Contemporary school knowledge democracy: possible meanings,promising perspectives and necessary prerequisites

ABSTRACT

The basic aim of this paper is to discuss the concept ‘Knowledge Democracy’ (KD) and what it can mean in the school context, its implications on knowledge production and dissemination and on the educational practices. We try to enrich this discussion by presenting action research projects to provide case studies of how thinking about KD can reshape educational practice. We consider that the discussion on KD has to be enriched as the concept seems very promising with good prospects towards school’s democratization. On the other hand, as it is quite new, it can encompass internal contradictions that can cause problems at the level of practice. So, we consider very important any contribution to this discussion not as another theoretical sample of the debate on the ‘politics of knowledge’, but because any improvement at the thinking of the issue can be reflected on school practices. Any challenge to traditional politics of knowledge can lead to a deeper understanding of the world of schooling and to transformations through new discourses and new approaches to teaching and learning in school.     

Recognition,inclusion and democracy: learning from action research with young people

ABSTRACT

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people’s social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what ‘counts’ as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowledge democracy in ‘new democratic arenas’. Building upon experiential knowing and creating knowledge and learning through practice, the young people explored their own democratic knowledge production, communication and engagement within a context of shifting discourses of participation, democratic engagement and active citizenship. The increasing preference of young people for more informal forms of participation as lived practice reflects a shift to young people constructing their own modes of participation and ‘remaking democracy’ in their own vision and according to their own needs. By working outside of the confines of normative assumptions of democratic practice and participation, young people exercised their own ‘political’ agency in response to their own priorities, interests and concerns and, in doing so, illustrated that new forms, understandings and practices of knowledge democracy can emerge that reflect the promise of inclusive democratic societies more meaningfully.     

The Servant: Class estrangement as experience in Grazia Deledda’s Canne al vento

Abstract

The servant lives within the social relations of feudal class estrangement. He is a natural moralist who keeps his eyes and his mind open, amidst the compromises, intricacies, and oppression of being a servant, and he sees and understands a good deal more than those around him. Above all, he is a craftsman of experience who, in making history with only a few resources, lives an examined life, and turns estrangement into a life lived for others. Along the way, and ever sensitive to mundane hope and sorrow—even at the point of death—the servant offers educative insight into some of life’s questions. Within a broadly materialist and pragmatic framework, this article examines the concrete particularity of estrangement in terms of the servant’s actions, desires and relations with others.     

杜威的民主社会教育价值取向探析

杜威的教育价值取向是社会中心的,更确切地说,是民主社会中心的。他的教育目的是为了民主社会,并努力以教育为工具,以实验学校为试验场实现其民主社会的教育理想。我们可以从杜威的民主社会教育价值取向中得到重要的启示,即教育要重视儿童的眼前生活,要通过加强学校生活与社会生活的联系来消除教育中的浪费现象。     

What measures justice? What justifies happiness? Emersonian moral perfectionism and the cultivation of political emotions

Abstract

This article will highlight the distinctive role of Cavell in renewing a dawn of American philosophy. Following Emerson’s remark, ‘the inmost in due time becomes the outmost’, Cavell develops his distinctive line of antifoundationalist thought. To show how unique and valuable Cavell’s endeavor to resuscitate Emerson’s and Thoreau’s voice in American philosophy is, this paper discusses the political implications of Cavell’s Emersonian moral perfectionism. This involves a reconsideration of what measures justice and what justifies happiness. While Cavell is sometimes said to be too personal and too subjective to be political, I shall argue that his Emersonian perfectionism, with its concomitant idea of the conversation of justice, is in fact thoroughly political and democratic. I shall illustrate this by examining his writing on a Hollywood film, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). The film shows vividly that happiness is a condition for achieving democracy from within. In conclusion, I shall propose that a readiness for the risk inherent in speech, rather than, say, acquiescing in received ideas or hiding behind the words of others, is at the heart of perfectionist education for globally minded citizens.     

Developing a Deeper Involvement with Science: Keith's Story

Much research in science education has focused on the conflicts that exist between individuals' ways of knowing the world and science. We have been left without an image of the compatibility or congruency that is necessary for science to occupy a fundamental position in a person's life. In this study we argue that Keith, a Jamaican American pre-service teacher, provides us with such an image. Using narrative, we trace the development of Keith's relationship with science over time and space in order to understand how Keith has constructed an identity through science amid the larger structures and contexts that comprise his life. We believe Keith's stories of practicing science in and out of the classroom illustrate how science, while taking an essential position in his lifeworld, extends and articulates Keith's subjective stances on experience. As part of his lifeworld, Keith finds a sense of value in science that turns it into a discipline that is part of the person he both is and wants to be and the world he wants to shape as a teacher. Richard Kozoll is an assistant professor of science education at the School of Education of DePaul University. His research interests include students' identity constructs as a means to understand engagement with and participation in science and inform inclusive science teaching practices. An additional line of research includes the use of narrative in science education research. Margery Osborne is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She teaches early childhood and elementary science education courses. Her research interests, located within the intersections constructed between ideas of reflective practice and research on critical and feminist pedagogy, include exploring the dynamic and complex nature of teacher knowledge.     

