Development of Religious Thinking

Over the last fifty years, in three distinct waves of research, psychologists have investigated the religious thinking of children and adolescents. However, they have differed substantially in their conceptual frameworks, methods, and conclusions, making it difficult for educators to determine the overall implications of their findings for educational practice. In this article, the author reviews this research, identifies points of agreement and contention, derives tentative conclusions about the nature of religious thinking and its development, and discusses their educational implications.     

后现代文化视野中的道德教育之审美维度

网络,也称互联网,它自1969年在美国问世以来,经过三十多年的发展,波及全球,渗透到人类政治、经济、文化等各大领域,迅速地改变了人们的学习、生活工作和思维方式。网络社会,各种思想意识形态冲破了时间、空间、国界的限制,以一种新的传播方式深刻地影响着人们的思想观念、道德风貌和价值取向。中国互联网络信息中心（CNNIC）2004年7月的《中国互联网络发展状况统计报告》显示,中国网民中18至30岁的网民数量占总数的53．2％,大专和本科文化层次的占54．2％。网络对大学生影响较大。积极方面：它有利于大学生效率观念、平权意识和全球眼光的形成;有利于大学生现代生活方式的形成;     

The visual rhetoric of the aerial view: From surveillance to resistance

We live in a world increasingly photographed from satellites, planes, and drones. Many scholars have viewed aerial imagery through a dystopian lens, largely due to its use by the state and its legacy of military applications. While problematic uses of aerial images persist, this paper theorizes rhetorical potentialities of aerial imagery. We posit how aerial imagery creates these potentialities through strategies related to questions of visibility, scale, and aesthetics. Using case studies that illuminate these strategies, we demonstrate how they can be used to resist state and corporate interests, constitute new social movements, and invite contemplation of otherwise repellent political subject matter. Ultimately, we argue that with increased technological access and the ability to reconfigure norms of expertise, the aerial view presents both opportunities for civic engagement and counter-hegemonic potential.     

Locating Transgender Within the Language of Queer in Teacher Education

Queer is difficult to pin down conceptually; it is willfully disruptive, intentionally destabilizing everything from identity to knowledge to politics to power. The intent of this article is to illuminate some of the ways teacher educators are conceptually connecting queer to transgender identities and experiences in their classroom curriculum and pedagogical strategies. The data discussed in this article refers to three courses designed for pre-service teachers and include transgender content. A syllabus analysis and interviews illuminated the various ways queer is being conceptualized in different ways by each teacher educator. Trans identities and experiences were affirmed to various degrees through the participants’ conceptualizations of queer as an identity, queer as an embodiment/expression, queer as an analytical approach, and queer as a political project. Fundamental to the instructors’ understanding of queer was an intentional subversiveness, an affinity for non-conformity and disruption, and a commitment to anti-assimilationist practices. Furthermore, the participants saw trans and queer connecting through a common gender socialization experience and social positioning outside gender norms, and through a mutual vulnerability to heteronormativity as a system of oppression—particularly those who are both trans and queer.     

Facilitating democratic professional development: exploring the double role of being an academic action researcher

Abstract

This article focuses on the double role of the academic action researcher working as facilitator and researcher in democratic professional development projects. The inquiry is based on three partnership projects: ‘research circles’ in Sweden, ‘dialogue conferences’ in Norway and ‘tailored professional development’ in Finland. In a self-study and through the lens of practice architectures, we, as action researchers, explore how our practices are enabled and constrained in, as well as are enabling and constraining, professional development partnerships with teachers and educational leaders. A critical perspective is provided on how and what democratic practices evolve. The inquiry opens up understandings about how the academic action researcher’s practices entails multi-faceted ways of working to be able to accomplish different and somehow contradictory objectives, yet at the same time enacting democratic working methods. Furthermore, the act of recognition as a connecting aspect between prefiguring arrangements and evolving practices will be elaborated on to supplement perspectives offered by the theory of practice architectures.     

Founder's human capital, external investment, and the survival of new high-technology ventures

The effect of founder characteristics in attracting external investment and enhancing survival of new high-technology ventures is explored using human capital theory and signalling theory. We test the effect of founder characteristics on external investment in and survival of new high-technology ventures by tracking a random sample of 193 high-technology start-ups, all participants in the Israeli Technology Incubator Program. Founder's business management expertise and academic status attracted external investment, but founder's general technological expertise did not. Founder's business management expertise and general technological expertise positively affected venture survival, but founder's academic status did not. Possible implications for entrepreneurs, investors, policy and further research are discussed.     

影响和制约和田地区中小学双语教育的语言文化生态环境因素和条件分析

影响和制约双语教育顺利实施和发展的社会因素是多方面的。文章主要从语言文化生态环境,即人口结构和素质、特殊的语言文化环境、民族文化心理等方面分析了影响和制约和田地区中小学双语教育的因素。     

Stimulators and barriers towards social innovations in public libraries: Qualitative research study

Public libraries have a huge potential to be creators and facilitators of social innovation in communities and society. Qualitative research based on interviews with 27 librarians showed that social innovation in libraries can take the form of educational and cultural activities, leisure and networking activities and social support services. The main goal of the research was to find out what factors support and make these innovations difficult in public libraries. A four-layer model of barriers and stimulators for social innovation is presented, which includes structural, local, organizational and personnel levels. The model could serve to inform librarians, their stakeholders and governments about all levels of barriers and stimulators connected to innovation of library services and social re-positioning of public libraries in the future.