e—Learning新解：网络教学范式的转换

当代学习理论正在发生有意义的变化,学习越来越多的被认为是建构认知、分布式认知和情境认知的过程,而不仅仅是知识的传递;越来越关注知识协同建构的社会本质,知识协同建构受共同体的影响。Web2．0技术在e-Learning中的应用更加关注学习过程的参与性,强调通过师生、生生之间的学习活动来促进知识内容的内化,通过学习活动的序列化,来支持多种实践导向的教学模式。而普适计算技术的发展,使得学习无时不在、无处不在、按需适应成为可能。在学习理论发展和信息技术发展的双重推动下,网络教学正实现从接受认知范式到建构认知范式再到分布式情境认知范式的转换,这反映了e—Learning从技术向教育回归的基本趋势。     

Using situated cognition theory in researching student experience of the workplace

It has been proposed that situated cognition theory, in which learning is conceptualized as induction into a community of practice through the activity of legitimate peripheral participation, offers an appropriate theoretical perspective for examining issues of gender in science education. This study critically engages with this proposal by means of an investigation of the vacation work experiences of a group of South African final‐year civil and chemical engineering students. Issues of race and gender appeared prominently and spontaneously in focus group and interview data. An analysis of these data using the situated cognition framework allowed for a deeper understanding of these issues and their impact on learning. It was found that access to legitimate peripheral participation was critical for good learning outcomes (associated with positive identity formation) while denial of this access (as sometimes experienced by black and female students) appeared to be related to less effective learning and poor feelings of self‐worth. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 415–431, 2004     

Situated Learning: Conceptualization and Measurement

A focus on the interaction between cognitive schemas and context in situ has been suggested as fundamental in organizational decision making and information interpretation. Past research suggests that the situation and the social interaction that occur during learning at the cognitive level consist of factors that affect the process, but the research lacks a coherent explanation for how those factors affect it. We propose a conceptualization of learning, termed situated learning, which accounts for these factors. By drawing on situated cognition theory, social learning theory, and the theory of mental models, we identify and measure four components of situated learning, that is, thematic focus, cognitive absorption, social structure, and participation. Among the most important lessons for researchers and practitioners is the need to consider learning as a constellation of the four components instead of an indivisible phenomenon. This perspective can enhance our understanding of cognitive processes, such as information interpretation and decision making.     

Representational competence: towards a distributed and embodied cognition account

Multiple external representations (MERs) are central to the practice and learning of science, mathematics and engineering, as the phenomena and entities investigated and controlled in these domains are often not available for perception and action. MERs therefore play a twofold constitutive role in reasoning in these domains. Firstly, MERs stand in for the phenomena and entities that are imagined, and thus make possible scientific investigations. Secondly, related to the above, sensorimotor and imagination-based interactions with the MERs make possible focused cognitive operations involving these phenomena and entities, such as mental rotation and analogical transformations. These two constitutive roles suggest that acquiring expertise in science, mathematics and engineering requires developing the ability to transform and integrate the MERs in that field, in tandem with running operations in imagination on the phenomena and entities the MERs stand for. This core ability to integrate external and internal representations and operations on them – termed representational competence (RC) – is therefore critical to learning in science, mathematics and engineering. However, no general account of this core process is currently available. We argue that, given the above two constitutive roles played by MERs, a theoretical account of representational competence requires an explicit model of how the cognitive system interacts with external representations, and how imagination abilities develop through this process. At the applied level, this account is required to develop design guidelines for new media interventions for learning science and mathematics, particularly emerging ones that are based on embodied interactions. As a first step to developing such a theoretical account, we review the literature on learning with MERs, as well as acquiring RC, in chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and engineering, from two perspectives. First, we focus on the important theoretical accounts and related empirical studies, and examine what is common about them. Second, we summarise the major trends in each discipline, and then bring together these trends. The results show that most models and empirical studies of RC are framed within the classical information processing approach, and do not take a constitutive view of external representations. To develop an account compatible with the constitutive view of external representations, we outline an interaction-based theoretical account of RC, extending recent advances in distributed and embodied cognition.     