人品·官品·文品——从《岳阳楼记》名句看范公人格魅力

《岳阳楼记》中名句"先天下之忧而忧,后天下之乐而乐"寄寓的忧乐情怀,既是作者高尚人格的写照,也是范公一生行为的准则。范公为人,节俭好施留芳名于世;为官,始终以兴利治弊为己任;为文,借言励己勉人,超越个人忧乐。透过范公为官历程,追溯其为文初衷,便能领悟:官品、文品皆人品。     

Writing the Practice/Practise the Writing: Writing challenges and pedagogies for creative practice supervisors and researchers

Abstract

There is now an increasing body of knowledge on creative practice-based doctorates especially in Australia and the United Kingdom. A particular focus in recent years has been on the written examinable component or exegesis, and a number of studies have provided important information about change and stability in the form and nature of the exegesis and its relationship to the creative project. However, we still know relatively little about the pedagogical practices that supervisors use to support these students’ development as scholarly writers, nor of how supervisors view ‘writing’ in relation to the creative practice components of the degree endeavour. This paper draws on data from a recent study of supervision in creative practice higher research degrees and it highlights the transformative nature of writing for the development of creative practice research scholars in the context of competing discourses on research writing. In contrast to institutional silencing of writing, the study relates numerous examples of effective writing-rich supervisory pedagogies illustrating how successful supervisors work with their students to bring their creative projects into articulation.     

Reasoning as a Pedagogical Tool: Tolstoy’s Real Happening Stories for Children

Viewing Tolstoy’s works from psychological and intellectual perspectives demonstrates his approach to children’s literacy and especially the development of reasoning, which he presents in his writing for children and the stories he includes in his New ABC book (1875a) and four Readers (1875b). This article examines Tolstoy’s reasoning approach in education and its application in his real happening stories for children. Some of Tolstoy’s ideas about upbringing that are expressed in his stories are similar to ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) and a Swiss developmental physiologist contemporary to Tolstoy, Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Tolstoy’s real happening stories treat situations that a child might actually experience; they propose and teach scenarios that might influence a child’s or an adult’s thinking about ways to obtain an education. Thus, in Tolstoy’s approach to children’s education, reasoning becomes a pedagogical tool, used to develop knowledge, experience and critical thinking ability.     

邓小平对发展社会主义民主政治的重大贡献

邓小平对发展社会主义民主政治作出的重大贡献在于 ,他深刻论述并解决了以下基本理论问题 :恢复和重新确立党的实事求是的思想路线 ,为探索社会主义民主政治建设奠定了思想基础 ;关于两种类型民主的区分 ,强调坚持社会主义民主 ,为发展社会主义民主政治确立了根本原则 ;关于民主地位的深刻认识 ,为发展社会主义民主政治的伟大实践开辟了道路 ;关于民主制度化、法律化的主张 ,为发展社会主义民主政治提供了可靠的保障。     

杜甫的创作实践及其现实意义

择要介绍了杜甫的人生经历和创作实践,描述了杜甫忧国忧民的情怀、与人民群众的密切关系及其对诗歌创作的影响,概括归纳了杜甫的主要创作成就和经验,分析了目前各种媒体语言文字信息质量存在的问题以及写作者在写作态度和表现方面存在的主要问题,联系实际陈述了杜甫的创作实践和写作态度在当今所具有的指导意义,论述了当今时代写作者应该具有的素质和禀赋,对应该如何向杜甫学习以提高写作能力和水平的问题作出了简要回答。     

“Palabras de la ciencia”: Pedro Castera and Scientific Writing in Mexico’s Fin de Siècle

This essay explores the career of the understudied writer Pedro Castera (1846–1906), who is regarded as one of the first practitioners of science fiction in Mexico. A man of many talents, Castera is one of the most eccentric and eclectic figures in the intellectual life of fin-de-siècle Mexico City. His career took many turns: While during specific periods he devoted himself to writing and participating within the liberal, cosmopolitan culture of Mexico City, he often disappeared from the public eye to devote himself to the development of inventions in the mining industry. The essay discusses the different meanings of ‘invention’ within Castera’s oeuvre, namely poetic and scientific innovation. Setting these two concepts within the domains of literature and scientific writing in the global and local fin de siècle, the essay investigates how Castera’s journalism and fiction (specifically his 1890 novel Querens) are representative of the wider question of scientific development in Mexico and Latin America as a whole during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, it explores the intersections of aesthetics and science during a critical period of modern intellectual history, in which these two areas of knowledge were gradually defining themselves as two distinctive cultures.     

