Theories of mind and personal epistemology: their interrelation and connection with the concept of metacognition

This paper seeks to highlight the links and discrepancies between three contemporary theoretical fields. The first part is devoted to theories of mind and personal epistemology. Both fields deal with naïve theories relating to the nature of knowledge and can be integrated within the concept of folk epistemology (Kitchener New Ideas Psychol 20:89–105, 2002). We argue that analyzing both domains from a developmental perspective may provide evidence for the origins of epistemological beliefs and the reasons for their evolution. The second part of the paper extends the discussion to the concept of metacognition and to its potential links with the two previously mentioned fields. In the past, theories of mind and metacognition have mainly developed as independent fields, but recent studies have highlighted a possible developmental lineage between them that needs further investigation. As the influence of the procedural component of metacognition (the regulation process) seems obvious in the personal epistemology perspective, we suggest that conducting more in situ studies will enable us to deepen our understanding of the links between the multiple components of the epistemological perspective and the reasons for epistemic change.     

Career counselling for the 21st Century -- integrating theory and practice

This article describes the development of a model of career counselling that will be responsive to the nature of career in the 21st Century. It begins by providing a commentary on the relationship between theory and the practice of career counselling, from the early 1900's to the present day. Drawing from contemporary research and theorizing, the article argues for an integrated approach to theory and practice. A framework that integrates developmental perspectives on career learning and client-centred career counselling is proposed. The ontological, epistemological and methodological characteristics of the framework are considered. The development of a constructivist, hermeneutic model of career counselling is then described and demonstrated.     

On Grandmother Neurons and Grandfather Clocks

What does contemporary neuroscience offer educational practice? The promise seems immense, as we come to understand better how the brain learns. However, critics caution that only a few concrete implications for practice have emerged, nowhere near a rewrite of the craft of teaching and learning. How then can we understand better the relationship between neuroscience and educational practice? It is argued here that to speak to the classroom neuroscience has to shout across two gaps. The first and most familiar are different levels of explanation. The second concerns the epistemological contrast between explanation theories and action theories, roughly the contrast between basic science on the one hand and engineering science and craft on the other. Just as we do not expect Newton's laws in their fundamental generality to deliver specific designs for pocket watches and grandfather clocks, neither should we expect fundamental neuroscience to radically redesign particular practices of teaching and learning grounded in educational research and experience.     

Second Generation Research on the Effectiveness of Early Intervention

This commentary discusses the program of research carried out by the Utah State Early Intervention Research Institute (EIRI) in the context of the characteristics associated with second generation research in early intervention. Specifically, the series of EIRI research studies focused on the three program features of age of start, intensity of intervention, and parent participation. This commentary provides an evaluation of these program features in terms of scientific quality, specificity of the research, and consistency with contemporary developmental/ecological approaches. Directions for future research are noted, and these include: greater emphasis on establishing expectations for outcomes derived from developmental models, multisite studies to permit more effective specificity analyses, and emphasis on identifying the characteristics of children and families who are at greatest risk of not responding to prevailing early intervention services and supports.     

Second Generation Research on the Effectiveness of Early Intervention

This commentary discusses the program of research carried out by the Utah State Early Intervention Research Institute (EIRI) in the context of the characteristics associated with second generation research in early intervention. Specifically, the series of EIRI research studies focused on the three program features of age of start, intensity of intervention, and parent participation. This commentary provides an evaluation of these program features in terms of scientific quality, specificity of the research, and consistency with contemporary developmental/ecological approaches. Directions for future research are noted, and these include: greater emphasis on establishing expectations for outcomes derived from developmental models, multisite studies to permit more effective specificity analyses, and emphasis on identifying the characteristics of children and families who are at greatest risk of not responding to prevailing early intervention services and supports.     

A Constructivist Approach to "Human Behavior and the Social Environment I"

This paper describes a two-semester foundation course in Human Behavior and the Social Environment, taught from a constructivist perspective. Three levels of constructive activity, related to different intellectual conditions, are identified: the individual, the interactional, and the social-cultural. Questions addressed include: (How) can developmental theories and systemic/cybernetic theories be taught from this perspective? An analogy is drawn between the epistemological demands this course makes of students and the epistemological position of the field.     

鲁迅与胡适文学作品论异同浅析

鲁迅与胡适是中国新文学的开创者与奠基人。其“五四”时期在中西方文化撞击中所形成的现实主义文学观，不仅对当时的文学创作及文学理论建设具有重要的指导意义，而且对中国现代文学及文学理论的发展也有着十分深远的影响。总结鲁迅和胡适文学观中有关文学作品的论述，一是可以找出中国现代文学发轫时文学理论的图景，探讨其作品论的理论价值；二是比较其作品论的异同，了解现代文学现实主义理论的复杂多样性，以期对当前的文学研究给予理论的指导。     

Achievement motivation theory: Balancing precision and utility

The articles in this special issue review the impressive bodies of research that have been generated from achievement motivation theories, emphasizing developments over the past 20 years. In this commentary, I first discuss some of the most noteworthy contributions that have emerged from each of the theories. I then discuss the extent to which there are commonalities across theories; I point out that whereas there is some overlap, this overlap allows for precision in research, but also at times leads to confusion for practitioners and policymakers. Finally, I discuss the degree of alignment between current motivation theory and contemporary education policy and practice. Motivation researchers are examining some important contemporary practice- and policy-related issues; nevertheless, this research has not been systematic across theories.     

