Writing instruction from a sociocultural perspective: the holistic, dialogic, and social enterprise of writing.

This article considers the sociocultural perspective as a framework for writing instruction. Four assumptions of the perspective are examined and illustrated: Writing is a holistic cognitive activity; cognitive processes are learned in dialogic interactions with others; cognitive development occurs in students' zones of proximal development; and knowledge construction is a social and cultural phenomenon.     

A social learning explanation for age-related changes in children's conceptual behavior

A social learning explanation for children's conceptual development is proposed. Recent training research on conservation is discussed, and it is concluded that it fails to support three key assumptions underlying Piaget's theory (a) Children are able to learn to conserve without being “in transition,” (b) nonconservation experiences are successful in promoting developmentally immature cognitive functioning, and (c) there is evidence of inconsistencies in children's cognitive functioning across tasks assessing the same cognitive stage. Two aspects of children's conservation responding are explained according to a social learning position: decalages and the shift from perceptual cues to quantitative cues. This explanation involves consideration of cognitive factors such as prior rule learning as well as impinging social experience.     

Camila,the earth,and the sun: Constructing an idea as shared intellectual property

Recent research has challenged traditional assumptions that scientific practice and knowledge are essentially individual accomplishments, highlighting instead the social nature of scientific practices, and the co‐construction of scientific knowledge. Similarly, new research paradigms for studying learning go beyond focusing on what is “in the head” of individual students, to study collective practices, distributed cognition, and emergent understandings of groups. These developments require new tools for assessing what it means to learn to “think like a scientist.” Toward this goal, the present case study analyzes the discourse of a 6th‐grade class discussing one student's explanation for seasonal variations in daylight hours. The analysis identifies discourse moves that map to disciplinary practices of the social construction of science knowledge, including (1) beginning an explanation by reviewing the community's shared assumptions; (2) referencing peers' work as warrants for an argument; and (3) building from isolated ideas, attributed to individuals, toward a coherent situation model, attributed to the community. The study then identifies discourse moves through which the proposed explanation was taken up and developed by the group, including (4) using multiple shared representations; (5) leveraging peers' language to clarify ideas; and (6) negotiating language and representations for new, shared explanations. Implications of this case for rethinking instruction, assessment, and classroom research are explored. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:619–642, 2010     

STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF ALGEBRAIC NOTATION: 11–15

Research studies have found that the majority of students up to age 15 seem unable to interpret algebraic letters as generalised numbers or even as specific unknowns. Instead, they ignore the letters, replace them with numerical values, or regard them as shorthand names. The principal explanation given in the literature has been a general link to levels of cognitive development. In this paper we present evidence for specific origins of misinterpretation that have been overlooked in the literature, and which may or may not be associated with cognitive level. These origins are: intuitive assumptions and pragmatic reasoning about a new notation, analogies with familiar symbol systems, interference from new learning in mathematics, and the effects of misleading teaching materials. Recognition of these origins of misunderstanding is necessary for improving the teaching of algebra.     

Catching them before they fall: a Vygotskian approach to transitioning students from high school to university

University enabling programs, worldwide, generally target high school students who excel at school, or post-secondary students who have underperformed in their university entry examinations. Murdoch University provides an access program for Year/Grade 12 students who are not on a university pathway during their final year of high school. This intervention engages students at a transitional stage of cognitive development to: (a) determine their readiness to move to the next level of their cognitive thinking; (b) facilitate that process through collaborative learning; (c) support and nurture university aspirations and (d) provide a direct transition pathway from secondary to higher education. The influence of Vygotsky's zones of proximal development in the context of this program is discussed, and by comparing the performance of these students in their first year of university with other domestic-entry students, we argue that this enabling program prepares them for successful transition into higher education.     