具身认知视角下科技场馆学习支架的设计

具身认知强调认知是身体参与的认知,通过身体、环境、感知、心智的互动融合完成知识的表征。科技场馆借助实体场馆与先进信息技术的融合,构建了具身学习的场域。文章首先基于具身认知理论,在科技场馆的具身学习中融合三种环境(即物理环境、社会环境和心理环境)和三类具身(即实感具身、实境具身和离线具身),设计了科技场馆学习支架。随后,文章在“电流的磁效应”主题学习中开展了两轮迭代设计研究,验证科技场馆学习支架的应用效果。最后,文章形成了修正后的科技场馆学习支架,以提升学习者身体在场的行动参与感,帮助学习者身体体验的内化与经验建构,为学习者在科技场馆中的具身学习提供有效的学习支持。     

Preparation for lifelong learning using ePortfolios

Rapid technological change, increasing globalization and a changing world of employment with multiple roles during one's professional life are necessitating a change from knowledge to learning societies. Full participation requires lifelong learning skills, meaning the ability to solve problems, work both independently and in a team, communicate effectively in all formats and on all levels, and self-direct one's learning and professional development needs. Universities need to take responsibility in preparing students for lifelong learning. While engineering and science degrees traditionally do not emphasize the importance of lifelong learning skills new programmes of study are now being introduced, often using electronic portfolios to support engagement with learning objectives and reflection. This article describes an electronic portfolio initiative that is targeted at engineering and computer science students. The initiative aims to create awareness among students on the nature and importance of lifelong learning skills, to facilitate the development of such skills and to assist students in showcasing their competence regarding these skills. Interviews with industry representatives regarding the characteristics of a lifelong learner and the values of constructing and presenting portfolios were conducted and have resulted in strong support for the electronic portfolio initiative. The article provides background on lifelong learning and electronic portfolios, outlines the design of the initiative and then focuses on feedback from industry representatives.     

Instructional design for situated learning

The design of situated learning must be closely linked to the ecological psychology of situated cognition, as exemplified by problem solving in a complex situated context, the Jasper Series. The extreme view of situated learning contends thatall thinking must be viewed as situated, and is therefore better explained by concepts of perception and action than by the concepts of information processing psychology. In this article, ideas of ecological psychology provide the background for describing four broad tasks for the design of situated learning: selecting the situations, providing scaffolding, determining and supporting the role of the teacher, and assessing situated learning. Further, three metrics for evaluating situated learning are suggested: affording transfer, providing meaning, and providing an anchor for cross-curricular investigation.     

Situated Learning in ‘This High-Technology World’

Lave and Wenger have proposed that learning is situated and occurs by means of legitimate peripheral participation within a community of practice, in contrast with conventional schools which are based upon the assumption that knowledge can be decontextualized. I argue that their perspective is inappropriate for science teaching, because a newcomer must have a significant amount of basic and background knowledge before entering into meaningful participation in technological communities of practice. Furthermore, situated learning can be undemocratic in that a child’s future profession is determined at a very early age. Nevertheless, science teachers in traditional schools can benefit from pedagogical insights that follow from the perspective of situated learning. The curricular content as well as the learning activities should be influenced by the nature of the activities that occur in the communities of practice that students will encounter in the future.     

Situated cognition and learning environments: Roles,structures, and implications for design

Situated cognition has emerged as a powerful perspective in providing meaningful learning and promoting the transfer of knowledge to real-life situations. While considerable interest has been generated in situated learning environments, few guidelines exist related to their design. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical underpinnings of situated cognition and to derive implications for the design of situated learning environments. The conceptual framework centers on four basic issues: the role of context, the role of content, the role of facilitation, and the role of assessment.     

