Empathetic Responses and Attitudes about Older Adults: How Experience with the Aging Game Measures Up

This study aimed to assess the impact of pre-professional education on students' knowledge and attitudes about aging, including the option of a simulated learning activity. Using a mixed design, groups of nursing and nutrition students (n = 127) were randomly assigned to experience the Aging Game. Pre- and posttest observations included measures of anxiety, attitude and empathy. In the Aging Game, students played the role of an elderly adult with common physical disabilities during various scenarios and then reflected on the experience. As a result, students became more familiar with what being an older adult felt like, and increased understanding and empathy.     

非形式逻辑与演绎主义

非形式逻辑出现于上个世纪70年代,它首先是一种寻求更好的大学逻辑教学方式的努力.进而,非形式逻辑学者们逐渐开始触及和探讨越来越多的理论议题,即发展不依赖于形式逻辑的关于论证以及好论证的理解方式.在1998年世界哲学大会上,布莱尔和我阐释了非形式逻辑为哲学所带来的理论后果,其中一点我们称之为"演绎主义的终结".那时我们并未给出演绎主义的定义,而只是把它等同于麦金泰尔的那个精炼的说法:"任何推理,不是演绎的,就是有缺陷的."但现在看来,我们在当时就作出"演绎主义的终结"这一论断,显然是有点为时过早了.因为演绎主义似乎至今都还很有生命力,甚至在那些倾向于非形式逻辑的学者那里它也能得到支持:恩尼斯长期以来都辩护演绎主义是一种论证重构策略,格罗尔克更是致力于辩护它是一种论证评价理论.在本文中我将论证,非形式逻辑最好被理解为一种不诉诸于演绎技巧和演绎规范的逻辑研究.当我们意识到演绎和演绎主义已经如何深深地扎根于我们的哲学发展史中,并且牢牢地控制了我们关于逻辑研究的理解,我们就能明白非形式逻辑这一理论努力是多么的困难和重要.我将首先澄清"演绎主义"的意思,然后再分别考察那些赞成和反对演绎主义的论证,最后,我将表明非形式逻辑是从演绎主义中挽救逻辑的理论尝试.     

A mixed method study of ethical issues in classroom assessment in Chinese higher education

The purpose of this study was to explore Chinese university professors’ decisions about ethical issues in classroom assessment. A survey with fifteen scenarios that describe professors’ thoughts about ethics in assessment practices was administrated to 555 professors from 143 colleges and universities in 29 provinces in China. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that professors’ interest in professional development related to classroom assessment, and their dispositions were significantly associated with their agreement with experts in the field of classroom assessment. Professors’ gender, highest degree, professional rank, and years of teaching experience did not significantly predict their agreement. The qualitative analysis revealed that maintaining fair assessment vs being caring to students and asserting professors’ rights vs abiding by university policy were the crucial aspects for professors to consider in classroom assessment. Findings of the study could help educators identify ethical issues in assessment, develop guidelines to ensure fair assessment, and incorporate differentiated strategies in professional development workshops in higher education.

     

Understanding Biological Evolution Through Computational Thinking

Science & Education - Computational thinking is a contemporary science and engineering practice that has been introduced to the US science classrooms due to its emphasis in the Next Generation...     

Content and impact of articles published by school psychology faculty

School Psychology faculty members are expected to publish articles in peer‐reviewed journals that impact the fields of education and psychology. Both the content and the impact of the articles school psychologists publish may change across time and differ from other disciplines. The current analysis sought to understand average article impact, content, and research focus, and to describe those articles that have the highest impact factor. All of the articles (n = 3670) published by school psychology faculty between January, 2010 and December, 2015 were collected and examined. Three reviewers were trained over 2 hr to read abstracts and to classify the content of those abstracts. The literature was systematically classified into four categories: assessment, consultation, intervention, and professional issues. The title, keywords, and abstract were used to find the category of best fit for each publication. The majority of articles published fall into the broad category of Professional Issues. The average article is cited 17.68 times in Google Scholar and 4.9 times in Web of Science. These data will be useful to understand publication content trends and identify gaps in research.     

An Instrumental Case Study Analysis of Anticipatory Leadership Practices in Community Colleges

This qualitative instrumental case study explored the experiences and perceptions of seven community college leaders of their use of anticipatory leadership. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do community colleges use anticipatory leadership to respond to internal and external changes? (b) How do community college leaders use anticipatory leadership principles for problem solving? The themes that emerged to address question one were engagement with others is required to respond to change effectively, data analysis and currency of knowledge are required to identify gaps and to respond to them, leaders must be willing to take calculated risks, and leaders must communicate effectively in order for change to occur. The themes that emerged to address question two were analysis of data is instrumental to identifying and closing the gaps in institutions, leading to better informed decisions; and anticipatory leadership reduces the need to use reactionary leadership practices. The findings of the study are that the participants identified and supported that anticipatory leadership practices are effective for responding to change. The anticipatory leadership practices highlighted as needed by the participants included the need for leaders who are engaged, have the skills and ability to utilize data to make decisions, are current in their higher education knowledge, take calculated risks when needed, and can communicate effectively. These skills are needed for community college leaders to be able to be proactive versus reactionary in their decision-making, as well as effective with their gap analysis identification, trend predictions, decision-making, and problem solving.     

The Emotionally Affected University Student: support from the university community

The study measured the general attitudes towards disability of academics, administrative staff, and students in a small rural University. Respondents were also asked to comment on the nature of support that might be provided for a student with an emotional disability. There were some significant differences in level and nature of support for students with an emotional disability among academics, administrative staff, and students. These differences were related to the levels of comfort with, and sympathy felt towards, students with an emotional disability. However, overall the results suggest that university students with expressed emotional difficulties are liable to be relatively negatively regarded and are not liable to receive much concrete assistance for the difficulties they face. It is proposed that the data supports the notion that academics, of all the groups measured, are best placed to decide types of support for students with an emotional disability on a case by case basis.     

Crazy Children, Fantastical Theories, and the Many Uses of Metaphysics

Woolley rightly challenges the incredible idea, held by some adults, that it is children who are peculiarly "fantastical" in their thinking. However, Woolley expresses little appreciation for "fantastical thinking" as it underlies the capacity for both grand delusions and amazing insights. In reducing "fantastical thinking" to conceptual error, she overlooks the mythical underpinning of her own theorizing and neglects the many constructive roles of "fantastical thinking" in development.