Piaget: Only the Galileo of cognitive development? Comment on Niaz and Lawson on genetic epistemology

Niaz argued for the “epistemic subject” as an “ideal knower,” with never a mention of logic—only of science understanding. Lawson identifies the epistemic subject as “pure logical reasoner”—a “straw man.” Net result: no meeting of minds, and little light shown on Piaget. Both fail to present the constructivist Piaget who, as far as he went, did resolve the contextual knowledge/abstract reasoning dilemma.     

Contributions from sociology of science to mathematics education in Brazil: logic as a system of beliefs

In Brazil, mathematics education was associated with Jean Piaget’s theory. Scholars in the field of education appropriated Piaget’s work in different ways, but usually emphasized logical aspects of thought, which probably lead to an expansion of mathematics education influenced by psychology. This study attempts to extend the range of interlocutions and pose a dialogue between the field of mathematics education in Brazil and the sociology of science proposed by David Bloor. The main point of Bloor’s theory is that logical-mathematical knowledge is far from being true and universal and is socially conditioned. In particular we will be discussing the first principle of the strong program, which deals with conditions that generate beliefs promoted by education policies in Brazil, such as the MEC/USAID treaties. In this case the “naturalization of logic” was stimulated by a widespread diffusion of both Piaget studies and the Modern Mathematics Movement.     

School staff perceptions of well-being and experience of an intervention to promote well-being

An intervention was carried out with primary school staff to promote well-being with weekly sessions of a project which became known as Chill and Chat. Data were gathered via questionnaires completed before and after the project and from three focus groups (before, during and after the intervention), and were analysed using thematic analysis. Results suggested that well-being was seen as important; however, colleagues with poor mental well-being were “pathologised”, with “learning” to cope and maintaining positive well-being perceived as the sole responsibility of the staff member. Staff perceived the informality of provision to promote well-being as important and valued time to develop better relationships with colleagues rather than just “working relationships”. Staff also reported perceptions of greater classroom efficacy, increased job satisfaction and feeling calmer. Implications for educational psychologist (EP) practice in helping school staff reflect on their well-being and actions to work as a team to promote well-being in school are discussed.     

How training on exact or approximate mental representations of number can enhance first-grade students’ basic number processing and arithmetic skills

Theories of psychology and mathematics education recommend two instructional approaches to develop students’ mental representations of number: The “exact” approach focuses on the development of exact representations of organized dot patterns; the “approximate” approach focuses on the approximate representation of analogue magnitudes. This study provides for the first time empirical evidence for the specific effects of these approaches by implementing them in a highly controlled learning environment. 147 first-graders were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups that used an “exact”, an “approximate”, or both versions of the same computer game, or to a control group. Performance on tasks requiring exact or approximate number processing as well as achievement in arithmetic were measured before and after the intervention. Results show that performance improved on tasks related to the exact or approximate number aspect trained, but there was no crossover effect. Achievement in arithmetic increased for the experimental groups and tended to be higher after only exact or only approximate training. Implications for teaching and learning in the classroom are discussed.     

Teacher classroom interactions and behaviours: Indications of bias

In some recent studies, researchers have measured teacher implicit bias and some have shown that teacher bias predicts student academic outcomes. Currently, however, how bias is portrayed to individual students is largely unknown. In this exploratory qualitative study, observations totalling 4 h per participant were undertaken with ten secondary, six intermediate, and four primary teachers in New Zealand. We utilised a thematic analysis approach to identify three themes: “differential nonverbal behaviours”, “differential academic interactions” and “differential reactions under the same conditions” that captured teachers' classroom interactions. Our findings suggested that teachers’ differential behaviours were mediating teacher bias. This was because teacher bias was recorded in every classroom; however, teachers displayed biased behaviours to varying degrees. Bias was displayed through various nonverbal and academic interactions, and some teachers portrayed their bias by treating some students differently when the situation for all students was the same.     

