Learning to talk the educational psychology talk through a problem-based course

A sociocultural view of learning proposes that learning involves becoming enculturated into a community of practice. A step along the way is learning to use the specialized language of such a community, as language is a crucial tool that regulates participation, mediates cognition and plays a central role in the development of thought. Problem-based learning (PBL), with its emphasis on collaborative discourse, provides opportunities for students to develop the conceptual language of a discipline, which in turn affects cognition. In a problem-based undergraduate Educational Psychology course, many psychological theories, concepts and principles are introduced to pre-service teachers. During the course, as students learn through problem solving, they engage with new knowledge. This evolving knowledge requires new discourse structures that will allow students to express their new ideas and that will ultimately structure students' ways of knowing. The content of group and individual artifacts is analyzed to examine how PBL influences students' language and knowledge development over the course of the semester in an Educational Psychology class (n = 34). The goal of this paper is to present these analyses and to discuss how the change affects students' language and knowledge.     

Free choice and free play in early childhood education: troubling the discourse

This article troubles the established discourse of free choice and free play in early childhood education, and develops post-structural approaches to theorising children's agency in the context of institutional and relational power structures. It is widely accepted that planning a curriculum based on children's needs, interests and patterns of learning promotes agency, self-regulation and control. However, contemporary research extends this discourse through critical examination of child-centred and developmental perspectives, and by theorising children's agency as a means of enacting power relationships in play. Using naturalistic, interpretive methods for documenting children's choices of play activities, this small-scale study focuses on 10 children in an Early Years Foundation Stage setting in England. Combining contemporary sociocultural and post-structural theories, the findings indicate that children's choices are situated within shifting power structures and relationships, involving conflict, negotiation, resistance and subversion. These activities create opportunities for exercising and affirming group and individual agency. The study raises critical questions about how children make and manage their choices, and examines the implications for policy and practice in light of restrictive curriculum frameworks.     

教师教育与发展的文化历史观———学习教学》评介

本文评介了Viv Ellis,Anne Edwards 和Peter Smagorinsky 主编的《教师教育与发展的文化历史观—学习教学》。文章首先指明了该书的出版对于教师学习研究领域的意义,然后对本书的主要内容和结构进行了介绍,并且结合国内的外语教师学习研究现状进行了评论。作者希望通过本书的评介让国内的外语教师教育工作者与研究者了解社会文化理论各流派的由来与发展状况,明晰社会文化视角下教师学习研究的核心问题,进而思考如何结合中国实际开展有创新的本土化研究。     

Purposeful play during learning centre time: from curriculum to practice

This article explores the correspondence between the vision of play articulated in Singapore’s national kindergarten curriculum framework and the play-related pedagogies enacted by teachers on the ground, particularly during Learning Centre Time (LCT). Influenced by neo-liberal ways of thinking, the curriculum states that purposeful play is a medium to achieve intended learning outcomes. The study is part of a longitudinal project where 108 Kindergarten 1 classrooms were videotaped during a full ‘typical day’ (3–4 h). While learning centres were set up in all classrooms, only 36 LCT episodes were identified. Certain learning centre types (literacy, arts) were more common than others (numeracy, science), and time spent by teachers in the different centres varied widely. Children were allowed limited freedom of choice while playing in learning centres, and some were even required to complete assignments. While teachers tended to adopt facilitative roles, quality of instructional support provided to children was low. We conclude that pedagogical practices during LCT in the observed classrooms do not adequately reflect the curriculum’s vision of purposeful play. This theory/practice gap might be due to curriculum expectations, teacher-related factors (beliefs, lack of preparation) and parental pressures. Implications, limitations and lines for future research are discussed.     

