Culture and Technology: implications for multicultural teacher education

ABSTRACT

American classrooms are experiencing a rapid growth in cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as an increase in educational classroom computing. Because culture directly affects classroom organisation and classroom learning, teachers need to understand, incorporate, and support their students’ cultures. Furthermore, since educational computing is not culturally neutral, teachers in culturally diverse settings must integrate the computer culture, the classroom culture, and students’ learning preferences. To meet the need for culturally and technologically competent multicultural teachers, teacher education programs must first define both cultural competency and computer competency. After examining the relationship between culture and educational computing, the paper explores some essential components of cultural and technological competency for multicultural teachers. Finally, it indicates the need for further research on the interaction of culture and technology in the multicultural classroom.     

DNA as a Work of Art: Processes of Semiosis between Contemporary Art and Biology

When A Genomic Portrait – Sir John Sulston by Mark Quinn appeared in the London National Portrait Gallery's exhibition in 2001/2, the ensuing public controversy over its portrayal raised a number of questions about the representation of a publicly known figure. Because the portrait was the Gallery's first contemporary commission using specialised, scientific procedures in its creation, a number of issues arose surrounding its authenticity. How questions of authenticity are answered depends upon how the viewer reads aspects of scientific coding as it functions within the artistic domain. This is a form of visual literacy that depends on the viewer's ability to lift the veil that operates between coding systems and the context of their use. Literacy in this case is built upon the relationship between visual interpretation and ascribed systems of meaning within the context of their recontextualisations. By playing with the intersections between artistic and scientific discourses, the authors investigate how the representation of identity functions as a polysemy across different semiotic domains. Using visual semiotics to examine the intersections between sign systems across these domains, some of the communication aspects of how new modes of art function in present‐day communities are provoked. By illustrating the complexity of this process as a part of transforming expert knowing into pedagogical practice, support is given for improving teacher education in the arts and cultural domain.     

Digital resources in the family-school relationship during the 0–3 stage / Recursos digitales en la relación familia y escuela en la etapa 0–3

Abstract

Digital resources can open up new means of communication between families and schools, helping to create links and build relationships between both educational agents. The role played by digital resources to establish family-school relationships in pre-schools for children up to three is identified and analysed on the basis of experiences in schools in which ICT resources are being used for communicative processes. The results show that the most commonly used resources are blogs/websites and email, mainly for providing families with information. It is also observed that the introduction of ICT tools in these relations lacks the pedagogical reflection that would determine the communicative goals and the role played by both educational agents in the relationship scenarios mediated by ICT.     

Online educational videos according to specific didactics: the case of mathematics / Los Vídeos educativos en línea desde las didácticas específicas: el caso de las matemáticas

Abstract

The vast number of online educational videos available at the moment has generated an emerging area of research concerning their level of suitability. This study considers the epistemic quality of educational videos on mathematics, focusing on the specific content of directly proportional distributions. A qualitative study is used, based on the application of theoretical and methodological tools from the onto-semiotic approach to knowledge and mathematics instruction, principally the notion of epistemic suitability and the identification of algebraic levels. The sample consists of the 31 most popular videos in Spanish on YouTube? on directly proportional distributions. Analysis reveals interesting results on these kinds of resources. In general, it is observed that they are weak in epistemic suitability, which does not seem to affect their level of popularity. Moreover, the existence of videos with inaccurate arguments or incorrect procedures, together with the diversity of algebraic levels used, indicates that teachers should be careful when selecting them and only recommend those that better suit their students’ needs.     

Relaciones interpersonales,elección entre alternativas y resolución de conflictos

Con la resolución de conflictos se pretende abarcar el conjunto de técnicas, recursos y estrategias orientadas a la superación de situaciones problemáticas, estableciéndose las fases del procedimiento a seguir en su aplicación en el aula. Asimismo, se presentan ejemplos de actividades dirigidas en especial a los alumnos del primer ciclo de la Educación Secundaria. Además, se ofrecen prototipos de actividades para otros tramos educativos     

La ética: Polémica en el curriculum escolar

Se analiza a continuación la polémica generada en torno a la educación moral y cívica a lo largo de las últimas décadas y, en especial, la derivada de la LOGSE al dotar a la Etica de un carácter transversal generando nuevos planteamientos y perspectivas que procuran su mayor sistematización en el curriculum escolar.     

Sobre lenguas y educación en Europa

Pasar de una cultura nacional cerrada en sí misma—incluso contraria a su propia diversidad—a formar parte del experimento cultural europeo, requiere que actualicemos nuestros esquemas de comprensión. Estamos viviendo, como ciudadanos, pero más aún como educadores y como estudiantes, uno de los procesos más interesantes del diseño cultural de la historia del planeta, en todo caso del continente. Y la ecuación cultura = lenguaje parece la clave del invento. Sin embargo, Miguel Siguán analiza y resume con claridad la situación de partida y nos subraya la pobreza de nuestro soporte educativo ante el desafío del plurilingüismo.     

La formación permanente del profesorado de Lengua y Literatura: Modelos teóricos y actuación del asesor

En este artículo se reflexiona sobre el papel del educador y del asesor de formación, al que se propugna más activo y centrado en la disciplina. Desde esa base se pasa a una segunda reflexión centrada en el papel de las ciencias del lenguaje en la educación en que se trata de establecer un puente entre los requerimientos del saber disciplinar y teórico sobre el lenguaje y los de las situaciones, textos y contextos reales de uso del lenguaje. Se trata una vez más de la vieja necesidad de articular en la ciencia y en la educación el rigor y la relevancia.     

Teachers reflecting on their work: articulating what is said about what is done

Teachers' written reflections on their work, which report on a change in their practice, were the object of this research. Taking teachers' articulation of their plans and actions in teacher journals as our source, this study's aim is twofold: (1) to describe how teacher reflect in a self‐initiated and non‐framed way on their own practice, and (2) to review teacher self generated reflections in reference to models of reflection. In this way, we tried to disclose what precisely teachers write (said) when reflecting on their work (did) in order to appreciate their way of describing what matters in their work; and position this in reference to models that conceptualise (“talk”) on how to actualise (‘walk’) reflection. This ‘double’ articulation of reflection is gauged in two ways, i.e., on: a) completeness, that is, whether it includes relevant components of reflection (models) to be found in the literature, and on b) recursiveness, that is, whether the written account gives evidence of an integrated cyclical, i.e., recursive process of re‐view, which appraises and looks back on what has been accomplished.

The results show that teachers do not work along the lines identified in current reflection models (i.e. providing clear problem definition, searching for evidence, planning for change, and reviewing plans). Instead, many teachers use a narrative and valuing appraisal of their accomplishments; not so much cautiously reviewing their actions but prospectively commenting on plans and solutions for future action. The data lead us to be cautious about the prominence of reflection models as advocated in the literature to be applied to teachers' written accounts of their practice.     

English Language Proficiency and Bilingual Verbal Ability Among Chinese,Dominican, and Haitian Immigrant Students

This article describes English language proficiency and bilingual verbal ability for a sample of 209 students aged 10 to 16 from three immigrant groups—Chinese, Dominican, and Haitian. Sources of data included structured student interviews, parent interviews, and individual language assessments. On average, students' English language proficiency was far below their age and grade level with significant differences among the groups. Estimates of students' language ability improved once their skills in their first language were considered as demonstrated by the bilingual verbal ability scores. Results from this study demonstrate the need to consider both English and first language skills in assessing the language abilities of these students and in promoting educational access and equity for recent immigrants.