浅谈王蒙创作思想和艺术表现形式的变化--以五十年代和新时期的创作为例

王蒙是一位敢为天下先的作家,他历尽沧桑和磨难,但始终不改赤子之心。在新的历史时期,他大胆地运用意识流等多元化艺术表现手法,同时又身体力行,借助多元化的艺术手法表现多样化的真实,使其艺术作品富有了多彩的艺术品貌,独树一帜地显示出怡心养性的消闲理念和一种斑驳陆离的“杂色”的艺术风格。他的作品充满了爱和恨,但他不滥用爱和恨,他好像是一位守门员,从各个角度接过生活的球,他从各个方面探讨人物的内心世界,对人物的评价更加具有历史感。所以,王蒙的创作起到一个先锋的开拓作用,是中国当代文学的缩影。     

方苞受学于其兄方舟述论

方苞以德行、文章、经术三者为世人敬重,然探究其源,其兄方舟于之影响至深。他自幼虽从父开始启蒙教育,其后却受学于兄,方舟之为文、为学、为人等诸多方面皆对方苞一生产生了深刻的影响。方苞为之感怀终生。     

Facilitating democratic professional development: exploring the double role of being an academic action researcher

Abstract

This article focuses on the double role of the academic action researcher working as facilitator and researcher in democratic professional development projects. The inquiry is based on three partnership projects: ‘research circles’ in Sweden, ‘dialogue conferences’ in Norway and ‘tailored professional development’ in Finland. In a self-study and through the lens of practice architectures, we, as action researchers, explore how our practices are enabled and constrained in, as well as are enabling and constraining, professional development partnerships with teachers and educational leaders. A critical perspective is provided on how and what democratic practices evolve. The inquiry opens up understandings about how the academic action researcher’s practices entails multi-faceted ways of working to be able to accomplish different and somehow contradictory objectives, yet at the same time enacting democratic working methods. Furthermore, the act of recognition as a connecting aspect between prefiguring arrangements and evolving practices will be elaborated on to supplement perspectives offered by the theory of practice architectures.     

西奥多·德莱塞与《美国的悲剧》

德莱塞的作品具有重大的社会意义,是他多年对美国社会深入观察、透彻了解的结果.他的出身、经历、认识和判断力形成了他深刻的批判现实主义思想基础.德莱塞一生都是在与资产阶级的战斗中度过的,是一位十分倔强、毫不妥协的现实主义作家.他不仅在创作风格上表现出严谨的作风,还十分注意在艺术手法上下功夫.一部<美国的悲剧>,通过对美国社会腐败、罪恶的现象与本质的无情揭露与批判,揭示出生活本身的悲剧性,强烈地拨动了读者的心弦,引发人们对社会现实的深刻关注与思考.     

‘Quicksand of Hate’: Experiences of Islamophobia and Poetic Resistance

How might English classrooms be spaces where Muslim students are empowered to recognise and resist Islamophobia? This qualitative study draws on theories of critical consciousness and Islamophobia to show how Bassim, a Muslim student, makes sense of Islamophobic encounters through the poetic and analytic writing he creates in his public high school English classroom. When examined intertextually, Bassim’s words offer a glimpse of what Islamophobic experiences are like for some contemporary Muslim students. The findings suggest that through his English class, Bassim is able to use poetic and analytic writing as the means by which he recognises and resists Islamophobia. Further, this study indicates that more work should take up the implications of students’ religious beliefs and the ways those beliefs shape their writing – particularly when they are members of a marginalised religion.     

"异秉":汪曾祺和他的"高邮故事"

汪曾祺其人其文,在中国现当代文学史上都是一个"异秉".第一是他生世、性格的"异秉",和"水"的关系密切;第二是他小说观念的"异秉","小说是回忆";第三是他把语言推到极致,"写小说就是写语言".他的"高邮故事"集中体现了他小说的"异秉",寄托其"与众不同"的美学情感和艺术追求.     

‘What Do You Read,My Lord?’ Oral and Silent Reading in Shakespeare’s Plays

ABSTRACT

There are many references to reading, and some to writing, in Shakespeare’s plays; a list is provided in an Appendix. They are analysed for what they reveal about the social status of literacy in Shakespeare’s day, and the references to reading are analysed further according to oral v. silent reading, and whether characters have company on stage, or are (or believe themselves to be) alone. Only a few characters are depicted as illiterate, sometimes for comic effect, more often for purposes of the plot. All persons of rank, and most others, are depicted as literate. It seems that in Shakespeare’s time, even among the highly educated, the practice of oral reading for varied purposes, even when alone, was still alive. One effect was, serendipitously, to give Shakespeare the freedom to manipulate reading practices plausibly, and brilliantly, for his own purposes.     

论曹文轩小说的创作特色

作为儿童文学的代表作家,曹文轩对儿童文学做出了卓越的贡献,其作品也因独特的创作观念和创作方式深受广大读者的欢迎。他的小说主要通过儿童的视角这一诗学的形式来表现儿童成长过程中一次次历练之后的苦痛与温暖以及周边的冷暖人生,通过诗意化世界的构建来凸显人性美、人情美。乡土情结也是贯穿其小说中一个重要方面,不论是故乡的风土人情,还是故乡如诗如画的景物群像,都透着曹文轩对故乡一种解不开的特殊情结。