A study of practical‐moral knowledge in science teaching: Case studies in physical science classrooms

This study further extends a conceptual framework that explores science teaching as a “practice” not reducible to the application of formal knowledge, but as informed by teachers' practical‐moral knowledge. A hermeneutic model was developed to examine practical‐moral knowledge indirectly by investigating teachers' commitments, interpretations, actions, and dialectic interactions between them. The study also aimed to analyze teachers' actions in terms of their interpretations and commitments as they realize “internal goods” of their practice. Ethnographic case studies of three science teachers were conducted through classroom observation, in‐depth interviews and dialogues, and artifact analysis. A commitment of preparing students for national exams was common to the three teachers but was manifested differently in classroom practices. This commitment originated from interpretations about the duty of “good” teachers not letting students and schools down. Other emergent commitments were commitments: to conceptual understandings, to “challenge” learners, and to social modeling. We present each with associated interpretations and actions. The concepts of practical wisdom (phronesis) and gap closing are used to characterize teachers' practical knowledge and its development respectively. Implications for teacher education are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 929–951, 2010     

Changes in the representation of dynamism in fifth grade children

According to research on mental representation carried out in the Piaget tradition (Galifret-Granjon, 1981; Piaget & Inhelder, 1966), the cognitive processes of decentration in terms of the states (initial and final) and anticipation (of change and movement) form the basis of the reconstruction of a dynamic situation. Children centered primarily on the initial and final states have great difficulty creating a mental representation of a dynamic situation. This study, based on a socio-constructivist approach (Gamier, 1985), seeks to help children develop these two fundamental processes. The pedagogical analysis focuses first on the observation of children's behaviour while playing ball in a group and then on the graphic representation of their actions drawn by the children after each play session. We saw in the children's game definite changes stemming from decentration. We also noticed that the children were centering less on the states in their graphic production which became increasingly rich in codes.     

“三位一体”语文阅读教学共同体及其构建策略

“三位一体”语文阅读教学共同体是指以学生为“中位”(中心)、以教师为“主位”(主导)、以家长为“辅位”(辅助)、以阅读任务为客体(对象)、联通课(校)内外的一种课堂教学组织形式。它是在学习共同体理论启发下,为改变语文阅读小组合而不作的情况,促进学生语文核心素养的全面发展而提出来的。“三位一体”语文阅读教学共同体以合作学习为形式,共同提高为目的,超越了时空的限制,组织上具有自主性和灵活性,阅读过程具有平等性和自由性,内容上具有开放性和多样性。这些特性赋予了“三位一体”语文阅读教学共同体新功能,为构建立足课堂、融通课内外的语文阅读教学共同体提供了理论依据。“三位一体”语文阅读教学共同体需从教师、学生、家长等多方面进行构建。     

“At Sea”: Reversibility in Teaching and Learning

An equal-armed balance at equilibrium—the bar is horizontal—tips into disequilibrium upon displacing a weight. Equilibrium is restored by reversing that move—putting the weight back where it was, or doing the same on the other side. Piaget adopted the idea of equilibration to describe how the intellect, in relating to the world, develops. Equilibrium arises as: our mind adjusts its structures in response to the outer world (accommodation), so our internalized views can take in this outer world (assimilation). That is the process Piaget calls equilibration. Upon undergoing disequilibrium, the intellect employs these equilibrating moves, changing its structures in the process. When the intellect resolves a disturbing problem no matter how it is encountered, the intellect tries to reverse the disturbing feature: how did the familiar situation get to this disturbing one; how might that change be reversed? These equilibrating processes are encouraged as means of teaching and learning in this paper’s math and science examples. The clinical interviewing methodology of Piaget and Inhelder, as adapted by Eleanor Duckworth in the research pedagogy of clinical exploration in the classroom, provides the neutral, safe conditions requisite for these learners and teachers in undergoing disequilibrium, struggling with uncertainty, and constructing new understandings. In beginning to teach through exploration, the author and an undergraduate experimented with free fall motion. Experiencing disequilibrium, the student reconstructed her understanding of time as concurrently continuous and divisible. Seeking to enact methods of Piaget and Duckworth while engaging her, the teacher also experienced disequilibrium.     