社会学习理念与机辅语言学习综述

15年前,二语习得领域迎来了以社会文化理论(Sociocultural Theory)为先导的社会转向(social-turn)。社会学习(Social Learning)作为社会文化理论中的一个重要概念,意在阐释智力活动的社会源头;任何学习从根本上讲都是社会学习的过程,是个体与其所在的社会环境不断交互的结果。此视角下的机辅语言学习(Computer-assisted Language Learning(CALL))国外研究成果丰硕,发展势头强劲;这拓宽了我国外语教学与研究的发展空间。     

Digital play: a new classification

Abstract

This paper draws on an ESRC-funded study of play and creativity in preschool-aged children’s use of apps in the UK. The main objectives of the study were to collect information about access to and use of apps in the home, establish the most popular apps and identify the features of those apps that are successful in promoting play and creativity. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data, including video filming of children using the most popular apps. In identifying play types that emerged in the analysis of data, the team utilised an established taxonomy, which outlines sixteen play types. This taxonomy was reviewed and adapted to analyse data from the project relating to digital play. Through this process, an additional type of play, transgressive play, was identified and added to the taxonomy. The paper outlines the implications of the revised taxonomy for future studies of play.     

Teacher Learning in Mathematics: Using Student Work to Promote Collective Inquiry

The study describes teachers' collective work in which they developed deeper understanding of their own students' mathematical thinking. Teachers at one school met in monthly workgroups throughout the year. Prior to each workgroup, they posed a similar mathematical problem to their students. The workgroup discussions centered on the student work those problems generated. This study draws on a transformation of participation perspective to address the questions: What do teachers learn through collective examination of student work? How is teacher learning evident in shifts in participation in discussions centered on student work? The analyses account for the learning of the group by documenting key shifts in teachers' participation across the year. The first shift in participation occurred when teachers as a group learned to attend to the details of children's thinking. A second shift in participation occurred as teachers began to develop possible instructional trajectories in mathematics. We focus our discussion on the significance of the use of student work and a transformation of participation view in analyzing the learning trajectory of teachers as a group.     

Developing a Primary Science Methods Classroom

The purpose of this paper is to describe how and why a primary science methods classroom was conceived, designed, and developed for preservice and inservice teachers. Just as science educators believe that students learn best by constructing their knowledge of the natural world with the aid of a teacher and colleagues, science educators also believe that preservice and inservice teachers should learn in a collaborative and constructivist environment. Multiple dimensions relating to the dynamic processes of learning to teach, a ‘technical factor’ related to the physical and resource constraints that exist within a school, and sociocultural theory were used for the theoretical framework. A survey was given to 97 students who took a course in the classroom, six instructors were given a questionnaire, and three of these instructors were interviewed. These data sources sought to determine the effect of design features on student learning and instructor teaching. The results of the evaluation suggest students who used the classroom found their learning positively affected by the room design and instructors who taught in the classroom benefited by being able to teach in an inquiry and constructivist manner.     

社会文化理论视角下的外语课堂与语言学习

心理语言学取向的二语习得研究为我们提供了诸如输入、输出、形式聚焦等一系列十分有用的概念框架,对语言教学实践也产生了积极影响。但课堂二语习得的更多层面还有待探究。源于维果茨基学说的社会文化理论包括中介、内化、活动、最近发展区等核心概念在内的丰富思想,对我们理解二语课堂的活动系统、教师的中介作用和课堂互动与促进发展的关系等,会提供一种更宽阔的视野。     

钢琴弹奏学习“盲点”之再次解读

本文对钢琴弹奏学习中出现的一些“盲点”,如基础练习、乐谱在理解与表达方面的偏差,技术运用中“重量弹奏法”和踏板运用的问题进行分析,并提出相应的解决方法,以提高钢琴弹奏者的弹奏水平。     

Exploring the tactfulness of implementing play in the classroom: a Hong Kong experience

‘Learning through play’ in early childhood education is widely advocated, but studies show that play is not easily enacted in classrooms. The quality of learning through play has been questioned in various countries, especially when learning outcomes are a global concern. This paper examines how one teacher implemented learning through play within a formal and didactic Hong Kong pre-school classroom. Following this real-life adaptation of the play pedagogy, this paper aims to illuminate the practical theories of linking play with learning in the classroom. The findings support the adoption of ‘play’ in young children's learning and reveal tactful ways in which a teacher can encourage the evolving ‘flow’ of children's play while simultaneously scaffolding their learning. The paper analyses the tact involved in the above process and suggests key dimensions for realizing ‘learning through play’ in the classroom.     