高校外语教育可持续发展的内涵与途径研究

可持续发展理论对高等教育的稳步发展具有重要指导和借鉴作用。本文在可持续发展理论基础上,分析了高校外语教育可持续发展的理论内涵,探讨了实现我国高校外语教育可持续发展的具体途径,认为高校外语教育坚持走可持续发展之路刻不容缓。     

土地发展权：土地征收制度改革中的新理念

随着农民维权意识的不断提高,迫切要求对征地过程中出现的一系列现实而又难以解决的问题做出合理的解释。文章从土地发展权这一制度层面入手,运用例证和假设法,通过对土地发展权的设定、归属以及与其他土地利用制度的相互关系的剖析,阐明了农地发展权制度在土地征收制度改革中的作用和设计的必要性,以及引入土地发展权后我国土地征收制度改革出现的新局面。     

Mentoring,Undergraduate Research,and Identity Development: A Conceptual Review and Research Agenda

Mentored undergraduate research has been identified as a high-impact practice that enhances teaching and learning in higher education. It is reported to influence students’ academic, affective, and behavioral outcomes. However, there is only an emerging literature related to student outcomes associated with identity development, specifically students’ personal and professional identities. This integrative literature review examines the intersections and interrelationship across mentoring, undergraduate research, and student identity development. Its results uncover the complexity of the constructs, and their dynamic interrelationship, especially when viewed through the lenses of the sociocultural perspective grounded in the notion of mediated action. Two assumptions undergird this perspective: first, that all investigation takes place at the intersection of these constructs with mediated action, not individuals in isolation, as a unit of analysis; and, second, that any study of identity must focus on an understanding of identity as multiple, dynamic, and situated in personal and cultural contexts (institutional, disciplinary, and external community culture and values). Thus, the sociocultural perspective and its underlying assumptions shape the proposed research agenda. This research agenda has the potential to advance current knowledge related to mentored undergraduate research and the confluence of elements that contribute to student personal and cultural identities (academic, disciplinary, and professional). Findings from this work will inform our understanding of learning and knowledge construction in sociocultural context, and the trajectory of identity development of students engaged in high-impact learning experiences.     

Alternative constructs and cognitive development: Commonalities,divergences, and possibilities for evidence

The last fifteen years of research in science education has seen the emergence, flowering, proliferation, and now perhaps slight wilting of studies of pupils' alternative constructs. Meanwhile the older, broadly Piagetian, tradition of work rooted in notions of cognitive development was attacked as being, inter alia, deterministic, concentrating on what children could not do, and getting even that wrong since children could be shown to be a lot cleverer than the cognitive developmentalists claimed. The time has perhaps now come to look at these two lines of work together to see what assumptions they share and where their paradigms, aims, and methods differ significantly. In this paper I will claim that there is far less antagonism between the two traditions than is often represented, but that nevertheless the differences are fundamental and lead to different views of the purposes and potential of science education. Possible evidence that might be adduced in support of one view at the expense of the other will be considered and exemplified with recent results of a cognitive acceleration project. Specializations: cognitive development, curriculum development, in-service education, project evaluation.     

Changing Science Outcomes: Cognitive Acceleration in a US Setting

Inquiry is seen as an integral part of science education in the USA; however, few American science programs explicitly focus on the higher order thinking skills that are the precursors to inquiry. In this paper, Australian researchers report the result of using a version of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) program in a school district in Oregon (USA) to address teacher-identified concerns about student competence in scientific inquiry. The substantial effect of CASE on British children’s cognitive development and scholastic achievement has been demonstrated convincingly since its inception in the United Kingdom in 1981. The Oregon CASE project was not a mere replication of the original British CASE research: different instruments were employed, and both the measures of cognitive level and student achievement were Rasch-calibrated. The Oregon CASE teachers received comparatively less professional development than did their British counterparts. Neither did they deliver the entire intervention. The results of the study suggest that many of the benefits of CASE still apply when the intervention is conducted in a sub-optimal setting. Cognitive growth was apparent in participating students and high correlations were found between cognitive level and results in some state-mandated tests.     