An examination of the roles of the teacher and students during a problem-based learning intervention: lessons learned from a study in a Taiwanese primary mathematics classroom

The benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) to student learning have prompted researchers to investigate this pedagogical approach over the past few decades. However, little research has examined how PBL can be applied to mathematics learning and teaching, especially in countries like Taiwan, where the majority of teachers are accustomed to lecture methods and students are used to this style of teaching. This study examines the actions of a teacher and her class of 35 fifth-grade students (10–11-year-olds) as they tried to take on and respond to the demands of their new roles as “facilitator” and “constructors”, respectively, during a one-year PBL intervention in a Taiwanese mathematics classroom. Our findings provide insights into classroom participants’ role transition, from a customary role to a new role, when engaging with PBL. We identify an interrelationship between the teacher and student roles and discuss implications for the implementation of PBL at the primary education level.     

Role of the epistemic subject in Piaget's genetic epistemology and its importance for science education

According to Piaget, a fundamental epistemological distinction must be made between the psychological and the epistemic subject. The epistemic subject is studied by the genetic epistemologist who charts development through a “common universal rationality, which develops,” whereas the psychological subject is studied by the developmental/cognitive psychologist by focusing on accidental contingencies surrounding particular people and their individual differences. The epistemic subject as compared to the psychological subject is an idealized abstraction, viz., that set of underlying epistemic structures common to everyone at the same level of development. The objective of this study is to investigate the degree to which investigators in science education conceptualize the difference between the epistemic and the psychological subjects. It is argued that just as the ideal gas law (based on the theoretical formulation of Maxwell and Boltzmann) provides a “general model” to which the real gases approximate under different experimental conditions, so we can consider (by abduction) the epistemic subject to be an “ideal knower” to which the real (psychological) subjects approximate to varying degrees. The difference between the epistemic and the psychological subjects, however, cannot be used as an “epistemological shield” in defense of Piagetian theory. Any test of the Piagetian theory must involve psychological or real subjects. Empirical testability, however, need not be equated to being scientific. An analogy is drawn between Galileo's idealization, which led to the discovery of the law of free-fall, and Piaget's epistemic subject. Research conducted in science education shows that at least for some critics the wide variations in the age at which individuals acquire the different Piagetian stages is crucial for rejecting the theory. It is argued that the real issue is not the “proportion of heterogeneity” but the understanding that Piaget, by neglecting individual differences, attempts to build a general model applicable across types of situations/subjects. The distinction between the epistemic and the psychological subjects is important not for defending Piaget's theory (which has serious theoretical flaws) but to understand epistemic transitions, for example, the one between Piaget's epistemic subject and Pascual-Leone's metasubject. It is concluded that failure to understand the distinction between the epistemic and the psychological subjects would lead to misconstruing the significance of our research findings and, what is more serious, to a lack of a historical perspective.     

Acquisition of procedures: The effects of example elaborations and active learning exercises

This study explored the effects of active learning and types of elaboration on procedure acquisition (writing database queries). Training materials emphasized elaborations of conditions for executing actions versus elaborations of the connection between conditions and actions. In the “active” conditions, participants performed structured exercises designed to encourage active processing. In the “passive” conditions, participants studied examples that contained instructional elaborations. Although excessive instructional information for more knowledgeable learners can hurt performance, our results indicate that condition–action elaborations improved procedural performance the most, in both the active and passive conditions. Active learning required longer training time but was offset by reduced test time.     

Research on evaluation model for interactive classroom enabled with mobile terminals

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has improved education widely in China, transforming traditional teaching into an interactive one. It is important to build a new evaluation model to measure teaching efficiency in an “ICT-enabled classroom”. This study designed an evaluation model named “TPOCME Deep classroom” through ongoing five iterations. It includes six dimensions, which are higher-order Thinking, classroom Participation, Openness of educational system, Cooperative learning, Meaningful learning and Effectiveness of technology use (named TPOCME). This model helps educational researchers and teachers gain a comprehensive understanding of ICT in education.     

