was conducted to analyse the effects of different kinds of multiple external representations on the structure of mental models. Sixty university students were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. The text-only group learned the subject matter with a hypertext, whereas the other two groups learned the subject matter with a hypermedium including this hypertext and different kinds of graphics. The findings indicate that the structure of graphics affects the structure of the mental model. They also indicate that presenting graphics is not always beneficial for the acquisition of knowledge. Whereas task-appropriate graphics may support learning, task-inappropriate graphics may interfere with mental model construction.     

乡村旅游服务质量与游客忠诚关系的实证研究——以成都市三圣乡为例

文章以成都市三圣乡为例,在文献分析的基础上,构建乡村旅游服务质量和游客忠诚关系概念模型,提出乡村旅游服务质量和游客忠诚关系的九个假设,并对模型和假设进行实证检验。数据分析结果表明：乡村旅游服务的技术质量对认知忠诚有显著的正向影响;功能质量对认知忠诚有显著的正向影响;技术质量对行为忠诚、情感忠诚的影响均不显著;功能质量对情感忠诚、行为忠诚的影响并不显著;同时认知忠诚对情感忠诚有显著的正向影响,认知忠诚对行为忠诚有显著的正向影响,情感忠诚对行为忠诚有显著的正向影响。     

Dynamic processes of conceptual change: Analysis of constructing mental models of chemical equilibrium

The purpose of this study was to investigate students' mental models of chemical equilibrium using dynamic science assessments. Research in chemical education has shown that students at various levels have misconceptions about chemical equilibrium. According to Chi's theory of conceptual change, the concept of chemical equilibrium has constraint‐based features (e.g., random, simultaneous, uniform activities) that might prevent students from deeply understanding the nature of the concept of chemical equilibrium. In this study, we examined how students learned and constructed their mental models of chemical equilibrium in a cognitive apprenticeship context. Thirty 10th‐grade students participated in the study: 10 in a control group and 20 in a treatment group. Both groups were presented with a series of hands‐on chemical experiments. The students in the treatment group were instructed based on the main features of cognitive apprenticeship (CA), such as coaching, modeling, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration. However, the students in the control group (non‐CA group) learned from the tutor without explicit CA support. The results revealed that the CA group significantly outperformed the non‐CA group. The students in the CA group were capable of constructing the mental models of chemical equilibrium—including dynamic, random activities of molecules and interactions between molecules in the microworld—whereas the students in the non‐CA group failed to construct similar correct mental models of chemical equilibrium. The study focuses on the process of constructing mental models, on dynamic changes, and on the actions of students (such as self‐monitoring/self‐correction) who are learning the concept of chemical equilibrium. Also, we discuss the implications for science education. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 688–712, 2002     

Action cycles: rhythmic actions for engagement with children and young adults with profound mental handicap

ABSTRACT

Rhythmic groups of cyclical movements—action cycles—were identified during interactions between adults and children and young adults with profound mental handicap. The cycles were allocated to five categories according to rate, each action cycle clearly having its own communicative purpose. There was a striking regularity of rate within each performed set of action cycles, this being observed in the people with profound mental handicap as well as the adults, with the regularity more marked in the faster cycles. The people with profound mental handicap performed similar actions for apparently similar reasons at similar rates to their caregivers, giving strong indication of a biologically robust system of basic emotional communication which can quite literally be tapped into by caregivers. Comparisons of video records of interactions between mothers and their non‐handicapped babies (4‐8 weeks old) in Scotland and Nigeria yielding similar action cycles and rates to those seen in the interactions with people with profound mental handicap support this hypothesis.     

Research in Science Education at the University of Glasgow

The purpose of this study was to examine how prior knowledge of cellular transport influenced how high school students in the USA viewed and interpreted graphic representations of this topic. The participants were Advanced Placement Biology students (n = 65); each participant had previously taken a biology course in high school. After assessing prior knowledge using the Diffusion and Osmosis Diagnostic Test, two graphical representations of cellular transport processes were selected for analysis. Three different methods of data collection—eye tracking, interviews, and questionnaires—were used to investigate differences in perceived salient features of the graphics, interpretations of the graphics, and processing difficulty experienced while attending to and interpreting the graphics. The results from the eye tracking data, interviews, and instructional representation questionnaires were triangulated and revealed differences in how high and low prior knowledge students attended to and interpreted particle differences, concentration gradient, the role of adenosine triphosphate , endocytosis and exocytosis, and text labels and captions. Without adequate domain knowledge, low prior knowledge students focused on the surface features of the graphics (ex. differences in particle colour) to build an understanding of the concepts represented. On the other hand, with more abundant and better‐organised domain knowledge, high prior knowledge students were more likely to attend to the thematically relevant content in the graphics, which enhanced their understanding. The findings of this study offer a more complete understanding of how differentially prepared learners view and interpret graphics and have the potential to inform instructional design.     

语言视点的分类及功能

视点是普遍存在的认知现象,广泛存在于各种层级的语言活动之中,对于话语的表达和篇章的构建都有十分重要的影响。视点的研究不仅是文学叙事学的重要内容,也是语言学领域需要很好研究的对象。视点的高度整合力与统摄力对现有的语篇理论和描写模式将是有益的补充和发展。     

概念整合理论对英语Zeugma的阐释及隐喻标记性的差异

Zeugma当译为粘连,它分为动词、介词、形容词和名词支配的4种情况。概念整合理论对这一辞格中的隐喻具有解释能力。概念整合理论构筑了4个抽象空间模式：输入空间I,即源域空间、输入空间II,即目标域空间、类属空间以及整合空间。每个粘连例子的修辞效果都是在这4个空间运作的结果。根据粘连中语言成分措置的常见程度,这一辞格中的隐喻存在着标记性的差异。标记性高的比标记性低的更具修辞巧思,更为生动有趣!     

认知诗学视野下的视点解读——以《最后一片叶子》为例

《最后一片叶子》的艺术魅力与视点的恰当处理分不开。从认知诗学角度出发,运用视点理论,从叙述视点、观念视点、时空视点和知觉视点四个层面剖析文本,读者能更全面理解作者如何通过视点的转变来塑造人物形象,推动故事情节,进而揭示文本主题。视点解读可为文学作品多元分析开辟新的研究途径。