Abstraction and Consolidation

The framework for this paper is a recently developed theory of abstraction in context. The paper reports on data collected from one student working on tasks concerned with absolute value functions. It examines the relationship between mathematical constructions and abstractions. It argues that an abstraction is a consolidated construction that can be used to create new constructions. Newly formed constructions are fragile entities. In the course of consolidating a construction this student creates connections between the new construction and already established mathematical knowledge and develops a language to describe and guide mathematical actions related to the construction. The resulting abstraction is a more resilient form of the construction and the student is able to justify his assertions. The paper also examines issues in designing tasks to consolidate a construction.     

Can students within higher education learn to be resilient and,educationally speaking,does it matter?

This paper presents a critical appraisal of resilience and its associated concepts within the context of higher education. It addresses wide‐ranging definitions of resilience, encompassing endurance and adaptability, and seeks to understand how these definitions impact on the learning experiences of students. As theoretical and empirical work on resilience has burgeoned in terms of adolescent experiences of education, the rise of interest has not been matched by that in studies of adult learning, particularly within university settings. This is despite the growing importance of retention studies, which have clear and important links to how well students manage their learning ability in adversity. Realization of the potential embodied in this concept to alter for the better, together with ways of conceptualizing learning and teaching, however, will remain constrained unless teachers within higher education pay attention to the resilience narratives that individual students present, and how teaching strategies can affect their learning trajectories. The paper examines some factors that impact on students’ learning within higher education, and theorizes how teaching and assessment may be adapted to promote resilience in all its forms.     

Perceptions of,and reactions to,the educational system and their implications for policy

The data to be presented was drawn from a survey of nationally representative samples of some 4,000 pupils, most of whom were no longer required by law to be at school, and 1,200 teachers, in the Republic of Ireland. The main purpose of the survey was to collect data relevant to evaluating the post-primary educational system as a whole. Providing such an evaluation was taken to involve, first, assessing what the goals of post-primary education should be, second, obtaining teachers' and pupils' subjective assessments of whether those goals were being attained and, thirdly, asking why the goals were not being better attained. The basic data, which has bee published in three volumes by the Irish Association for Curriculum Development (Raven et al., 1975/ 1976), can be used to illuminate a wide range of basic issues. The present paper deals with one of these. Some others are discussed in Raven (1977b).     

A correspondence of academic interest

Editor's Note: The following is a continuation of the dialogue “A Correspondence of Academic Interest” in the Spring 1994 issue ofAcademic Questions. That exchange concerned the program, recently announced by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), to promote diversity on the governing boards of the public corporations in which it invests.     

Teachers’ cultural differences: case studies of geography teachers in Brisbane,Changchun and Hong Kong

The primary purpose of this exploratory study is to identify variations in the ways in which individual teachers in different educational contexts interpret their curriculum and plan their lessons and in particular to explore the possibility that cultural differences as identified by Hofstede (1991) may be a contributing factor to understanding how teachers understand their work. “Educational reform” has become a catchphrase in the Anglo-American world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and England and Wales, as well as in the Confucian Heritage Areas such as Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Across the world, the educational reform measures being implemented are surprisingly similar. This paper describes a study of how geography teachers in Queensland, Australia, Hong Kong, and Changchun, China, plan their lessons and curriculum. From classroom observations and interviews with the teachers involved, we confirmed marked differences in each location regarding their cultural traits of power distance, individualist and collectivist preference and uncertainty tolerance, and that these traits appear to be highly influential in their curriculum planning. Despite the small scale of this study, we contend that there are good reasons for caution before national education systems import policies and curriculum reform initiatives from other countries for unthinking adoption.