Education,democracy and social change: Venezuela’s education missions in theory and practice

The ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ in Venezuela is conceptualised as a pedagogical project that aims to develop ‘twenty-first century Socialism’ through state-grassroots collaboration in the reorganisation of political space in order to develop participatory, democratic institutions and processes. The cornerstones of this project to deepen and expand democracy in and through education are the adult Education Missions, set up in parallel to existing educational structures, and with an explicit focus on socio-political education and community projects aimed at promoting a new hegemony based on active grassroots citizenship. While the struggle to extend democracy in and through education is not unique to Venezuela, the conceptualisation of democracy as protagonist and participatory, and the explicit links made between education and democratic social change within the broader framework of twenty-first century socialism, makes Venezuela a dynamic site to revisit and reinvigorate classical debates as to the role of education in promoting democratic social change. Based on 15 months of empirical research, this paper examines the extent to which adult education in Venezuela is contributing to the development of a counter-hegemonic movement to build socialism for the twenty-first century.     

Effects of Familiarity and Type of Encoding on Proofreading of Text

A handful of studies have claimed that error detection is improved by a proofreader’s prior encounter with the text to be scanned for errors. In these studies, however, the beneficial effect of text familiarity on proofreading has been obtained via surface encoding tasks (prior reading or proofreading). This raises the question of whether the effect is dependent on the type of encoding operations performed on the text prior to proofreading. In Experiment 1, familiarization required that subjects read an error-free passage and then either type the passage verbatim (surface encoding) or write an essay by relying on the information contained in the passage (deep encoding with generation). In Experiment 2, subjects generated sentences (deep encoding with generation), assessed whether sentences described drawings (deep encoding), or typed sentences (surface encoding). Familiarity, irrespective of the nature of the encoding operations, improved proofreading times but only surface encoding or deep encoding without generation made proofreading more accurate. In Experiment 3, text generation fostered greater subjective familiarity than either surface or deep encoding alone. It is argued that this form of enhanced familiarity may lead to expectancy effects in proofreading performance.     

Developing a Microteaching Studio for Student Teachers of Home Economics

St Angela's College of Education for Home Economics is an associate College of the National University of Ireland, with a small annual intake (28 students) for a four‐year B.Ed. degree.

A consequence of the College's association with NUI was the introduction of microteaching as part of the Education component of the degree. In order to meet fully the requirements of such a programme, the College undertook the development of a microteaching studio, specifically focused upon the teaching of Home Economics.

In this brief article, the authors explain the thinking and planning that went into the installation of the studio.     

On Reading Dante: The Swinging Bridge

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation involves focusing one's attention on the present moment in a non-judgmental way. Several recently published investigations have demonstrated that a brief session of mindfulness meditation, practiced before a higher-education course lecture, can improve performance on a quiz over lecture content given immediately following the lecture. It is less clear how mindfulness meditation, practiced before multiple course lectures, impacts performance on quizzes over time as well as on a cumulative exam over all lecture contents. The present experiment compared a mindfulness meditation group to an active control group; each practiced 6 min of mindfulness or relaxation prior to seven course lectures. Following each lecture, a quiz was given over lecture contents to measure short-term academic achievement. A cumulative exam was later given over all lecture content to measure long-term academic achievement. In contrast to prior published investigations, there were no effects of mindfulness meditation on academic achievement. Given these promising yet inconsistent effects, future work should explore the moderators (i.e., individual differences; duration, frequency, and style of meditation practice) of mindfulness meditation's salutary benefits.     

Teachers’ awareness of the semio-cognitive dimension of learning mathematics

While many semiotic and cognitive studies on learning mathematics have focused primarily on students, this study focuses mainly on teachers, by seeking to bring to light their awareness of the semiotic and cognitive aspects of learning mathematics. The aim is to highlight the degree of awareness that teachers show about: (1) the distinction between what the institution (school, university, society, etc.) proposes as a mathematical object (not in itself but as the content to be learned) and one of its semiotic representations; (2) the different aspects of a semiotic representation that the student able to handle the representation and the student who handles the representation with difficulty may focus on; (3) the semiotic conflicts generated by the contents of semiotic representations that are similar to each other in some respect. For this purpose, in this study, the semio-cognitive approach introduced by Raymond Duval was complemented with the semiotic-interpretative approach of the Peircean tradition. By embracing the pragmatist research paradigm, the methodology was based on the research questions, which guided the selection of the research methods within a qualitatively driven mixed methods design. The research results clearly show the need for a review of professional teacher training programs, as regards the role the semiotic handling plays in the cognitive construction of the mathematical objects and the learning assessment.     

MANAGING EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE GLOBALIZED WORLD: A DEWEYAN PERSPECTIVE

In the globalization scenarios we currently face, educational systems are challenged by different and sometimes competing pressures and requests. These call for a deep transformation of the organization, role, and social function of educational systems. Within this context, the very concept of education has come to be understood in different ways, which sometimes distort its moral and social value. In this essay, Maura Striano contends that from a Deweyan perspective, educational transformation must be seen as strictly connected to social change, and education should be understood as a process that facilitates and supports social growth and development. In order to be effective and fruitful, Striano suggests, this transformation must occur from the inside of educational systems and can only be brought about by reflective and inquiry‐based inner processes if it is to have a sound moral and social impact within the changing framework of the globalized world.

相似文献