Embodied cognition as grounding for situatedness and context in mathematics education

In this paper we analyze, from the perspective of 'Embodied Cognition', why learning and cognition are situated and context-dependent. We argue that the nature of situated learning and cognition cannot be fully understood by focusing only on social, cultural and contextual factors. These factors are themselves further situated and made comprehensible by the shared biology and fundamental bodily experiences of human beings. Thus cognition itself is embodied, and the bodily-grounded nature of cognition provides a foundation for social situatedness, entails a reconceptualization of cognition and mathematics itself, and has important consequences for mathematics education. After framing some theoretical notions of embodied cognition in the perspective of modern cognitive science, we analyze a case study – continuity of functions. We use conceptual metaphor theory to show how embodied cognition, while providing grounding for situatedness, also gives fruitful results in analyzing the cognitive difficulties underlying the understanding of continuity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Studies of neural processing in deaf signers: toward a neurocognitive model of language processing in the deaf

The ability to comprehend and produce language stands as a defining characteristic of human cognition and enables the transfer of knowledge and culture within human society. A proper characterization of the human capacity for language is required for the development of interventions that may be used to assist those individuals who have failed to achieve, or who have lost competence in, language behaviors. For signed languages, models of competent language use are lacking. This lack of knowledge hampers the development of effective assessment measures for deaf children who may be experiencing learning problems beyond those confronting the normal deaf child. I discuss two research avenues that have begun to provide a window into the neural systems involved in sign language processing: studies of language disruptions in adult deaf signers who have suffered brain injury, and studies of functional brain imaging in normal deaf signers. This research provides a basis for the development of a comprehensive neurocognitive model of sign language processing.     

Learning from instruction: the case of mathematics

Starting from a brief analysis of adaptive competence in mathematics, this article describes a series of research-based characteristics of the kind of learning processes that should be elicited in students to facilitate and support in them the progressive acquisition of such competence. Four major characteristics are discussed in some detail: learning is constructive, self-regulated, situated or contextual, and collaborative. A rather new approach to transfer of learning is then presented in which transfer is conceived as the preparation for future learning. Throughout the article it is argued that, notwithstanding the progress made in research on learning from instruction, numerous and complex issues and problems remain for continued inquiry.     

'Being in the World': The event of learning

This paper employs an eclectic mix of paradigms in order to discuss constituting characteristics of young children's learning experiences. Drawing upon a phenomenological perspective it examines learning as a form of 'Being' and as the result of learners' engagement with the world in their own, unique, intentional manners. The learners' intentions towards their world are expressed in everyday activity and participation. A social constructivist perspective is thus employed to present learning as situated in meaningful socio-cultural contexts of the everyday, lived world and as a form of participation in those settings. These characteristics of learning are brought together into a holistic, synthesised model, a Gestalt of learning. The proposed synthesis has relevance for and is applicable to educational contexts as a means of making sense of children's learning experiences and of promoting and facilitating them.     

Developing a Laboratory Model for the Professional Preparation of Future Science Teachers: A Situated Cognition Perspective

Although laboratory activities are widely acknowledged as being fundamental to the teaching of science, many secondary science school teachers have limited knowledge of how to design and run effective teaching laboratories. Utilising a situated cognition theoretical framework, we discuss our collaborative efforts to develop a laboratory based model for the professional preparation of secondary level science teachers. Findings from the study suggest that the learning which occurs in the laboratory context may be transferred (with appropriate modifications) to the secondary science classroom. Implications also are presented for science teacher preparation, ongoing professional development, and further study.     

Theorizing scientific literacy in the wild

The purpose of this review paper is to contribute to the effort of rethinking scientific literacy in a form that is appropriate for describing and theorizing its occurrence “in the wild,” that is, in the everyday world that we share with others (as opposed to testing situations in classrooms and laboratories). Consistent with our commitment to practice, we exemplify relevant theories of everyday cognition with a case study of scientific literacy in the wild. Accordingly, we conceive scientific literacy as situated, distributed, and dynamic. We use this case study as a touchstone for reviewing the literature on scientific literacy as it has been developed over the past 50 years. Our review shows that sociocultural and cultural-historical activity theoretic models of knowing account for scientific literacy in the wild better than other theories. If the purpose of science education is to produce a scientifically literate citizenry, the question now can be asked what these models propose to frame school science and the possible trajectories that might lead to scientific literacy in the wild.     