走向生命化的课堂教学

课堂教学是构成师生最重要的一段生命历程。多年来,生命化课堂教学的困境并未得到根本改观,课堂教学中“匠”多“师”寡、人文关怀的缺失和异化、过度的教学预设、教育理念“神”与“形”的分离、消极的课堂氛围、师生二元对立的思维模式等现象的影响是走向生命化课堂教学的困境。因此,建构“师”的课堂,创造有针对性的人文关怀课堂,适度追寻教学预设的完美与教学生成的精彩课堂,打造“神”“形”兼备的课堂,营造积极的课堂教学氛围,创设走向主体间性的课堂是走向生命化课堂教学的重要途径。     

人工智能时代教学以何存在

历次工业革命推动了课堂教学理论和实践的变革与超越,第四次工业革命人工智能技术如同历史上历次工业革命一样,必然成为课堂教学变革的重要推力。概率分析是人工智能计算思维的运行特性,互动交流是课堂教学生命灵性的实践特性,二者“相向”的特性决定了技术能够推动课堂教学的变革,但改变不了课堂教学的本质。人工智能时代,课堂教学需要坚守三个向度,即课堂教学目标具有多维复杂性、课堂教学本质具有生命互动性、课堂教学过程具有“不确定性”。未来可期,人工智能时代课堂教学需要在“教”与“学”之间的生命逻辑、“教”与“不教”之间的价值逻辑、“学”与“非学”之间的时间逻辑等三重逻辑框架下寻找存在的方式。     

Academic Noblesse Oblige

“Hot” or “difficult” classroom moments occur when a student's provocative comment elevates emotions in the classroom and creates an uncomfortable tension. Faculty typically feel unprepared to address these volatile moments, and faculty developers and department chairs are faced with the challenge of boosting faculty confidence and helping instructors build the skills to navigate these unexpected moments. This article examines how case studies can be used to help instructors anticipate difficult moments, practice potential responses, and learn from the collective wisdom of their colleagues. Two case studies based on difficult moments in service-learning courses are included.     

“互联网+”视域下高职“建筑装饰设计”课程翻转课堂教学模式研究与实践

传统高职“建筑装饰设计”课程教学存在的问题主要表现为:难以有针对性地进行个性化辅导,学生知识应用技能不强,教学效果有待提升。“互联网+”时代智能化教学环境为翻转课堂教学模式应用创造条件。以高职“建筑装饰设计”“别墅建筑装饰设计”翻转课堂教学为例,发挥慕课在教学中的载体作用,从课前准备、课中实践、课后总结反馈采取相应措施。实际应用表明,翻转课堂教学模式满足学生个性化学习需求,有利于提高学生的知识应用技能,促进高职“建筑装饰设计”教学效果提升。     

Chinese teachers' attributions and coping strategies for student classroom misbehaviour

In this study, we investigated Chinese teachers' attributions and coping strategies for classroom misbehaviour across grade levels. A total of 244 teachers (Grades 1–12) from the Chinese mainland participated in this survey. Results indicated that Chinese teachers first attributed misbehaviour to student characteristics, such as being “lazy, not making enough effort”, and second to “bad learning habits”. Looking across grade levels, elementary teachers first blamed student learning habits while secondary teachers blamed student effort. With regard to coping strategies, inconsistencies were found across grade levels and between teachers' perceptions and actions. The majority of sampled elementary teachers tended to choose “praising good students” as the most effective and often-used strategy, while secondary teachers believed in “talking after class”. In fact, “talking after class” was viewed to be more effective as grade level increased. However, teachers reported that they did not actually use the strategy of “talking after class” very often when coping with misbehaviours.     

Effective learning activities in observation taks when learning to write and read argumentative texts

On repeated occasions, observational learning has proved itself to be an effective instruction method. Experimental studies have shown to be effective for complex tasks such as reading and writing for both teachers and students as models. The problem when interpreting the results of such research is that, in observation tasks, several mental activities play a simultaneous role. In this study we therefore set out to identify the effective elements of observation tasks. We focused on two elements of the observation tasks, both aimed at stimulating monitoring activities: evaluation of the model’s performance and elaboration on this evaluation. We have also distinguished between elaboration on the observed products (the models’ written answers), and elaboration on the observed processes (the models’ verbalisations of their mental activities). The data were subjected to a LISREL analysis. First of all, it was observed that subjects who performed “evaluation” and “productelaboration” better, and “process-elaboration” more often in one lesson, also performed these activities better or more often in the subsequent lesson. Next, we observed an effect of aptitude on the learning activities: pre skill scores influence “evaluation” and “product-elaboration”. The most important finding is that “evaluation” and “product-elaboration” contribute positively to argumentative writing skills. It is discussed that these findings confirm the importance of the monitoring, evaluative and reflective activities when learning complex tasks as writing.