The Influence of Toy Design Activities on Middle School Students’ Understanding of the Engineering Design Processes

The societal demand for inspiring and engaging science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and preparing our workforce for the emerging creative economy has necessitated developing students’ self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes from as early as elementary school levels. Hands-on engineering design activities have shown the potential to promote middle school students’ self-efficacy and understanding of engineering design processes. However, traditional classrooms often lack hands-on engineering design experiences, leaving students unprepared to solve real-world design problems. In this study, we introduce the framework of a toy design workshop and investigate the influence of the workshop activities on students’ understanding of and self-efficacy beliefs in engineering design. Using a mixed method approach, we conducted quantitative analyses to show changes in students’ engineering design self-efficacy and qualitative analyses to identify students’ understanding of the engineering design processes. Findings show that among the 24 participants, there is a significant increase in students’ self-efficacy beliefs after attending the workshop. We also identified major themes such as design goals and prototyping in students’ understanding of engineering design processes. This research provides insights into the key elements of middle school students’ engineering design learning and the benefits of engaging middle school students in hands-on toy design workshops.     

Psychosocial aspects in the German unification process

Articles

Psychosocial aspects in the German unification process     

On the status of critical theory

Critical theory, while remaining in part a scientific social theory, is not just a scientific theory. The nature and distinctiveness of its criticalness is depicted. The logical status of a rationally reconstructed Habermasian critical theory is displayed, defended from some traditional criticisms (including charges of historical idealism), and contrasted with both historical versions of critical theory and purely scientific theories. Whether the critical theory articulated and defended is Habermasian, or a more historicized critical theory, in either case it is argued that it provides a sound basis forideologiekritik against postmodernist scepticism.     

How to stay becoming – living up to the code of conduct in a sports class

In this article we show how a hybridisation of elite sport and school in lower-secondary education in Denmark produces a particular kind of learning subject with dual tracks for development, and we ask what kind of actions the students apply in order to stay becoming along both tracks. We apply theoretical conceptions of ‘becoming’ inspired by Brembeck and Johansson that allow us to understand how the sports students live up to the code of conduct of the sports classes. The article is based on an ethnographic study carried out in four schools located in four regions of Denmark. We argue that the hybrid obliges students to follow a narrow developmental track with an ambitious goal of performing in both sport and school, and that the hybrid is threatened when a sports student prioritises either sport or school while he/she is still enrolled in the class.     

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.     

Are we all in this together?: mathematics teachers’ perspectives on equity in remote instruction during pandemic

Educational Studies in Mathematics - The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented situation that influenced all aspects of society, including education. Millions of students found themselves adjusting...     

Exemplarity,expressivity, education

ABSTRACT

This article proposes that Catherine Elgin and Nelson Goodman’s work on exemplification is relevant for discussions within moral philosophy and moral education. Generalizing Elgin and Goodman’s account of exemplification to also cover ethics, the article develops a two-factor account of moral exemplarity. According to this account, instantiation and expressivity are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for someone or something to function as a moral exemplar. Applying this two-factor account of exemplarity to discussions within the philosophy of moral education the article then argues that it is the expressive aspect of moral exemplars, which explains and justifies the educational significance of such exemplars. The article concludes by discussing the similarities and differences between the expressivity account and the transparency criterion formulated by Michel Croce and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza in a recent paper.     

混合插值法求解Navier-Stokes方程

利用算子分裂法将粘性不可压流体Navier-Stokes方程表述的物理过程分解为扩散和对流2个过程,建立起它们的有限元方程.采用9节点四边形等参元中的形函数描述单元中流体的速度场,而利用这种单元的4个顶点节点构成的插值函数描述单元中流体的压力场,通过有限元生成系统(FEPG)进行Navier-Stokes方程的单元子程序的生成,得到求解不可压粘性流体Navier-Stokes方程的有限元程序,并用它对粘性不可压流体的挠圆柱流动问题进行了数值模拟,分析结果与试验结果吻合.