Mathematics as Liberal Education: Whitehead and the Rhythm of Life

In several of his works, Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) presents mathematics as a way of learning about general ideas that increase our understanding of the universe. The danger is that students get bogged down in its technical operations. He argues that mathematics should be an integral part of a new kind of liberal education, incorporating science, the humanities, and “technical education” (making things with one’s hands), thereby integrating “head-work and hand-work.” In order to appreciate the role mathematics plays in modern science, students should understand its diverse history which is capable of bringing abstract ideas to life. Moreover, mathematics can discern the alternating rhythms of repetition and difference in nature constituting the periodicity of life. Since these same rhythms are to be found in his theory of learning as growth, there appears to be a pattern linking Whitehead’s approach to mathematics and his educational philosophy.     

Understanding and communicating climate change in metaphors

An analysis of students’ conceptions on climate change shows a great confusion on key aspects of global warming. Even after instruction students often hold conceptions that differ from scientists’ conceptions. Student’s conceptions on global warming were collected in a reanalysis of 24 studies on everyday concepts of global warming as well as in an own interview study with 35 18-year-old students from German grammar schools. Climate-scientists conceptions were analysed from textbooks and research reports in a literature study. All data were analysed by systematic metaphor analysis and qualitative content analysis. Experientialism as a theory of metaphor provided insight in the process of understanding. The analysis of conceptions by experientialism shows that students and scientists have different metaphorical conceptions of global warming – but both refer to the same schemata. These schemata in mind we categorised the conceptions of global warming. Hereby we identified different thinking patterns in students’ and scientists’ conceptions. Following the model of educational reconstruction we took the metaphorical conceptions as a starting point for the development of learning environments. By uncovering the – mostly unconsciously – employed schemata, we gave students access to their metaphorical conceptions and let them reflect on their mental models.     

高校学习型辅导员队伍建设的思考

辅导员是开展大学生思想政治教育的骨干力量,是大学生健康成长的指导者和引路人。提高辅导员的整体素质既是高等教育健康发展的需要,也是满足学生全面而有个性的发展的需求。建设学习型辅导员队伍应从建立辅导员学习制度、推行辅导员导师制、组建理论型、专家型研究团队、建立辅导员科研奖励机制等方面入手。     

IMPROVEMENT OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION—THE CASE OF SUBTRACTION

The research study this article is based on aims to implement research knowledge to teaching, that is, the concept of critical aspects and dimensions of variation used in the variation theory. To do this, the researchers worked with willing teachers to explore how to make mathematics teaching more effective. This paper illustrates how teachers make use of a learning theory, the variation theory, as well as their own professional expertise and collaboration to help students improve their mathematical understanding of subtraction as well as their learning of it. The students’ tests, examinations of students’ mathematical work, the teachers’ lessons plan and reports of the instructions for lessons form the data base for the article. The analysis indicates that one of the critical aspects in the process of implementation of the variation theory in the teachers’ practice was to identify the critical aspects in students’ learning. Another critical aspect in the implementation of the variation theory was to open up dimensions of variation in the identified critical aspects of the students. By giving teachers the possibility to develop the ability to identify critical aspects in students’ learning, dimensions of variation are opened up in these aspects, and by applying this knowledge in the daily teaching, they have the possibility to improve students’ learning. The findings suggest that developing an understanding of the students’ critical aspects can be a productive basis in helping teachers make fundamental changes in their instructions and improve students’ learning.     

培养开放教育学生自主学习能力的实践与探索

培养学生运用现代信息技术进行自主学习的能力,是现代远程开放教育的核心内容。本文将当代教育理论的研究成果与具体实践相结合,针对如何从学校、教师、学生三方面共同培养和锻炼学生自主学习能力的问题,深入论述了学生、教师和学习支持服务设施等方面的原因,提出更新观念,建立开放教育新理念;优化教管,促进自主学习支持服务;加大投入,完善学习支持服务体系等三个用来促进开放教育学生自主学习能力提高的途径。     