人本主义学习理论对职业学校语文教学的启示

职业学校语文教学面临着教师教育观念落后、学生学习动力不足、教学情境缺失等困境,直接影响了学生语文综合素质的培养。人本主义学习理论关于知识、学习和教学的阐释给职业学校语文教学改革提供了理论指导和实践范式,对改变语文教学的现状具有积极意义。     

通化市中学生音乐自主性学习策略初探——以通化市中学生自主性学习状况调查为案例

随着知识经济的飞速发展,自主学习越来越成为教育学和心理学领域研究的重要课题.而一直以来自主性作为适应时代发展的一种生存方式和能力,也已经成为当前课程改革的重要目标.文章在调研通化市中学生音乐自主性学习状况的基础上,力求贯彻实施《音乐新课程标准》,通过对通化市中学生音乐自主性学习的现状研究与分析,提出制定音乐自主性学习的相关策略,为促进中学生音乐自主性教育教学研究提供参考.     

Parental Perceptions of Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The research presented in this article analyses 242 written responses to interview questions conducted with families who live in the United States to explore parental perceptions of disabilities. The data were analyzed through a case study methodology and discourse analysis. Findings from this study illustrate how parents drew upon both medical metaphors and sociocultural factors to discuss their perceptions of their or their children’s perceived learning disabilities.     

Professional Learning Community in Relation to School Effectiveness

This is a study of schools as professional learning communities, defined by nine characteristics and their relationship with the schools' level of effectiveness. The study was conducted within three schools in Iceland. It was designed as a mixed methods study, conducted in two phases: a correlational study of survey data on schools as professional learning communities and an experimental study, where effort was made to improve the level of the professional learning community and evaluate its effects on pupils' outcomes. In both phases relatively strong evidence was obtained on the relationship between a school's level of effectiveness and its level as a professional learning community. In the experimental school, interventions resulted in higher scores on national tests, especially in mathematics.     

Unpacking FIFA play as text and action in literacy practices in and out of school

ABSTRACT

In this article, we use a model for games and literacy to explore how one FIFA gamer worked across contexts. Previously, this model has been used to address the role of computer and video games in the teaching of literacy in the subject of English. In the current article, we combine this model with a learning lives perspective, which builds on the idea of following the learner across a wide range of contexts. The findings illustrate how one learner is able to research a specific topic, build a convincing argument for it and transfer knowledge from one source to another in a critical way. The knowledge of a game and its culture and the world around the game is prevalent in a gamer’s literacy practices out of school, and this is shown when our participant draws upon this knowledge in literacy practices for specific tasks in school.     

合作学习理论在英语自主学习中的运用研究

在研究建构主义学习理论及社会互赖理论的基础上,通过问卷对高职学生合作学习理论运用于英语自主学习现状进行调查与分析,发现高职学生在自主学习中合作学习理论的运用上还存在不足,提出了丰富教学形式、完善评价体系等建议。     

Block play: Building a foundation for literacy

The role of block play in the development of reading and writing is presented and discussed. A literacy-enriched block-play center is described, and accompanying tables identify books and additional literacy materials suggested for integration into a block-play area. Additionally, children's use of literacy props in a block-play area is presented through observations made in two preschool classrooms. Samples of children's writing produced during spontaneous block-play sessions are included to support examples given in the text.     

关于高师音乐教育学习理念的几点思考

本文通过对建构主义理论深入客观的研究,同时与我国高师音乐教育实践紧密结合,对我国高师音乐教育学习理念进行了深入的研究和思考.     

Learning practice and technology: extending the structurational Practice Lens to educational technology research

Scholars in the field of educational technology have been calling for robust use of social theory within learning technology research. In view of that, interest has been noted in applying Giddens’ structuration theory to the understanding of human interaction with technology in learning settings. However, only few such attempts have been published to date with recent reviews indicating the scarcity of structurational accounts from the educational technology field. Addressing this gap and advancing a critical use of the theory in the field, an attempt is made in this paper to lend coherency to structuration-based research into learning technology. Specifically, a critical consideration of the structurational Practice Lens is offered drawing from its application in a case study that explored technology-mediated learning practices in the institutional context of higher education. Conceptual and analytical aspects are addressed with a view to augment the framework, and to extend its relevance and applicability in educational technology research.