Pedagogic Benchmarks for Information and Communications Technology in Teacher Education

Abstract

This article analyses the required content and strategies of information and communications technology (ICT) training for teachers in terms of learning to know, learning to do, learning to live with each other and with others, and learning to be. We conclude that the fast-changing role and nature of ICT in education, combined with the low level of penetration of ICT into present educational practices, requires a strategy that includes three aspects. These aspects are the training of students within teacher training institutions, the high-level implementation of ICT in schools as a joint effort by students, schools and teacher training institutions, and the formation of cooperating communities of practice to ensure the continued flow of emerging knowledge and practices to the educational field. Special attention should be given to unwanted and unforeseen side effects that may affect pupils' lives today and in the future.     

Knowledge development and restructuring in the domain of medicine: The role of theory and practice

How does the knowledge of the medical student, clerk, intern, and registrar develop and how do formal and informal, classroom and experiential learning contribute to this process? These questions were investigated in two experiments, focusing on knowledge restructuring rather than knowledge acquisition. The experiments showed that practical experience plays an important role in knowledge restructuring. The process was, however, not as continuous as was expected. Notably, advanced students appeared to have considerable knowledge about conditions in patients and their environments that can predispose to disease. However, they rarely applied it in clinical reasoning. Contrary to what was found in expert physicians, advanced students' knowledge about enabling conditions seems not yet to be integrated into their other knowledge about diseases.     

Referential Labeling Can Facilitate Phonetic Learning in Infancy

All languages employ certain phonetic contrasts when distinguishing words. Infant speech perception is rapidly attuned to these contrasts before many words are learned, thus phonetic attunement is thought to proceed independently of lexical and referential knowledge. Here, evidence to the contrary is provided. Ninety‐eight 9‐month‐old English‐learning infants were trained to perceive a non‐native Cantonese tone contrast. Two object–tone audiovisual pairings were consistently presented, which highlighted the target contrast (Object A with Tone X; Object B with Tone Y). Tone discrimination was then assessed. Results showed improved tone discrimination if object–tone pairings were perceived as being referential word labels, although this effect was modulated by vocabulary size. Results suggest how lexical and referential knowledge could play a role in phonetic attunement.