THE DYNAMICS OF LEARNING SCIENCE IN EVERYDAY CONTEXTS: A CASE STUDY OF EVERYDAY SCIENCE CLASS IN KOREA

With recognition of the importance of scientific literacy for the nation and yet the increasing students’ disinterest in science through school science curriculum, the Korea Science Foundation launched an innovative program called ‘Everyday Science Class (ESC)’ in partnership with universities and local government offices in 2003. In this work, we introduce the structure and dynamics of the ESC program in K-district through examining (1) how everyday contexts helped learners’ perceptions and attitudes toward science and (2) how the dynamics of learning environments effected learners’ learning process. We employed interviews and video recording of classes for data collection. To analyze the data, we used the process of thematic coding to understand the outcomes and effects of ESC program. The research findings showed that everyday context and a unique environment of learning with parents in the ESC program could bring forth learners’ understandings on the connection between science and their everyday lives and positive attitudes toward science learning. We also found that there were certain issues to be taken into account in terms of children’s cognitive development for further development.     

Development,Implementation, and Outcomes of an Equitable Computer Science After-School Program: Findings From Middle-School Students

Current policy efforts that seek to improve learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emphasize the importance of helping all students acquire concepts and tools from computer science that help them analyze and develop solutions to everyday problems. These goals have been generally described in the literature under the term computational thinking. In this article, we report on the design, implementation, and outcomes of an after-school program on computational thinking. The program was founded through a partnership between university faculty, undergraduates, teachers, and students. Specifically, we examine how equitable pedagogical practices can be applied in the design of computing programs and the ways in which participation in such programs influence middle school students' learning of computer science concepts, computational practices, and attitudes toward computing. Participants included 52 middle school students who voluntarily attended the 9-week after-school program, as well as four undergraduates and one teacher who designed and implemented the program. Data were collected from after-school program observations, undergraduate reflections, computer science content assessments, programming products, and attitude surveys. The results indicate that the program positively influenced student learning of computer science concepts and attitudes toward computing. Findings have implications for the design of effective learning experiences that broaden participation in computing. (Keywords: computational thinking, programming, middle school, mixed methods)     

Situated Learning: What Ever Happened To Educational Psychology?

This paper attempts to explore the diminishing contributions of psychology in teacher preparation programs. Using situated learning as a basis for discussion, I have argued that a student may take a course in educational psychology and then subsequently discover that subsequent preparation may ignore those psychological caveats regarding the efficacy of proposed instructional methodology such as situated learning. These include cognition, group processes, and transfer of training. However, the presence of such concerns is not confined to situated learning specifically. It may be time for educators to reconsider psychological findings as necessary contributions to the efficacy of their proposals.     

STEM learning research through a funds of knowledge lens

This article examines STEM learning as a cultural process with a focus on non-dominant communities. Building on my work in funds of knowledge and mathematics education, I present three vignettes to raise some questions around connections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics. How do we define competence? How do task and environment affect engagement? What is the role of affect, language, and cognition in different settings? These vignettes serve to highlight the complexity of moving across different domains of STEM practice—everyday life, school, and STEM disciplines. Based on findings from occupational interviews I discuss characteristics of learning and engaging in everyday practices and propose several areas for further research, including the nature of everyday STEM practices, valorization of knowledge, language choice, and different forms of engagement.     

‘Being in the World’: The event of learning

This paper employs an eclectic mix of paradigms in order to discuss constituting characteristics of young children's learning experiences. Drawing upon a phenomenological perspective it examines learning as a form of ‘Being’ and as the result of learners’ engagement with the world in their own, unique, intentional manners. The learners’ intentions towards their world are expressed in everyday activity and participation. A social constructivist perspective is thus employed to present learning as situated in meaningful socio‐cultural contexts of the everyday, lived world and as a form of participation in those settings. These characteristics of learning are brought together into a holistic, synthesised model, a Gestalt of learning. The proposed synthesis has relevance for and is applicable to educational contexts as a means of making sense of children's learning experiences and of promoting and facilitating them.