Teachable Agents and the Protégé Effect: Increasing the Effort Towards Learning

Betty’s Brain is a computer-based learning environment that capitalizes on the social aspects of learning. In Betty’s Brain, students instruct a character called a Teachable Agent (TA) which can reason based on how it is taught. Two studies demonstrate the protégé effect: students make greater effort to learn for their TAs than they do for themselves. The first study involved 8th-grade students learning biology. Although all students worked with the same Betty’s Brain software, students in the TA condition believed they were teaching their TAs, while in another condition, they believed they were learning for themselves. TA students spent more time on learning activities (e.g., reading) and also learned more. These beneficial effects were most pronounced for lower achieving children. The second study used a verbal protocol with 5th-grade students to determine the possible causes of the protégé effect. As before, students learned either for their TAs or for themselves. Like study 1, students in the TA condition spent more time on learning activities. These children treated their TAs socially by attributing mental states and responsibility to them. They were also more likely to acknowledge errors by displaying negative affect and making attributions for the causes of failures. Perhaps having a TA invokes a sense of responsibility that motivates learning, provides an environment in which knowledge can be improved through revision, and protects students’ egos from the psychological ramifications of failure.     

独立学院建设学习型学生党支部的实效性探讨——以大连理工大学城市学院电子信息工程党支部为例

以大连理工大学城市学院电子信息工程学生党支部为例,分析并阐述了独立学院建设学习型学生党支部的必要性,从学习主体、学习内容、学习方法、制度要求、监督机制五个方面提出了建设途径,从理论和实践两方面强调了学习型学生党支部对独立学院党建工作的重要意义。     

需求层次理论对高校瑜伽教学的影响

需求层次理论的核心是激励机制,在高校瑜伽教学中有机地引入该理论,对于学生的学习动机、学习理念、学习成效会产生积极的影响。需求层次理论有利于激发学生瑜伽学习的兴趣,对促进学生身心健康、提高高校瑜伽教学效果的实用价值,具有极其重要的现实意义。     

Thinking styles and conceptions of creativity among university students

This research aims to understand university students’ thinking styles and the relationship with their views of creativity. The Thinking Styles Inventory‐Revised II was used to measure 13 thinking styles as defined in Sternberg’s theory of mental self‐government and the Conceptions of Creativity Scales was used to inquire students’ views about the conditions for evaluating creativity from six aspects: intelligence, knowledge, style of thinking, personality, motivation and learning environment. Significant relationships were identified between thinking styles and conceptions of creativity. This research contributes to the understanding about the relationship between conceptions of creativity and thinking styles, and brings insights for educators about educational innovations, as one of the key objectives of educational innovations is to develop creativity of the younger generation.     

高校硕士研究生心理健康状况及疏导方式探索——以西安邮电大学为例

高校硕士研究生在竞争日益激烈的社会大环境下成长,各种压力导致他们心理脆弱,压抑的情绪得不到一定的宣泄,影响其身心健康。通过对西安邮电大学在校硕士研究生心理健康状况的调查,从性别、年级、是否应届生等角度分析硕士研究生心理健康状况的基本特点,从社会、家庭、学校、研究生个人等角度,分析研究生产生心理压力的原因,从健康心理学角度提出疏导研究生心理压力的方式,以期提高高校硕士研究生的心理健康水平,促进其人格完善发展。     

大学生心理健康问题及成因分析

大学生心理健康问题不仅关系到大学生个人的成长成才,而且关系到国家和民族的未来。随着学习、就业等压力不断增大和竞争的日趋激烈,当代大学生面对环境适应、人际关系、职业要求等心理健康问题日益突出。根据常见的一些心理问题,从社会、学校、家庭、自身等不同层面深入分析问题产生的原因,以找到积极有效干预的对策。     

An Exploration of Secondary Students’ Mental States When Learning About Acids and Bases

This study explored factors of students’ mental states, including emotion, intention, internal mental representation, and external mental representation, which can affect their learning performance. In evaluating students’ mental states during the science learning process and the relationship between mental states and learning achievement, valid, reliable, and scalable measures of students’ mental states and learning achievement are needed. This paper presents the development of the Mental State Conceptual Learning Inventory (MSCLI) to identify students’ mental states before and after learning about acids and bases. This instrument is time efficient and convenient and can be administered to large student samples so that teachers and researchers can gain profound insights into their students’ learning of acids and bases in science class. The results of this study indicate that students’ mental states are highly correlated with their achievement. As a whole, low-achieving students tended to have negative emotions and low intentions, were not good at internal visualization, and were unable to interpret graphics and draw pictures. In contrast, high-achieving students had positive emotions and intentions when learning life-related topics about acids and bases, and were good at internal visualization and drawing and interpreting graphics.