INTELLECTUAL VERSUS WISDOM-RELATED KNOWLEDGE: THE CASE FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF LEARNING IN THE LATER YEARS OF LIFE

Lifelong learning and continued education are essential for older people who want to stay involved in a rapidly changing world. However, in the later years of life, it may be even more important to acquire the timeless and universal knowledge of wisdom. Whereas intellectual knowledge enables elderly people to stay involved in worldly affairs, wisdom-related knowledge helps them to prepare for the physical and social decline of old age and ultimately their own death. Moreover, while intellectual knowledge tends to decrease with advancing age, the relationship between wisdom and aging is potentially positive, provided that cognitive deterioration does not become pathological. By illustrating the difference between intellectual and wisdom-related knowledge in the areas of goals, approach, range, acquisition, effects on the knower, and relation to aging, it is argued that wisdom rather than intellectual knowledge is crucial for aging well.     

From PISA to national branding: exploring Finnish education®

Since the recent global paradigm shift in the governance of higher education toward business and marketing, internationally competitive education is increasingly considered as an asset for governments. Consequently, governments started to invest in education branding and marketing their educational systems. In Finland, national interest in education branding rose especially since the country's success in the programme for international student assessment studies created a positive reputation of its basic education. In this article, the authors investigate how this reputation is transformed into a general Finnish education brand, based upon Finland's official Country Brand Report (2010). The governmental discourse on Finnish education reveals a fusion of education and national branding, which is why the authors suggest to discuss the Finnish education brand as Finnish education®. The article provides an analysis of the elements constituting the brand and opens up a critical discussion on the ethics of branding education through cultural and national characteristics.     

Current status of the lateral flow immunoassay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swabs

Early detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are priorities during the pandemic. Symptomatic and suspected asymptomatic individuals should be tested for COVID-19 to confirm infection and to be excluded from social interactions. As molecular testing capacity is overloaded during the pandemic, rapid antigen tests, such as lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs), can be a useful tool as they allow greater test availability and obtain results in a very short time. This short review aims to present the analytical properties of LFIAs in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swabs. Lateral flow immunoassay is a method that combines thin-layer chromatography and indirect immunochemical sandwich method and allows the detection of a specific SARS-CoV-2 antigen in nasopharyngeal swabs. Swab specimens should be adequately collected and tested as soon as possible. Users should pay attention to quality control and possible interferences. Antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 show high sensitivity and specificity in cases with high viral loads, and should be used up to five days after the onset of the first symptoms of COVID-19. False positive results may be obtained when screening large populations with a low prevalence of COVID-19 infection, while false negative results may happen due to improper specimen collection or insufficient amount of antigen in the specimen. So as to achieve reliable results, a diagnostic accuracy study of a specific rapid antigen test should be performed.     

Computer-based learning of spelling skills in children with and without dyslexia

Our spelling training software recodes words into multisensory representations comprising visual and auditory codes. These codes represent information about letters and syllables of a word. An enhanced version, developed for this study, contains an additional phonological code and an improved word selection controller relying on a phoneme-based student model. We investigated the spelling behavior of children by means of learning curves based on log-file data of the previous and the enhanced software version. First, we compared the learning progress of children with dyslexia working either with the previous software (n = 28) or the adapted version (n = 37). Second, we investigated the spelling behavior of children with dyslexia (n = 37) and matched children without dyslexia (n = 25). To gain deeper insight into which factors are relevant for acquiring spelling skills, we analyzed the influence of cognitive abilities, such as attention functions and verbal memory skills, on the learning behavior. All investigations of the learning process are based on learning curve analyses of the collected log-file data. The results evidenced that those children with dyslexia benefit significantly from the additional phonological cue and the corresponding phoneme-based student model. Actually, children with dyslexia improve their spelling skills to the same extent as children without dyslexia and were able to memorize phoneme to grapheme correspondence when given the correct support and adequate training. In addition, children with low attention functions benefit from the structured learning environment. Generally, our data showed that memory sources are supportive cognitive functions for acquiring spelling skills and for using the information cues of a multi-modal learning environment.