Promoting Expertise Through Simulation (PETS): A conceptual framework

Questioning how and why simulations can be suitable for supporting intraindividual learning and expertise development motivated this study. We depart from an empirically well supported cognitive perspective of expertise that focusses on cognitive adaptations through long-term engagement with professional work activities. The strength of simulation learning is seen in its multiple explanatory base, which is used to build the framework PETS (Promoting Expertise Through Simulation). The PETS model specifically addresses how simulations can contribute to intraindividual knowledge restructuring through case processing and learner-tailored guidance of a trainer supporting the thorough engagement in deliberate practice activities to go beyond automatization. Preparation, briefing, repetitive practice opportunities, and debriefing are phases of instructional embedding in simulation learning for which the PETS model identifies important prerequisites to enhance understanding of what works for whom under which conditions and why during expertise development.     

On Cognitive Constraints and Learning Progressions: The case of “structure of matter”

Based on the analysis of available research on students’ alternative conceptions about the particulate nature of matter, we identified basic implicit assumptions that seem to constrain students’ ideas and reasoning on this topic at various learning stages. Although many of these assumptions are interrelated, some of them seem to change or lose/gain strength independently from one another. Overlapping or competing presuppositions about the structure, properties, and dynamics of matter may be able to coexist at any given level, particularly at intermediate stages of expertise. Our results allowed us to suggest common paths in the transition from naïve through novice to expert along relevant dimensions related to the structure and properties of chemical substances. The identification of these cognitive constraints provides a useful framework that educators can use to better understand and even predict many of their students’ learning difficulties. It can also assist in the design and organisation of learning experiences and assessment tools that recognise and take advantage of the most likely trajectories towards expertise (learning progressions) followed by many students.     

Cognitive Teaching Methods for Special Education: Development of Approaches for Intervention and Assessment in Germany

FOLLOWING a short introduction to historical aspects of the development of cognitive teaching methods, four current areas of research are described: cognitive behaviour modification with a focus on problem solving and metacognitive abilities, comprising the methods of cognitive modelling and self‐instruction; intelligence training based on the theoretical propositions of inductive thinking; attempts at applying Piagetian concepts as a conceptual framework for education and training; dynamic testing, focussing on modifiability of performance and thus bridging the gap between diagnostic assessment and education. Basic theoretical assumptions, methods and applications are separately discussed for each of these fields. Empirical data are presented for evaluation of their level of development Summarizing the results, it seems, that promising effects of training and fruitful application of diagnostic procedures can be obtained; however, implementation of the respective methods in special education settings does not show great progress. It is, thus, concluded that research on implementation is indispensable.     

Appealing to the soul: towards a Judeo-Christian theory of learning

Beginning with the recognition that every learning theory rests on particular assumptions about the nature and capacities of the learners, this study provides an examination of the implicit premises upon which several of the more prominent learning theories - behaviourism, cognitivism, situated learning, and social cognitivism - have been built. Even as each theory is found to propose a slightly distinct conceptualization of human nature, none are found to accommodate acknowledgement of the role of the soul, the spiritual dimension, in determining individuals' ability to learn. Expanding on Habermas's and Mezirow's ideas of learning domains as popularized by Cranton (1994), this paper shows that ultimately, the learning transaction hinges upon the phenomena of perceptions, and perceptions are realized through the realms of physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual input. This reconceptualization of learning to include the soul as a key determinant concludes with a concrete explanation of how acknowledgement of humans' spiritual dimension holds significant potential for enhancing teaching-learning situations.     

论教学观的认知转向

杜威从逻辑的角度对思维活动做出了"数据—归纳—演绎—证实"的解释。利用当代语言学中形式学习理论可以对教学或学习过程做出一种认知解释,经验探究的学习过程是主体(学习者)从外界获取信息(数据)、加工信息(做出假设并根据假设进行推理)、确认信息的认知过程。这种认知解释的逻辑基础是当代动态认知逻辑。根据认知解释,可以对教学展开语言学、心理学、博弈论、信息科学、哲学等多学科交叉研究。     

Communicative-based curriculum innovations between theory and practice: implications for EFL curriculum development and student cognitive and affective change

This qualitative study examines the influence of teacher conceptualisations of communicative language teaching on their actual classroom practice and student cognitive and affective change. The qualitative paradigm underpinned this research at the levels of ontology (multiple teacher realities), epistemology (interaction with, rather than detachment from, the respondents), and methodology through using an idiographic strategy (qualitative case study), instruments (qualitative interviews, participant observation and questionnaires), and data analysis technique (explanation-building). The results indicated that teachers who understood CLT and managed to materialise its principles into action significantly improved student language learning (cognitive change) and motivation (affective change). Moreover, traditional, structural and didactic teaching as well as communicative knowledge that was not translated into practice had almost a typical negative impact on student learning and motivation. Recommendations for curriculum development, teacher development, teacher training and future research are made.     