Dimensionality and Disciplinary Differences in Personal Epistemology

A growing body of work addresses the nature of epistemological development and epistemological beliefs: how individuals come to know, the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning. This study investigates the dimensionality of personal epistemology as hypothesized in a recent review of the literature as well as the nature of disciplinary differences. First-year college students responded to a set of questionnaires that included an adaptation of a domain-general epistemological instrument and a discipline-focused questionnaire. Results suggest that there is an underlying dimensionality to epistemological theories that cuts across disciplinary domains, but that students, at least by the 1st year of college, discriminate as to how these theories differ by discipline. Disciplinary differences were strong, suggesting that 1st-year college students see knowledge in science as more certain and unchanging than in psychology, are more likely to regard personal knowledge and firsthand experience as a basis for justification of knowing in psychology than in science, view authority and expertise as the source of knowledge more in science than in psychology, and perceive that in science, more than in psychology, truth is attainable by experts. This contradicts existing research that suggests that epistemological development is domain general and that epistemological beliefs do not differ by discipline.     

PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS IN PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, AND BIOLOGY: A MIXED STUDY

The purposes of the study were to assess preservice teachers’ domain-specific epistemological beliefs and to investigate whether preservice teachers distinguish disciplinary differences (physics, chemistry, and biology) in domain-specific epistemological beliefs. Mixed-method research design guided the present research. The researcher explored three epistemological dimensions: certainty and simplicity of knowledge, justification for knowing, and source of knowledge. Both quantitative and qualitative results suggested that a domain-specific epistemological beliefs system is a valid model to describe preservice teachers’ epistemological beliefs. In terms of epistemological beliefs, disciplinary differences in physics, chemistry, and biology were discussed in the last parts of the study.     

Epistemology,metacognition, and self-regulation: musings on an emerging field

The contributors to this special issue explore the connections between metacognition and personal epistemology. This commentary on the five articles addresses definitional concerns regarding both epistemology and metacognition, discusses the conceptual relation between the constructs, critiques methodological approaches, and suggests developmental considerations in this type of research.     

Categorizing and combining theories of cognitive development and learning

The present paper considers the centrality of meta-theoretical belief systems (MTBSs) for theories of cognitive development and learning. It is argued that MTBSs guide and constrain the construction of theoretical models and developmental mechanisms. Moreover, it is shown how MTBSs can be effectively used to categorize theories and to address the issue of whether theories of cognitive development and learning can be coherently combined to form larger, more comprehensive theories. The paper proceeds by first defining the nature of theories and then defining eight major MTBSs: nativism, empiricism, constructivism, structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, neobehaviorism, and cognitivism. Following this exposition, it is shown how MTBSs underlie model construction. Next, the issue of whether theories can be combined is discussed in terms of the logical compatibility of their underlying MTBSs. Then, two contemporary theories which combine constructs from several different theoretical perspectives are described to illustrate how theories can be combined coherently. Finally, implications are drawn.     

THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF MORAL EDUCATION: THE NOTIONS OF RATIONALITY AND OBJECTIVITY REVISITED

The crucial epistemological question for formulating the principles that underlie moral education concerns the status of rationality and objectivity in ethics and education. In this essay Katariina Holma argues that the intertwined understanding of the concepts of education, ethics, rationality, and objectivity is built into our language and our thinking. She begins by delineating epistemologically adequate interpretations for the notions of rationality and objectivity. In light of these interpretations, Holma contends that the two main contemporary philosophical arguments against the possibility of ethical objectivity — the argument that derives from cultural relativism and the argument that derives from the scientific worldview — fail to refute this possibility. The epistemological notions of rationality and objectivity, as Holma interprets them in this essay, prepare the way for a moral education that combines the appreciation of personal and cultural plurality with the possibility for critical thinking and the pursuit of better understanding in the ethical realm.     

异质理论的本土化道路

异质理论的交流和接受是中国20世纪文学中具有普遍性的一个话题。中西学养深厚的京派,通过对异质理论的创造性转化而实现将其“本土化”的目标。对同处于西方话语强势冲击下的当代理论界,京派的西学之路至少可以引发三个方面的思索:异质理论引进过程中接受的方式应着重寻找异质间的差异还是寻找异质间的相通之处;接受的标准主要是追求理论自身的准确性还是理论的本土适用性、可接受性;接受的重心应落实在理论的知识性层面还是落实在蕴含于理论更深层次的思维及方法层面。     

试评《西方文学评论方法论演进》

《西方文学评论方法论演进》囊括了从柏拉图起的西方古典文学理论至19世纪后的当代西方文学理论。全书观点清晰明了,实用性强,总结了各理论流派的渊源及它们之间的关联性,具有一定的指导意义和阅读价值。     

New perspectives on teacher education in Kuwait

Pre‐service teacher education in England has been essentially school‐based since 1992. The article offers a critique of this design from the perspective of a practitioner and researcher working in one of its most influential schemes. The fundamental problem described concerns an impoverished understanding of experience that underpins how beginning teachers are intended to learn in schools. The problem is not one of evaluating experience as adequate in terms of exemplary practices, but about the capacity within the teacher education system for critically examining the meaning of experience in order to develop professional knowledge. The article suggests that the ontological and epistemological dimensions of experience need to be brought into a dialogue if the potential of experiential learning for pre‐service teachers is to be realised.     

Predicting Achievement Goals in Two Different Academic Contexts: A longitudinal study

The relative contribution is examined of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to students' adoption of mastery, performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goals in two different academic contexts, business administration and teacher education, in the short as well as the long term. The results showed that epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance‐avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Differences in predictive patterns across the two contexts concerned the prediction of performance‐approach goals and gender differences in goal adoption. Epistemological beliefs played a more important role in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence.     

Implicit theories of ability of Grade 6 science students: Relation to epistemological beliefs and academic motivation and achievement in science

We investigated: (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results are discussed in relation to Dweck and Leggett’s (1988) social-cognitive theory with a focus on middle school science.