Social Competence of Learning Disabled Children: Cognitive and Emotional Aspects

The aim of the study was to investigate the structure of social competence among learning disabled children, as reported by themselves and their teachers, and the cognitive and emotional aspects that mediate its level. The sample consisted of 40 learning disabled children and 37 matched nondisabled children. Within Harter's competence model and Schaefer's spherical model, the learning disabled group demonstrated lower levels of competence and adjustment and a less mature concept of competence than did their peers. The social competence of the learning disabled children was accounted for by emotional and physical aspects of competence, similar to that found in younger and in children with an intellectual disability, whereas the social competence of the nondisabled peers was accounted for by a combination of academic, cognitive and self‐esteem aspects. Teachers rated the social competence of both groups of children as mediated by introversion and general competence. However, teachers added physical competence to the explanation of the learning disabled group's social competence, whereas they added task orientation to the explanation for the nondisabled group. Intervention planning should be geared toward increasing the social competence of LD children, through alerting teachers to their less mature self‐competence concept, with its special emphasis on nonacademic aspects.     

Cognitive Development in Gifted Children: Toward a More Precise Understanding of Emerging Differences in Intelligence

To truly understand gifted performance, it is necessary to merge research on giftedness with current thinking in cognitive development and intelligence. This article presents traditional research on gifted children's cognitive development then considers how the application of newer models and theories from the field of cognitive development can be combined with research on giftedness to change the way people think about gifted performance. First four factors that have often been associated with giftedness are discussed from the perspectives of cognitive developmental psychology and gifted education. Next, emphasis is placed on investigating the strategic development of gifted children. Specifically, R. S. Siegler's (Emerging Minds: The Process of Change in Children's Thinking, Oxford University Press, New York, 1996) model of strategy development is addressed in terms of what it may contribute to understanding gifted cognition. Finally, future lines of research using models from cognitive development and complex systems models of development are recommended.     

抑制机制发展:认知发展研究的新视野

过去的认知和认知发展研究偏重于对激活过程的考察，随着当前认知科学和神经科学的进一步发展，从新的角度在更高的层次重新触发了人们对认知抑制及其发展机制的兴趣，使之成为国际认知和认知发展领域正在迅速崛起的一个重要课题。从无意向抑制和有意抑制两个方面的介绍可了解认知和认知发展领域近期关于抑制及其发展研究的状况和进展。     

Exploration of the Developmental Components Contributing to Elementary School Children's Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to compare rauding theory (Carver, 1995) to our own evolving model of reading acquisition, which supports stage and phase theories of reading development. The relations among rauding variables--cognitive power, auditory-accuracy level, word-recognition level, comprehension-accuracy level, reading-rate level, and reading-comprehension-rate level-were examined using structural equation modeling. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement subtests were used to operationalize the various constructs. Carver's (1993) model was assessed at each grade in two parts, with overlapping paths allowing cross-validation of some coefficients. For Grades 1 and 2, the fit indices were above. 95, indicating a good model fit. One additional path was supported-from word recognition to reading comprehension rate. The fit indices for Grades 3 and 4 were above. 95, supporting the modified Carver model. Analyses for Grades 5 and 6 produced fit indices above. 90, indicating drops in the level of association among the variables compared to earlier grades. The results of this study offer support to Carver's (1993) rauding theory and further advance the theories that children go through stages or phases of reading development. Although word recognition is a notable component of reading development throughout the elementary grades, its contribution to comprehension begins to lessen at Grades 5 and 6. There is, however, an increase with grade of the influence of cognitive power on reading comprehension, which is greater for crystallized (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised) intelligence than for global (fluid and crystallized) or fluid intelligence.